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 The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of England,
Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland. Although they form one
administrative unit (with regional exceptions) they have had separate
cultures, languages and political histories. Within this section are
also the Channel Islands (excluding Guernsey and Jersey which have their own separate entries) and the
Isle of Man
which, although only dependencies of the British Crown, are included for
convenience of reference. The United Kingdom section consists of
a general introduction (covering the aspects which the four countries
have in common), sections devoted to the four constituent countries, and
sections dealing with the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
- Area: 242,910
sq km (93,788 sq miles).
- Population: 59,236,522
(1998).
- Population Density: 243.9
per sq km.
- Capital: London.
Population: 7,187,300 (Greater London, 1998).
Geography:
The British landscape can be divided
roughly into two kinds of terrain - highland and lowland. The highland
area comprises the mountainous regions of Scotland, Northern Ireland,
northern England and north Wales. The English Lake District in the
northwest contains lakes and fells. The lowland area is broken up by
sandstone and limestone hills, long valleys and basins such as the Wash
on the east coast. In the south east, the North and South Downs
culminate in the White Cliffs of Dover. The coastline includes
fjord-like inlets in the northwest of Scotland, spectacular cliffs and
wild sandy beaches on the east coast and, further south, beaches of
rocks, shale and sand sometimes backed by dunes, and large areas of
fenland in East Anglia.
- Government: Constitutional
monarchy. Head of State: HM Queen Elizabeth II since 1953. Head
of Government: Prime Minister and leader of the elected
party.
- Language: English.
Some Welsh is spoken in parts of Wales, Gaelic in parts of Scotland
and Northern Ireland, and French and Norman French in the Channel
Islands. The many ethnic minorities within the UK also speak their
own languages (eg Hindi, Urdu, Turkish, Greek, Cantonese, Mandarin,
etc).
- Religion: Predominantly
Protestant (Church of England), but many other Christian
denominations also: Roman Catholic, Church of Scotland, Baptist,
Methodist and other free churches. There are sizeable Jewish, Muslim
and Hindu minorities.
- Time: GMT
(GMT + 1 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in
October).
- Electricity: 240
volts AC, 50Hz. Square 3-pin plugs are standard and the visitor is
unlikely to come across the older round 3-pin type.
Communications:
- Telephone: IDD
is available. Country code: 44. Outgoing international code: 00.
There are numerous public call boxes. Some boxes take coins, others
phonecards or credit cards. There are a number of suppliers of
telecommunication networks, chiefly British Telecom and Cable &
Wireless.
- Mobile telephone: GSM
900 and 1800 networks. Network operators include BT Cellnet, Orange,
Vodafone and One2One .
- Fax: There
are many high-street bureaux in all cities. Most hotels and offices
have facilities.
- Internet/E-mail: There
are Internet cafés in most urban areas. ISPs include Freeserve
AOL and BT Internet. Some multimedia phone booths,
often located at main railway stations and airports, offer
touch-screen access.
- Telemessage: These
may be sent from a post office or from a private telephone.
- Post: Stamps
are available from post offices and many shops and stores. There are
stamp machines outside some post offices. Post boxes are red.
First-class internal mail normally reaches its destination the day
after posting (except in remote areas of Scotland), and most
second-class mail the day after that. International postal
connections are good. Post office opening hours are 0900-1730 Monday
to Friday and 0900-1230 Saturday, although some post offices are
open much longer hours.
- Press: Dominated
by about ten major newspapers, UK circulation figures are amongst
the highest in the world. The most influential newspapers are The
Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, The
Observer and The Independent. The more popular
?tabloid' newspapers are The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily
Express and The Daily Mail. Most papers have an
associated Sunday newspaper, though there are some independents.
There are also daily regional newspapers, particularly in Scotland
and the north. The London Evening Standard is produced in
several editions daily, the first being at midday.
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