ENGLAND






Population
Geography
Government
History
Traditions
Fun stuff
Links


KEY to MAP :
RED - England
PINK - Wales, Scotland and Ulster






POPULATION
49.1 million (2001 Census) (UK : 60 million)

DENSITY
383 inhabitants per sq km (square kilometres)

WORK STATUS (all people aged 16-74)
21.6 million people employed
1.2 million people unemployed
4.8 million people retired

SURFACE AREA
130,395 sq km (square kilometres)
2001 census

CAPITAL CITY - London
7 million inhabitants
32 boroughs plus "the City"
London (in French)
Busiest airport : London Heathrow (53.8 million passengers)

MAJOR TOWNS
Bath - Birmingham - Bristol - Cambridge - Canterbury Carlisle - Chester - Exeter Gloucester - Hull - Lancaster - Leeds - Leicester - Lincoln - Liverpool - Manchester Newcastle - Norwich - Nottingham - Oxford Portsmouth - Sheffield - Southampton Stratford-upon-Avon - York
A to Z information on towns

GEOGRAPHY
Highest point : Snowdon 1085 metres (3,559 ft)
clickable map

COUNTIES - 48
map with counties
county information
tourist information by county, by region, by attraction

MOTTO
Motto and Royal Coat of Arms

EDUCATION
system
système éducatif
virtual tour of a junior school
types of schools
example of school dates and holiday terms

ECONOMY
facts and figures

AGRICULTURE
regional information

CURRENCY
The Pound Sterling (£)
banknotes
coins

EEC Member since 1973

ECONOMY
information in French

GOVERNMENT
Parliamentary Monarchy

Parliament, the legislature, consists of the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the Monarch, also called the Crown.
The House of Commons is much more influential than the House of Lords. The House of Commons is elected by the adult population of Britain and is responsible to them. members of the Commons are called Members of Parliament (MP). There are 659 MPs that represent constituencies (districts) in the UK. The chief executive is the Prime Minister (PM), who is a member of the House of Commons. The executive branch also includes Her Majestyís Government, commonly referred to as ìthe government.î The government is composed of ministers in the Cabinet, most of them are members of the House of Commons; government departments, each of which is responsible to a minister; local authorities; and public corporations.

PRIME MINISTER (PM)
Tony Blair (Labour Party) (1997-2001- )

POLITICAL PARTIES
Labour Party (political left) (red rose)
Conservative Party (political right) (blue torch)
Liberal Democrats (closer to Labour) (yellow bird)

ELECTIONS
The United Kingdom has 5 distinct types of elections: general, local, regional, European and mayoral. Elections are traditionally held on Thursday.
A general election must take place before each parliamentary term (5 years) begins. The timing of an election is at the discretion of the Prime Minister. This timing is usually political, so if a government is popular the election is often "called" after around four years in power.

It is a first-past-the-post election system, in terms of the number of MPs from a particular party. If one party has an overall majority of MPs, they will form the next government, and their leader becomes Prime Minister. If no party has an overall majority, either two or more parties will form a coalition government, with enough total MPs for a majority, typically with the leader of the larger party becoming Prime Minister, or a single party will attempt to form a government and survive through informal alliances and agreements with other parties.

When all of the results are known, or when one party achieves an absolute majority of the seats in the House of Commons, the first response comes from the outgoing prime minister.
- If a majority in the new parliament has been achieved by their party, they remain in office without the need for reconfirmation or reappointment.
- If a majority has not been achieved and it is obvious that the opposition has the numbers to form a government, the prime minister submits a resignation to the Monarch. The Monarch then commissions the Leader of the Opposition to form a new government. The prime minister has the option of attempting to remain in power even if seats have been lost. The subsequent Queen's Speech (ie, outline of the proposed legislative programme) offers a chance for the House of Commons to vote confidence or no confidence in the government through accepting or rejecting the Queen's Speech.

The largest party not in government becomes the Official Opposition, known as "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition". Any smaller parties not in government are collectively known as the opposition.

In 2000 there were 37 million people registered to vote in England (44.4 million in the UK).

The next general elections must be held some time before June 30th 2006. This election will be for seats in the House of Commons and will therefore also decide which party forms the government.

RELIGION
Church of England

The official church in England (over 60% of English people).
It became independent of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century in the time of Henry VIII. After the Act of Supremacy (1534), the King or Queen replaced the Pope as head of the English (or Anglican) Church.

HISTORY
Kings and Queens of Britain biographies and portraits
Historical survey on britannia.com

ROMAN era
ANGLO-SAXON era
MEDIEVAL era (William I to the War of the Roses)
TUDOR era
STUART era
GEORGIAN era
The First Industrial Revolution (1730-1803)
VICTORIAN era

TRADITIONS
The Queen's Birthday (April 21st)
Official Birthday (June) : Trooping the Colour
National Events will mark the Queen's 80th Birthday next year (2006)
Coronation Day (June 2nd 1952) : anniversary on June 2nd

Derby Day (June 5th) : horse-racing event
Royal Ascot (June 14th - 15th) : racecourse
Wimbledon Tennis Championships (June 20th-July 3rd) : played on grass
Henley Royal Regatta (June 29th - July 3rd) : rowing event
Notting Hill Carnival (August 28th - 29th)
Guy Fawlkes Night (Nov. 5th) official site Gunpowder page
400th Anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (2005)
official site
Lord Mayor's Show (Nov. 12th) - official site
The State Opening of Parliament (Nov.) : the Queen's Speech
Tea
Christmas pudding (recipe)
London Marathon

BIOGRAPHIES
biographies art, architecture, gardens, literature, science, engineering...

FUN STUFF
BBC History for Kids
United Kingdom Quiz

SELECTION of LINKS
Brighton quiz
resource
London satellite maps
London interactive map
britainexpress.com
woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk
i-uk.com
britannia
statistics.gov.uk other maps of England
A to Z traditions



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