Portal:England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. It is the largest country of the British Isles.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law – the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world – developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.
England's terrain is chiefly low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there is upland and mountainous terrain in the north (for example, the Lake District and Pennines) and in the west (for example, Dartmoor and the Shropshire Hills). The capital is London, which has the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and, prior to Brexit, the European Union. England's population of over 55 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, largely concentrated around London, the South East, and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East, and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century.
The Kingdom of England – which after 1535 included Wales – ceased being a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland (through another Act of Union) to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Read more...
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The Premier League, often referred to outside England as the English Premier League or the EPL, is the top level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). Seasons run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches (playing all 19 other teams both home and away). Most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
The competition was founded as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League, founded in 1888, and take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal. The deal was worth around £1 billion a year domestically as of 2013–14, with Sky and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 116 and 38 games respectively. The league is a corporation in which the member clubs act as shareholders, and generates €2.2 billion per year in domestic and international television rights. Clubs were apportioned central payment revenues of £2.4 billion in 2016–17, with a further £343 million in solidarity payments to English Football League (EFL) clubs. Read more...Selected article -
The Church of England (C of E) is the established church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor. The Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the third century, and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury.
The English church renounced papal authority when Henry VIII failed to secure an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in 1534. The English Reformation accelerated under Edward VI's regents, before a brief restoration of papal authority under Queen Mary I and King Philip. The Act of Supremacy 1558 renewed the breach, and the Elizabethan Settlement charted a course enabling the English church to describe itself as both catholic and reformed:
- Catholic in that it views itself as a part of the universal church of Jesus Christ in unbroken continuity with the early apostolic church. This is expressed in its emphasis on the teachings of the early Church Fathers, as formalised in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds.
- Reformed in that it has been shaped by some of the doctrinal principles of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, in particular in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer. Read more...
General images
Victorian
The Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral
Celebrations at Trafalgar Square after England's 2003 Rugby World Cup victory.
Alfred Hitchcock is often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker. He was described as "a straightforward middle-class Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius."
Chester, c. 1880
Stonehenge, erected in several stages from c.3000-1500BC
The first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours.
Cornish pasty
Bridge of Sighs, St John's College, Cambridge University.
Folio 27r from the 8th-century Lindisfarne Gospels contains the incipit from the Gospel of Matthew.
Sir Isaac Newton, 1689. Regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution.
Portrait of Edward VI, c. 1550
Georgian
National performing arts are held annually at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as The Proms during the summer.
Stinking Bishop cheese
One of only four surviving exemplifications of the 1215 text, Cotton MS. Augustus II. 106, property of the British Library
Landing of the Romans on the Coast of Kent (Cassell's History of England, Vol. I – anonymous author and artists, 1909)
King Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649
The Great Fire London, 1666.
Glastonbury Tor landscape, home to many folklores.
Beef Wellington
Maps of territory held by Royalists (red) and Parliamentarians (green) during the English Civil War (1642–1645)
Brighton, The Palace Pier.
Fish and chips
Depiction of the Battle of Hastings (1066) on the Bayeux Tapestry
View of the ramparts of the developed hillfort of Maiden Castle, Dorset, as they look today
Sir Francis Drake's voyage 1585–86
Regency
Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
Kingdoms and tribes in Britain, c.600 AD
Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol played a major role in reviving the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal goodwill
The Hay Wain by John Constable is an archetypal English painting.
Family-sized meat pie made by Sweeney & Todd of Reading
The Procession Picture, c. 1600, showing Elizabeth I borne along by her courtiers
First played in 1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world.
The rune stone U 344 was raised in memory of a Viking who went to England three times.
Caesar's first invasion of Britain
Roman Empire, 3rd century.
Countries where English has official status or is widely spoken
Silver brooch imitating a coin of Edward the Elder, c. 920, found in Rome, Italy. British Museum
John Bettes the Younger's portrait of Elizabeth I; c. 1585
The Spanish Armada and English ships in August 1588, (unknown, 16th-century, English School)
Astley's Amphitheatre, London circa 1808. Astley performed stunts in a 42 ft diameter ring; the standard size used by circuses ever since.
Edward Elgar is one of England's most celebrated classical composers.
The hall of Christ Church, Oxford, Oxford University.
Jacobean
The Roman Baths in Bath; a temple was constructed on the site between 60-70CE in the first few decades of Roman Britain. It is a lasting monument from Roman Britain.
Robin Hood and Maid Marian.
Christopher Lee (as Dracula in 1958) starred in numerous British horror films produced by Hammer. Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) was the first "slasher" film.
Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Primate of All England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior bishop of the Church of England (it was the property of the Roman Catholic Church before the English Reformation)
Francis Bacon in a portrait by Pourbus the Younger, (1617).
First English Civil War at the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644
The landscape garden at Stourhead. Inspired by the great landscape artists of the seventeenth century, the landscape garden was described as a 'living work of art' when first opened in 1750s.
Victory in Europe Day celebrations in London, 8 May 1945
King Henry VIII
A Punch and Judy booth at Swanage, Dorset. The anarchic Mr. Punch has been an influential figure in British comedy and political cartoons.
A pint of real ale
Melton Mowbray pork pie
William Hogarth's depiction of a scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest is an example of how English literature influenced English painting in the 18th century
Apple pie originated in England and English apple pie recipes go back to the time of Chaucer.
Hot Cross Buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday.
The Billingsgate Fish Market in London in the early 19th century
Pope Gregory I seeing Anglo-Saxon children in a slave market in Rome. He sent Augustine as a missionary to England in 596.
Durham Cathedral, above the River Wear.
England in 878
Elizabethan theatre costumes
Yorkshire Parkin is traditionally eaten on Guy Fawkes Night.
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London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom. The city stands on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea. London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core and financial centre − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that closely follow its medieval limits. The adjacent City of Westminster is an Inner London borough and has for centuries been the location of much of the national government. Thirty one additional boroughs north and south of the river also comprise modern London. London is governed by the mayor of London and the London Assembly.
London is one of the world's most important global cities and has been called the world's most powerful, most desirable, most influential, most visited, most expensive, sustainable, most investment-friendly, and most-popular-for-work city. It exerts a considerable impact upon the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transportation. London ranks 26th out of 300 major cities for economic performance. It is one of the largest financial centres and has either the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP. It is the most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the busiest city airport system as measured by passenger traffic. It is the leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers than any other city. As of 2020, London has the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in Europe, after Moscow. In 2019, London had the highest number of ultra high-net-worth individuals in Europe. London's universities form the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe, and London is home to highly ranked institutions such as Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, and the London School of Economics in social sciences. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted three modern Summer Olympic Games. Read more...Did you know?
- ...that the 1952 Farnborough Airshow DH.110 crash is the last time spectators were killed in an accident at a British air show?
- ...that Mary Somerville was the first to sign John Stuart Mill's petition to give women the right to vote?
- ...that William the Conqueror's transport of over 2000 horses across the English Channel during the Norman invasion of England is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry?
- ...that the Premier League's proposal to play some matches outside England was condemned by the Football Supporters' Federation as an "outrageous desecration of the national game"?
In the news
- 21 October 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in England, COVID-19 tier regulations in England
- 15 October 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in England, COVID-19 tier regulations in England
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock announces that London, Essex, York, and other areas will be put under tier 2 restrictions on October 17, which means that different households will be banned from mixing indoors, including inside homes, pubs, and restaurants, and people will also be told to avoid public transport and non-essential travel. (BBC) (ABC Australia)
- 12 October 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in England
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveils a new three-tier restrictions system aimed to simplify the range of different restrictions already in place across various parts of England. The Local COVID Alert Levels ("medium", "high", and "very high") will be implemented in different areas depending on local infection rates. (Sky News)
- 5 October 2020 – United Kingdom–Venezuela relations, Venezuelan presidential crisis
- The Court of Appeals for England and Wales overturns a ruling earlier this year by the High Court of Justice that stated the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro did not have the right to access the Central Bank of Venezuela's gold, worth more than US$1.8 billion, currently stored by the Bank of England due to the UK government's recognition of oppositional leader Juan Guaidó as the actual president. (The Guardian)
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