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Brands
In general brand is a part of our everyday life. It can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, colour combination or slogan.
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley (known as W.O. Bentley or just "W"). Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I. Perhaps the most iconic model of the period is the 4½-litre "Blower Bentley". It became famous in popular media as the vehicle of James Bond in the original novels, but not in film.
In 2002, Bentley presented Queen Elizabeth II with an official State Limousine to celebrate the Golden Jubilee
Bentley produces racing cars as well which always participate in Le Mans, the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, France. So you can see the evolution of sport cars.
Durex brand.
Durex stands for DUrability, Reliability and EXcellence
Despite some opposition to the product in question, the company was greatly helped by the Church of England ruling in 1930 that birth control could be used by married couples.
DUREX now manufactures around one billion condoms per year in 17 different factories worldwide. DUREX condoms are sold in over 150
Hovis, a UK Brand of flour and bread, owened by Premier Foods.
Hovis pays great attention for the promotion of the brand.
The commercial Go on, Lad! (2008) follows the journey of a young boy through 122 years of British history, from the establishment of the Hovis brand in 1886 to the current day.
Green & Black's: Easter means chocolate, and for ever-growing numbers of consumers, chocolate means Green & Black's. a UK-based chocolate company, owned by Kraft Foods. The company produces a range of chocolate bars, ice cream, biscuits and hot chocolate with its principal manufacturing sites in Poland and Italy. Its products are organic[1] and premium-priced. Green & Black’s sources its cacao from all over the world
Lipton was created at the end of the 19th century by a grocer, Sir Thomas Lipton, in Scotland. Lipton teas are a blend selected from many different plantations around the world, from well-known producing countries like India, Kenya, and China.
Apart from black leaf teas (with the long-standing Lipton Yellow Label brand), the company also markets a large range of other varieties, both in leaf tea as well as ready-to-drink format. These include green teas, black flavoured teas, herbal. Lipton's main pillar brands are Lipton Yellow Label and Lipton Iced Tea. Other product lines exist as well, like the Lipton pyramid range in Europe and North America, and Lipton Milk Tea in East Asia. In 2008 the brand launched Lipton Linea in Western Europe.
Me to You a teddy bear with short grey fur, small black eyes, an off-white snout and a blue nose with a white reflective spot on the left hand side. The words ‘Me to You’ are embroidered on the left rear paw.
The bears come in many different sizes, ranging from 5 cm to in excess of 80 cm, and often come with accessories such as hearts, roses, T-shirts, wooley hats and scarves. Some have personalised messages from a simple "I Love You" to longer messages. Many of the limited and special edition releases are designed to tie in with events such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas.
British Cuisine
British food has traditionally been based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken and fish and generally served with potatoes and one other vegetable. Other meals, such as fish and chips, which were once urban street food eaten from newspaper with salt and malt vinegar, and pies and sausages with mashed potatoes, onions, and gravy.
The normal ingredients of a traditional full English breakfast are bacon, eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast and sausages, usually served with tea.
The traditional English breakfast is called the 'Full English' and sometimes referred to as 'The Full English Fry-up'.
English Breakfast tea is usually black tea served with milk (never cream) and sometimes with sugar
If someone asks you if you 'would like a cuppa', they are asking if you would like a cup of tea.
If someone says 'let me be mother' or 'shall I be mother', they are offering to pour out the tea from the teapot.
Continental breakfast is a light meal meant to satisfy one until lunch. A typical continental breakfast consists of coffee and milk (often mixed as cappuccino or latte) or hot chocolate with a variety of sweet cakes such as waffles/pancakes, croissants, often with a sweet jam, cream, or chocolate filling. It is often served with juice. The continental breakfast may also include sliced cold meats, such as salami or ham, yogurt or cereal.
Afternoon tea It is a widespread stereotype that the English "drop everything" for a teatime meal in the mid-afternoon. A formal teatime meal is now often an accompaniment to tourism, particularly in Devon and neighbouring counties. Generally, however, the teatime meal has been replaced by snacking.
Tea itself, usually served with milk, is consumed throughout the day and is sometimes also drunk with meals. In recent years herbal teas and speciality teas have also become popular. White sugar is often added to individual cups of tea, or brown sugar to coffee, but never to the pot.
The popularity of tea dates back to the 19th century when India was part of the British Empire, and British interests controlled tea production in the subcontinent.
Toad in the hole is a traditional English dish consisting of sausages, batter, usually served with vegetables and onion gravy.
Bubble and squeak is a traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. The chief ingredients are potato and cabbage, but carrots, peas, brussels sprouts, and other vegetables can be added. The name comes from the bubble and squeak sounds made as it cooks. Bubble and squeak was a popular dish during World War II, as it was an easy way of using leftovers during a period when most foods were subject to rationing.
Fish and Chips
Fish and chips is the classic English take-away food and is the traditional national food of England. The fish (cod, haddock, huss, plaice) is deep fried in flour batter and is eaten with chips.
Puddings and Cakes in England
There are hundreds of variations of sweet puddings in England, but each pudding begins with the same basic ingredients of milk, sugar, eggs, flour and butter and many involve fresh fruit such as raspberries or strawberries, custard, cream, and cakes.
Spotted Dick Pudding
Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants), commonly served with either custard or butter and brown sugar.
Black pudding or blood pudding (slide 10) is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough.
Yorkshire pudding. It is made from batter and usually served with roast beef and gravy.
English muffin is a small, round, flat type of yeast-leavened bread almost always dusted with cornmeal, which is commonly served split horizontally, toasted, and buttered. Muffins are eaten either as a snack in their own right or as part of a meal, especially breakfast or, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, early-evening tea.
Muffins are a quick-baking bread and have become a tea-table staple. They are usually split, toasted, buttered and then eaten with a savoury or sweet topping such as honey.
A crumpet is a sweet and savoury bread snack made from flour and yeast.
Crumpets are generally eaten hot with butter with or without a second (sweet or savoury) topping. Popular second toppings are cheese (melted on top), honey, poached egg, jam, Marmite, salt, marmalade, peanut butter, cheese spread, golden syrup, hummus, lemon curd, maple syrup and Vegemite.
The word pub is short for public house. There are over 60,000 pubs in the UK. Pubs are an important part of British life. People talk, eat, drink, meet their friends and relax there.
Pubs often have two bars, one usually quieter than the other, many have a garden where people can sit in the summer. Children can go in pub gardens with their parents.
Groups of friends normally buy 'rounds' of drinks, where the person whose turn it is will buy drinks for all the members of the group. It is sometimes difficult to get served when pubs are busy: people do not queue, but the bar staff will usually try and serve those who have been waiting the longest at the bar first. If you spill a stranger's drink by accident, it is good manners (and prudent) to offer to buy another drink.
Pubs sell soft drinks as well as alcohol
Although most people think pubs are places where people drink alcohol, pubs in fact sell soft drinks (non alcoholic) drinks too.
British pubs are required to have a licence, which is difficult to obtain, and allows the pub to operate for up to 24 hours. Most pubs are open from 11 to 11.
Some typical names are The Chequers, The White Swan, The Crown, The King's Arms, The Red Lion and The White Horse. People often refer to the pub by its name when giving directions:Turn left at the Rose and Crown. There is usually a sign outside the pub showing the pub's name with a picture.
Whisky has been produced in Scotland for centuries. The Gaelic "usquebaugh", meaning "Water of Life", phonetically became "usky" and then "whisky" in English
According to the Scotch Whisky Association, no one knows exactly when the art of distilling was first practised in Scotland; it is known that the Ancient Celts practised distilling, and that the liquid they produced — known in ancient Gaelic as uisge beatha ("water of life") — evolved into Scotch Whisky. By the 11th century distillation first occurred in Scotland in the early Christian monastic sites.
Museums
London is a city rich in museums. There're museums full of toys, furniture,wax people, antique furniture, in fact, something for practically every taste. For example All Hallows-by-the-Tower Crypt Museum the museum of church's history, including Romanand Saxon artefacts. Bank of England Museum with the History of the Bank and its activities, banknotes and coins, books and documents, pictures, furniture, statues, silver. St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum History of the hospital and its work, historic surgical instruments, sculpture, medieval archives, works of art. Sherlock Holmes Museum,where he lived and worked.
Still for most visitors, The British Museum always ranks as one of London's most
popular. The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture of London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. the British Museum shared it's location with The British Library, which
houses a copy of every book published in Britain since 1911
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. Madame Tussauds is a major tourist attraction in London, displaying waxworks of historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers.
Marie Tussaud, born was born in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius who was skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling.
One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included victims of the war. Other famous people were added to the exhibition, including Horatio Nelson, and Sir Walter Scott. Some of the sculptures done by Marie Tussaud herself still exist. The gallery originally contained some 400 different figures, but fire damage in 1925, coupled with German bombs in 1941, has rendered most of these older models defunct. The oldest figure on display is Robespierre, George III and Benjamin Franklin. In 1842, she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum. She died in her sleep on 15 April 1850. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. (сл.7)
The National Gallery in London was founded in 1824 and had a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.
Its masterpieces include artworks from Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Cezanne, Hogarth, and Gainsborough.
You can’t miss in Britain
I Blackpool Pleasure Beach
It is the most visited amusement park in the United Kingdom, and one of the top twenty most-visited amusement parks in the world with 6.5 million visitors in 2010
It The major attractions at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool include:
* Pepsi Max Big One: The UK's tallest roller coaster, built by Arrow Dynamics.
* Infusion: A Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster and the worlds first constructed entirely over water.
* Irn Bru Revolution: Europe's first fully inverting roller coaster.
* Grand National: A twin tracked racing wooden roller coaster, opened in 1935
* Valhalla: The worlds most expensive dark ride
* Wild Mouse: One of only three remaining wooden Wild Mouse roller coasters
The park is owned, directed, managed and produced by the Thompson family. In 2003 the park opened the Big Blue Hotel, a four star hotel, making the park part of an official resort.
II Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art .It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year.
Tate Gallery - Museum of Art in London, the world's largest collection of English art of the XVI-XX centuries. Was founded by industrialist Sir Henry Tate. Opened on 21 July 1897. The basis of collection was a private collection of founder. According to the guide to the gallery in 1897, the beginning of the collection of Sir Henry Tate put three pictures, one of which - "Thursday" WJ Sadler
III St. Paul's Cathedral
St. Paul's Cathedral- Cathedral in London, the residence of the Bishop of London. Located on a hill Ludgate. Stories Famous Five St Paul's Cathedral, which existed at different times, but were in the same place. Under the dome of the Cathedral there are three galleries: the inner whispering gallery and exterior stone and golden gallery. Whispering gallery owes its name because the architectors make some mistakes when they made this gallery: the word even spoken in a whisper, at one end of the gallery, repeatedly reflected its walls, resulting in a whisper that could easily hear the person on the other end of the gallery.
In the belfries of Cathedral there are 17 bells, 13 of them - in the north-west tower, and 4 (including the bell Great Paul) and Great Tom) - in the south-west tower.
St. Paul's Cathedral is the burial place of almost two most famous British citizens. The first honor of being buried in the Cathedral of St. Paul to the architect - Christopher Vren. On his tomb there is not a monument, and only shows an epitaph in Latin, "Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice" ("Reader, if you seek a monument - just look around"). Among the most prominent figures at rest in the Cathedral of St. Paul, it should be noted by Sir Isaac Newton, the Duke of Wellington, Admiral Nelson, Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Alexander Fleming.(In the film Angels and Demons was some information about this)
I think It's very interesting to visit this Cathedral
VI London Eye.
Also there is a top-list, which includes a variety of attractions: from historic monuments to the zoo.
But now I'd like to tell you about one building, which interested me so much. It is London Eye.
What is that? London Eye (born London Eye) - one of the largest Ferris wheel in the world, located in the London, which is situated on Lambeth on the south bank of the Thames.
From a height of 135 meters (about 45 floors) overlooking almost the entire city. Ferris wheel - designed by architects David Marks and Julia Barfield, who won the contest project buildings in honor of the new millennium. Implementation of the project in life has taken six years.
The London Eye has 32 fully enclosed and air-conditioned cabins capsules for passengers, made in the form of eggs. Capsules represent a 32 suburban of London. Each 10-ton capsule may take up to 25 passengers. The wheel rotates at a constant speed of 26 centimeters per second (about 0.9 kilometers per hour) to one revolution takes about 30 minutes.
Gardening
mound - насыпь
knot garden - a very formal design of garden in a square frame and grown with a variety or aromatic plants and culinary herbs
herbaceous border – цветочный бордюр
manor house – помещичий дом
box – самшит
parterre – цветник
trellis - шпалера
The English garden, also called English landscape park is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical French Garden of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. It usually included a lake, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape.
Garden styles at a glance:
Roman Britain: formal, low hedges
Medieval: small enclosed, with turf seats and mounds
Tudor: knot gardens, enclosed in hedges or walls
Stuart: formal Italianate and French styles
Georgian: informal, landscaped, open parkland
Victorian: bedding plants, colourful, public gardens
20th C: mixed styles, herbaceous borders
The earliest English gardens that we know of were planted by the Roman conquerors of Britain in the 1st century AD. It is carefully symmetrical formal planting of low box hedges.We know very little about the gardens of Anglo-Saxon England, which is another way of saying that the warlike Anglo-Saxons did not hold gardening to be important.
It was not until the Middle Ages that gardens once more became important in British life. There appeared little gardens in the monasteries.
Castles sometimes made room for small courtyard gardens, with paths through raised flower beds. Other common features of medieval castle gardens include turf seats and high mounds, or mounts, which provided a view over the castle walls. As castles gave way to fortified manor houses in the later medieval period, the garden became a simple green space surrounded by hedges or fences.
The Tudors followed Italian influence in creating gardens which mirrored the alignment of the house, creating a harmony of line and proportion that had been missing in the Medieval period. For the first time since the Romans left, sundials and statues were once more popular garden ornaments.
Stuarts were slaves to the French fashion for formal gardens. The chief feature of this French style are a broad avenue sweeping away from the house, flanked by rectangular parterres made of rigidly formal low hedges. The prime survivors of this style can be seen at Blickling Hall (Norfolk), Melbourne (Derbyshire) and Chatsworth.
The 18th century saw a swing from Renaissance formality to a more "natural" look. Lines were no longer straight, paths curve and wander, and parterres are replaced by grass. Trees were planted in clusters rather than in straight lines, and rounded lakes replaced the rectangular ponds of the earlier style. The garden became open, a park joining the house to the outside world rather than a carefully nurtured refuge from it.
In the Victorian era massed beds of flowers (bedding out plants raised in greenhouses) of exotic colours appeared. Some of the finest Victorian gardens are public parks, like People's Park in Halifax.
Gertrude Jekyll is arguably the most influential gardener of 20th century England. She popularized the herbaceous border and planning a garden based on colour schemes. Jekyll saw the house and garden as part of an integral whole, rather than the garden as an afterthought to the building. Her work survives at Marsh Court (Hampshire) and Hestercombe (Somerset).
Gardening has always been a matter of personal taste, and often the outstanding works of previous generations are torn down to make way for the style of the next. For that reason it is hard to find unaltered examples of historical gardens in England.
Yet, throughout Britain there are gardens great and small, formal and informal, private and public, that illustrate the British passion for creating green, growing spaces of their own. All are different, and all, like their owners and creators, have a distinct personality.
English gardens spread all over the continent. In Russia one of the best the examples of “wild” park is Pavlovsk, the summer residence or the emperor Paul I.
To sum up. Characteristics of the English Garden
The European "English garden" is characteristically on a smaller scale and more filled with "eye-catchers" than most English landscape gardens: grottoes, temples, tea-houses, belvederes, pavilions, sham ruins, bridges and statues, though the main ingredients of the landscape gardens in England are sweeps of gently rolling ground and water, against a woodland background with clumps of trees and outlier groves. The name— not used in the United Kingdom, where "landscape garden" serves— differentiates it from the formal baroque design of the Garden à la française.
The canonical European English park contains a number of Romantic elements. Always present is a pond or small lake with a pier or bridge. Overlooking the pond is a round or hexagonal pavilion, often in the shape of a monopteros, a Roman temple. Sometimes the park also has a "Chinese" pavilion. Other elements include a grotto and imitation ruins.
Sports in Great Britain
National sports in Great Britain... It is a very interesting question, because many kinds of sport have taken the origin in England.
The Englishmen love sports, they are called sports-lovers in spite of the fact that some of them neither play games nor even watch them. They only like to speak about sports.
Some kinds of sport are professional in England.
Many traditional sporting contests take place in England, for example, cricket. This game is associated with England. There are many cricket clubs in this country. English people like to play cricket. They think that summer without cricket isn't summer. If you want to play cricket you must wear white boots, a white shirt and white long trousers. There are two teams. Each team has eleven players. Cricket is popular in boys' schools. Girls play cricket too.
Football has got a long history. Football was played by the whole village teams in the middle ages in England. Now football is the most popular game in Britain. It is a team game. There are some amateur teams but most of the teams are professional ones in England. Professional football is a big business. Football is played at schools too. In rugby football you can see a ball, but it is not round. It is oval. This is a team game. There are fifteen players in each team. It is a popular game in England. There are many amateur rug-by football teams in this country.
Wimbledon is the centre of lawn tennis. Some years ago Wimbledon was a village, now it is a part of London. The most important tennis competition takes place there every summer.
There are some racing competitions in England. They are motor-car racing, dog-racing, donkey-racing, boat-racing, horse-racing. All kinds of racings are popular in England. It is interesting to see the egg-and-spoon race. The runner, who takes part in this competition, must carry an egg in a spoon. It is not allowed to drop the egg.
The boxing match has impacted the English language with phrases like "throwing in the towel", "hitting below the belt" and "punching above one's weight". The sport has also inspired a number of British writers, including George Bernard Shaw and Arthur Conan Doyle. (One sportswriter, knocked out by his own metaphors, described an unfortunate British heavyweight as the owner of "a glass jaw" who “fell in a straight, pure Doric line, like a tree crashing in the forest”.) It's an exciting sport, but not for everybody.
Golf in its early days in Scotland may well have had two distinct forms. One was a ‘short’ game similar to ‘kolf’ played in the Netherlands. From this developed ‘links golf’, played with a variety of clubs to holes, marked by flags, the fore runner of the game today.
Bobsleigh, was surprisingly invented by the English group of holidaymakers in Switzerland in 1890, wanted to create a sled that could carry people down the snow-covered road between St Moritz and Celerina. The sport started as a leisure activity for the rich young daredevils of Europe who gathered for fun on the alpine slopes. It was added to the Winter Olympics as a four-man event at the Winter Olympics in Chamonix 1924 and two-man later at Lake Placid in 1932.
The game of curling was invented in late medieval Scotland, as evidenced by a curling stone inscribed with the date 1511, uncovered along with another bearing the date 1551, when an old pond was drained at Dunblane, Scotland. The first written reference to a contest using stones on ice coming from the records of Paisley Abbey, Renfrew, in February 1541. One of the national games of Scotland, it has spread to many countries.
Darts began in Medieval England and is probably a spinoff of archery. Played started on ships where room was restricted, by shortening arrows and throwing them at the bottom of an empty wine barrel. Henry VIII enjoyed the game immensely. So much so, that he was given a beautifully ornate set by Anne Boleyn. The game remained popular throughout the British Empire but it wasn't until somewhere around 1900 that the rules and darts began to look like the game we play today.
Inventions and inventors
Joseph Swan was the British chemist and physicist responsible for the invention of the light bulb.
Alexander Graham Bell - invention of the first working telephone. Bell moved to the US in 1871, where he developed his interests in sign language and transmitting speech (both his mother and wife were deaf).
Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist discovered the antibiotic substance penicillin for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945.
John Logie Baird
was a Scottish engineer, most famous for being the first person to demonstrate a fully working television. He was the father of the modern day goggle-box. Baird managed to achieve his first crude transmissions as early as 1924. You can still see Baird's original television and his experimental apparatus at Bradford's National Media Museum.
Ian Wilmut is an eminent English embryologist, best known as the leader of the Scottish research group that cloned Dolly the sheep back in 1996. Dolly was the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, as opposed to an embryo cell. It was one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century.
Michael Aldrich is the English inventor and entrepreneur who was first to develop the idea of pre-internet online shopping or e-commerce, designing systems that allowed for online transactions between businesses and their customers as early as 1979.
Tim Berners-Lee
Berners-Lee is the British computer scientist and MIT professor who invented the World Wide Web.
X-ray computed tomography (CT) Digital geometry processing is used to generate a three-dimensional image of the inside of an object from a large series of two-dimensional X-ray images taken around a single axis of rotation.
A crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers. Crossword puzzles became a regular weekly feature in the World, and spread to other newspapers; the Boston Globe, for example was publishing them at least as early as 1917.
A tin can, tin (especially in British English), steel can, or a can, is an air-tight container for the distribution or storage of goods, composed of thin metal, and requiring cutting or tearing of the metal as the means of opening. The tin can was patented in 1810 by the English inventor Peter Durand, based on experimental work by the Frenchman Nicolas Appert. He did not produce any food cans himself, but sold his patent to two other Englishmen, Bryan Donkin and John Hall, who set up a commercial canning factory, and by 1813 were producing their first canned goods for the British Army.
A digital audio player, shortened to DAP, is a consumer electronic device that stores, organizes and plays digital audio files. Often digital audio players are sold as MP3 players, even if they support other file formats. Kane Kramer designed one of the earliest digital audio players, which he called the IXI. His 1979 prototype was capable of approximately 3.5 minutes of audio playback but it did not enter commercial production.
.Hydrobob was created to help people who cannot dive and even swim to explore sea depths. The maximum possible depth is about 100 foots. The speed limit is 2 knots. When ridding driver’s head locates in a special sphere, bobble filled with oxygen. Now 350 of them are produced. One ride costs 25$. But 3 years earlier Russian guys created similar scooter and called him Aqua Star
Music
Throught its history the United Kingdom has been a major exporter of any kind of music . For British people themselves music plays a great role as well. Up today almost everybody longs to express himself, like his ancestors did, with brushes and paint, for instance, or music. But drawing is a sort of self-expression, when songs and music connect people, holds them close to each other.
History
ballad probably derives its name from medieval French dance songs or "ballares" (from which we also get ballet), as did the alternative rival form that became the French Ballade. The earliest example we have of a recognisable ballad in form in England is ‘Judas’ in a 13th-century manuscript. They were a sort of narration, a way of telling history.A bard In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.
So we have come closely to the golden ages of British music: The Beatles, The Queen, Radiohead, Joydivision, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Elton John and many-many others.
list of tendencies in British music
· Jazz
· Folk music
· Rock’n’roll
· Indie
· Heavy metal
· rock
The Beatles. The Beatles were a rock and pop band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals).
The Beatles were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music, selling over one billion records internationally. In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries;
The Beatles' innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of top-selling Hot 100 artists to celebrate the chart's fiftieth anniversary; The Beatles topped it.
Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Oxfordshire.
1st single "Creep", in 1992. The song was initially unsuccessful, but it became a worldwide hit several months after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). Radiohead's popularity rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their second album, The Bends (1995).
Michael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album Tubular Bells, which launched Virgin Records, and for his 1983 hit single "Moonlight Shadow".
LZ became so famous 1stly because of they not afraid of mixing styles. Just listen their famous song – Stairway to heaven. This composition begins in lyrical way, but gradually gaining pace, becoming faster and faster, and in the end we have a classical hard rock track in the best of its genre.
Queen The history of group begins from 1968, when 2 young students – Brian May and Roger Taylor decided to form their own band, which were called positively – SMILE. And the singer was not Freddie Mercury for the 1st time. He was just band friend. And one day they’re became one band which is now is legendary known as QUEEN
Members of this band. Freddie Mercury. His real name is Faruh Balsar, and he’s from Iran. He was born at 5th September 1946 and, unfortunately, died from AID at 24th of November, 1991. Freddie had a lot of talents, except for famous vocal records. He was a great painter – look at his works, he was fond of theatre and ballet. As they say, a talented person is talented at all. Nowadays, in Switzerland u can find the monument of FM. Here he is in his best-known pose – with fist in the air. Freddie was bisexual person. He had a girlfriend – Mary Ostin. They were best friends for about 20 years, and she was the only person, who was with Freddie at last minutes of his life.
Festivals
Christmas
Origin
:
The origins of Christmas and the dates of it’s celebration are rooted deeply in the history of the early church. There has been much debate concerning the exact time of the year when Jesus was born.
The most accepted conclusion is that Christmas originated in Roman culture. On December 25 pagans(язычники) celebrated the winter solstice on December 25. Winter solstice was a celebration of the birth of the sun . They believed that in this day the sun began it’s annual circle, that marked the change of seasons and renewal of the earth. Christians were reluctant to participate in the pagan festivals. So by the early fourth century, they began celebrating the birth of Jesus at this time. So it is likely that Christmas was as an alternative to the pagan winter solstice.
Santa Claus:
Santa Claus is an Americanized version of Europe’s Saint Nicholas. They say that SN is an ancestor of Santa Claus. There are many similarities between them. Saint Nicholas was a bishop who lived in the 4th century. There are many stories and legends about Nicholas protecting and caring for the poor, including giving gifts to poor children and tossing coins into the windows of poor families.
So, their physical and character similarity was shaped to a now familiar Santa Clause. A jolly old man with beard belly who wears red-and-white tunic and cape. His principal role is to bring presents on Christmas Eve (December 24 to December 25) to all the children who have been nice.
Christmas tree:
In Northern Europe the Vikings considered the evergreen a symbol of spring. With this tree the darkness and cold of winter would end and the green of spring would return.
For the Druids of ancient England and France decorated oak trees were the honor to their gods of harvests.
Early Christmas trees were often decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored popcorn and candles. The invention of electricity in the early 20th century and use of electrical Christmas lights helped spread the use of the Christmas tree.
Carol:
A song about Christmas or the winter season in general, which is traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.
Christmas carols in English first appeared in a 15 century. 2 priests wrote 25 caroles that were then sung by people who was already a bit drunk. They were singing while going from house to house. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas. Now they gather the family, bring joy, spread the word about Christmas, and make everyone feel the Christmas spirit.
Jingle Bells
The world’s most widely known Xmas carol is ”Silent Night”, which is sung in many languages all over most of the globe. The song originates from Austria, but enjoyed great recognition as early as the First World War, when soldiers on each side of the frontline laid down their weapons on Christmas Eve and sung the carol, “Silent Night”, across no man’s land.
St. Valentine’s Day The origins of Valentine's Day, like the origins of love itself, are somewhat obscure — a combination of myth, history, destiny, chance.
Other experts connect Valentine's Day with two saints of the early Christian church. According to one story, St. Valentine's was a priest who would marry young couples against the orders of the Roman Emperor Claudius 11, who believed that single young men made better soldiers.
There also was another St. Valentine who was a good friend to children. Because he would not worship the gods decreed by the Roman emperor, he was put in prison. While he was imprisoned, the children that he had befriended missed him and brought him loving notes. Many of the notes expressed the thought that "absence makes the heart grow fonder." He was supposedly executed on February 14. Some people think this is why we exchange friendly and caring messages on this day.
Cupid is the most famous of Valentine symbols and everybody knows that boy armed with bow and arrows, and piercing hearts. There is a very interesting story about Cupid and His mortal Bride Psyche in Roman mythology. Venus was jealous of the beauty of Psyche, and ordered Cupid to punish the mortal. But instead, Cupid fell deeply in love with her. He took her as his wife, but as a mortal she was forbidden to look at him. Psyche was happy until her sisters persuaded her to look at Cupid. as soon as Psyche looked at Cupid, Cupid punished her by leaving her. Their lovely castle and gardens vanished too. Psyche found herself alone in an open field with no signs of other beings or Cupid. As she wandered trying to find her love, she came upon the temple of Venus. Wishing to destroy her, the goddess of love gave Psyche a series of tasks, each harder and more dangerous then the last.
Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He gathered the deadly sleep from her body and put it back in the box. Cupid forgave her, as did Venus. The gods, moved by Psyche's love for Cupid made her a goddess.
Today, Cupid and his arrows have become the most popular of love signs, and love is most frequently depicted by two hearts pierced by an arrow, Cupid's arrow.
Halloween Halloween Day celebration owes its origin to the ancient fire festival called the Feast of the Sun, marked the end of the “season of the sun” (Summer) and the beginning of “the season of darkness and cold”. The Celts believed that evil spirits came with the winter cold and darkness. According to Celts beliefs, on the night of the Feast of the Sun the barriers between our world and the spirits world were at their weakest and therefore spirits were most likely to be seen on earth.
Interesting facts:
Why we see a lot of peoples wearing mask in Halloween? The function of the mask is to hide the face of living from the dead creature
Pumpkin: It came from Ireland and people on this country hollowed turnips out and filled it with candles to keep evil and ghost away from their houses.
Some people involve their pets into celebration
Transport
London Heathrow Airport is the largest airport in the United Kingdom. Heathrow is 22 km west of Central London, and has two parallel main runways spanning east-to-west and four operational terminals. Terminal 5 was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 14 March 2008 and opened to passengers on 27 March 2008.
- Before aviation started, Heathrow was a hamlet, an isolated row of cottages
- World War I: hamlet were turned into a military airfield.
- was used for aircraft assembly and testing.
- 31 May 1946: The airport opened fully for civilian use.
Today Heathrow Airport is used by over 90 airlines which fly to 170 destinations worldwide.
The London Underground (also known as the Tube) is the oldest underground railway in the world. Despite its name, about 55% of the network is above ground. The Underground has 270 stations and 402 kilometres (250 mi) of track, making it the second longest metro system in the world after the Shanghai Metro. The nickname "the Tube" comes from the circular tube-like tunnels through which the trains travel.
EscalatorsThe escalators in Underground stations include some of the longest in Europe and all are custom-built. The longest escalator is at Angel station, 60 m
Standing on the right Signs ask people using escalators on the Underground to stand on the right-hand side so as not to obstruct those in a hurry walking past them on the left. The explanation for overtaking on the left, although road traffic in Britain overtakes on the right, is that, unlike modern "comb" escalators, where the end of the moving stairway is at right angles to the direction of travel, older "shunt" escalators ended with a diagonal so that the stairway finished sooner for the right foot than for the left. The idea was to allow passengers to keep their left foot on a moving stairway as they stepped off with their right. Passengers who chose not to walk down the escalators were asked to stand on the right so that anyone wishing to overtake them at the end would be able to take advantage of the extra section of moving stairway.
The introduction date of the very first commercial double decker bus seems to be open to some debate. Generally what is agreed upon is that commercial buses were first widely introduced in the 1820′s, and as this is some time before the introduction of the combustion engine, they were horse drawn.
These early buses were called ‘Omnibuses‘ and ran in France and England, and it wasn’t until 1847 when Adams & Co of Fairfield works, manufactured a vehicle with a clerestory roof with built in upper seats running the length of the bus. These were first operated by the Economic Conveyance Company of London, and to encourage people to use these the fare was half of the cost of sitting inside.
These open top double decker horse drawn buses were not initially popular, and it took nearly 10 years for the idea to catch on, when in 1852 John Greenwood introduced a much larger double decker with enough space for up to 42 passengers and needed pulling by 3 horses, with the top deck still accessed by a ladder.
The next major development was the introduction of the Routemaster London Bus, first built in 1954, and put into commercial service two years later. It’s key benefits were a unique construction whereas most buses used a separate ladder chassis onto which the panels and engine were bolted, the Routemaster had an alloy body shell, to which separate front and rear sub-frames were attached each end, the front carrying the engine, steering and front suspension, the rear carrying the axle and rear wheels. The Routemaster, in bright red became one of the iconic sights to see in London and is well known worldwide.
More modern double decker bus designs are now in service throughout the world produced by many different manufacturers.
Police vehicles in the United Kingdom differ considerably depending on the duties that the vehicle is purchased to fulfil, along with the standard of training the driver has received.
the black cab is recognised as an icon of England the world over. Its roots lie in the 17th century when there appeared Hackney Carriages a four-wheeled, two-horse, six-passenger coach.
Come the early 19th century, the ‘Cabriolet’, a two-wheeled vehicle from France, had replaced the heavier and more massive Hackney Carriages
Battery-operated taxis appeared briefly at the end of the 19th century, but the modern taxicab service took off with the appearance of petrol-powered taxis in 1903. Today the famous is black cab.
The Black Cab Sessions is a series of one-song performances by musicians and poets recorded in the back of a black cab and filmed for an internet audience. Other performances stray from the rock music scene, featuring poetry and beatboxing, for example.
Train
The rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. Britain's railways were initially owned by four companies, then during WWII they were the railways taken into state control and they were nationalised in 1947. And only in 1996 that they were privatised again!
Today there are 25 train operators who run the services. One infrastructure company - Network Rail and operating companies that own and maintain railway engines and carriages. There are also a number of government organisations like the Strategic Rail Authority and the Health and Safety Executive which are involved in running the railways, making the whole structure extremely complicated.
British Rail introduced a special train, the 'Imp Special', in October 1963. It could carry a 100 cars at a time, being a quarter of a mile long (400 meters). These overnight trains travelled from Linwood to the Midlands
Boats
The Romans came by sea and they moved goods around Britain by water. At the start of the Roman era in Britain there were native skin craft and dugouts or dugout canoe - is a boat which
is basically a hollowed tree trunk. A narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of England and Wales. The term is extended to modern "narrowboats" used for recreation and occasionally as homes, whose design is an interpretation of the old boats for modern purposes and modern materials.Boat
Now boating activities became an entertainment, people like having so-called canal holidays -Canal Boat Trip
Boats and sport The British Dragon Boat Racing Association (BDA) is the UK governing body for dragon boat racing in Great Britain. Dragon boat racing is one of the fastest growing and most exciting water sports you can take part in.
Bikes
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle.
1st was made of wood, this was basically like a bicycle with the pedals, gears and chain removed - you pushed it along with your feet, but was faster than walking.
Since the 1980's there has been a lot of technological innovation. New materials have become widespread. Combined brake and gear systems have been developed.
In Britain and elsewhere in Europe there is a growing awareness that cycling is a fun, healthy, and non-polluting activity. That's why Britain's 6,000-mile National Cycling Network (NCN) is being laid along city streets and on minor country roads, woodland paths, abandoned rail lines, canal tow paths, and the like. The vast network is accessible to hikers and the disabled as well as cyclists.
Subcultures
Young people have a particular relationship with the world. A particular cultural grouping is a way for young people to express their individuality (identity). By the mid-60s teenagers had begun to form distinct cultural groupings. Most young people in Britain follow some kind of youth culture: rocker, skinhead, hippies, Goth, punk, baker…
The inspiration to form a youth culture comes out of a combination of fashion, style and music. A subculture is group with a distinct style and identity. Different subcultures have their own beliefs, values, fashions…
Nevertheless, members of different subcultures may have something similar in their image, behavior, etc…
Rockers, leather boys or ton-up boys are a biker subculture that originated in the United Kingdom during the 1950s. It was mainly centered around British cafe racer motorcycles and rock and roll music.
Until the post-World War II years, motorcycling held a prestigious position within British society and enjoyed a positive image, being associated with wealth and glamour. Starting in the 1950s, the middle classes were able to buy inexpensive motorcars, and motorcycles became transport for the poor. The rocker subculture came about due to factors such as: the end of post-war rationing in the UK, a general rise in prosperity for working class youths, the recent availability of credit and financing for young people, the construction of race track-like arterial ring roads around British cities, and the development of transport cafes. Largely due to their clothing styles and dirtiness, the rockers were not widely welcomed pubs and dance halls. Rockers also transformed rock and roll dancing into a more violent, individualistic form beyond the control of dance hall management.[ They were generally reviled by the British motorcycle industry and general enthusiasts as being as an embarrassment and bad for the industry and the sport. Originally, many rockers opposed recreational drug use, and according to Johnny Stuart, they had no knowledge of the different sorts of drugs. To them amphetamines, cannabis, heroin were all drugs - something to be hated. Their ritual hatred of Mods and other sub-cultures was based in part on the fact that these people were believed to take drugs and were therefore regarded as sissies. Their dislike of anyone connected with drugs was intense
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their shaven heads. They often tattoos and tend to wear high boots, tight jeans. The skinhead subculture was originally associated with black popular music genres such as soul, ska, rocksteady. In the late 1960s, some skinheads in the United Kingdom (including black skinheads) had engaged in violence against South Asian immigrants (an act known as Paki bashing in common slang). There had, however, also been anti-racist and leftist skinheads since the beginning of the subculture, especially in Scotland and northern England.
The punk subculture is centered around listening to recordings or live concerts of a loud, aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock, usually shortened to punk
Punk-related ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment (view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society). Other notable trends in punk politics include anti-militarism, anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-nationalism, anti-homophobia, vegetarianism.
The goth subculture Its imagery and cultural proclivities indicate influences from the 19th century Gothic literature along with horror films and to a lesser extent the BDSM culture.
The goth subculture has associated tastes in music, aesthetics, and fashion. Gothic music encompasses a number of different styles including Gothic rock, Darkwave, Deathrock, Ethereal, Neo-Medieval and Neoclassical. Styles of dress within the subculture range from deathrock, punk and Victorian style attire, or combinations of the above, most often with dark attire, makeup and hair.
Influence: gothic novel, Ozzy Ozborne
Royal Palaces. Traditions and popular ceremonies
The word palace comes from Old French palais (imperial residence), from Latin Palātium, the name of one of the seven hills of Rome.
The official London residences of the English Sovereigns, from Henry VIII to the present day, have been:
*The Palace of Whitehall (to 1699),
*St James's Palace (to 1837) and
*Buckingham Palace (1837 +), originally known as Buckingham House.
But today we will talk about 3 the most interesting palaces in England:
* Buckingham Palace
* St. James Palace
* Kensington Palace
1. Buckingham Palace
The history of Buckingham Palace began in 1702 when the Duke of Buckingham had it built as his London home. The Duke´s son sold the house in1761 to GeorgeIII., it was renamed “Queen´s House“ in 1774 as Queen Charlotte resided there. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to take up residence in Buckingham palace in 1837.
World-famous Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of Queen - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. But it's not just the main palace of the country. First of all - a place of residence of the British Queen and her family.
The palace was closed to the public for the first time and the museum doors was opened to visitors in the summer of 1993.
Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. In measurements, the building is 108 metres long across the front, 120 metres deep (including the central quadrangle) and 24 metres high.
Buckingham palace is not only home of the Queen Elizabeth II. But also the London residence of her son Charles with his wife and his sons Harry and William. The Queen has other homes- Windsor castle(last set Queen) and Barmoral in Scotland.The monarch´s thrones are localed in the scarlet and gold. Throne Room used for formal photograps. From Buckingham Palace you can easily walk other great London sights including; Hauses of Parliament, Big Ben, Piccadely Circus, St. Jame´s Palace, 10 Downing Street, The Tames, Trafalgar Square and even Hard rock Cafe.
The gardens of Buckingham Palace - the largest private gardens in London, originally created by Lancelot «Capability» Brown and later by William redistribution Aylton and John Nash. A large artificial pond was completed in 1828.Currently, the palace occupies 20 hectares, of which 17 hectares - the garden.
In the palace there is a huge art gallery with works by Rembrandt, Rubens and others. In the collection there are also French Sevres porcelain, French and English furniture. The Palace has a swimming pool, post office and own cinema. At the two summer months (August and September) Queen leaves Buckingham Palace. In those months, state rooms of the palace open to visitors. When the Queen is here, the royal standard flutters over the palace. The Queen's Gallery, also in Buckingham Palace Road has especial exhibitions from the Royal collection and may be visited every day except Monday.
2. St. James Palace
St James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign[1][2] and the most senior royal palace in the UK. For this reason it gives its name to the Royal Court (the "Court of St James's")
St. James's Palace - the main residence of Queen Elizabeth I Tudor. Built by Henry VIII Tudor in 1530-ies. In this palace of his first speech from the throne said Queen Elizabeth II
St. James's Palace is the senior Palace of the Sovereign, with a long history as a Royal residence. As the home of several members of the Royal Family and their household offices, it is often in use for official functions and is not open to the public.
St James's Palace is still a working palace, and the Royal Court is still formally based there – foreign ambassadors are still accredited to the Court of St James's, even though they are received by the monarch at Buckingham Palace
The Queen's Chapel, built by Inigo Jones, adjoins St James's Palace. While the Chapel is open to the public at selected times, the palace is not accessible to the public. St James's Palace is one of the four buildings in London where guards from the Household Division can be seen (the other three are Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Horse Guards).
Since the beginning of the 2000s, the Royal Philatelic Collection has been housed at St James's Palace, after spending the entire 20th century at Buckingham Palace.
From October 2008 onwards, and officially from 6 January 2009, the staff of Princes William and Harry moved into their own rooms in St James's Palace and began reporting directly to the royal princes for the first time. Until recently the brothers' duties were looked after by Prince Charles's office at Clarence House.
3. Kensington Palace
This is a small and modest Palace in west London. William III, Mary Stewart, George II, Princess Margaret, Prince Charles, Lady Diana - a few from a long line of famous names associated with Kensington Palace in London. After a long time here was situated the city a royal residence, where they lived, many members of the royal family and British aristocracy higher.
Kensington Palace is well known worldwide as the London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana before their divorce in 1991, and later as the residence of Diana. After her death in 1997, the palace became a sort of mausoleum princess: the gates are often piles of flowers. In the years 1689-1696. mansion was rebuilt under the direction of Christopher Wren's palace, since he was 300 years belongs to the royal family.
Staterooms with excellent murals, painted by William Kent, a gallery of royal portraits and beautiful furniture in classic style, this is only a small part of what might be said about Kensington Palace
On the first floor there is a collection of clothing of the royal court from 1750 until the present time. On the second floor there are the royal apartments, including the royal gallery with a collection of paintings by artists of 17 century
On birthday of Queen Mother accepts congratulations at this palace, and welcomes the crowd of people. Beloved grandmother of England lives in the palace of Clarence, which was built in 1825 by architect Nash for William IV, who was then the Duke Klaresenskim.
CEREMONIES
* Opening of Parliament
* The Changing of the Guard
* Ceremony of the Keys
Opening of Parliament
The countries of old Europe are famous for their traditions. For example, in Germany to this day vividly celebrated Oktoberfest, born in the early 19 th century, in France, with 19 centuries celebrate young wines of Beaujolais Nouveau, and, of course, England, with its long tradition does not stand aside. For several centuries in a row from one year to the monarch personally conducts the opening ceremony of the parliament. This event, though a political nature, but the spirit of celebration and festivity it remains to this day
Opening of Parliament is traditionally held in autumn in the Palace of Westminster, the House of Lords, as the monarch is forbidden to enter the House of Commons. None of the monarch did not attend the ward to 1642, when Charles I attempted to arrest several members of the chamber.
The event truly festive and colorful. The monarch, in modern England is the Queen, comes from Buckingham Palace in a carriage drawn by horses, accompanied by the Horse Guards. At the ceremony there are lords and bishops in traditional robes and wigs. Once the Queen arrives at Parliament, the state flag is changed to the Royal Standard. Queen met Lord Great Chamberlain and the Black Rod and solemnly carried through the corridors of the House of Lords. Then the King of Arms is sent to the House of Commons, to invite members to attend the reading of the royal speech. Upon arrival at their destination, the door slams in front of him, symbolizing freedom and independence of members of the House of royal power. King of Arms must knock three times to enter and is officially known that the Monarch awaits them.
The Changing of the Guard.
Perhaps the most beautiful traditions in England is "The Changing Of The Guard" ceremony. Royal guard usually carries Guards infantry full dress which consists of a red suit and cap of bearskin. At the ceremony, the new guard replaces the old guard replaced the orchestra. Music varies and can be a military march or tunes from musicals, West End, and even well-known contemporary songs. This ceremony takes place daily at 11:30 from April to August and lasts approximately 45 minutes, at other times of the year - at the same time, but every other day. Practical benefits of changing of the guard, of course not, but this tradition - one of the most beautiful in London. However, the changing of the guard may be canceled at any time, especially due to bad weather.
Ceremony of the Keys
Also in London there is one that is not directly related to the queen, but a very attractive tourist tradition - Ceremony of the Keys. For the past 700 years in a row, each night the chief jailer of the Tower of London, better known as Beefeater doing rite door latching Tower. All doors should be locked at exactly 21 hours 53 minutes. After that, regular trumpeter trumpeting Tower lights out and the ceremony ends. To see this ceremony is to advance, 6-8 weeks, sign up, because number of participants is limited.
Humour
Comedy acts and television programmes typical of British humour include Monty Python, Benny Hill, and Keeping Up Appearances to name a few that have become quite popular outside of the United Kingdom. At times, however, such humour can seem puzzling to non-British speakers of English (for example, references to British slang terms or people who are not internationally known), while certain Commonwealth nations (such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) tend to find it more familiar. Many UK comedy TV shows typical of British humour have been internationally popular, and have been a strong avenue for the export and representation of British culture to an international audience.
2 Charles Chaplin, Peter Sellers, Benny Hill, John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean are examples of famous international comedians -and all of them are British. But why has British comedy been so
successful? One answer may be that humour and laughter are very important to the British. The traditional image of a British person for many foreigners is a conventional and reserved person who doesn't show any emotion. However, perhaps because they are generally reserved people, they use humour to deal with life and all its problems .Everybody in Britain is expected to have a sense of humour. And the British use humour and irony in situations which might seem very strange, almost frivolous, for other cultures. Professors giving serious lectures at university often start off with a joke to get people relaxed and interested. Business people mix humour and statistics when making important presentations. Some doctors try to get a laugh to relax their patients. Even priests tell jokes in church!
Shopping
Top 5 British Fashion Brands
If you know anything about looking good, you probably know about the top 5 British fashion brands. These label-makers and trend-setters from across "The Pond" have been featured on some of the most exclusive runways in the entire world. Revamp your entire wardrobe with these famous British fashion brands. When you want to look your best, you cannot go wrong with these top British fashion brands. These well-known names are some of the finest collections you'll find in your search for high-quality couture. If you want to dress to impress every single day of the week, you're going to need at least a few pieces from these British fashion brands.
Ben Sherman. Known for carrying a more casual style than anything else, Ben Sherman has everything you need when you want to look amazing while walking down the street. The specialized Beatles Collection is perfect for anyone who wants to channel their inner John, Paul, George, or Ringo, and their iconic Union Jack shirts are great for showcasing national pride without looking gauche.
Burberry. One of the more high-class British fashion brands, Burberry is the de facto clothing choice for the rich and famous. Their eponymous bags and scarves are known for their subdued style, while the women's coats can be described as nothing less than luxurious.
French Connection. This British fashion brand is known for its eye-catching logo of FCUK. The collections here display a sort of subtle elegance with their darker tones, vintage-inspired designs, and body-complimenting construction.
London Fog. If you're looking for clothes to wear to the office, then this is your British fashion brand of choice. Their trousers and collared shirts all scream sophistication, while the women's skirts and suits give off a vibe of having control without seeming domineering.
Dr. Marten's. From sandals to boots, this British fashion brand is great for all of your footwear needs. Their boots are sturdy yet stylish, combining the best features of comfort and usability for men, women, and children of all ages.
Burberry Group is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fashion accessories. Its distinctive tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. Burberry is most famous for its iconic trench coat, which was invented by founder Thomas Burberry. The company has branded stores and franchises around the world, and also sells through concessions in third-party stores.
London Fog is a large manufacturer of coats and other clothes.The company was founded in 1923 as the Londontown clothing company by Israel Myers. During World War II, the company was known for making waterproof clothing for the United States Navy.Following the war, the company partnered with DuPont to make material for use in raincoats. These coats, which were the first to have a patented removable liner, were sold in Philadelphia, where they were a big hit.The company went public in the 1960s. By the 1970s, the company had its own stores, and was manufacturing not only raincoats, but also other types of clothes and accessories. At the time, two-thirds of all raincoats sold in the United States were London Fog.London Fog expanded internationally during the 1990s, selling in places like the United Kingdom and China.The original location of the London Fog Factory was in the Meadow Mills area of Baltimore, Maryland. The factory was then moved to Eldersburg, Maryland on Londontown Boulevard. In 1994, the company left their 465,000 square feet (43,200 m2) of building space in Eldersburg for Darien, Connecticut.Iconix Brand Group bought London Fog in 2006.
Selfridges celebrates 100 years of shopping: The first ever mall
On its first day of business, 100 years ago this month, customers queued round the block to enter a brand new shoppers' paradise in the heart of London. Harry Gordon Selfridge's Oxford Street department store created quite a sensation. More than a million people visited in the first week, and no wonder - they had never seen anything quite like it before. Selfridges was the first of its kind. A vast expanse of consumer heaven, everyone was welcome - even those who'd only come to window shop. Customers were welcomed by smiling staff who'd undergone three months of training in the "Selfridges Way". Previously, stores were austere places. Shoppers would be escorted in simply to buy. Browsing was forbidden. Selfridge changed all that. For the first time shopping became a pleasure and not a chore. The American entrepreneur stumbled on his concept accidentally on his first visit to London. Walking into a shop, he was confronted by an assistant. "Is sir intending to buy something?" the young man asked. "No, I'm just looking," replied Selfridge - only to be told: "Then 'op it, mate." So Selfridge planned his perfect emporium. It was to have everything under one roof - including the kitchen sink. He even coined a phrase for his new venture: "The customer is always right." So March 15, 1909, was a red letter day for shopping. The parfumerie was put at the front - a forerunner of today's store layouts - and customers were welcomed with music and encouraged to spend the whole day at the cosmetic counters, hairdressers and restaurants. Women, who were only just beginning to enjoy walking alone without gentleman escorts, wanted something more - and Selfridges became the perfect day out. Selfridge invented January Sales and the Bargain Basement.
He even advertised with the slogan "Why not spend the day at Selfridges?" and boasted he'd made the store London's third biggest attraction after Buckingham Palace and the Tower.
Selfridge died almost penniless in 1947 aged 89. Bad investments had left him a broken man. But the legacy of the man who made shopping fun lives on in Oxford Street...
2009 BEST SELLERS
Marc Jacobs' "Stam" quilted bag, from £850
Ysl Touche Eclat ( women's and men's under-eye concealer), £23
Herve Leger bandage dress, from £1,000
Ysl patent "Tribute" platform shoes, £500
Vik tor & Rolf "Flower Bomb" ladies' fragrance, £44/Safetox (ant i - ageing beauty gadget), £200
Kid Robot doll, £750
"Credit Crunch" Chocolates (honeycomb covered with chocolate), £3.99
Lola's flavour-of-the-month cupcake, £2.99
Aussie Bum men's underwear, from £15
Cape can be used to describe any sleeveless outer garment, such as a poncho, but usually it is a long garment that covers only the back half of the wearer, fastening around the neck. They were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon, and have had periodic returns to fashion, for example, in nineteenth century Europe. Roman Catholic clergy wear a type of cape known as a ferraiolo, which is worn for formal events outside of a liturgical context. The cope is a liturgical vestment in the form of a cape. Capes are often highly decorated with elaborate embroidery. Capes remain in regular use as rain wear in various military units and police forces, for example in France. A gas cape was a voluminous military garment designed to give rain protection to someone wearing the bulky gas masks used in twentieth century wars. In modern times, comic-book super-heroes, such as Superman and Batman, are often depicted wearing capes. In fashion, the word cape usually refers to a shorter garment and cloak to a full-length version of the different types of garment, though the two terms are sometimes used synonymously for full-length coverings. The fashion cape does not cover the front to any appreciable degree. In raingear, a cape is usually a long and roomy protective garment worn to keep one dry in the rain.
In full evening dress, ladies frequently use the cape as a fashion statement, or to protect the wearer or the fine fabrics of their evening-wear from the elements, especially where a coat would crush--or hide--the garment. These capes may be short (over the shoulders or to the waist) or a full-length cloak. Short capes were usually made of, or trimmed in, fur; however, because fur is less accepted as a fashion accessory in modern times, other expensive materials are substituted for it, with an opulent lining and trim. Typical fabrics used are velvet, silk and satin. Capes are still authorized as an alternative to the more utilitarian trench coat for U.S. Army officers in mess dress, formal evening uniform.
Caped overcoats were popular for men during the Victorian era, with some caped Ulsters featuring multiple layered capes, and the Inverness coat (both formal evening and working day variants) had a cape. The Inverness coat is no longer commonly worn, and the Ulster lost its cape in the 1920s.
The Brogue is a style of low-heeled shoe or boot traditionally characterized by multiple-piece, sturdy leather uppers with decorative perforations (or "brogueing") and serration along the pieces' visible edges. Modern brogues trace their roots to a rudimentary shoe originating in Scotland and Ireland that was constructed using untanned leather with perforations that allowed water to drain from the shoes when the wearer crossed wet terrain such as a bog. Brogues were traditionally considered to be outdoor or country footwear not otherwise appropriate for casual or business occasions, but brogues are now considered appropriate in most contexts.[4] Brogues are most commonly found in one of four toe cap styles (full or "wingtip", semi-, quarter and longwing) and four closure styles (oxford, derby, ghillie and monk). Today, in addition to their typical form of sturdy leather shoes or boots, brogues may also take the form of business dress shoes, sneakers, high-heeled women's shoes or any other shoe form that utilizes or evokes the multi-piece construction and perforated, serrated piece edges characteristic of brogues.
History
Modern brogues trace their roots to a rudimentary shoe originating in Scotland and Ireland that was constructed using untanned leather with perforations that allowed water to drain from the shoes when the wearer crossed wet terrain such as a bog. The word "brogues" originates in the late sixteenth century and is a derivation of the Irish and Scots Gaelic "brōg", taken from the Old Norse "brók" meaning "leg covering". The word "brogue" was first used to describe a form of outdoor, country walking shoe in the early twentieth century. At that time the brogue was not considered to be appropriate for other occasions, social or business. Over time perceptions have changed and brogues are now considered appropriate in most contexts, including business. Brogues continue to be most common as leather dress and casual shoes and boots, but can also be found in many other forms including canvas and leather sneakers and high-heeled women's shoes.
A cardigan is a type of machine- or hand-knitted sweater (or jumper) that ties, buttons or zips down the front; by contrast, a pullover does not open in front but must be "pulled over" the head to be worn. The cardigan was named after James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, a British military commander, following his service in the Crimean War. Cardigans are available for both sexes, but they have become popular for men in recent years due to rise of fashion houses incorporating the traditional garment in men's fashion runway. Plain cardigans are often worn over shirts and inside suit jackets as a kind of less formal waistcoat or vest that restrains the necktie when the jacket has been removed. Its versatility means it can be worn either in casual or formal settings and in any seasons, but popularly during the autumn and winter months.
The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century. Since the 19th century it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland in general, or with Celtic (and more specifically Gaelic) heritage even more broadly. It is most often made of woollen cloth in a tartan pattern.
Although the kilt is most often worn on formal occasions and at Highland games and sports events, it has also been adapted as an item of fashionable informal male clothing in recent years, returning to its roots as an everyday garment.
The kilt first appeared as the great kilt in the 16th century, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over the shoulder, or brought up over head as a cloak. The small kilt or walking kilt (similar to the "modern" kilt) did not develop until the late 17th or early 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt.
Styles of kilt wear
Today most Scotsmen regard kilts as formal dress or national dress. Although there are still a few people who wear a kilt daily, it is generally owned or hired to be worn at weddings or other formal occasions, much the same way as tuxedos in America, and may be worn by anyone regardless of nationality or descent. For formal wear, kilts are usually worn with a Prince Charlie or an Argyll jacket. (Commercial suppliers have now produced equivalent jackets with Irish and Welsh themed styling.)
Kilts are also used for parades by groups such as the Scouts, and in many places kilts are seen in force at Highland games and pipe band championships as well as being worn at Scottish country dances and ceilidhs.
Contemporary kilt
Contemporary kilts (also known as modern kilts and, especially in the United States, utility kilts) have appeared in the clothing marketplace in Scotland, the US and Canada in a range of fabrics, including leather, denim, corduroy, and cotton. They may be designed for formal or casual dress, for use in sports or outdoor recreation, or as white or blue collar workwear. Some are closely modelled on traditional Scottish kilts, but others are similar only in being knee-length skirt-like garments for men. They may have box pleats, symmetrical knife pleats, or no pleats at all, and be fastened by studs or velcro instead of buckles. Many are designed to be worn without a sporran, and may have pockets or tool belts attached.
Kilts are sometimes referred to by enthusiasts for their daily use as male unbifurcated garments or "MUGs", though strictly this term also covers other garments such as sarongs which are regarded as viable alternatives to trousers (bifurcated garments). In 2008, a USPS letter carrier, Dean Peterson, made a formal proposal that the kilt be approved as an acceptable postal uniform—for reasons of comfort. The proposal was defeated at the convention of the 220,000-member National Association of Letter Carriers.
Female athletes, especially lacrosse players, often wear kilts during games. These athletes typically wear compression shorts or spandex under their kilts because during the contact sport, players often fall over and potentially expose their underwear. Kilts are popular among many levels of lacrosse, from youth leagues to college leagues, although some teams are replacing kilts with the more streamlined athletic skirt. Mens kilts are seen in many places in popular contemporary media, without attention necessarily being drawn to them. For example, in the Syfy channel (US) series, Tin Man specifically in episode 2, at time index 53 minutes, a tertiary character of a farmer who gives the main characters shelter is seen to be wearing a tan leather kilt, of modern fashioning, with large pockets, and a button front. Other side characters later in the miniseries are also shown wearing kilts, as a sort of working peasant garb. This, along with trends in the fashion and Gothic communities have led to a popularization of the kilt as an everyday form of attire, appropriate for any man or woman, wishing to choose an alternative to pants, shorts, or skirts. Some of these (marketed by companies like Utilikilt, Freedomkilt, Lip Service, and Tripp NYC) are made of PVC or Polyester-Cotton blends, however, this also makes them more affordable to the average consumer.
Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse is a famous English racecourse, located in the small town of Ascot, Berkshire, used for thoroughbred horse racing. It is one of the leading racecourses in the United Kingdom, hosting 9 of the UK's 32 annual Group 1 races, the same number as Newmarket. The course is closely associated with the British Royal Family, being approximately six miles from Windsor Castle, and owned by the Crown Estate.
Ascot today stages twenty-five days of racing over the course of the year, comprising sixteen Flat meetings held in the months of May and October. The Royal Meeting, held in June, remains a major draw, the highlight being the Ascot Gold Cup. The most prestigious race is the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes run over the course in July. Ascot Racecourse was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne.
The Dress is strictly enforced, for Ladies only a day dress with a hat or fascinator is acceptable with rules applying to the length of the dress and ladies must not show bare midriffs or shoulders. For gentlemen a black or grey morning dress with top hat.
Over 300,000 people make the annual visit to Berkshire during Royal Ascot week, making this Europe’s best-attended race meeting. This leads to a split among racing fans, some of whom are glad to see racing in the spotlight, and getting more attention, while others do not like the meeting despite the quality of racing.
There are 16 Group races on offer, with at least one Group One event on each of the five days. The Ascot Gold Cup is on Ladies' Day on the Thursday. There is over £3,000,000 of prize money on offer.
Июнь 17 - 21, 2008
A celebration of sporting tradition and style – Longines cements the relationship as the “Official Timekeeper” at Royal Ascot
Building on the debut in 2007 Swiss watch brand Longines is delighted to continue the role of Official Timekeeper at Ascot Racecourse. All Ascot flat races including those taking place at the celebrated Royal
Meeting are timed by Longines, a relationship which is set to run until the end of the 2009 flat race season. In addition Longines is also a co-sponsor of the Royal Ascot Fashion show.
Royal Ascot Week is undoubtedly the UK’s most popular race meeting and as ever attracted an elegant crowd in show-stopping hats. The timing of the races was entrusted to Longines throughout the week as thousands of race-goers watched from the magnificent racecourse, and across the country on the extensive BBC and “At the Races” TV coverage. Longines clocks were also placed around the racecourse, and will remain there throughout the season.
The Royal meeting is seen as one of the biggest dates on the fashion calendar. Second to the racing fashion has always played an integral part in the events history. Royal Ascot took the logical step last year to introduce a fashion show into the events proceedings and this year with the support of some of the biggest names in fashion: Phillip Tracey, Vivienne Westwood, Mathew Williamson, Amanda Wakeley and Gieves and Hawkes the show was an even bigger spectacular off the racecourse.
The fashion show was held in the Bessborough restaurant combining luxury and elegance, fine dining and the very best of British fashion. Longines were proud to be a co-sponsor with a magnificent visual presentation of the very latest men’s and women’s watches running throughout the intervals.
Longines’ association with Royal Ascot and Ascot Races enhances the brand’s rich sporting heritage and elegant positioning.
