What's life like in the U.K.?

Sport: the national game is football (soccer). Also v important are rugby (Brits don't need body armour!) ) and cricket. We all get very excited about tennis when Wimbledon is on. Golf is quite popular among older people and rich people. When people get really old, they play crown green bowls.
 

Excel Facts

What is the last column in Excel?
Excel columns run from A to Z, AA to AZ, AAA to XFD. The last column is XFD.
Recreation: I know nothing about this. I have a small child; my idea of recreation is a soft play centre...
 
Actually, (this might get Gabriel a few extra marks), at one time Berwick-upon-Tweed was counted as a separate country in the Kingdom (a long time ago).

There is a curious apocryphal story that Berwick is (or recently was) technically at war with Russia. The story tells that since Berwick had changed hands several times, it was traditionally regarded as a special, separate entity, and some proclamations referred to "England, Scotland and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed". One such was the declaration of the Crimean War against Russia in 1853, which Queen Victoria supposedly signed as "Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and all British Dominions". However, when the Treaty of Paris (1856) was signed to conclude the war, "Berwick-upon-Tweed" was left out. This meant that, supposedly, one of Britain's smallest towns was officially at war with one of the world's largest powers – and the conflict extended by the lack of a peace treaty for over a century.

The BBC programme Nationwide investigated this story in the 1970s, and found that while Berwick was not mentioned in the Treaty of Paris, it was not mentioned in the declaration of war either. The question remained of whether Berwick had ever been at war with Russia in the first place. The true situation is that since the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 had already made it clear that all references to England included Berwick, the town had no special status at either the start or end of the war.

Nevertheless, in 1966 a Soviet official waited upon the Mayor of Berwick, Councillor Robert Knox, and a peace treaty was formally signed. Mr Knox is reputed to have said "Please tell the Russian people that they can sleep peacefully in their beds." To complicate the issue, some have noted that Knox did not have any authority with regard to foreign relations, and thus may have exceeded his powers as mayor in concluding a peace treaty.

(Again, from Wikipedia)
 
Actually, the true British recreation is to get very drunk. Pretty much any social occasion is deemed a success if it ends in this way. I have never understood why...
 
Hello Greg,

Indigenous English/British food has a terrible reputation.

There are a huge number of "Indian" and "Chinese" restaurants all over the UK. Famously the late Robin Cook, when Foreign Secretary claimed that chicken tikka massala was Britain's national dish, see here.

Of course this claim was, to some extent, to make a political point...
 
There are also different legislative bodies.

In Scotland there is a devolved parliament which has many, but not all, power over laws etc

In Wales there is also a devolved legislature.

But the main government of the UK involves 2 bodies.

One is the directly elected House of Commons.

The other is the House of Lords which consists of peers, bishops etc, which in recent years has gone through some reform, so they say anway.:)

As to food.

England - Chicken Tikka Masala

Scotland - Deep Fried Mars Bars

Wales - Lava Bread

Northern Ireland - Full Ulster Breakfast Fry-up

For sport then it's got to football (soccer), mind you there is the rather good F1 driver called Lewis Hamilton.

And the up and coming tennis player Andy Murray.

Oh, and there is cricket but apart from the last few hours England haven't quite impressed.:)
 
Barry - I don't think the terrible reputation is quite so true any more - there are so many tv chefs / cookery programmes reclaiming proper british cooking now. Curry clearly is the national dish though!
 
To add to Barry's comment, it is actually pretty rare to find an English (or British) restaurant. If you want traditional British food (roast beef, pie and mash/chips, fish 'n chips, ...) then try a pub (most are family friendly nowadays).
 
Just followed VoG's wiki link - icons that Gabriel should include are (imho):

Doctor Who
Fawlty Towers
Last Night of the Proms
Pantomime
Tea (the drink)
Tube map
Kilts
 

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