Some Geographical Facts about Great Britain

Great Britain is formally known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is situated on the British Isles, beautifully decorated by nature. The British Isles consist of Great Britain, Ireland and some 5.500 smaller islands. The total area of the United Kingdom is 244.027 square kilometres. Great Britain is divided into 55 administrative counties. The largest island in north­west Europe - Great Britain - is separated from Ireland by the Irish Sea and from the Continent by the English Channel and the Strait of Dover.

The surface of England and Ireland is rather flat. The highest mountain in the United Kingdom is Ben Nevis in Scotland (1343m). There are many rivers in Great Britain but they are not very long. The rivers are deep and do not freeze in winter. The main rivers are the.Severn (220 miles) and the Thames (215 miles).

Great Britain is known for its typically maritime climate with frequent rains, strong winds and continuous fogs.

The population of Great Britain is nearly 56 million people. England has more people than the other parts of the British Isles. About 4/5 of the population are urban and only 1/5 is rural

Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. Queen Elizabeth П is the head o f the state. In practice, she reigns but does not rule. The Government governs the country in her name. Parliament is the supreme legislative body.   

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London and Londoners (I)

London is very different, it has many faces. You can find there beautiful mansions and red brick buildings, tall and dirty that look like prisons; busy squares and streets full of well-dressed people and dusty narrow streets where - children play on the pavement; clean and comfortable restaurants and cafes and eating rooms with unclean walls and tables with five or six persons sitting in a row at each table; big shops with carpets and soft seats everywhere and wonderful things for sale and small shops full of old clothes, some of them not even very clean. Past and present, old and modern, richness and poverty, beauty and ugliness.

London is full of customs and traditions. For a foreigner it seems noisy and overcrowded. There is a lot of traffic in the streets of London: endless lines of buses, motor cars, and taxes. Most of London buses are the famous red double-deckers that have two platforms (or decks) for passengers. Bright red, they look very nice in the grey streets of London. There are also green one-storied buses; they run from London to the countryside. You can also see brown buses in the streets of London, which belong to British railways.

The first buses came on the streets of London in 1829. There were buses pulled by horses. The upper desk had no roof. The bus conductor gave passengers raincoats and umbrellas if it started raining.

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London and Londoners (II)

The traffic lights in London are not as it is here. The red lights says "Stop", the green light says "Wait" and only when you see the yellow light, which says "Cross" you may cross the street. "Keep left" is the general rule in Great Britain, "keep left" is written on the pavement, and people keep left. They cross the street at the black-and- white "Zebra" crossing; but if they are in a hurry they just run across anywhere as some people in our country do. Sometimes they are stopped by a policeman (they call him "Bobby"), a tall man in a helmet, white sleeves and a white stick in his hand, who stands at street corners regulating the traffic.

There are also woman police in England. They have the same powers as men (but not the same pay!). There are women detectives and woman traffic police who regulate street traffic. However, most of their work is looking after women and children. You can often see them patrolling parks and other places where children play.

Sometimes you will see a group of cavalrymen riding on black horses through the streets of one part of London. The cavalrymen wear red uniforms, shining helmets, long black boots and long white gloves. They carry swords. These men are Life Guards. Their special duty is to guard the king or queen of Great Britain and very important guests of the country.

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London and Londoners (III)

You will also see fruit and vegetable stalls on the pavement or in a corner between two big buildings. The man at the stall often cries out his wares - bananas, apples, cherries, pears.

One o'clock is lunchtime in London. All the activities of the busiest quarters stop 60 minute. The streets are full of people hurrying to have their lunch.

A lot of them go into a pub and have a sandwich and a glass of beer. The rich walk quietly to the best restaurants. The youngest and the poorest sit on benches eating their sandwiches or buns or just drinking tea.

Londoners do not have to go far find green fields and flowers, because London is very rich in parks and gardens^ Londoners have their parks and are very proud of them. There is Green Park and Saint James's Park, Victoria Park and Finsbury Park, Battersea Park and Regent's Park with the Zoo and, outside London, the wonderful Kew Gardens that is a botanical garden with many exotic plants and flowers.

Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens today form one single park, the largest in London. Hyde Park is certainly the most popular of London's parks. It may be called a National Park. Londoners love it. On Sunday mornings in summer you can see lots of Londoners sitting with their families on the grass or listening to the music

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