London

                                    LONDON 

     London - the capital of Great Britain is situated on the Thames River. It is the largest city in Europe with a population of eight and a quarter million. The city is very old, it's more than 20 centuries. The capital of the country is the important financial centre and one of the largest ports of the world. It is divided into four parts: the City, Westminster, the West End and the East End.

     The City is the business and commercial heart of London. Many banks, offices and firms are concentrated there. The Tower and St. Paul's Cathedral are in the centre. The Tower is about 900 years old. Many years ago it was a royal residence, then a prison. Now it is a museum. St. Paul's Cathedral is very large and fine. It was completed in 1710. The famous English architect Christopher Wren planned and built St. Paul's Cathedral.

     If the City is the business part of London, Westminster is the centre of administration. It is the aristocratic, official part of London. Westminster's very attractive for tourists because it has historical places full of customs and traditions. We can see the Houses of Parliament there. It is a beautiful building with two towers and a very big clock called Big Ben from which all people of this country take the time. The Houses of Parliament stand in Parliament Square. Westminster Abbey is opposite the Houses of Parliament. Many great Englishmen were buried in Westminster Abbey. To the west of Westminster Abbey you can see Buckingham Palace. It is the official residence of the Queen of England. The ceremony of the changing of the guards which takes place in front of Buckingham Palace is of great interest to the tourists.

       The West End is the richest and the most beautiful part of London, symbol of wealth and luxury. English aristocracy lives there. The best and most expensive clubs, restaurants and theatres, beautiful houses and parks are there.

     The East End - the district of plants, factories, slums and docks - is for the working people.

     The streets of London are always of great interest to tourists. Fleet Street is the street of British Press. Oxford, Regent, Bond streets are the main shopping centres. Downing Street is famous as the official residence of the Prime Minister of the country. Piccadilly Circus is the place where people gather on New Year's Eve.

             The English are fond of sports, they have a great number of sport federations, associations and clubs. The most interesting tennis and football competitions and tournaments are held in Wimbledon court and Wembley stadium.

       London is the centre of education and science. Higher educational establishments among which the London University, the British Academy, the Greenwich Observatory are well known in the world. Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest universities in England.

     London is unlike any other city in the world. It looks very grey because there is so much rain and fog there. Only buses and pillarboxes are red. This city has never been planned and it has many parts which are different from each other. 
 
 
 

                               GREAT BRITAIN

         The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland occupies territory of the British Isles which are situated to the north-west of Europe. They consist of two main islands: Great Britain and Ireland. England is in the south of the island of Great Britain, Scotland is in the north and Wales is in the west. Northern Ireland is situated in the north-eastern part of Ireland. Its western coast is washed by the Atlantic Ocean. In the east the island of Great Britain is washed by the North Sea. The Irish Sea, the North Channel and the St. George’s Channel separate Ireland from Great Britain. Great Britain is separated from France by the English Channel, which is 32 km wide in its narrowest part. In everyday speech “Great Britain” is used to mean the UK.

         The climate of Britain is usually described as cool, temperate and humid. As the weather changes with a wind, and Britain is visited by winds from different parts of the world, the most characteristic feature of Britain’s weather is its variability. Summers are not hot and winters are not cold in Britain. The snow never lies for long on the ground. As a rule there is no ice on the waters of rivers and lakes. So we may say that the British climate has 3 main features: it is mild, humid and changeable. That means that it’s never too hot or too warm.

Weather changes very often.  

         English is the official, but not the only language used in the country.          

         Britain has been many centuries in the making. The Romans conquered most partof Britain, but were unable to subdue the fiercely independent tribes in the West and in the North. Further waves of invaders followed: Angels, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings and Normans. All these contributed to the mixture we call English. For many centuries this country was known simply as England. It had a strong army and navy. It waged numerous colonial wars. England, once the “work shop of the world”, was the first to become a highly industrial country.

         There are no big rivers in Great Britain. The biggest are Severn and Thames. The Severn in England is the longest river. It is 350 kilometers long. It flows south – west into the Irish Sea.   There are a lot of mountains in Great Britain, but they are nit high. The highest mountain - Ben Nevis - is in Scotland. The flora of the British Isles is much varied and the fauna is similar to that of the north-west of Europe. The country is not very rich in natural resources but there were suffice for the Industrial Revolution to start. 

                                                   London 

London is the capital of the Great Britain. 

It was founded by the Romans. It is very old city. It is two thousand years old. London is only the capital of the country; it is also a huge port. 

London is situated upon both banks of the Thames. There are 17 bridges across the river. The population of London is over 8 million people. 

London has got three parts of London, the West End, and the East End. The City of London is the oldest part of London. You can see narrow streets and pavements there. There are many offices, films and banks in this part of London. The City of London is the financial centre of the Great Britain. 

The West End is the centre of London. There are many sights in the West End. They are many, for example, the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben. It is interesting that the clock “Big Ben” came into service in 1859. Big Ben is biggest clock bell in Britain. It weight 13.5 tons. 

The other interesting place is Westminster Abbey, which was founded in 1050. It is situated in the centre of London. Many great Englishmen were buried in the Abbey: Newton, Darvin and others. 

The official London residence of the Queen is Buckingham Palace. It was built in the 18th century. There are many nice squares in London. Trafalgar Square is one of them and it is in the centre of West End. One can see a statue of Lord Nelson in the middle of this square. 

There are many museums, libraries and galleries in London. The Gallery is one of the well – known galleries in London. Henry Tate was a sugar manufacturer. He was found of paintings and collected many pictures. 

The British Museum is a very interesting place in London. It was founded in 1753. The library of this museum has a lot of books. 

The East End of London is the district for the working people. There are many factories, workshops, docks there. There are many cars and buses in London. There is a tube (an underground) in London, too. It is a nice one. 

One can say that the City is the money of London, the West End is the goods of London, the East End is the hands of London. 

* * * 

Great Britain is highly industrialized, this was the country in which the earliest developments of modern industry. 

The Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. A parliament is the group of people who make the laws of their country. British laws are made in the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The main political parties in Great Britain are the Conservative, Labour, Liberal and Social – Democratic Parties.           

The largest cities of Great Britain besides London are: Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, and Edinburgh. The most important seaports are: London, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Great Britain 
 

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest in Europe. With a population of approximately 58.9 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth after Java and Honshū. It occupies an area of 209,331 km²  (80,823 square miles). Ireland is to its west, and it is surrounded by over 1000 smaller islands and islets. 

Great Britain stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north – south axis. Geographically, the island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. 

It makes up the largest part of the territory of the sovereign state the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the term Great Britain is sometimes used inaccurately to mean the United Kingdom. England, Scotland and Wales are mostly situated on the island, along with their capital cities, London, Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively. 
 

The Kingdom of Great Britain was the state resulting from the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland on 1 May, 1707 under Queen Anne. It existed until 1801 when Great Britain and Ireland united. The resulting United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland became the modern United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1922 with the secession of the Irish Free State. 

Great Britain is the eastern island of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Politically, Great Britain also refers to England, Scotland and Wales in combination, and therefore also includes a number of outlying islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands as they are not part of the United Kingdom, with independent legislative and taxation systems. 

The union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland began with the 1603 Union of Crowns, a personal union under James VI of Scotland, I of England. The political union that joined the two countries happened in 1707, with the Acts of Union merging the parliaments of each nation, and forming the Kingdom of Great Britain, which covered the entire island. 

In 1801, an Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland created the larger United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK). This in turn became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1922, following the partition of Ireland and the creation of the Irish Free State. 

The terms Great Britain and England are sometimes mistakenly used to denote the United Kingdom. This error can be compared with the use of the term Russia to refer to the former USSR.