Interesting Facts About England – Basic Facts
Its capital city is London. London is also the capital city of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is made up of several countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The Prime Meridian is located at Greenwich. It became the prime meridian on October 13, 1884. Before Greenwich was chosen, a few other places considered were Jerusalem, Egypt’s Great Pyramid, and Paris. In fact, the French only agreed on Greenwich under the condition that Britain adopt the metric system.
There are five grades of English nobility in the House of Lords: duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.
The English determine class by their family background, not income.
Interesting Facts About England – English Places and Things
The first public theater built was called The Theatre. It was built in 1576, but it had to be built outside the city limits of London because plays were banned inside London city at the time. The Theatre was built by James Burbage.
Merry-go-rounds that are made in the country of England are built to move in a clockwise direction. But everywhere else, merry-go-rounds are made to move in a counterclockwise direction.
A ghost of an ape is said to haunt the Athelhampton House.
Interesting Facts About England – People
A few interesting famous English people: Robin Hood, Thomas Paine, Winston Churchill, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Andy Warhol, Charles Darwin, Alfred Hitchcock, David Bowie, The Beatles, Hugh Grant, Kiera Knightley, Daniel Radcliffe.
Typically, police in England do not carry guns.
Interesting Facts About England – Random Facts
One interpretation of the English nursery rhyme line “pop goes the weasel” is that the phrase comes from England’s Industrial Revolution, and it’s about a factory worker pawning the family iron for drinking money. This fact is thought because pawning is sometimes referred to as popping, and the family iron is sometimes referred to as weasel.
Some interesting British slang you might hear in England: ace means brilliant, any road means anyway, baps are hamburger buns, blinding means fantastic, a bobby is a cop, bottle means courage, cheeky means flippant, daft means stupid, mug means gullible, off your trolley means crazy, snog means making out, stonking means huge.
You might want to remember this interesting fact in case you are ever on the game show Family Feud: while it is obviously debatable which country has the world’s worst food, England is most often thought of as having the world’s worst food.
One of its more popular food dishes is known as “toad in the hole”. Wikipedia describes the dish Toad in the Hole as “a traditional English dish comprising of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with vegetables and onions.
Sources:
Odegard, Mark. A Glossary of European Noble, Princely, Royal, and Imperial Titles. URL: (www.heraldica.org/topics/odegard/titlefaq.htm).
William-Shakespere.info, The Old Globe Theater. URL: (www.william-shakespeare.info).
Eupedia, England Guide. URL: (www.eupedia.com/england/trivia.shtml).
England.mu, Some Interesting and Informative Facts About England. URL: (www.england.mu).
Wikipedia, Toad in the Hole. URL: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_in_the_hole).
Greenwich Guide, The Prime Meridian. URL: (www.greenwich-guide.org.uk/meridian.htm).
Britain TV, Unbelievable Facts. URL: (www.britain.tv/unbelievable_facts).
