FOOD AND DRINK GEOGRAPHY

Transcription

1 FOOD AND DRINK Reputatin f British cuisine Internatinally very bad reputatin unimaginative and heavy Characterised as including nthing mre than fish and chips and the full English breakfast Hwever, British cuisine cntains influences frm many ther different cultures Many f which came abut due t the British Empire Fish and Chips First appeared in the United Kingdm arund 1858 The first fish and ship shp was pened in 1860 Cnsists f deep-fried fish in batter / breadcrumbs The mst cmmn fish t use is cd, but ther fish such as haddck and Pllck are ften available The mst cmmn accmpaniments with fish and chips are salt, vinegar and mushy peas 25% f all white fish cnsumed in Britain is sld by fish and chip shps Ice cream Ice cream was first intrduced int the UK in the 17 th century at a banquet fr King Charles II There are arund 8,000 UK cmpanies wh made ice cream The average persn has 8 litres f ice cream per year The mst ppular flavur is vanilla Drinks Tea. Of curse. Beer is the mst ppular alchlic drink 2,000 different types f beer are available in the UK Hwever wine and, increasingly, cider are becming mre ppular The minimum drinking age in the UK is 18 years ld Miscellaneus facts 4,000 tnnes f hney are prduced in the UK every year Chicken is the mst ppular meat in the UK 26,000,0000 eggs are cnsumed every day 38,000,000 kg per week f chips are eaten in the UK GEOGRAPHY General facts abut the UK The ttal area f the UK is 245,000 square kilmetres Of which 130,427 square kilmetres is England On sixth f the island f Ireland lies within the UK The ten tallest muntains in the UK are all in Sctland The tallest peak is in Ben Nevis, which is 1,344 metres) The lngest River in the UK is the River Severn, which is 354 km lng. The United Kingdm has a castline f 12,429 km The United Kingdm als hlds varius verseas territry Such as Gibraltar and the Falklands

2 Ttal ppulatin f the UK Over 61,000,000 peple It is a very cmmn mistake fr peple t use the wrds English and England t describe everyne frm the United Kingdm, but there are in fact fur natinalities in the United Kingdm: England Capital Lndn 84% f the ppulatin Wales Capital Cardiff 4.9% f the ppulatin Sctland Capital - Edinburgh 8.4% f the ppulatin Nrthern Ireland Capital Belfast 2.9% f the ppulatin There are eight recgnised languages in the United Kingdm England (de fact fficial language) Wales (fficial language in Wales) Irish (fficial language in Nrthern Island) Scttish Gaelic (fficial language in Sctland) Scts (Sctland) Ulster Scts (Nrthern Ireland) Crnish (Crnwall) Lndn Lndn has a ppulatin f ver seven and a half millin peple and is the largest urban area in the Eurpean Unin Has the largest nn-eurpean ppulatin f any Eurpean city Over 250 languages are spken there The UK has 11 cities that have mre than 300,000 inhabitants HISTORY Rman Britain Britain was first invaded by the Rmans under Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC The Rmans built Hadrian s Wall acrss the brder with Calednia (Sctland) in abut 128 AD Rman rule ended in Britain in 410 AD Medieval 1066 the Nrman Cnquest William the Cnquerr invaded Britain and defeated Harld Gdwinsn at the Battle f Hastings n the 14 th Octber 1066 First War f Scttish Independence Included the famus Battle f Bannckburn in 1314, where Rbert the Bruce defeated the army f Edward II At the end, Sctland remained an independent state

3 Wales was much less successful in keeping its independence frm England In the 13 th century there were a series f wars, until Edward I finally cmpleted the cnquest f Wales in Henry VIII became king n 21 st April 1509 Famus fr having had eight wives In 1534 he made himself the head f the Church f England, breaking frm Rme and turning England int a Prtestant cuntry Early Mdern English Civil War 1641 t 1651 Actually a series f cnflicts, mainly between the supprters f the English Parliament and supprters f the Mnarchy The parliamentary frces wn, and King Charles I was executed n the 30 th January 1649 Oliver Crmwell, Lrd Prtectr f the English Cmmnwealth, died 3 rd September 1658 and the mnarchy was restred under King Charles II n 29 th May May 1707 plitical unin f England, Wales and Sctland as Great Britain American War f Independence 1775 t 1783 Act f Unin in 1800 adds the Kingdm f Ireland t Great Britain Mdern By 1921, the British had undergne an industrial revlutin and acquired an Empire that cntained 458 millin peple at that time, abut a quarter f the entire wrld s ppulatin In 1922 the Angl-Irish treaty marked the departure f the Republic f Ireland frm the United Kingdm. In 1939 Britain entered int the Secnd Wrld War against Nazi Germany Winstn Churchill was wartime leader, and remains perhaps the mst famus British Prime Minister. In 1973 Britain entered the Eurpean Ecnmic Cmmunity, frerunner t the Eurpean Unin. Queen Elizabeth II cmes t the thrne n the 6 th February th June 2007 Grdn Brwn becmes Prime Minister. LITERATURE William Shakespeare (Brn 1564, died 1616) He wrte 38 plays and 154 snnets He had three children with his wife Anne Hathaway, wh he married when he was 18 He wrte many famus plays such as Macbeth, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night Gerge Orwell (Brn 25 June 1903 and died 21 January 1950) Orwell was a scialist, and went t fight in Catalnia as part f the Internatinal Brigades during the Civil War, where he was sht in the thrat (but survived). His mst famus wrks were Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Fur (1949). He als wrte a bk n his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, called Hmage t Catalnia (1938)

4 JK Rwling (Brn 31 July 1965 still alive) Her real name is Janne Murray, and she was brn in Glucestershire, England She wrte the successful Harry Ptter series, f which there are seven bk The bks have sld mre than 400 millin cpies wrldwide The first bk, Harry Ptter and the Philspher s Stne was published in June 1997, and the final bk ( Harry Ptter and the Deathly Harrws ) was published n 21 July 2007 The series has been translated int 65 languages She is nw the twelfth-richest wman in Britain, and is wrth 560 millin Charles Dickens (Brn 7 February 1812 and died 9 June 1870) The mst successful nvelist f the Victrian era, whse pen name was Bz Sme f his mst famus wrks include: Oliver Twist (1838) A Christmas Carl (1843) David Cpperfield (1849/1850) J.R.R Tlkien (3 January 1892 t 2 September 1973) Brn in Suth Africa He was a prfessr f English literature at Oxfrd University The Lrd f the Rings trilgy, ne f the mst famus wrks f fantasy ever written, was published between 1954 and It has been translated int 38 ther languages POPULAR CULTURE Music The natinal anthem f the United Kingdm is Gd Save the Queen When there is a male mnarch, it is Gd Save the King The Beatles are ne f the mst internatinally famus British bands The band was frmed in Liverpl in the 1960s The Beatles have sld mre recrds in the USA than any ther artist, and had 15 number ne albums in the UK Pink Flyd were als a very successful and well-knw grup frm the 1970s Dark Side f the Mn (1973) has sld 45 millin cpies wrldwide, making it the third mst successful album in histry and the mst successful British album in terms f wrldwide sales. Hwever, the best-selling album in the UK is (What s the Stry) Mrning Glry? by Oasis, released in 1995, which has sld 4,200,000 cpies in Britain. Cldplay are a mre recent British band that have been internatinally successful Cldplay were frmed in 1997 in Lndn They have hld ver 50 millin recrds wrldwide Film 68% f the British g t the cinema at least nce a year A ppular and lng-standing series f films are the James Bnd films Based n the nvels by the British authr Ian Fleming The first James Bnd film, Dr. N, was released in T date their have been twenty tw Bnd films, and six Bnd actrs

5 Sme key films f British cinema Mnty Pythn s Life f Brian (1979, dir. Terry Jnes) The Italian Jb (1969, dir. Peter Cllinsn) Fur Weddings and a Funeral (1994, dir. Mike Newell) A Clckwrk Orange (1971, dir. Stanley Kubrick) Sprt Tennis is very ppular fr the tw weeks f the Wimbledn Champinships every summer, but therwise receives little attentin Ftball is the mst ppular sprt In its current frm, ftball was first played in England in the mid-18 th century 46% f British watch ftball n TV (10% play) In internatinal ftball, England, Wales, Sctland have separate teams The current English Premier League was funded in 1992 and has 20 teams Manchester United have wn it eleven times, making them the mst successful Premier League team frm 1992 t the present day. After ftball the mst ppular sprts are: Rugby (21% watch) Tennis (18% watch, 3% play) Athletics (18% watch, 2 % play) Snker (17% watch, 5 % play) STEREOTYPES Tea The British have a reputatin fr being very large cnsumers f tea Tea is indeed very ppular in the UK, but due t a fall in the sales f tea, the UK is nly the SECOND largest per capita cnsumer f tea Each persn cnsumes n average 2.1 kg f tea per year, behind Turkey, which cnsumes abut 2.4 kg f tea per persn. 98% f British have milk in their tea, but nly 30% have it with milk Tea was first intrduced in the UK in the 1660s It was created in China mre than 5,000 years ag Hwever, it wasn t until the middle f the 18 th century that it becme the mst ppular beverage Tea drinking is actually n the decline in the UK, with a reprted 10% drp in sales between 1997 and 2002 Peple are instead drinking fruit / herbal teas The Ryal Family Anther cmmn idea is that the British are strng mnarchists and respect the mnarchy Britain actually had a republican revlutin befre France did, with King Charles I being verthrwn and executed in the 17 th century, leading t a brief perid f Britain being a republic Accrding t the Treasn Felny Act in 1848, it is technically still illegal t advcate a republic The punishment used t be deprtatin t Australia Currently plls shw that abut 70% f British peple supprt the retentin f the mnarchy

6 Nne f the main plitical parties supprt republicanism The mnarchy csts 62p per persn per year Weather Britain is characterised as having awful weather and raining all the time The average year Britain has abut 1,126mm f rainfall This amunts t 154 days f rain each year Spain has 456mm Hwever, it varies greatly by regin Fr example, Sctland has 1,520mm f rainfall per year And England has abut 800mm British peple drink a lt f alchl The Scttish are particularly heavy drinkers They drink the equivalent f 46 bttles f vdka per year, r 537 pints / 130 bttles f wine On average the Scts drink 25% mre per head than peple in England and Wales