The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. It means that the sovereign reigns but does not rule.
Britain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws.
Parliament is the most important authority in Britain. Technically Parliament is made up of three parts: the Monarch, the House of Lords; and the House of Commons. In reality the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power.
The monarch serves formally as head of state. But the monarch is expected to be politically neutral and should not make political decisions...
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. Britain does not have a written constitution. Parliament is the most important authority in Britain.
The monarch serves formally as head of state. The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II (the second).
The House of Commons consists of Members of Parliament. General elections are held every five years. Ail citizens aged 18 have the right to vote.
There are few political parties in Britain. The main ones are: the Conservative Party, the Labour Party.
Each political party puts up one candidate for each constituency. The one who wins the most votes is MP for that area...
England shares with the rest of Britain a diminished range of vegetation and living creatures, partly because the island was separated from the mainland of Europe soon after much of it had been swept bare by the last Ice Age and partly because the land has been so industriously worked.
Woodland covers merely 7 % of England's total land area.
A drastic depletion of mature broad-leaved forests, especially oak, was a result of the overuse of timber in the iron and shipbuilding industries.
A modified pattern of vegetation has now emerged through overgrazing, forest clearance, reclamation and drainage of marshlands, and the introduction of exotic plant species.
Though there are fewer species of plants than in the European mainland.
Tundra survive in parts of the moorland of the northeast.
England has a profusion of summer wildflowers in its fields....
It's the London's largest and most fashionable park. It was once a royal hunting forest. There are restaurants and bars at each end of the Serpentine lake. Hire a boat.
Downing Street
Number 10, Downing Street has been the home of the British Prime Minister since 1735.
Great Britain is rich in world-famous places. Hide Park is the London's largest and most fashionable park. It was once a royal hunting forest. There are restaurants and bars at each end of the Serpentine lake. You can hire a boat there.
Number 10, Downing Street has been the home of the British Prime Minister since 1735.
The official name of the Houses of Parliament is the Palace of Westminster. Most of the building was built in 1840 after the fire of 1834 destroyed the old palace. At the north end of the building, by Westminster Bridge, there is the famous clock tower, Big Ben. In fact Big Ben is really the name of the bell in the tower, not of the clock...
Great Britain is rich in world-famous places. Certainly among them there are famous university cities Oxford and Cambridge, Shakespeare's birthplace — Stratford-upon-Avon, towns of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow.
Stratford-upon-Avon is a small town with the population about 20 thousand. It is 94 miles northwest of London. Its chief points of interest are associated with the name and life of Shakespeare. In Henley Street stands a one-storeyed wooden house, where the greatest English poet and playwright was born. Now, this house belongs to the British government...
Great Britain is rich in world-famous places. Certainly among them there are famous university cities Oxford and Cambridge, Shakespeare's birthplace — Stratford-upon-Avon, towns of Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Stratford-upon-Avon is a small town. Its chief points of interest are associated with Shakespeare, the greatest English poet and playwright. Shakespeare was buried in the church at Stratford on the banks of the Avon.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre was opened in Stratford in 1932. Only Shakespeare's plays are performed here.
Those who come to Oxford certainly are interested in its university most of all. It was founded in the 12th century. But there is no "university" as such in Oxford. The component parts of the University of Oxford are the colleges. Each college is practically autonomous. But they do not stand in isolation, they are mixed together with houses, shops and offices...
Britain is rich in its historic places which link the present with the past. The oldest part of London is Lud Hill, where the city is originated. About a mile west of it there is Westminster Palace, where the king lived and the Parliament met, and there is also Westminster Abbey, the coronation church. Liverpool, the "city of ships", is England's second greatest port, ranking after London. The most interesting sight in the Liverpool is the docks. They occupy a river frontage of seven miles. The University of Liverpool, established in 1903, is noted for its School of Tropical Medicine. And in the music world Liverpool is a well-known name, for it's the home town of "The Beatles"...
Britain is administered from the Palace of Westminster in London. This is also known as the Houses of Parliament. Parliament is made up of two chambers — the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The members of the House of Lords are not elected: they qualify to sit in the House because they are bishops of the Church of England, aristocrats who have inherited their seats from their fathers, people with titles. There has been talk of reform in this century because many Britons think that this system is undemocratic.
The House of Commons, by contrast, has 650 seats which are occupied by Members of Parliament (MPs) who are elected by the British public. The United Kingdom is divided into constituencies, each of which has an elected MP in the House of Commons...
This university town is very beautiful. The oldest university there is Oxford. The first of its colleges was founded in 1249. The university now has thirty-five colleges and about thirteen thousand students, many of them from other countries.
There were no women at Oxford until 1878. When the first women's college Lady Margaret Hall, opened. Now most colleges are open to men and women. It is not easy to get a place at Oxford University to study for a degree.
But outside the university there are many smaller private colleges which offer less difficult courses and where it is easy to enrol. Most students in these private school take business, secretarial or English language courses.
Oxford is, of course, famous for its first-class education as well as its beautiful buildings. Some of the most intelligent men and women in the country live and work here. Oxford gives them what they need: a quiet atmosphere, friendly colleagues and the four-hundred-year-old library...
