Changes: England

England
England
	Flag
	Motto: "Dieu et mon droit"(French) ; "God and my right" ;
	Anthem: None (de jure) ; God Save the Queen (de facto);
	Location of England (dark green) – in European continent (light green & dark grey); – in United Kingdom (light green)
Capital; and largest city	London; 51°30′N 0°7′W / 51.5, -0.117
Official languages	English (de facto)
Recognised regional languages	Cornish
Ethnic groups (2011)	85.5% White ; 7.7% Asian ; 3.4% Black ; 2.2% Mixed race ; 1.0% other ;
Demonym	English
Government	Non-devolved constituent country within a constitutional monarchy
Legislature	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Area
Population
GDP (nominal)	2009 estimate
Currency	Pound sterling (GBP)
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Drives on the	left
Calling code	+44
Patron saint	Saint George
Internet TLD	.uk

Latest revision as of 18:23, 24 December 2020

For an explanation of often confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see wikipedia:British Isles (terminology).

For other uses, see England (disambiguation).

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

England portal

England ( /ˈɪŋɡlənd/) is the most populous country in the United Kingdom.^[5]^[6]^[7] It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world.^[8] The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations.^[9] The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.^[10]

England's terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north (for example, the mountainous Lake District, Pennines, and Yorkshire Dales) and in the south west (for example, Dartmoor and the Cotswolds). The former capital of England was Winchester until replaced by London in 1066. Today London is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures.^{[nb 3]} England's population is about 53 million, around 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, and is largely concentrated in London, the South East and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century. Meadowlands and pastures are found beyond the major cities.

The Kingdom of England—which after 1284 included Wales—was a sovereign state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain.^[11]^[12] In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, the Irish Free State was established as a separate dominion, but the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 reincorporated into the kingdom six Irish counties to officially create the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Toponymy[]

History[]

Main article: History of England

Prehistory and antiquity[]

Main article: Prehistoric Britain

Sun shining through row of upright standing stones with other stones horizontally on the top. — Stonehenge, a Neolithic monument.

The earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago.^[24] Modern humans are known to have first inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years.^[25]^[26] After the last ice age only large mammals such as mammoths, bison and woolly rhinoceros remained. Roughly 11,000 years ago, when the ice sheets began to recede, humans repopulated the area; genetic research suggests they came from the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula.^[27] The sea level was lower than now, and Britain was connected by land to both Ireland and Eurasia.^[28] As the seas rose, it was separated from Ireland 10,000 years ago and from Eurasia two millennia later.

The Beaker culture arrived around 2500 BC, introducing drinking and food vessels constructed from clay, as well as vessels used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores.^[29] It was during this time that major Neolithic monuments such as Stonehenge and Avebury were constructed. By heating together tin and copper, both of which were in abundance in the area, the Beaker culture people made bronze, and later iron from iron ores. The development of iron smelting allowed the construction of better ploughs, advancing agriculture (for instance, with Celtic fields), as well as the production of more effective weapons.^[30]

According to John T. Koch and others, England in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age, that included the whole of the British Isles and much of what we now regard as France, together with the Iberian Peninsula. Celtic languages developed in those areas; Tartessian may have been the earliest written Celtic language.^[31]^[32]^[33]

During the Iron Age, Celtic culture, deriving from the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures, arrived from Central Europe. Brythonic was the spoken language during this time. Society was tribal; according to Ptolemy's Geographia there were around 20 tribes in the area. Earlier divisions are unknown because the Britons were not literate. Like other regions on the edge of the Empire, Britain had long enjoyed trading links with the Romans. Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic attempted to invade twice in 55 BC; although largely unsuccessful, he managed to set up a client king from the Trinovantes.

The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 during the reign of Emperor Claudius, subsequently conquering much of Britain, and the area was incorporated into the Roman Empire as Britannia province.^[34] The best-known of the native tribes who attempted to resist were the Catuvellauni led by Caratacus. Later, an uprising led by Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, ended with Boudica's suicide following her defeat at the Battle of Watling Street.^[35] This era saw a Greco-Roman culture prevail with the introduction of Roman law, Roman architecture, sewage systems, many agricultural items, and silk.^[36]^[37]^[38] In the 3rd century, Emperor Septimius Severus died at Eboracum (modern-day York), where Constantine was subsequently proclaimed emperor.^[39]

There is debate about when Christianity was first introduced; it was no later than the 4th century, with probability lying much earlier. According to Bede, missionaries were sent from Rome by Eleutherius at the request of the chieftain Lucius of Britain in AD 180 to settle differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials which were disturbing the church. There are traditions linked to Glastonbury claiming an introduction through Joseph of Arimathea, while others claim through Lucius of Britain.^[40] By 410, as the Empire declined, Britain was left exposed by the withdrawal of Roman army units, to defend the frontiers in continental Europe and partake in civil wars.^[41]

Middle Ages[]

Main article: England in the Middle Ages

Roman military withdrawals left Britain open to invasion by pagan, seafaring warriors from north-western continental Europe, chiefly the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who had long raided the coasts of the Roman province and began to settle, initially in the eastern part of the country.^[41] Their advance was contained for some decades after the Britons' victory at the Battle of Mount Badon, but subsequently resumed, over-running the fertile lowlands of Britain and reducing the area under Brythonic control to a series of separate enclaves in the more rugged country to the west by the end of the 6th century. Contemporary texts describing this period are extremely scarce, giving rise to its description as a Dark Age. The nature and progression of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is consequently subject to considerable disagreement. Christianity had in general disappeared from the conquered territories, but was reintroduced by missionaries from Rome led by Augustine from 597 onwards and by Irish missionaries led by Aidan around the same time.^[42] Disputes between the varying influences represented by these missions ended in victory for the Roman tradition.

During the settlement period the lands ruled by the incomers seem to have been fragmented into numerous tribal territories, but by the 7th century, when substantial evidence of the situation again becomes available, these had coalesced into roughly a dozen kingdoms including Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, East Anglia, Essex, Kent and Sussex. Over the following centuries this process of political consolidation continued.^[43] The 7th century saw a struggle for hegemony between Northumbria and Mercia, which in the 8th century gave way to Mercian preeminence.^[44] In the early 9th century Mercia was displaced as the foremost kingdom by Wessex. Later in that century escalating attacks by the Danes culminated in the conquest of the north and east of England, overthrowing the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Wessex under Alfred the Great was left as the only surviving English kingdom, and under his successors it steadily expanded at the expense of the kingdoms of the Danelaw. This brought about the political unification of England, first accomplished under Æthelstan in 927 and definitively established after further conflicts by Eadred in 953. A fresh wave of Scandinavian attacks from the late 10th century ended with the conquest of this united kingdom by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013 and again by his son Cnut in 1016, turning it into the centre of a short-lived North Sea empire that also included Denmark and Norway. However the native royal dynasty was restored with the accession of Edward the Confessor in 1042.

A dispute over the succession to Edward led to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, accomplished by an army led by Duke William of Normandy.^[45] The Normans themselves originated from Scandinavia and had settled in Normandy in the late 9th and early 10th centuries.^[46] This conquest led to the almost total dispossession of the English elite and its replacement by a new French-speaking aristocracy, whose speech had a profound and permanent effect on the English language.^[47]

The House of Plantagenet from Anjou inherited the English throne under Henry II, adding England to the budding Angevin Empire of fiefs the family had inherited in France including Aquitaine.^[48] They reigned for three centuries, proving noted monarchs such as Richard I, Edward I, Edward III and Henry V.^[48] The period saw changes in trade and legislation, including the signing of the Magna Carta, an English legal charter used to limit the sovereign's powers by law and protect the privileges of freemen. Catholic monasticism flourished, providing philosophers and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were founded with royal patronage. The Principality of Wales became a Plantagenet fief during the 13th century^[49] and the Lordship of Ireland was gifted to the English monarchy by the Pope.

During the 14th century, the Plantagenets and House of Valois both claimed to be legitimate claimants to House of Capet and with it France—the two powers clashed in the Hundred Years' War.^[50] The Black Death epidemic hit England; starting in 1348, it eventually killed up to half of England's inhabitants.^[51]^[52] From 1453 to 1487 civil war between two branches of the royal family occurred—the Yorkists and Lancastrians—known as the Wars of the Roses.^[53] Eventually it led to the Yorkists losing the throne entirely to a Welsh noble family the Tudors, a branch of the Lancastrians headed by Henry Tudor who invaded with Welsh and Breton mercenaries, gaining victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field where the Yorkist king Richard III was killed.^[54]

Early Modern[]

During the Tudor period, the Renaissance reached England through Italian courtiers, who reintroduced artistic, educational and scholarly debate from classical antiquity.^[55] During this time England began to develop naval skills, and exploration to the West intensified.^[56]^[57]

Henry VIII broke from communion with the Catholic Church, over issues relating to divorce, under the Acts of Supremacy in 1534 which proclaimed the monarch head of the Church of England. In contrast with much of European Protestantism, the roots of the split were more political than theological.^{[nb 4]} He also legally incorporated his ancestral land Wales into the Kingdom of England with the 1535–1542 acts. There were internal religious conflicts during the reigns of Henry's daughters, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The former brought the country back to Catholicism, while the later broke from it again, more forcefully asserting the supremacy of Anglicanism.

An English fleet under Francis Drake defeated an invading Spanish Armada during the Elizabethan period. Competing with Spain, the first English colony in the Americas was founded in 1585 by explorer Walter Raleigh in Virginia and named Roanoke. The Roanoke colony failed and is known as the lost colony, after it was found abandoned on the return of the late arriving supply ship.^[59] With the East India Company, England also competed with the Dutch and French in the East. The political structure of the island was changed in 1603, when the Stuart James VI of Scotland, a kingdom which was a longtime rival, inherited the throne of England as James I—creating a personal union .^[60]^[61] He styled himself King of Great Britain, although this had no basis in English law.^[62] Under the auspices of King James VI and I the so-called Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible was published in 1611. It has not only been ranked with Shakespeare's works as the greatest masterpiece of literature in the English language, but also has been the standard version of the Bible most Christians have read for four hundred years.

Based on conflicting political, religious and social positions, the English Civil War was fought between the supporters of Parliament and those of King Charles I, known as Roundheads and Cavaliers respectively. This was an interwoven part of the wider multifaceted Wars of the Three Kingdoms, involving Scotland and Ireland. The Parliamentarians were victorious, Charles I was executed and the kingdom replaced with the Commonwealth. Leader of the Parliament forces, Oliver Cromwell declared himself Lord Protector in 1653, a period of personal rule followed.^[63] After Cromwell's death, and his son Richard's resignation as Lord Protector, Charles II was invited to return as monarch in 1660 with the Restoration. It was now constitutionally established that King and Parliament should rule together, though Parliament would have the real power. This was established with the Bill of Rights in 1689. Among the statutes set down were that the law could only be made by Parliament and could not be suspended by the King, and the King could not impose taxes or raise an army without prior approval by Parliament.^[64] With the founding of the Royal Society in 1660, science was greatly encouraged.

The Great Fire of London in 1666 gutted the City of London but it was rebuilt shortly afterwards.^[65] In Parliament two factions had emerged—the Tories and Whigs. The former were royalists while the latter were classical liberals. Though the Tories initially supported Catholic king James II, some of them, along with the Whigs, deposed him in the Revolution of 1688 and invited Dutch prince William III to become monarch. Some English people, especially in the north, were Jacobites and continued to support James and his sons. After the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed,^[66] the two countries joined in political union, to create the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.^[60] To accommodate the union, institutions such as the law and national church of each remained separate.^[67]

Late Modern and contemporary[]

Under the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain, output from the Royal Society and other English initiatives combined with the Scottish Enlightenment to create innovations in science and engineering. This paved the way for the establishment of the British Empire. Domestically it drove the Industrial Revolution, a period of profound change in the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of England, resulting in industrialised agriculture, manufacture, engineering and mining, as well as new and pioneering road, rail and water networks to facilitate their expansion and development.^[68] The opening of Northwest England's Bridgewater Canal in 1761 ushered in the canal age in Britain.^[69]^[70] In 1825 the world's first permanent steam locomotive-hauled passenger railway—the Stockton and Darlington Railway—opened to the public.^[69]

During the Industrial Revolution, many workers moved from England's countryside to new and expanding urban industrial areas to work in factories, for instance at Manchester and Birmingham, dubbed "Warehouse City" and "Workshop of the World" respectively.^[71]^[72] England maintained relative stability throughout the French Revolution; William Pitt the Younger was British Prime Minister for the reign of George III. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon planned to invade from the south-east. However this failed to manifest and the Napoleonic forces were defeated by the British at sea by Lord Nelson and on land by the Duke of Wellington. The Napoleonic Wars fostered a concept of Britishness and a united national British people, shared with the Scots and Welsh.^[73]

A cuboid granite cenotaph. — The Cenotaph, Whitehall is a memorial to members of the British Armed Forces who died during the two World Wars.

London became the largest and most populous metropolitan area in the world during the Victorian era, and trade within the British Empire—as well as the standing of the British military and navy—was prestigious.^[74] Political agitation at home from radicals such as the Chartists and the suffragettes enabled legislative reform and universal suffrage.^[75] Power shifts in east-central Europe led to World War I; hundreds of thousands of English soldiers died fighting for the United Kingdom as part of the Allies.^{[nb 5]} Two decades later, in World War II, the United Kingdom was again one of the Allies. At the end of the Phoney War, Winston Churchill became the wartime Prime Minister. Developments in warfare technology saw many cities damaged by air-raids during the Blitz. Following the war, the British Empire experienced rapid decolonisation, and there was a speeding up of technological innovations; automobiles became the primary means of transport and Frank Whittle's development of the jet engine led to wider air travel.^[77] Residential patterns were altered in England by private motoring, and by the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948. England's NHS provided publicly funded health care to all UK permanent residents free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. Combined, these changes prompted the reform of local government in England in the mid-20th century.^[78]^[79]

Since the 20th century there has been significant population movement to England, mostly from other parts of the British Isles, but also from the Commonwealth, particularly the Indian subcontinent.^[80] Since the 1970s there has been a large move away from manufacturing and an increasing emphasis on the service industry.^[81] As part of the United Kingdom, the area joined a common market initiative called the European Economic Community which became the European Union. Since the late 20th century the administration of the United Kingdom has moved towards devolved governance in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.^[82] England and Wales continues to exist as a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom.^[83] Devolution has stimulated a greater emphasis on a more English-specific identity and patriotism.^[84]^[85] There is no devolved English government, but an attempt to create a similar system on a sub-regional basis was rejected by referendum.^[86]

Governance[]

Politics[]

Main article: Politics of England

As part of the United Kingdom, the basic political system in England is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system.^[87] There has not been a Government of England since 1707, when the Acts of Union 1707, putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union, joined England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.^[66] Before the union England was ruled by its monarch and the Parliament of England. Today England is governed directly by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, although other countries of the United Kingdom have devolved governments.^[88] In the House of Commons which is the lower house of the British Parliament based at the Palace of Westminster, there are 532 Members of Parliament (MPs) for constituencies in England, out of the 650 total.^[89]

In the United Kingdom general election, 2010 the Conservative Party had won an absolute majority in England's 532 contested seats with 61 seats more than all other parties combined (the Speaker of the House not being counted as a Conservative). However, taking Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales into account this was not enough to secure an overall majority, resulting in a hung parliament.^[90] In order to achieve a majority the Conservative party, headed by David Cameron, entered into a coalition agreement with the third largest party, the Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg. Subsequently the Labour Party leader, Gordon Brown was forced to step down as prime minister^[91] and leader of the Labour party, now led by Ed Miliband.

Lines of men wearing large black bearskin hats and red tunics. — Changing of the Queen's Guard at the royal residence, Buckingham Palace.

As the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, there are elections held regionally in England to decide who is sent as Members of the European Parliament. The 2009 European Parliament election saw the regions of England elect the following MEPs: 23 Conservatives, ten Labour, nine UK Independence Party (UKIP), nine Liberal Democrats, two Greens and two British National Party (BNP).^[92]

Since devolution, in which other countries of the United Kingdom—Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—each have their own devolved parliament or assemblies for local issues, there has been debate about how to counterbalance this in England. Originally it was planned that various regions of England would be devolved, but following the proposal's rejection by the North East in a referendum, this has not been carried out.^[86]

One major issue is the West Lothian question, in which MPs from Scotland and Wales are able to vote on legislation affecting only England, while English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate on devolved matters.^[93] This when placed in the context of England being the only country of the United Kingdom not to have free cancer treatment, prescriptions, residential care for the elderly and free top-up university fees,^[94] has led to a steady rise in English nationalism.^[95] Some have suggested the creation of a devolved English parliament,^[96] while others have proposed simply limiting voting on legislation which only affects England to English MPs.^[97]

Law[]

Main article: English law

The English law legal system, developed over the centuries, is the basis of common law^[98] legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries^[99] and the United States (except Louisiana). Despite now being part of the United Kingdom, the legal system of the Courts of England and Wales continued, under the Treaty of Union, as a separate legal system from the one used in Scotland. The general essence of English law is that it is made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge of legal precedent—stare decisis—to the facts before them.^[100]

The court system is headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice for civil cases, and the Crown Court for criminal cases.^[101] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest court for criminal and civil cases in England and Wales. It was created in 2009 after constitutional changes, taking over the judicial functions of the House of Lords.^[102] A decision of the Supreme Court is binding on every other court in the hierarchy, which must follow its directions.^[103]

Crime increased between 1981 and 1995, but fell by 42% in the period 1995–2006.^[104] The prison population doubled over the same period, giving it the highest incarceration rate in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000.^[105] Her Majesty's Prison Service, reporting to the Ministry of Justice, manages most prisons, housing over 85,000 convicts.^[106]

Regions, counties, and districts[]

Main article: Subdivisions of England

The subdivisions of England consist of up to four levels of subnational division controlled through a variety of types of administrative entities created for the purposes of local government. The highest tier of local government were the nine regions of England: North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East, South East, South West, and London. These were created in 1994 as Government Offices, used by the British Government to deliver a wide range of policies and programmes regionally, but there are no elected bodies at this level, except in London, and in 2011 the regional Government offices were abolished.^[107] The same boundaries remain in use for electing Members of the European Parliament on a regional basis.

After devolution began to take place in other parts of the United Kingdom it was planned that referendums for the regions of England would take place for their own elected regional assemblies as a counterweight. London accepted in 1998: the London Assembly was created two years later. However, when the proposal was rejected by the northern England devolution referendums, 2004 in the North East, further referendums were cancelled.^[86] The regional assemblies outside London were abolished in 2010, and their functions transferred to respective Regional Development Agencies and a new system of local authority leaders' boards.^[108]

Below the regional level, all of England is divided into 48 ceremonial counties.^[109] These are used primarily as a geographical frame of reference and have developed gradually since the Middle Ages, with some established as recently as 1974.^[110] Each has a Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff; these posts are used to represent the British monarch locally.^[109] Outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly, England is also divided into 83 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties; these correspond to areas used for the purposes of local government^[111] and may consist of a single district or be divided into several.

There are six metropolitan counties based on the most heavily urbanised areas, which do not have county councils.^[111] In these areas the principal authorities are the councils of the subdivisions, the metropolitan boroughs. Elsewhere, 27 non-metropolitan "shire" counties have a county council and are divided into districts, each with a district council. They are typically, though not always, found in more rural areas. The remaining non-metropolitan counties are of a single district and usually correspond to large towns or sparsely populated counties; they are known as unitary authorities. Greater London has a different system for local government, with 32 London boroughs, plus the City of London covering a small area at the core, governed by the City of London Corporation.^[112] At the most localised level, much of England is divided into civil parishes with councils; they do not exist in Greater London.^[113]

Geography[]

Main article: Geography of England

Landscape and rivers[]

Geographically England includes the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus such offshore islands as the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly. It is bordered by two other countries of the United Kingdom—to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. England is closer to the European continent than any other part of mainland Britain. It is separated from France by a 34-kilometre (21 mi)^[114] sea gap, though the two countries are connected by the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone.^[115] England also has shores on the Irish Sea, North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

The ports of London, Liverpool, and Newcastle lie on the tidal rivers Thames, Mersey and Tyne respectively. At 354 kilometres (220 mi), the Severn is the longest river flowing through England.^[116] It empties into the Bristol Channel and is notable for its Severn Bore tidal waves, which can reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height.^[117] However, the longest river entirely in England is the Thames, which is 346 kilometres (215 mi) in length.^[118] There are many lakes in England; the largest is Windermere, within the aptly named Lake District.^[119]

In geological terms, the Pennines, known as the "backbone of England", are the oldest range of mountains in the country, originating from the end of the Paleozoic Era around 300 million years ago.^[120] Their geological composition includes, among others, sandstone and limestone, and also coal. There are karst landscapes in calcite areas such as parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The Pennine landscape is high moorland in upland areas, indented by fertile valleys of the region's rivers. They contain three national parks, the Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland, and the Peak District. The highest point in England, at 978 metres (3,209 ft), is Scafell Pike in Cumbria.^[119] Straddling the border between England and Scotland are the Cheviot Hills.

The English Lowlands are to the south of the Pennines, consisting of green rolling hills, including the Cotswold Hills, Chiltern Hills, North and South Downs—where they meet the sea they form white rock exposures such as the cliffs of Dover. The granite Southwest Peninsula in the West Country includes upland moorland, such as Dartmoor and Exmoor, and enjoys a mild climate; both are national parks.^[121]

Climate[]

Main article: Climate of England

England has a temperate maritime climate: it is mild with temperatures not much lower than 0 °C (32 °F) in winter and not much higher than 32 °C (90 °F) in summer.^[122] The weather is damp relatively frequently and is changeable. The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the English coast, while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather are May, June, September and October.^[122] Rainfall is spread fairly evenly throughout the year.

Important influences on the climate of England are its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its northern latitude and the warming of the sea by the Gulf Stream.^[122] Rainfall is higher in the west, and parts of the Lake District receive more rain than anywhere else in the country.^[122] Since weather records began, the highest temperature recorded was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on 10 August 2003 at Brogdale in Kent,^[123] while the lowest was −26.1 °C (−15 °F) on 10 January 1982 in Edgmond, Shropshire.^[124]

Climate data for England
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	7 (45)	7 (45)	10 (50)	12 (54)	16 (61)	19 (66)	21 (70)	21 (70)	18 (64)	14 (57)	10 (50)	7 (45)	14 (57)
Average low °C (°F)	1 (34)	1 (34)	3 (37)	4 (39)	7 (45)	10 (50)	12 (54)	12 (54)	10 (50)	7 (45)	4 (39)	2 (36)	6 (43)
Precipitation mm (inches)	83 (3.27)	60 (2.36)	64 (2.52)	59 (2.32)	58 (2.28)	62 (2.44)	63 (2.48)	69 (2.72)	70 (2.76)	92 (3.62)	88 (3.46)	87 (3.43)	855 (33.66)
Source: Met Office^[125]

Major conurbations[]

Economy[]

Main article: Economy of England

An aerial photograph of the City of London and its surrounding London boroughs. — The City of London is the world's largest financial centre.^[129]^[130]

England's economy is one of the largest in the world, with an average GDP per capita of £22,907.^[131] Usually regarded as a mixed market economy, it has adopted many free market principles, yet maintains an advanced social welfare infrastructure.^[132] The official currency in England is the pound sterling, whose ISO 4217 code is GBP. Taxation in England is quite competitive when compared to much of the rest of Europe—as of 2009 the basic rate of personal tax is 20% on taxable income up to £37,400, and 40% on any additional earnings above that amount.^[133]

The economy of England is the largest part of the UK's economy,^[131] which has the 18th highest GDP PPP per capita in the world. England is a leader in the chemical^[134] and pharmaceutical sectors and in key technical industries, particularly aerospace, the arms industry, and the manufacturing side of the software industry. London, home to the London Stock Exchange, the United Kingdom's main stock exchange and the largest in Europe, is England's financial centre—100 of Europe's 500 largest corporations are based in London.^[135] London is the largest financial centre in Europe, and as of 2009 is also the largest in the world.^[136]

The Bank of England, founded in 1694 by Scottish banker William Paterson, is the United Kingdom's central bank. Originally established as private banker to the Government of England, since 1946 it has been a state-owned institution.^[137] The Bank has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales, although not in other parts of the United Kingdom. The government has devolved responsibility to the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee for managing the monetary policy of the country and setting interest rates.^[138]

England is highly industrialised, but since the 1970s there has been a decline in traditional heavy and manufacturing industries, and an increasing emphasis on a more service industry oriented economy.^[81] Tourism has become a significant industry, attracting millions of visitors to England each year. The export part of the economy is dominated by pharmaceuticals, cars—although many English marques are now foreign-owned, such as Rolls-Royce, Lotus, Jaguar and Bentley—crude oil and petroleum from the English parts of North Sea oil along with Wytch Farm, aircraft engines and alcoholic beverages.^[139] Agriculture is intensive and highly mechanised, producing 60% of food needs with only 2% of the labour force.^[140] Two thirds of production is devoted to livestock, the other to arable crops.^[141]

Science and technology[]

Main articles: List of English inventions and discoveries and Royal Society

Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics include Sir Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Priestley, J. J. Thomson, Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Christopher Wren, Alan Turing, Francis Crick, Joseph Lister, Tim Berners-Lee, Paul Dirac, Andrew Wiles and Richard Dawkins. Some experts claim that the earliest concept of a metric system was invented by John Wilkins, the first secretary of the Royal Society, in 1668.^[142] As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, England was home to many significant inventors during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Famous English engineers include Isambard Kingdom Brunel, best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous steamships, and numerous important bridges, hence revolutionising public transport and modern-day engineering.^[143] Thomas Newcomen's steam engine helped spawn the Industrial Revolution.^[144] The physician Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine is said to have "saved more lives [...] than were lost in all the wars of mankind since the beginning of recorded history."^[145]^[146]^[147]

Inventions and discoveries of the English include: the jet engine, the first industrial spinning machine, the first computer and the first modern computer, the World Wide Web along with HTML, the first successful human blood transfusion, the motorised vacuum cleaner,^[148] the lawn mower, the seat belt, the hovercraft, the electric motor, steam engines, and theories such as the Darwinian theory of evolution and atomic theory. Newton developed the ideas of universal gravitation, Newtonian mechanics, and infinitesimal calculus, and Robert Hooke his eponymously named law of elasticity. Other inventions include the iron plate railway, the thermosiphon, tarmac, the rubber band, the mousetrap, "cat's eye" road marker, joint development of the light bulb, steam locomotives, the modern seed drill and many modern techniques and technologies used in precision engineering.^[149]

Transport[]

Main article: Transport in England

Planes congregate by a building. — London Heathrow Airport has more international passenger traffic than any other airport in the world.^[150]

The Department for Transport is the government body responsible for overseeing transport in England. There are many motorways in England, and many other trunk roads, such as the A1 Great North Road, which runs through eastern England from London to Newcastle^[151] (much of this section is motorway) and onward to the Scottish border. The longest motorway in England is the M6, from Rugby through the North West up to the Anglo-Scottish border.^[151] Other major routes include: the M1 from London to Leeds, the M25 which encircles London, the M60 which encircles Manchester, the M4 from London to South Wales, the M62 from Liverpool via Manchester to East Yorkshire, and the M5 from Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.^[151]

Bus transport across the country is widespread; major companies include National Express, Arriva and Go-Ahead Group. The red double-decker buses in London have become a symbol of England. There is a rapid rail network in two English cities: the London Underground; and the Tyne and Wear Metro in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland.^[152] There are several tram networks, such as the Blackpool tramway, Manchester Metrolink, Sheffield Supertram and Midland Metro, and the Tramlink system centred on Croydon in South London.^[152]

Rail transport in England is the oldest in the world: passenger railways originated in England in 1825.^[153] Much of Britain's 16,116 kilometres (10,014 mi) of rail network lies in England, covering the country fairly extensively, although a high proportion of railway lines were closed in the second half of the 20th century. There are plans to reopen lines such as the Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge. These lines are mostly standard gauge (single, double or quadruple track) though there are also a few narrow gauge lines. There is rail transport access to France and Belgium through an undersea rail link, the Channel Tunnel, which was completed in 1994.

England has extensive domestic and international aviation links. The largest airport is London Heathrow, which is the world's busiest airport measured by number of international passengers.^[154] Other large airports include Manchester Airport, London Stansted Airport, Luton Airport and Birmingham Airport.^[150] By sea there is ferry transport, both local and international, including to Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium.^[155] There are around 7,100 km (4,400 mi) of navigable waterways in England, half of which is owned by the Canal and River Trust,^[155] however water transport is very limited. The Thames is the major waterway in England, with imports and exports focused at the Port of Tilbury in the Thames Estuary, one of the United Kingdom's three major ports.^[155]

Healthcare[]

Main article: Healthcare in England

The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England responsible for providing the majority of healthcare in the country. The NHS began on 5 July 1948, putting into effect the provisions of the National Health Service Act 1946. It was based on the findings of the Beveridge Report, prepared by economist and social reformer William Beveridge.^[156] The NHS is largely funded from general taxation including National Insurance payments,^[157] and it provides most of its services free at the point of use, although there are charges for some people for eye tests, dental care, prescriptions and aspects of personal care.^[158]

The government department responsible for the NHS is the Department of Health, headed by the Secretary of State for Health, who sits in the British Cabinet. Most of the expenditure of the Department of Health is spent on the NHS—£98.6 billion was spent in 2008–2009.^[159] In recent years the private sector has been increasingly used to provide more NHS services despite opposition by doctors and trade unions.^[160] The average life expectancy of people in England is 77.5 years for males and 81.7 years for females, the highest of the four countries of the United Kingdom.^[161]

Demography[]

Population[]

Main articles: Demography of England, English people, and English diaspora

With over 53 million inhabitants, England is by far the most populous country of the United Kingdom, accounting for 84% of the combined total.^[4]^[162] England taken as a unit and measured against international states has the fourth largest population in the European Union and would be the 25th largest country by population in the world.^[163] With a density of 407 people per square kilometre, it would be the second most densely populated country in the European Union after Malta.^[164]^[165]

The English people are a British people.^[166] Some genetic evidence suggests that 75–95% descend in the paternal line from prehistoric settlers who originally came from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as a 5% contribution from Angles and Saxons, and a significant Norse element.^[167]^[168]^[169] However, other geneticists place the Norse-Germanic estimate up to half.^[170]^[171]^[172] Over time, various cultures have been influential: Prehistoric, Brythonic,^[173] Roman, Anglo-Saxon,^[174] Norse Viking,^[175] Gaelic cultures, as well as a large influence from Normans. There is an English diaspora in former parts of the British Empire; especially the United States, Canada, Australia, Chile, South Africa and New Zealand.^{[nb 6]} Since the late 1990s, many English people have migrated to Spain.^[180]^[181]

At the time of the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, more than 90% of the English population of about two million lived in the countryside.^[183] By 1801 the population had grown to 8.3 million, and by 1901 had grown to 30.5 million.^[184] Due in particular to the economic prosperity of South East England, it has received many economic migrants from the other parts of the United Kingdom.^[166] There has been significant Irish migration.^[185] The proportion of ethnically European residents totals at 87.50%, including Germans^[186] and Poles.^[166]

Other people from much further afield in the former British colonies have arrived since the 1950s: in particular, 6% of people living in England have family origins in the Indian subcontinent, mostly India and Pakistan.^[166]^[186] 2.90% of the population are black, from both the Caribbean and countries in Africa itself, especially former British colonies.^[166]^[186] There is a significant number of Chinese and British Chinese.^[166]^[186] As of 2007, 22% of primary school children in England were from ethnic minority families.^[187] About half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to immigration.^[188] Debate over immigration is politically prominent;^[189] according to a Home Office poll, 80% of people want to cap it.^[190] The ONS has projected that the population will grow by six million between 2004 and 2029.^[191]

Language[]

Main articles: English language, English language in England, and History of the English language

Anglospeak — The English-speaking world. Countries in dark blue have a majority of native speakers. Countries in light blue have English as an official language, *de jure* or *de facto*. English is also one of the official languages of the European Union.^[192]

As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today. It is an Indo-European language in the Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family.^[193] After the Norman conquest, the Old English language was displaced and confined to the lower social classes as Norman French and Latin were used by the aristocracy.

By the 15th century, English came back into fashion among all classes, though much changed; the Middle English form showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the English Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins.^[194] Modern English has extended this custom of flexibility, when it comes to incorporating words from different languages. Thanks in large part to the British Empire, the English language is the world's unofficial lingua franca.^[195]

English language learning and teaching is an important economic activity, and includes language schooling, tourism spending, and publishing. There is no legislation mandating an official language for England,^[196] but English is the only language used for official business. Despite the country's relatively small size, there are many distinct regional accents, and individuals with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood everywhere in the country.

Cornish, which died out as a community language in the 18th century, is being revived,^[197]^[198]^[199]^[200] and is now protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.^[201] It is spoken by 0.1% of people in Cornwall,^[202] and is taught to some degree in several primary and secondary schools.^[203]^[204] State schools teach students a second language, usually French, German or Spanish.^[205] Due to immigration, it was reported in 2007 that around 800,000 school students spoke a foreign language at home,^[187] the most common being Punjabi and Urdu.^[206]

Religion[]

Main article: Religion in England

Christianity is the most widely practised religion in England, as it has been since the Early Middle Ages, although it was first introduced much earlier, in Gaelic and Roman times. It continued through Early Insular Christianity, and today about 59% of English people identify as Christians.^[207] The largest form practised in the present day is Anglicanism,^[208] dating from the 16th century Reformation period, with the 1536 split from Rome over Henry VIII wanting to divorce Catherine of Aragon, and the need for the Bible in the English tongue. The religion regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed.

There are High Church and Low Church traditions, and some Anglicans regard themselves as Anglo-Catholics, after the Tractarian movement. The monarch of the United Kingdom is a titular leader of the Church, acting as its Supreme Governor. It has the status of established church in England. There are around 26 million adherents to the Church of England and they form part of the Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury acting as the symbolic worldwide head.^[209] Many cathedrals and parish churches are historic buildings of significant architectural importance, such as Westminster Abbey, York Minster, Durham Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.

The second largest Christian practice is the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, which traces its formal, corporate history in England to the 6th century with Augustine's mission and was the main religion on the entire island for around a thousand years. Since its reintroduction after the Catholic Emancipation, the Church has organised ecclesiastically on an England and Wales basis where there are 4.5 million members (most of whom are English).^[210] There has been one Pope from England to date, Adrian IV; while saints Bede and Anselm are regarded as Doctors of the Church.

A form of Protestantism known as Methodism is the third largest Christian practice and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley.^[211] It gained popularity in the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and amongst tin miners in Cornwall.^[212] There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists, Unitarians and The Salvation Army.^[213]

The patron saint of England is Saint George; his symbolic cross is included in the flag of England, as well as in the Union Flag as part of a combination.^[214]^[214] There are many other English and associated saints; some of the best known include: Cuthbert, Edmund, Alban, Wilfrid, Aidan, Edward the Confessor, John Fisher, Thomas More, Petroc, Piran, Margaret Clitherow and Thomas Becket. There are non-Christian religions practised. Jews have a history of a small minority on the island since 1070.^[215] They were expelled from England in 1290 following the Edict of Expulsion, only to be allowed back in 1656.^[215]

Especially since the 1950s, Eastern religions from the former British colonies have begun to appear, due to foreign immigration; Islam is the most common of these, accounting for around 3.1% of the population in England.^[216] Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are next in number, adding up to 2% combined,^[216] introduced from India and South East Asia.^[216] Around 14.6% have no religion.^[216]

Education[]

Main articles: Education in England and List of universities in England

The Department for Education is the government department responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including education.^[217] State-run and -funded schools are attended by approximately 93% of English schoolchildren.^[218] Of these, a minority are faith schools, primarily Church of England or Catholic. Between three and four is nursery school, 4 and 11 is primary school, and 11 to 16 is secondary school. After finishing compulsory education, pupils take a GCSE examination, following which they may decide to continue in further education for two years. Further education colleges, such as sixth form colleges are either separate or attached to the secondary school institution and prepare students to sit A-Level examinations, for higher education at universities.

Although most English secondary schools are comprehensive, in some areas there are selective intake grammar schools, to which entrance is subject to passing the eleven plus exam. Around 7.2% of English schoolchildren attend private schools, which are funded by private sources.^[219] Standards in state schools are monitored by the Office for Standards in Education, and in private schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.^[220]

Large yellow stone building with an arched window and two towers at the end nearest the photographer. In the foreground is grass and water with people in a punt. — King's College, University of Cambridge

Students normally enter universities in the United Kingdom from 18 onwards, where they study for an academic degree. There are over 90 universities England, all but one of which are public. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is the government department responsible for higher education in England.^[221] Students are generally entitled to student loans for maintenance.^{[nb 7]} The first degree offered to undergraduates is the Bachelor's degree, which usually takes three years to complete. Students are then eligible for a postgraduate degree, a Master's degree, taking one year, or a Doctorate degree, which takes three.

England's universities include some of the highest-ranked universities in the world; the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the University of Oxford and University College London are all ranked in the global top 10 in the 2010 QS World University Rankings.^[222] The London School of Economics has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research.^[223] The London Business School is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme was ranked best in the world by the Financial Times.^[224] Academic degrees in England are usually split into classes: first class (I), upper second class (II:1), lower second class (II:2) and third (III), and unclassified (below third class).

The King's School, Canterbury and King's School, Rochester are the oldest schools in the English-speaking world.^[225] Many of England's better-known schools, such as Winchester College, Eton College, St Paul's School, Rugby School, and Harrow School are fee-paying institutions.^[226]

Culture[]

Main articles: Culture of England and English Renaissance

Architecture[]

Many ancient standing stone monuments were erected during the prehistoric period, amongst the best known are Stonehenge, Devil's Arrows, Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg.^[227] With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas, baths, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, villas, Roman temples, Roman roads, Roman forts, stockades and aqueducts.^[228] It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps the best known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching right across northern England.^[228] Another well preserved example is the Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset.^[228]

Early Medieval architecture's secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of Hiberno—Saxon monasticism,^[229]^[230] to Early Christian basilica and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various Castles in England were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best known medieval castles include the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham Castle and Windsor Castle amongst others.^[231]

Throughout the Plantagenet era an English Gothic architecture flourished—the medieval cathedrals such as Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and York Minster are prime examples.^[231] Expanding on the Norman base there was also castles, palaces, great houses, universities and parish churches. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th century Tudor style; the four-centred arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically. In the aftermath of the Renaissance a form of architecture echoing classical antiquity, synthesised with Christianity appeared—the English Baroque style, architect Christopher Wren was particularly championed.^[232]

Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival was launched—in addition to this around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.^{[nb 8]}

Folklore[]

Main article: English folklore

English folklore developed over many centuries. Some of the characters and stories are present across England, but most belong to specific regions. Common folkloric beings include pixies, giants, elves, bogeymen, trolls, goblins and dwarves. While many legends and folk-customs are thought to be ancient, for instance the tales featuring Offa of Angel and Wayland the Smith,^[234] others date from after the Norman invasion; Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood and their battles with the Sheriff of Nottingham being, perhaps, the best known.^[235]

During the High Middle Ages tales originating from Brythonic traditions entered English folklore—the Arthurian myth.^[236]^[237]^[238] These were derived from Anglo-Norman, French and Welsh sources,^[237] featuring King Arthur, Camelot, Excalibur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table such as Lancelot. These stories are most centrally brought together within Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.^{[nb 9]} Another early figure from British tradition, King Cole, may have been based on a real figure from Sub-Roman Britain. Many of the tales and pseudo-histories make up part of the wider Matter of Britain, a collection of shared British folklore.

Some folk figures are based on semi or actual historical people whose story has been passed down centuries; Lady Godiva for instance was said to have ridden naked on horseback through Coventry, Hereward the Wake was a heroic English figure resisting the Norman invasion, Herne the Hunter is an equestrian ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park and Mother Shipton is the archetypal witch.^[240] On 5 November people make bonfires, set off fireworks and eat toffee apples in commemoration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot centred around Guy Fawkes. The chivalrous bandit, such as Dick Turpin, is a recurring character, while Blackbeard is the archetypal pirate. There are various national and regional folk activities, participated in to this day, such as Morris dancing, Maypole dancing, Rapper sword in the North East, Long Sword dance in Yorkshire, Mummers Plays, bottle-kicking in Leicestershire, and cheese-rolling at Cooper's Hill.^[241] There is no official national costume, but a few are well established such as the Pearly Kings and Queens associated with cockneys, the Royal Guard, the Morris costume and Beefeaters.^[242]

Cuisine[]

Main article: English cuisine

Since the Early Modern Period the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach and a reliance on the high quality of natural produce.^[243] During the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance period, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the Industrial Revolution with the move away from the land and increasing urbanisation of the populace. The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by the food critics with some good ratings in Restaurant's best restaurant in the world charts.^[244] An early book of English recipes is the Forme of Cury from the royal court of Richard II.^[245]

Traditional examples of English food include the Sunday roast, featuring a roasted joint (usually beef, lamb, chicken or pork) served with assorted vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing and gravy.^[246] Other prominent meals include fish and chips and the full English breakfast (generally consisting of bacon, sausages, grilled tomatoes, fried bread, black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms, and eggs). Various meat pies are consumed such as steak and kidney pie, steak and ale pie, cottage pie, pork pie (usually eaten cold)^[246] and the Cornish Pasty.

Sausages are commonly eaten, either as bangers and mash or toad in the hole. Lancashire hotpot is a well known stew. Some of the most popular cheeses are Cheddar and Wensleydale. Many Anglo-Indian hybrid dishes, curries, have been created such as chicken tikka masala and balti. Sweet English dishes include apple pie, mince pies, spotted dick, scones, Eccles cakes, custard and sticky toffee pudding. Common drinks include tea, whose popularity was increased by Catherine of Braganza,^[247] whilst frequently consumed alcoholic drinks include wines, ciders and English beers, such as bitter, mild, stout, and brown ale.^[248]

Visual arts[]

Main articles: English art and Arts Council England

The earliest known examples are the prehistoric rock and cave art pieces, most prominent in North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria, but also feature further south, for example at Creswell Crags.^[249] With the arrival of Roman culture in the 1st century, various forms of art utilising statues, busts, glasswork and mosaics were the norm. There are numerous surviving artefacts, such as those at Lullingstone and Aldborough.^[250] During the Early Middle Ages the style was sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs such as in the Staffordshire Hoard discovered in 2009. Some of these blended Gaelic and Anglian styles, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and Vespasian Psalter.^[251] Later Gothic art was popular at Winchester and Canterbury, examples survive such as Benedictional of St. Æthelwold and Luttrell Psalter.^[252]

The Tudor era saw prominent artists as part of their court, portrait painting which would remain an enduring part of English art, was boosted by German Hans Holbein, natives such as Nicholas Hilliard built on this.^[252] Under the Stuarts, Continental artists were influential especially the Flemish, examples from the period include—Anthony van Dyck, Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller and William Dobson.^[252] The 18th century was a time of significance with the founding of the Royal Academy, a classicism based on the High Renaissance prevailed—Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds became two of England's most treasured artists.^[252]

The Norwich School continued the landscape tradition, while the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with their vivid and detailed style revived the Early Renaissance style—Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais were leaders.^[252] Prominent amongst 20th-century artists was Henry Moore, regarded as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general.^[253] Contemporary painters include Lucian Freud, whose work Benefits Supervisor Sleeping in 2008 set a world record for sale value of a painting by a living artist.^[254]

Literature, poetry and philosophy[]

Main article: English literature

Early authors such as Bede and Alcuin wrote in Latin.^[255] The period of Old English literature provided the epic poem Beowulf and the secular prose of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,^[256] along with Christian writings such as Judith, Cædmon's Hymn and hagiographies.^[255] Following the Norman conquest Latin continued amongst the educated classes, as well as an Anglo-Norman literature.

Middle English literature emerged with Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, along with Gower, the Pearl Poet and Langland. William of Ockham and Roger Bacon, who were Franciscans, were major philosophers of the Middle Ages. Julian of Norwich, who wrote Revelations of Divine Love, was a prominent Christian mystic. With the English Renaissance literature in the Early Modern English style appeared. William Shakespeare, whose works include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, remains one of the most championed authors in English literature.^[257]

Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sydney, Thomas Kyd, John Donne, and Ben Jonson are other established authors of the Elizabethan age.^[258] Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes wrote on empiricism and materialism, including scientific method and social contract.^[258] Filmer wrote on the Divine Right of Kings. Marvell was the best known poet of the Commonwealth,^[259] while John Milton authored Paradise Lost during the Restoration.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden, demi-paradise; this fortress, built by nature for herself. This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare.^[260]

Some of the most prominent philosophers of the Enlightenment were John Locke, Thomas Paine, Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Bentham. More radical elements were later countered by Edmund Burke who is regarded as the founder of conservatism.^[261] The poet Alexander Pope with his satirical verse became well regarded. The English played a significant role in romanticism: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake and William Wordsworth were major figures.^[262]

In response to the Industrial Revolution, agrarian writers sought a way between liberty and tradition; William Cobbett, G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc were main exponents, while the founder of guild socialism, Arthur Penty, and cooperative movement advocate G. D. H. Cole are somewhat related.^[263] Empiricism continued through John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell, while Bernard Williams was involved in analytics. Authors from around the Victorian era include Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, Lewis Carroll and Evelyn Underhill.^[264] Since then England has continued to produce novelists such as C. S. Lewis, George Orwell, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Enid Blyton, Aldous Huxley, Agatha Christie, Terry Pratchett, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling.^[265]

Performing arts[]

Main articles: Folk music of England and Music of the United Kingdom

Traditional "Greensleeves"

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

The traditional folk music of England is centuries old and has contributed to several genres prominently; mostly sea shanties, jigs, hornpipes and dance music. It has its own distinct variations and regional peculiarities. Wynkyn de Worde printed ballads of Robin Hood from the 16th century are an important artefact, as are John Playford's The Dancing Master and Robert Harley's Roxburghe Ballads collections.^[266] Some of the best known songs are The Good Old Way, Pastime with Good Company, Maggie May and Spanish Ladies amongst others. Many nursery rhymes are of English origin such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Roses are red, Jack and Jill, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Humpty Dumpty.^[267]

Early English composers in classical music include Renaissance artists Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, followed up by Henry Purcell from the Baroque period. German-born George Frideric Handel became a British subject^[268] and spent most of his composing life in London, creating some of the most well-known works of classical music, The Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks. There was a revival in the profile of composers from England in the 20th century led by Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and others.^[269] Present-day composers from England include Michael Nyman, best known for The Piano.

In the field of popular music many English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Queen, Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones are among the highest selling recording artists in the world.^[270] Many musical genres have origins or strong associations with England, such as British invasion, hard rock, glam rock, heavy metal, mod, britpop, drum and bass, progressive rock, punk rock, indie rock, gothic rock, shoegazing, acid house, UK garage, trip hop and dubstep.^[271]

Large outdoor music festivals in the summer and autumn are popular, such as Glastonbury, V Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals. The most prominent opera house in England is the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.^[272] The Proms, a season of orchestral classical music concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall, is a major cultural event held annually.^[272] The Royal Ballet is one of the world's foremost classical ballet companies, its reputation built on two prominent figures of 20th century dance, prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn and choreographer Frederick Ashton.

Museums, libraries, and galleries[]

Further information: Museums in England

English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The charity National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty holds a contrasting role. 17 of the 25 United Kingdom UNESCO World Heritage Sites fall within England.^[273] Some of the best known of these include; Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, Tower of London, Jurassic Coast, Saltaire, Ironbridge Gorge, Studley Royal Park and various others.^[274]

There are many museums in England, but the most notable is London's British Museum. Its collection of more than seven million objects^[275] is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world,^[276] sourced from every continent, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. The British Library in London is the national library and is one of the world's largest research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; including around 25 million books.^[277] The most senior art gallery is the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.^[278] The Tate galleries house the national collections of British and international modern art; they also host the famously controversial Turner Prize.^[279]

Sports[]

Main article: Sport in England

England has a strong sporting heritage, and during the 19th century codified many sports that are now played around the world. Sports originating in England include association football,^[281] cricket, rugby union, rugby league, tennis, badminton, squash,^[282] rounders,^[283] hockey, boxing, snooker, billiards, darts, table tennis, bowls, netball, thoroughbred horseracing, greyhound racing and fox hunting. It has helped the development of sailing and Formula One. Football is the most popular of these sports. The England national football team, whose home venue is Wembley Stadium, won the 1966 FIFA World Cup against the West Germany national football team where they won 4–2, with Geoff Hurst scoring a hatrick.^[284] That was the year the country hosted the competition.

At club level England is recognised by FIFA as the birthplace of club football, due to Sheffield FC founded in 1857 being the oldest club.^[281] The Football Association is the oldest of its kind, FA Cup and The Football League were the first cup and league competitions respectively. In the modern day the Premier League is the world's most lucrative football league^[285] and amongst the elite.^[286] The European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) has been won by Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Chelsea, while Arsenal, and Leeds United have reached the final.^[287]

Cricket is generally thought to have been developed in the early medieval period among the farming and metalworking communities of the Weald.^[288] The England cricket team is a composite England and Wales team. One of the game's top rivalries is The Ashes series between England and Australia, contested since 1882. The finale of the 2009 Ashes was watched by nearly 2 million people, although the climax of the 2005 Ashes was viewed by 7.4 million as it was available on terrestrial television.^[289] England are the current holders of the trophy and are ranked 1st in Test and 4th in One Day International cricket.^[290]

England has hosted four Cricket World Cups (1975, 1979, 1983, 1999) and the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009. There are several domestic level competitions, including the County Championship in which Yorkshire are by far the most successful club having won the competition 31 times.^[291] Lord's Cricket Ground situated in London is sometimes referred to as the "Mecca of Cricket".^[292] William Penny Brookes was prominent in organising the format for the modern Olympic Games. London has hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times, in 1908, 1948, and 2012. England competes in the Commonwealth Games, held every four years. Sport England is the governing body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in England. A Grand Prix is held at Silverstone.^[293]

The England rugby union team won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the country was one of the host nations of the competition in the 1991 Rugby World Cup and is set to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup.^[294] The top level of club participation is the English Premiership. Leicester Tigers, London Wasps, Bath Rugby and Northampton Saints have had success in the Europe-wide Heineken Cup.

Rugby league was born in Huddersfield in 1895. The England national rugby league team are ranked third in the world and first in Europe. Since 2008 England has been a full test nation in lieu of the Great Britain national rugby league team, which won three World Cups but is now retired. Club sides play in Super League, the present-day embodiment of the Rugby Football League Championship. Some of the most successful clubs include Wigan Warriors, St Helens, Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants; the former three have all won the World Club Challenge previously. The United Kingdom is to host the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.^[295]

In tennis, the Wimbledon Championships are the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered the most prestigious.^[296]^[297]

National symbols[]

Main article: National symbols of England

The St George's Cross has been the national flag of England since the 13th century. Originally the flag was used by the maritime Republic of Genoa. The English monarch paid a tribute to the Doge of Genoa from 1190 onwards, so that English ships could fly the flag as a means of protection when entering the Mediterranean. A red cross was a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with Saint George, along with countries and cities, which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner.^[298] Since 1606 the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the Union Flag, a Pan-British flag designed by King James I.^[214]

There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the Tudor rose, the nation's floral emblem, and the Three Lions featured on the Royal Arms of England. The Tudor rose was adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of the Wars of the Roses as a symbol of peace.^[299] It is a syncretic symbol in that it merged the white rose of the Yorkists and the red rose of the Lancastrians—cadet branches of the Plantagenets who went to war over control of the nation. It is also known as the Rose of England.^[300] The oak tree is a symbol of England, representing strength and endurance. The Royal Oak symbol and Oak Apple Day commemorate the escape of King Charles II from the grasp of the parliamentarians after his father's execution: he hid in an oak tree to avoid detection before safely reaching exile.

The Royal Arms of England, a national coat of arms featuring three lions, originated with its adoption by Richard the Lionheart in 1198. It is blazoned as gules, three lions passant guardant or and it provides one of the most prominent symbols of England; it is similar to the traditional arms of Normandy. England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has God Save the Queen. However, the following are often considered unofficial English national anthems: Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory (used for England during the 2002 Commonwealth Games),^[301] and I Vow to Thee, My Country. England's National Day is 23 April which is St George's Day: St George is the patron saint of England.^[302]

Notes[]

^ English is established by de facto usage.
^ Assigned on a United Kingdom basis, not constituent country.
^ According to the European Statistical Agency, London is the largest Larger Urban Zone which uses conurbations and areas of high population as its definition. A ranking of population within municipal boundaries places London first. However, the University of Avignon in France claims that Paris is first and London second when including the whole urban area and hinterland, that is the outlying cities as well.
^ As Roger Scruton explains, "The Reformation must not be confused with the changes introduced into the Church of England during the 'Reformation Parliament' of 1529–36, which were of a political rather than a religious nature, designed to unite the secular and religious sources of authority within a single sovereign power: the Anglican Church did not until later make substantial change in doctrine".^[58]
^ Figure of 550,000 military deaths is for England and Wales^[76]
^ For instance, in 1980 around 50 million Americans claimed English ancestry.^[176] In Canada there are around 6.5 million Canadians who claim English ancestry.^[177] Around 70% of Australians in 1999 denoted their origins as Anglo-Celtic, a category which includes all peoples from Great Britain and Ireland.^[178] Chileans of English descent are somewhat of an anomaly in that Chile itself was never part of the British Empire, but today there are around 420,000 people of English origins living there.^[179]
^ Students attending English universities now have to pay tuition fees towards the cost of their education, as do English students who choose to attend university in Scotland. Scottish students attending Scottish universities have their fees paid by the devolved Scottish Parliament.^[94]
^ While people such as Norman Foster and Richard Rogers represent the modernist movement, Prince Charles since the 1980s has voiced strong views against it in favour of traditional architecture and put his ideas into practice at his Poundbury development in Dorset.^[233] Architects like Raymond Erith, Francis Johnson and Quinlan Terry continued to practice in the classical style.
^ These tales may have come to prominence, at least in part, as an attempt by the Norman ruling elite to legitimise their rule of the British Isles, finding Anglo-Saxon history ill-suited to the task during an era when members of the deposed House of Wessex, especially Edgar the Ætheling and his nephews of the Scottish House of Dunkeld, were still active in the isles.^[237]^[239] Also Michael Wood explains; "Over the centuries the figure of Arthur became a symbol of British history—a way of explaining the matter of Britain, the relationship between the Saxons and the Celts, and a way of exorcising ghosts and healing the wounds of the past."^[236]

References[]

^ Marden 2003, p. 460.
^ Brewer 2006, p. 340.
^ rft-table-ks201ew.xls
^ ^a ^b 2011 Census - Population and household estimates for England and Wales, March 2011. Accessed 16 July 2012.
^ Office for National Statistics. "The Countries of the UK". statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 20 December 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20081220225201/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/uk_countries.asp. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ "Countries within a country". number-10.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080209003312/http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page823.asp. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ "Changes in the list of subdivision names and code elements (Page 11)" (PDF). International Organization for Standardization. http://www.iso.org/iso/newsletter_i-9.pdf. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ "England – Culture". britainusa.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080516162153/http://www.britainusa.com/sections/index_nt1.asp?i=41105&L1=41105&L2=41105&D=0. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ "Country profile: United Kingdom". BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk). 26 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1038758.stm. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ "Industrial Revolution". Ace.mmu.ac.uk. http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/Global_Warming/Older/Industrial_Revolution.html. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ William E. Burns, A Brief History of Great Britain, p. xxi
^ Acts of Union 1707 parliament.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2011
^ "England". Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=England. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
^ Ripley 1869, p. 570.
^ "England". Oxford English Dictionary. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50075354?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=England&first=1&max_to_show=10. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Germania". Tacitus. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/tacitus-germanygord.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Angle". Oxford English Dictionary. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50075354?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=Angle&first=1&max_to_show=10. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Crystal 2004, pp. 26–27
^ Forbes, John (1848). The Principles of Gaelic Grammar. Edinburgh: Oliver, Boyd and Tweeddale.
^ ^a ^b Massey 2007, p. 440.
^ Room 2006, p. 23.
^ Major 2004, p. 84.
^ Foster 1988, p. 9.
^ "500,000 BC – Boxgrove". Current Archaeology. Current Publishing. http://www.archaeology.co.uk/the-timeline-of-britain/boxgrove.htm. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
^ "Palaeolithic Archaeology Teaching Resource Box". Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain Project(2006). http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~sgs04rh/SWRivers/Palaeolithic%20Archaeology%20Teaching%20Resource%20Box_Lifestyles_Basic.pdf. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
^ "Chalk east". A Geo East Project. http://www.geo-east.org.uk/special_projects/eco_culture.htm. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
^ Oppenheimer 2006, p. 173.
^ "Tertiary Rivers: Tectonic and structural background". University of Cambridge. http://www.qpg.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/tertiaryrivers/tectonics.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
^ "Function and significance of Bell Beaker pottery according to data from residue analyses". http://tp.revistas.csic.es/index.php/tp/article/viewFile/5/5. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
^ Reid, Struan (1994). Inventions and Trade. P.8. ISBN 978-0-921921-30-1. http://books.google.com/?id=bn88JPk_Fr0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=inventions+in+trade#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
^ Koch, John (2009). Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009). Palaeohispanica. pp. 339–351. ISSN 1578-5386. http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/54/26koch.pdf. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
^ Cunliffe, Karl, Guerra, McEvoy, Bradley; Oppenheimer, Rrvik, Isaac, Parsons, Koch, Freeman and Wodtko (2010). Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature. Oxbow Books and Celtic Studies Publications. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-84217-410-4. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298//Location/DBBC.
^ Cunliffe, Barry (2008). A Race Apart: Insularity and Connectivity in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75, 2009. The Prehistoric Society. p. 61.
^ Burke, Jason (2 December 2000). "Dig uncovers Boudicca's brutal streak". The Observer (London). http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,406152,00.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals". Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brudribh, Ed. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Tac.+Ann.+14.37&redirect=true. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
^ Bedoyere, Guy. "Architecture in Roman Britain". Heritage Key. http://heritage-key.com/publication/architecture-roman-britain. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
^ Philip, Robert (1860). Thr History of Progress in Great Britain, Volume 2. http://books.google.com/?id=bylBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA276&dq=roman+law+after+roman+invasion+of+britain#v=onepage&q=roman%20law%20after%20roman%20invasion%20of%20britain&f=false. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
^ Bob Rees, Paul Shute, Nigel Kelly (9 January 2003). Medicine through time. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-435-30841-4. http://books.google.com/?id=1qiFEQ1tAHQC&pg=PT119&dq=roman+occupation+brought+to+britain+a+sewage+system#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
^ Rankov 1994, p. 16.
^ Wright 2008, p. 143.
^ ^a ^b James, Edward. "Overview: Anglo-Saxons, 410 to 800". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/overview_anglo_saxons_01.shtml. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
^ "The Christian Tradition". PicturesofEngland.com. http://www.picturesofengland.com/history/england-history-p4.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Kirby 2000, p. 4
^ Lyon 1960, p. 23.
^ "Overview: The Normans, 1066–1154". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/overview_normans_01.shtml. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
^ Crouch 2006, pp. 2–4
^ "Norman invasion word impact study". BBC News. 20 February 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7254446.stm. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b Bartlett 1999, p. 124.
^ "Edward I (r. 1272–1307)". Royal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 24 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080624181028/http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page61.asp. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
^ Fowler 1967, p. 208.
^ Ziegler 2003, p. 230.
^ Goldberg 1996, p. 4.
^ Crofton 2007, p. 111.
^ "Richard III (r. 1483–1485)". Royal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 July 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080710093939/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page50.asp. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
^ Denys Hay (1988). Renaissance essays. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-907628-96-5. http://books.google.com/?id=jzm2Vu9h-CYC&pg=PA165&dq=italian+influence+on+the+english+renaissance#v=onepage&q=italian%20influence%20on%20the%20english%20renaissance&f=false. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
^ "Royal Navy History, Tudor Period and the Birth of a Regular Navy". http://www.royal-navy.org/lib/index.php?title=Tudor_Period_and_the_Birth_of_a_Regular_Navy_Part_Two. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
^ Goldwin Smith. England Under the Tudors. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-60620-939-4. http://books.google.com/?id=RdOTQUDgH54C&printsec=frontcover&dq=england+under+the+tudors+by+goldwin+smith#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
^ Scruton 1982, p. 470.
^ Karen Ordahl (25 February 2007). Roanak:the abandoned colony. Rowman & Littlefield publishers Inc. ISBN 978-0-7425-5263-0. http://books.google.com/?id=W8cr4Vgt9ekC&printsec=frontcover&dq=roanoke+colony#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b Colley 1992, p. 12.
^ "Making the Act of Union". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609075346/http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/01_background.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Hay, Denys. "The term "Great Britain" in the Middle Ages" (PDF). ads.ahds.ac.uk. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_089/89_055_066.pdf. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
^ "Oliver Cromwell (English statesman)". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. 2009. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/143822/Oliver-Cromwell. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
^ Philip J. Adler, Randall L. Pouwels (27 November 2007). World Civilization. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-495-50262-3. http://books.google.com/?id=mPoqfoiIp4sC&pg=PA340&lpg=PA340&dq=with+the+restoration+it+was+not+constitutionally+established+that+king+and+parliament+should+rule+together#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
^ "London's Burning: The Great Fire". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_02.shtml. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b "The first Parliament of Great Britain". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080621165514/http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/08_02_great.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Gallagher 2006, p. 14.
^ Hudson, Pat. "The Workshop of the World". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/workshop_of_the_world_01.shtml. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b Office for National Statistics 2000, p. 5
^ McNeil & Nevell 2000, p. 4.
^ McNeil & Nevell 2000, p. 9.
^ Birmingham City Council. "Heritage". visitbirmingham.com. http://www.visitbirmingham.com/arts_and_culture/heritage/. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
^ Colley 1992, p. 1.
^ Robert F. Haggard (2001). The persistence of Victorian liberalism:The Politics of Social Reform in Britain, 1870–1900. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-313-31305-9. http://books.google.com/?id=53VUwDw_UYMC&pg=PA13&dq=prestige+of+the+british+empire+in+victorian+times#v=onepage&q=prestige%20of%20the%20british%20empire%20in%20victorian%20times&f=false. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
^ Crawford, Elizabeth. "Women: From Abolition to the Vote". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/abolition_women_article_01.shtml#five. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
^ Cox 1970, p. 180
^ Golley, John (10 August 1996). "Obituaries: Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-air-commodore-sir-frank-whittle-1309015.html. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
^ Clark 1973, p. 1.
^ Wilson & Game 2002, p. 55.
^ Gallagher 2006, pp. 10–11.
^ ^a ^b Reitan 2003, p. 50.
^ Keating, Michael (1 January 1998). "Reforging the Union: Devolution and Constitutional Change in the United Kingdom". Publius: the Journal of Federalism 28 (1). Retrieved on 4 February 2009.
^ "The coming of the Tudors and the Act of Union". BBC Wales. BBC News. 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch11_part2_coming_of_the_tudor.shtml. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
^ Kenny, English & Hayton 2008, p. 3.
^ Ward 2004, p. 180.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sherman, Jill; Andrew Norfolk (5 November 2004). "Prescott's dream in tatters as North East rejects assembly". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article503255.ece. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "The British Parliamentary System". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A591383. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
^ Cabinet Office (26 March 2009). "Devolution in the United Kingdom". cabinetoffice.gov.uk. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/devolution.aspx. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
^ "Lists of MPs". Parliament.uk. http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
^ "What is a hung parliament?". BBC News. 7 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8427233.stm. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
^ "Gordon Brown's resignation speech". BBC News. 11 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8676273.stm. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
^ "European Election 2009: UK Results". BBC News. 19 April 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/euro/09/html/ukregion_999999.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "West Lothian question". BBC News. 31 October 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7702326.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Are Scottish people better off?". MSN Money. Archived from the original on 17 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080417222726/http://money.uk.msn.com/consumer/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6543296. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "English nationalism 'threat to UK'". BBC News. 9 January 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/596703.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Davidson, Lorraine (3 June 2008). "Gordon Brown pressed on English parliament". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article4061785.ece. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Grice, Andrew (1 July 2008). "English votes for English laws' plan by Tories". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/english-votes-for-english-laws-plan-by-tories-857647.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ [1]
^ "The Common Law in the British Empire". H-net.msu.edu. 19 October 2000. http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~law/ASLH/conferences/2000conference/101900345b.htm. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
^ Fafinski 2007, p. 60.
^ Fafinski 2007, p. 127.
^ "Constitutional reform: A Supreme Court for the United Kingdom" (PDF). DCA.gov.uk. http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/supremecourt/supreme.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Fafinski 2007, p. 67.
^ "Crime over the last 25 years". HomeOffice.gov.uk. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/crime0607summ.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "New record high prison population". BBC News. 8 February 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7235438.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Prison population figures". Ministry Of Justice. 2012. http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/prison-population-figures. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
^ Cooper, Hilary (29 March 2011). "Tiers shed as regional government offices disappear". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/29/regional-government-disappears-1500-jobs-lost. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
^ Department for Communities and Local Government. "Prosperous Places". communities.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5KtF1u. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b Encyclopædia Britannica 2002, p. 100
^ Redcliffe-Maud & Wood 1974.
^ ^a ^b Singh 2009, p. 53.
^ Axford 2002, p. 315.
^ Singh 2009, p. 54.
^ "English Channel". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. 2009. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/187921/English-Channel. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
^ "History". EuroTunnel.com. http://www.eurotunnel.com/ukcP3Main/ukcCorporate/ukcAboutUs/ukm/history.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "The River Severn". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/sevenwonders/west/severn-river/. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
^ "Severn Bore and Trent Aegir". Environment Agency. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/31439.aspx. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
^ "River Thames and London (England)". London Evening Standard. London. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-home/related-139-94056-articles-reviews/River+Thames-London+(England)/related.do. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
^ ^a ^b "North West England & Isle of Man: climate". Met Office. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/nw/. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
^ "Pennines". Smmit Post. http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/220026/pennines.html. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
^ "National Parks – About us". nationalparks.gov.uk. http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/aboutus. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "What is the Climate like in Britain?". Woodlands Kent. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/weather/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Temperature record changes hands". BBC News. 30 September 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "English Climate". MetOffice.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071219165514/http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature.
^ "England 1981–2010 averages". Met Office. February 2013. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/19812010/areal/england.html.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Office for National Statistics. "UK's major urban areas" (PDF). Statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/03_FOPM_UrbanAreas.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b O'Brian, Harriet (24 November 2007). "The Complete Guide To: Cathedral cities in the UK". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/the-complete-guide-to-cathedral-cities-in-the-uk-760201.html. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
^ Office for National Statistics (2007). "ONS Key Population and Vital Statistics" (PDF). statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/KPVS34-2007/KPVS2007.pdf. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
^ "London vs. New York, 2005–06". Cinco Dias. http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/mercados/Londres-versus-Nueva-York/20080901cdscdimer_3/cdsmer/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Global Financial Centres Index, 2009-03" (PDF). City of London Corporation. http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/8D37DAE2-5937-4FC5-A004-C2FC4BED7742/0/BC_RS_GFCI5.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b Office for National Statistics. "Regional Accounts". statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/economy/national-accounts/regional-accounts/index.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ "The Welfare State – Never Ending Reform". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/field_01.shtml. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ "Tax in England". AdviceGuide.org.uk. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/tax/income_tax_rates.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ CIA – The World Factbook
^ "Financial Centre". London.gov.uk. http://legacy.london.gov.uk/london-life/business-and-jobs/financial-centre.jsp. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ City of London Policy and Resources Committee. "The Global Financial Centres Index" (PDF). cityoflondon.gov.uk. http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/8D37DAE2-5937-4FC5-A004-C2FC4BED7742/0/BC_RS_GFCI5.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "The Bank's relationship with Parliament". BankofEngland.co.uk. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/parliament/index.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Monetary Policy Committee". BankofEngland.co.uk. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/overview.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "England Exports". EconomyWatch.com. http://mambiz.com/main/?cat=28. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "World Guide – England – Economy Overview". World Guide. Intute. http://www.intute.ac.uk/worldguide/html/1069_economic.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
^ "Economy of the United Kingdom" (PDF). PTeducation. http://www.pteducation.com/gk/UK.pdf. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
^ "Metric system was British". BBC News. 13 July 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6890000/newsid_6898200/6898274.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=10. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Isambard Kingdom Brunel". DesignMuseum.org. http://www.designmuseum.org/designinbritain/isambard-kingdom-brunel. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Oakes 2002, p. 214
^ Saunders 1982, p. 13
^ White 2009, p. 335
^ Levine 1960, p. 183
^ Curt Wohleber (Spring 2006). "The Vacuum Cleaner". Invention & Technology Magazine. American Heritage Publishing. http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2006/4/2006_4_4.shtml. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
^ "English Inventors and Inventions". English-Crafts.co.uk. http://www.english-crafts.co.uk/history/inventors.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b O'Hanlon 2008, p. 205.
^ ^a ^b ^c UK Parliament 2007, p. 175
^ ^a ^b White 2002, p. 63.
^ "27 September 1825 – Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway". The Stockton and Darlington Railway. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/johnmoore/1825/sept_27.htm. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
^ "Delta Expects New Slots To Foster Growth At Heathrow Airport". The Wall Street Journal. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5yo0OE2ky. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Else 2007, p. 781.
^ "BBC History on William Beveridge". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/beveridge_william.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "NHS Expenditure in England" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5L5oTN. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "NHS costs and exemptions". Department of Health. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Medicinespharmacyandindustry/Prescriptions/NHScosts/DH_087013. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Budget 2008, Chapter C" (PDF). HM Treasury. 3 March 2008. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/7/3/bud08_chapterc.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Private sector role in NHS". BBC News. 30 June 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5133480.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Office for National Statistics. "Life expectancy". statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090525050617/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=168. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
^ Office for National Statistics. "Population estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – current datasets". statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15106. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
^ United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "World Population Prospects: Analytical Report for the 2004". United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WPP2004/WPP2004_Volume3.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Mason, Chris (16 September 2008). "Density of England rises". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7610000/newsid_7618900/7618994.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Khan, Urmee (16 September 2008). "England is most crowded country in Europe". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2967374/England-is-most-crowded-country-in-Europe.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Office for National Statistics (2001). "Ethnic group: Census 2001, Key Statistics for local Authorities". United Kingdom Census 2001. Statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=6561. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Oppenheimer 2006, p. 378.
^ "British and Irish, descendant of the Basques?". Eitb24.com. http://www.eitb24.com/new/en/B24_38277/life/GENETIC-STUDY-British-and-Irish-descendant-of-the-Basques/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Oppenheimer, Stephen (10 October 2006). "What does being British mean? Ask the Spanish". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/3348004/What-does-being-British-mean-Ask-the-Spanish.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Wade, Nicholas (6 March 2007). "A United Kingdom? Maybe". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/science/06brits.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
^ Thomas, M.G.; M.P. Stumpf, H. Härke (2006). "Evidence for an apartheid-like social structure in early Anglo-Saxon England". Proceedings. Biological sciences / the Royal Society 273 (1601): 2651–7. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2006.3627. PMID 17002951.
^ Hall, Allan (21 June 2011). "Forget two world wars and one World Cup... geneticists reveal 50 per cent of Britons are German". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2005829/Half-Britons-German-blood-geneticists-reveal.html. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
^ "Roman Britons after 410". Britarch.ac.uk. http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba68/feat1.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Cameron, Keith (March 1994). Anglo-Saxon Origins: The Reality of the Myth. Malcolm Todd. ISBN 978-1-871516-85-2. http://books.google.com/?id=D3GPUqysfoAC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Anglo-Saxon+Origins:+The+Reality+of+the+Myth&q=Anglo-Saxon%20Origins%3A%20The%20Reality%20of%20the%20Myth. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Legacy of the Vikings". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after_viking/legacy_vikings_01.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Shifting Identities – statistical data on ethnic identities in the US". Bnet. 2001. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_/ai_80408799. Retrieved 09-07-29.
^ "Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories". Statistics Canada. http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/ethnic/pages/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Data=Count&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=3&Display=All&CSDFilter=5000. Retrieved 09-07-29.
^ Centre for Population and Urban Research, Monash University. "Australian Population: Ethnic Origins". http://elecpress.monash.edu.au/pnp/free/pnpv7n4/v7n4_3price.pdf. Retrieved 09-07-29.
^ "Inmigración británica en Chile". Galeon.com. http://www.galeon.com/typepad/. Retrieved 09-07-29.
^ Burke, Jason (9 October 2005). "An Englishman's home is his casa as thousands go south". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/09/spain.spain. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Travis, Alan; Sarah Knapton (16 November 2007). "Record numbers leave the country for life abroad". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/nov/16/emigration. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
^ "ONS: Population Estimates by Ethnic Group 2002–2009" (PDF). http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/eth0511.pdf. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
^ University of Wisconsin. "Medieval English society". http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/123/123%2013%20Society.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Office for National Statistics. "The UK population: past, present and future". http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/01_FOPM_Population.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "One in four Britons claim Irish roots". BBC News. 16 March 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1224611.stm. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "British Immigration Map Revealed". BBC News. 7 September 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4218740.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b Paton, Graeme (1 October 2007). "One fifth of children from ethnic minorities". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/27/nschools127.xml. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
^ Leppard, David (10 April 2005). "Immigration rise increases segregation in British cities". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article379434.ece. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
^ "Immigration debate hots up in England". The Independent News Service. http://www.paperarticles.com/2008/11/immigration-debate-hots-up-in-england.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Milland, Gabriel (23 July 2009). "80% say cap immigration". Daily Express (London). http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115745/80-say-cap-immigration. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "50 million population of England set to rise by six million in 25 years". Daily Mail (London). 12 October 2006. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-410112/50-million-population-England-set-rise-million-25-years.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Official EU languages". European Commission. 8 May 2009. http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
^ Arlotto 1971, p. 108.
^ Green 2003, p. 13.
^ Mujica, Mauro E. (19 June 2003). "English: Not America's Language?". The Globalist (Washington DC). Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080117232711/http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3229. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ "English language history". Yaelf. http://www.yaelf.com/history.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Government Offices for the English Regions. "Cornish language". gos.gov.uk. http://www.gos.gov.uk/gosw/culturehome/heritage/cornish/?view=Standard. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
^ "Strategy for the Cornish language". Cornish Language Partnership. http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38603. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
^ Bates, Claire (23 February 2009). "Manx, Cornish and Irish just three of 2,500 languages facing extinction, say UN". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1151045/Cornish-Manx-Irish-2-500-languages-facing-extinction-says-UN.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ "The Cornish Language Development Project – Evaluation – Final Report, page 20". Hywel Evans, Aric Lacoste / ERS. http://www.magakernow.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=41357&p=0. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ "South West – Cornish Language". Government Office South West. http://www.gos.gov.uk/gosw/culturehome/heritage/cornish/. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ "On being a Cornish "Celt": changing Celtic heritage and traditions". University of Exeter. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5LLsEM. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ Dugan, Emily (6 September 2009). "The Cornish: They revolted in 1497, now they're at it again". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-cornish-they-revolted-in-1497-now-theyre-at-it-again-1782535.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ "Cornish in Schools". Cornish Language Partnership. 2009. http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38586. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
^ Lipsett, Anthea (26 June 2008). "Number of primaries teaching foreign languages doubles". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/jun/26/schools.uk2. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
^ Drury, Ian (15 August 2008). "English is a second language for 1 in 8 pupils in England". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1045097/English-second-language-1-8-pupils-England.html. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
^ "2011 Census: Rise in foreign-born residents". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20677515. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
^ "Church of England". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/cofe/cofe_1.shtml. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
^ "Global Anglicanism at a Crossroads". PewResearch.org. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/896/global-anglicanism-at-a-crossroads. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "People here 'must obey the laws of the land'". The Daily Telegraph (London). 9 February 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578212/People-here-must-obey-the-laws-of-the-land.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "The Methodist Church". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "AN INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC STUDY ON CORNISH". p. 8. http://www.linguae-celticae.org/dateien/Independent_Study_on_Cornish_Language.pdf. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
^ "Cambridge History of Christianity". Hugh McLeod. http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521815000&ss=exc. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c "United Kingdom – History of the Flag". FlagSpot.net. http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-hist.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b "From Expulsion (1290) to Readmission (1656): Jews and England" (PDF). Goldsmiths.ac.uk. http://www.gold.ac.uk/media/350th-anniversary.pdf. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Office for National Statistics. "Religion". Statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8301. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Gearon 2002, p. 246.
^ West 2003, p. 28.
^ "Independent Schools in the United Kingdom". Independent Schools in the United Kingdom. encarta.msn.com. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580406/independent_schools_in_the_united_kingdom.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ Gearon 2002, p. 102.
^ United Kingdom Parliament. "Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee Contents". publications.parliament.uk. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmdius/170/17004.htm. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
^ "QS World University Rankings Results 2010". QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010/results. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
^ "The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2007 – Profile for London School of Economics". The Times (London). 23 September 2007. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/sunday_times_university_guide/article2496158.ece. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
^ "FT Global MBA Rankings". Financial Times. http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
^ Webster 1937, p. 383.
^ Lowe 1971, p. 317.
^ "The Prehistoric Sites of Great Britain". Stone-Circles.org.uk. http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/index.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ancient Roman architecture in England and Wales". Castles.me.uk. http://www.castles.me.uk/ancient-roman-architecture-england-wales.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Colgrave 1985, p. 326.
^ Pevsner 1942, p. 14.
^ ^a ^b Atkinson 2008, p. 189.
^ Downes 2007, p. 17.
^ "Architects to hear Prince appeal". BBC News. 12 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8045027.stm. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
^ Keary 1882, p. 50.
^ Pollard 2004, p. 272.
^ ^a ^b Michael Wood. "King Arthur, 'Once and Future King'". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/arthur_03.shtml. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Higham 2002, p. 25.
^ Koch 2006, p. 732.
^ Lacy 1986, p. 649.
^ Briggs 2004, p. 26.
^ Withington 2008, p. 224.
^ "What is England's national costume?". Woodlands-Junior.kent.sch.uk. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/costume.html. Retrieved 09-06-24.
^ Else 2007, p. 76.
^ "The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants". TheWorlds50Best.com. http://www.theworlds50best.com/module/acms_winners?group_id=1. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Mart, Nicole (22 September 2008). "King Richard II's recipe book to go online". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3061656/King-Richard-IIs-recipe-book-to-go-online.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Traditional English Food Specialities". TravelSignPosts.com. http://www.travelsignposts.com/England/traditional-English-food-specialities.php. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Catherine of Braganza". Tea.co.uk. http://www.tea.co.uk/catherine-of-braganza. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Types of Beer". Icons of England. http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-pint-of-real-ale/features/types-of-beer-finished. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "The Prehistoric Cave Art of England" (PDF). ArchaeologyDataService.ac.uk. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-836-1/dissemination/pdf/ERA_Brochure.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ English Heritage. "Aldborough Roman Site". english-heritage.org.uk. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.17022. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Early Middle Ages Art". Tiscali.co.uk. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0023715.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "English art". Tiscali.co.uk. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0028010.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Turner, Chris. "The Bronze Age: Henry Moore and his successors". Tate Magazine (6).
^ "Freud work sets new world record". BBC News. 14 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7398949.stm. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
^ ^a ^b Warner 1902, p. 35.
^ Rogers 2001, p. 17.
^ Rogers 2001, p. 135.
^ ^a ^b Rowse 1971, p. 48.
^ Norbrook 2000, p. 6.
^ "Richard II". William Shakespeare. http://www.users.waitrose.com/~uk1/shakespeare/sceptred.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
^ Heywood 2007, p. 74.
^ Watson 1985, p. 360.
^ Cole 1947, p. 268.
^ Hawkins-Dady 1996, p. 970.
^ Eccleshare 2002, p. 5.
^ Chappell 1966, p. 690.
^ Lax 1989, p. 7.
^ United Kingdom Parliament (July 2009). "British Citizen by Act of Parliament: George Frideric Handel". Parliamentary Archives. parliament.uk. http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_publications_and_archives/parliamentary_archives/handel_and_naturalisation.cfm. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
^ Stradling 1993, p. 166.
^ Recording Industry Association of America. "Top Selling Artists". riaa.com. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTopArt. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Else 2007, p. 65.
^ ^a ^b Foreman 2005, p. 371.
^ UNESCO. "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". World Heritage. whc.unesco.org. http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/gb. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
^ "English World Heritage Sites to get strongest ever protections" (PDF). Institute of Historic Building Conservation. http://www.ihbc.org.uk/news/docs/English%20World%20Heritage%20Sites%20to%20get%20strongest%20ever%20protections%20CLG%20press%20notice%2027%20May%202008.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "Museum in London". BritishMuseum.org. http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_london.aspx. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "250 Years of the British Museum". Time. 15 January 2009. http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1871956,00.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
^ "British Library". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/80260/British-Library. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "The National Gallery". ArtInfo.com. http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/22865/9383/the-national-gallery-london/about/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Youngs, Ian (31 October 2002). "The art of Turner protests". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2382373.stm. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
^ "Wembley kick-off: Stadium is ready and England play first game in fortnight". Daily Mail (London). 3 March 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=441182. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Sheffield FC: 150 years of history". FIFA. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=621801.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "History of squash". WorldSquash2008.com. http://www.worldsquash2008.com/the-championships/history-of-squash.aspx. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "History of the Game". NRA-Rounders.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071112065508/http://www.nra-rounders.co.uk/dyncat.cfm?catid=17177.
^ "1966 World Cup Final". 3 January 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_FIFA_World_Cup_Final. Retrieved date=3 January 2012.
^ "Premier League towers over world football, says Deloitte". sportbusiness.com. http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/161923/premier-league-towers-over-world-football-says-deloitte. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
^ "UEFA ranking of European leagues". UEFA. http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2006.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "UEFA Champions League Finals 1956–2008". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/ec/ec1stats.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Underdown 2000, p. 6.
^ Cricinfo staff (26 August 2009). Ashes climax watched by a fraction of 2005 audience. Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/content/current/story/422272.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
^ ICC Test and ODI Championships / Official Team Rankings. Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/rankings/content/current/page/211271.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
^ A brief history of Yorkshire. Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/yorkshire/content/current/story/261973.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
^ Fay, Stephen (21 June 1998). "Cricket: Flaw Lord's out of order". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket-flaw-lords-out-of-order-1166513.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
^ "The History of British Motorsport and Motor Racing at Silverstone". Silverstone (Silverstone.co.uk). http://www.silverstone.co.uk/about/history/. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
^ "England will host 2015 Rugby World Cup". BBC News. 28 July 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8170488.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "UK to host 2013 World Cup". Rugby Football League. 28 July 2009. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=14835. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
^ Clarey, Christopher (5 July 2008). "Traditional Final: It’s Nadal and Federer". The New York Times (nytimes.co.uk). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/sports/tennis/05wimbledon.html?_r=1&ref=tennis. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ Kaufman & Macpherson 2005, p. 958.
^ "St. George – England's Patron Saint". Britannia.com. http://www.britannia.com/history/stgeorge.html. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ "National flowers". Number10.gov.uk. 13 January 2003. http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page828. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
^ Smith, Jed (3 June 2005). "England's Rose – The Official History". Museum of Rugby, Twickenham. RugbyNetwork.net. http://www.rugbynetwork.net/main/s245/st74325.htm. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
^ "Jason Cowley loves the Commonwealth Games". New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/200208050035. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
^ "The Great Saint George Revival". BBC News. 23 April 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/82166.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

Bibliography[]

Ackroyd, Peter (2000). London: the biography. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 1-85619-716-6.
Arlotto, Anthony (1971). Introduction to historical linguistics. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-12615-0.
Atkinson, T.D. (2008). English Architecture. Read Books. ISBN 978-1-4097-2581-7.
Axford, Barrie (2002). Politics: an introduction. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25181-8.
Ball, Martin (1993). The Celtic Languages. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-01035-7.
Bartlett, Robert (1999). England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075–1225. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-925101-0.
Bennett, James (2004). The Anglosphere Challenge. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-3333-6.
Brewer, Ebenezer (2006). Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 1-84022-310-3.
Briggs, Katharine (2004). A Dictionary of British Folk-tales in the English Language. Routledge. ISBN 0-203-39737-1.
Chappell, William (1966). The Roxburghe Ballads. New York: AMS Press. OCLC 488599560.
Clark, David M.; Michael Steed, Sally Marshall (1973). Greater Manchester Votes: A Guide to the New Metropolitan Authorities. Stockport: Redrose. ISBN 978-0-9502932-0-2.
Clemoes, Peter (2007). Anglo-Saxon England, Volume 12. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-03834-0.
Cole, George (1947). The Life of William Cobbett. Home & Van Thal. ISBN 0-8492-2139-0.
Colgrave, Bertram (1985). Two lives of Saint Cuthbert. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31385-6.
Colley, Linda (1992). Britons: Forging the Nation, 1701–1837. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-05737-9.
Cox, Peter (1970). Demography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-09612-6.
Crouch, David (2006). Normans: The History of a Dynasty. Hambledon Continuum. ISBN 978-1-85285-595-6Z.
Crofton, Ian (2007). The Kings and Queens of England. Quercus. ISBN 1-84724-065-8.
Crystal, David (2004). The Stories of English. The Overlook Press. ISBN 1-58567-601-2.
Downes, Kerry (2007). Christopher Wren. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-921524-3.
Eccleshare, Julia (2002). Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter. National Portrait Gallery. ISBN 1-85514-342-9.
Else, David (2007). Inghilterra. EDT srl. ISBN 978-88-6040-136-6.
Encyclopædia Britannica (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 0-559-09589-9.
Encyclopædia Britannica (2002). The New Encyclopædia Britannica. University of Michigan. ISBN 0-85229-787-4.
Fafinski, Stefan (2007). English legal system. Pearson Education. ISBN 1-4058-2358-5.
Foreman, Susan (2005). London: a musical gazetteer. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10402-2.
Foster, Damon (1988). A Blake dictionary. UPNE. ISBN 0-87451-436-3.
Fowler, Kenneth (1967). The Age of Plantagenet and Valois: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1328–1498. Putnam. ISBN 0-236-30832-7.
Gallagher, Michael (2006). The United Kingdom Today. London: Franklin Watts. ISBN 978-0-7496-6488-6.
Gearon, Liam (2002). Education in the United Kingdom. David Fulton. ISBN 1-85346-715-4.
Goldberg, Jeremy (1996). "Introduction". In Mark Ormrod & P.G. Lindley. The Black Death in England. Stamford: Paul Watkins. ISBN 1-871615-56-9.
Green, Tamara (2003). The Greek & Latin roots of English. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-1466-8.
Hawkins-Dady, Mark (1996). Reader's guide to literature in English. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-884964-20-6.
Heywood, Andrew (2007). Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-230-52179-7.
Higham, NJ (2002). King Arthur: myth-making and history. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21305-3.
Kaufman, Will; Macpherson, Heidi (2005). Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-431-8.
Kirby, D.P. (2000). The earliest English kings. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-24210-X.
Keary, Charles Francis (1882). Outlines of primitive belief among the Indo-European races. C Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-7905-4982-4.
Koch, John (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-440-7.
Lacy, Norris (1986). The Arthurian Encyclopedia. Garland Pub. ISBN 0-8240-8745-3.
Lax, Roger (1989). The Great Song Thesaurus. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505408-3.
Levine, Israel E. (1960). Conqueror of smallpox: Dr. Edward Jenner. Messner. ISBN 978-0-671-63888-7.
Lowe, Roy (1971). The English school. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7100-6882-4.
Lyon, Bryce Dale (1960). A constitutional and legal history of medieval England. University of Michigan. ISBN 0-393-95132-4.
Major, John (2004). History in Quotations. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35387-6.
Marden, Orison (2003). Home Lover's Library. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-5324-X.
Massey, Gerald (2007). A Book of the Beginnings, Vol.1. Cosimo. ISBN 1-60206-829-1.
McNeil, Robina; Nevell, Michael (2000). A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Greater Manchester. Association for Industrial Archaeology. ISBN 0-9528930-3-7.
Kenny, Michael; English, Richard; Hayton, Richard (2008). Beyond the Constitution? Englishness in a post-devolved Britain. Institute for Public Policy Research.
Norbrook, David (2000). Writing the English Republic: Poetry, Rhetoric and Politics, 1627–1660. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-78569-3.
O'Hanlon, Ardal (2008). Global Airlines. Elsevier. ISBN 0-7506-6439-8.
Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2002). A to Z of STS scientists. Facts on File Inc. ISBN 978-0-8160-4606-5.
Office for National Statistics (2000). Britain 2001: The Official Handbook of the United Kingdom. London: Stationery Office Books. ISBN 978-0-11-621278-8.
Oppenheimer, Stephen (2006). Origins of the British. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1890-0.
Pevsner, Nikolaus (1942). An outline of European architecture. University of Michigan. ISBN 0-14-061613-6.
Pollard, A.J. (2004). Imagining Robin Hood. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22308-3.
Rankov, Boris (1994). The Praetorian Guard. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-361-3.
Redcliffe-Maud, John; Wood, Bruce (1974). English Local Government Reformed. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-885091-3.
Reitan, Earl Aaron (2003). The Thatcher Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-2203-2.
Ripley, George (1869). The New American Cyclopædia. D. Appleton.
Rogers, Pat (2001). The Oxford illustrated history of English literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-285437-2.
Room, Adrian (2006). Placenames of the World. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-2248-3.
Rowse, Alfred (1971). Elizabethan Renaissance. Scribner. ISBN 0-684-12682-6.
Saunders, Paul (1982). Edward Jenner, the Cheltenham years, 1795–1823. University Press of New England. ISBN 978-0-87451-215-1.
Scruton, Roger (1982). A dictionary of political thought. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-33439-6.
Singh, Udai (2009). Decentralized democratic governance in new millennium. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 81-8069-540-9.
Stradling, R.A. (1993). The English musical Renaissance, 1860–1940. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-03493-0.
UK Parliament (2007). Department for Transport annual report 2007. Stationery Office. ISBN 978-0-10-170952-1.
Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play: Cricket and Culture in 18th century England. Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9330-8.
Ward, Paul (2004). Britishness Since 1870. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-49472-1.
Warner, Charles (1902). Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern. International society. ISBN 1-60520-202-9.
Watson, John (1985). English poetry of the Romantic period, 1789–1830. Longman. ISBN 0-582-49259-9.
Webster, Frederick A.M. (1937). Our great public schools: their traditions, customs and games. London: Ward, Lock. OCLC 638146843.
West, Anne (2003). Underachievement in schools. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-24132-8.
White, Fred (2009). Physical Signs in Medicine and Surgery: An Atlas of Rare, Lost and Forgotten Physical Signs. Xlibris Corp. ISBN 978-1-4415-0829-4.
White, Peter (2002). Public transport. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-25772-7.
Wilson, David; Game, Chris (2002). Local Government in the United Kingdom (3rd ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-333-94859-0.
Withington, Robert (2008). English Pageantry; An Historical Outline. Read Books. ISBN 978-1-4086-8062-9.
World Book (2007). The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 6. University of Michigan. ISBN 0-7166-0102-8.
Wright, Kevin J (2008). The Christian Travel Planner. Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 1-4016-0374-2.
Young, Robert JC (2008). The Idea of English Ethnicity. Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-0129-5.
Ziegler, Philip (2003). The Black Death (New ed.). Sutton: Sutton Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 978-0-7509-3202-8.

External links[]

England Medieval Research - FamilySearch chart of what England records cover what period from 1150 to 1650

Find more about England on Wikipedia's sister projects:

	Definitions from Wiktionary
	Textbooks from Wikibooks
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Images and media from Commons
	News stories from Wikinews
	Learning resources from Wikiversity

Official website of the United Kingdom Government
English Heritage – national body protecting English heritage
Natural England – wildlife and the natural world of England
Enjoy England – website of the English Tourist Board
BBC England – news items from the BBC relating to England
Geographic data related to England at OpenStreetMap

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at England. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.

[3] English is established by de facto usage.

[6] Assigned on a United Kingdom basis, not constituent country.

[13] According to the European Statistical Agency, London is the largest Larger Urban Zone which uses conurbations and areas of high population as its definition. A ranking of population within municipal boundaries places London first. However, the University of Avignon in France claims that Paris is first and London second when including the whole urban area and hinterland, that is the outlying cities as well.

[62] As Roger Scruton explains, "The Reformation must not be confused with the changes introduced into the Church of England during the 'Reformation Parliament' of 1529–36, which were of a political rather than a religious nature, designed to unite the secular and religious sources of authority within a single sovereign power: the Anglican Church did not until later make substantial change in doctrine".^[58]

[81] Figure of 550,000 military deaths is for England and Wales^[76]

[185] For instance, in 1980 around 50 million Americans claimed English ancestry.^[176] In Canada there are around 6.5 million Canadians who claim English ancestry.^[177] Around 70% of Australians in 1999 denoted their origins as Anglo-Celtic, a category which includes all peoples from Great Britain and Ireland.^[178] Chileans of English descent are somewhat of an anomaly in that Chile itself was never part of the British Empire, but today there are around 420,000 people of English origins living there.^[179]

[228] Students attending English universities now have to pay tuition fees towards the cost of their education, as do English students who choose to attend university in Scotland. Scottish students attending Scottish universities have their fees paid by the devolved Scottish Parliament.^[94]

[241] While people such as Norman Foster and Richard Rogers represent the modernist movement, Prince Charles since the 1980s has voiced strong views against it in favour of traditional architecture and put his ideas into practice at his Poundbury development in Dorset.^[233] Architects like Raymond Erith, Francis Johnson and Quinlan Terry continued to practice in the classical style.

[248] These tales may have come to prominence, at least in part, as an attempt by the Norman ruling elite to legitimise their rule of the British Isles, finding Anglo-Saxon history ill-suited to the task during an era when members of the deposed House of Wessex, especially Edgar the Ætheling and his nephews of the Scottish House of Dunkeld, were still active in the isles.^[237]^[239] Also Michael Wood explains; "Over the centuries the figure of Arthur became a symbol of British history—a way of explaining the matter of Britain, the relationship between the Saxons and the Celts, and a way of exorcising ghosts and healing the wounds of the past."^[236]

[1] Marden 2003, p. 460.

[2] Brewer 2006, p. 340.

[4] rft-table-ks201ew.xls

[2011census-5] 2011 Census - Population and household estimates for England and Wales, March 2011. Accessed 16 July 2012.

[7] Office for National Statistics. "The Countries of the UK". statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 20 December 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20081220225201/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/uk_countries.asp. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[8] "Countries within a country". number-10.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080209003312/http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page823.asp. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[9] "Changes in the list of subdivision names and code elements (Page 11)" (PDF). International Organization for Standardization. http://www.iso.org/iso/newsletter_i-9.pdf. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[10] "England – Culture". britainusa.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080516162153/http://www.britainusa.com/sections/index_nt1.asp?i=41105&L1=41105&L2=41105&D=0. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[11] "Country profile: United Kingdom". BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk). 26 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1038758.stm. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[12] "Industrial Revolution". Ace.mmu.ac.uk. http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/Global_Warming/Older/Industrial_Revolution.html. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[14] William E. Burns, A Brief History of Great Britain, p. xxi

[15] Acts of Union 1707 parliament.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2011

[16] "England". Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=England. Retrieved 21 July 2010.

[17] Ripley 1869, p. 570.

[18] "England". Oxford English Dictionary. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50075354?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=England&first=1&max_to_show=10. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[Fordham-19] "Germania". Tacitus. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/tacitus-germanygord.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[20] "Angle". Oxford English Dictionary. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50075354?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=Angle&first=1&max_to_show=10. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[21] Crystal 2004, pp. 26–27

[22] Forbes, John (1848). The Principles of Gaelic Grammar. Edinburgh: Oliver, Boyd and Tweeddale.

[massey-23] Massey 2007, p. 440.

[24] Room 2006, p. 23.

[25] Major 2004, p. 84.

[26] Foster 1988, p. 9.

[27] "500,000 BC – Boxgrove". Current Archaeology. Current Publishing. http://www.archaeology.co.uk/the-timeline-of-britain/boxgrove.htm. Retrieved 20 December 2010.

[28] "Palaeolithic Archaeology Teaching Resource Box". Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain Project(2006). http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~sgs04rh/SWRivers/Palaeolithic%20Archaeology%20Teaching%20Resource%20Box_Lifestyles_Basic.pdf. Retrieved 20 December 2010.

[29] "Chalk east". A Geo East Project. http://www.geo-east.org.uk/special_projects/eco_culture.htm. Retrieved 20 December 2010.

[30] Oppenheimer 2006, p. 173.

[31] "Tertiary Rivers: Tectonic and structural background". University of Cambridge. http://www.qpg.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/tertiaryrivers/tectonics.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.

[32] "Function and significance of Bell Beaker pottery according to data from residue analyses". http://tp.revistas.csic.es/index.php/tp/article/viewFile/5/5. Retrieved 21 December 2010.

[33] Reid, Struan (1994). Inventions and Trade. P.8. ISBN 978-0-921921-30-1. http://books.google.com/?id=bn88JPk_Fr0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=inventions+in+trade#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 23 December 2010.

[Koch2009-34] Koch, John (2009). Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009). Palaeohispanica. pp. 339–351. ISSN 1578-5386. http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/54/26koch.pdf. Retrieved 17 May 2010.

[35] Cunliffe, Karl, Guerra, McEvoy, Bradley; Oppenheimer, Rrvik, Isaac, Parsons, Koch, Freeman and Wodtko (2010). Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature. Oxbow Books and Celtic Studies Publications. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-84217-410-4. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298//Location/DBBC.

[36] Cunliffe, Barry (2008). A Race Apart: Insularity and Connectivity in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75, 2009. The Prehistoric Society. p. 61.

[37] Burke, Jason (2 December 2000). "Dig uncovers Boudicca's brutal streak". The Observer (London). http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,406152,00.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[38] "Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals". Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brudribh, Ed. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Tac.+Ann.+14.37&redirect=true. Retrieved 22 December 2010.

[39] Bedoyere, Guy. "Architecture in Roman Britain". Heritage Key. http://heritage-key.com/publication/architecture-roman-britain. Retrieved 23 December 2010.

[40] Philip, Robert (1860). Thr History of Progress in Great Britain, Volume 2. http://books.google.com/?id=bylBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA276&dq=roman+law+after+roman+invasion+of+britain#v=onepage&q=roman%20law%20after%20roman%20invasion%20of%20britain&f=false. Retrieved 23 December 2010.

[41] Bob Rees, Paul Shute, Nigel Kelly (9 January 2003). Medicine through time. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-435-30841-4. http://books.google.com/?id=1qiFEQ1tAHQC&pg=PT119&dq=roman+occupation+brought+to+britain+a+sewage+system#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 December 2010.

[42] Rankov 1994, p. 16.

[43] Wright 2008, p. 143.

[james_anglosaxons-44] James, Edward. "Overview: Anglo-Saxons, 410 to 800". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/overview_anglo_saxons_01.shtml. Retrieved 3 December 2010.

[45] "The Christian Tradition". PicturesofEngland.com. http://www.picturesofengland.com/history/england-history-p4.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[46] Kirby 2000, p. 4

[47] Lyon 1960, p. 23.

[48] "Overview: The Normans, 1066–1154". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/overview_normans_01.shtml. Retrieved 3 December 2010.

[49] Crouch 2006, pp. 2–4

[50] "Norman invasion word impact study". BBC News. 20 February 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7254446.stm. Retrieved 3 December 2010.

[bartlett-51] Bartlett 1999, p. 124.

[52] "Edward I (r. 1272–1307)". Royal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 24 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080624181028/http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page61.asp. Retrieved 21 September 2009.

[53] Fowler 1967, p. 208.

[54] Ziegler 2003, p. 230.

[55] Goldberg 1996, p. 4.

[56] Crofton 2007, p. 111.

[57] "Richard III (r. 1483–1485)". Royal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 July 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080710093939/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page50.asp. Retrieved 21 September 2009.

[58] Denys Hay (1988). Renaissance essays. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-907628-96-5. http://books.google.com/?id=jzm2Vu9h-CYC&pg=PA165&dq=italian+influence+on+the+english+renaissance#v=onepage&q=italian%20influence%20on%20the%20english%20renaissance&f=false. Retrieved 26 December 2010.

[59] "Royal Navy History, Tudor Period and the Birth of a Regular Navy". http://www.royal-navy.org/lib/index.php?title=Tudor_Period_and_the_Birth_of_a_Regular_Navy_Part_Two. Retrieved 24 December 2010.

[60] Goldwin Smith. England Under the Tudors. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-60620-939-4. http://books.google.com/?id=RdOTQUDgH54C&printsec=frontcover&dq=england+under+the+tudors+by+goldwin+smith#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 26 December 2010.

[61] Scruton 1982, p. 470.

[63] Karen Ordahl (25 February 2007). Roanak:the abandoned colony. Rowman & Littlefield publishers Inc. ISBN 978-0-7425-5263-0. http://books.google.com/?id=W8cr4Vgt9ekC&printsec=frontcover&dq=roanoke+colony#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 December 2010.

[Britons-64] Colley 1992, p. 12.

[65] "Making the Act of Union". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609075346/http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/01_background.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[66] Hay, Denys. "The term "Great Britain" in the Middle Ages" (PDF). ads.ahds.ac.uk. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_089/89_055_066.pdf. Retrieved 19 February 2009.

[Ocromwell-67] "Oliver Cromwell (English statesman)". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. 2009. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/143822/Oliver-Cromwell. Retrieved 8 August 2009.

[68] Philip J. Adler, Randall L. Pouwels (27 November 2007). World Civilization. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-495-50262-3. http://books.google.com/?id=mPoqfoiIp4sC&pg=PA340&lpg=PA340&dq=with+the+restoration+it+was+not+constitutionally+established+that+king+and+parliament+should+rule+together#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 December 2010.

[69] "London's Burning: The Great Fire". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_02.shtml. Retrieved 25 September 2009.

[unionwithscotland-70] "The first Parliament of Great Britain". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080621165514/http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/08_02_great.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[71] Gallagher 2006, p. 14.

[72] Hudson, Pat. "The Workshop of the World". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/workshop_of_the_world_01.shtml. Retrieved 10 December 2010.

[Briton20015-73] Office for National Statistics 2000, p. 5

[74] McNeil & Nevell 2000, p. 4.

[75] McNeil & Nevell 2000, p. 9.

[76] Birmingham City Council. "Heritage". visitbirmingham.com. http://www.visitbirmingham.com/arts_and_culture/heritage/. Retrieved 4 October 2009.

[Colley1-77] Colley 1992, p. 1.

[78] Robert F. Haggard (2001). The persistence of Victorian liberalism:The Politics of Social Reform in Britain, 1870–1900. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-313-31305-9. http://books.google.com/?id=53VUwDw_UYMC&pg=PA13&dq=prestige+of+the+british+empire+in+victorian+times#v=onepage&q=prestige%20of%20the%20british%20empire%20in%20victorian%20times&f=false. Retrieved 26 December 2010.

[79] Crawford, Elizabeth. "Women: From Abolition to the Vote". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/abolition_women_article_01.shtml#five. Retrieved 10 December 2010.

[80] Cox 1970, p. 180

[82] Golley, John (10 August 1996). "Obituaries: Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-air-commodore-sir-frank-whittle-1309015.html. Retrieved 2 December 2010.

[83] Clark 1973, p. 1.

[84] Wilson & Game 2002, p. 55.

[85] Gallagher 2006, pp. 10–11.

[thatcher-86] Reitan 2003, p. 50.

[87] Keating, Michael (1 January 1998). "Reforging the Union: Devolution and Constitutional Change in the United Kingdom". Publius: the Journal of Federalism 28 (1). Retrieved on 4 February 2009.

[BBC_Wales-88] "The coming of the Tudors and the Act of Union". BBC Wales. BBC News. 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch11_part2_coming_of_the_tudor.shtml. Retrieved 9 September 2009.

[89] Kenny, English & Hayton 2008, p. 3.

[Ward180-90] Ward 2004, p. 180.

[refreject-91] Sherman, Jill; Andrew Norfolk (5 November 2004). "Prescott's dream in tatters as North East rejects assembly". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article503255.ece. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[92] "The British Parliamentary System". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A591383. Retrieved 20 April 2010.

[Devolution-93] Cabinet Office (26 March 2009). "Devolution in the United Kingdom". cabinetoffice.gov.uk. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/devolution.aspx. Retrieved 16 August 2009.

[94] "Lists of MPs". Parliament.uk. http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/. Retrieved 21 May 2009.

[95] "What is a hung parliament?". BBC News. 7 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8427233.stm. Retrieved 20 May 2009.

[96] "Gordon Brown's resignation speech". BBC News. 11 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8676273.stm. Retrieved 20 May 2009.

[97] "European Election 2009: UK Results". BBC News. 19 April 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/euro/09/html/ukregion_999999.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[98] "West Lothian question". BBC News. 31 October 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7702326.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[msnmoney-99] "Are Scottish people better off?". MSN Money. Archived from the original on 17 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080417222726/http://money.uk.msn.com/consumer/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6543296. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[100] "English nationalism 'threat to UK'". BBC News. 9 January 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/596703.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[101] Davidson, Lorraine (3 June 2008). "Gordon Brown pressed on English parliament". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article4061785.ece. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[102] Grice, Andrew (1 July 2008). "English votes for English laws' plan by Tories". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/english-votes-for-english-laws-plan-by-tories-857647.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[103] [1]

[104] "The Common Law in the British Empire". H-net.msu.edu. 19 October 2000. http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~law/ASLH/conferences/2000conference/101900345b.htm. Retrieved 20 August 2011.

[105] Fafinski 2007, p. 60.

[106] Fafinski 2007, p. 127.

[107] "Constitutional reform: A Supreme Court for the United Kingdom" (PDF). DCA.gov.uk. http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/supremecourt/supreme.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[108] Fafinski 2007, p. 67.

[109] "Crime over the last 25 years". HomeOffice.gov.uk. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/crime0607summ.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[crimebbc-110] "New record high prison population". BBC News. 8 February 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7235438.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[111] "Prison population figures". Ministry Of Justice. 2012. http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/prison-population-figures. Retrieved 2012-12-11.

[112] Cooper, Hilary (29 March 2011). "Tiers shed as regional government offices disappear". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/29/regional-government-disappears-1500-jobs-lost. Retrieved 16 June 2011.

[113] Department for Communities and Local Government. "Prosperous Places". communities.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5KtF1u. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[britannicagov-114] Encyclopædia Britannica 2002, p. 100

[maud-115] Redcliffe-Maud & Wood 1974.

[localgov-116] Singh 2009, p. 53.

[117] Axford 2002, p. 315.

[118] Singh 2009, p. 54.

[Engchannel-119] "English Channel". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. 2009. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/187921/English-Channel. Retrieved 15 August 2009.

[120] "History". EuroTunnel.com. http://www.eurotunnel.com/ukcP3Main/ukcCorporate/ukcAboutUs/ukm/history.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[121] "The River Severn". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/sevenwonders/west/severn-river/. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

[122] "Severn Bore and Trent Aegir". Environment Agency. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/31439.aspx. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

[Thames-123] "River Thames and London (England)". London Evening Standard. London. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-home/related-139-94056-articles-reviews/River+Thames-London+(England)/related.do. Retrieved 17 August 2009.

[metoffice_nw-124] "North West England & Isle of Man: climate". Met Office. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/nw/. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

[125] "Pennines". Smmit Post. http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/220026/pennines.html. Retrieved 8 September 2009.

[126] "National Parks – About us". nationalparks.gov.uk. http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/aboutus. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

[weather-127] "What is the Climate like in Britain?". Woodlands Kent. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/weather/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[128] "Temperature record changes hands". BBC News. 30 September 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[129] "English Climate". MetOffice.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071219165514/http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature.

[england-130] "England 1981–2010 averages". Met Office. February 2013. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/19812010/areal/england.html.

[largesturb-131] Office for National Statistics. "UK's major urban areas" (PDF). Statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/03_FOPM_UrbanAreas.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[cathcities-132] O'Brian, Harriet (24 November 2007). "The Complete Guide To: Cathedral cities in the UK". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/the-complete-guide-to-cathedral-cities-in-the-uk-760201.html. Retrieved 8 September 2009.

[133] Office for National Statistics (2007). "ONS Key Population and Vital Statistics" (PDF). statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/KPVS34-2007/KPVS2007.pdf. Retrieved 18 September 2009.

[London_vs._New_York-134] "London vs. New York, 2005–06". Cinco Dias. http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/mercados/Londres-versus-Nueva-York/20080901cdscdimer_3/cdsmer/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[Global_Financial_Centres_Index-135] "Global Financial Centres Index, 2009-03" (PDF). City of London Corporation. http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/8D37DAE2-5937-4FC5-A004-C2FC4BED7742/0/BC_RS_GFCI5.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[regionalacc-136] Office for National Statistics. "Regional Accounts". statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/economy/national-accounts/regional-accounts/index.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[137] "The Welfare State – Never Ending Reform". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/field_01.shtml. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[138] "Tax in England". AdviceGuide.org.uk. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/tax/income_tax_rates.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[139] CIA – The World Factbook

[140] "Financial Centre". London.gov.uk. http://legacy.london.gov.uk/london-life/business-and-jobs/financial-centre.jsp. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[141] City of London Policy and Resources Committee. "The Global Financial Centres Index" (PDF). cityoflondon.gov.uk. http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/8D37DAE2-5937-4FC5-A004-C2FC4BED7742/0/BC_RS_GFCI5.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[142] "The Bank's relationship with Parliament". BankofEngland.co.uk. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/parliament/index.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[143] "Monetary Policy Committee". BankofEngland.co.uk. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/overview.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[144] "England Exports". EconomyWatch.com. http://mambiz.com/main/?cat=28. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[145] "World Guide – England – Economy Overview". World Guide. Intute. http://www.intute.ac.uk/worldguide/html/1069_economic.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.

[146] "Economy of the United Kingdom" (PDF). PTeducation. http://www.pteducation.com/gk/UK.pdf. Retrieved 8 October 2009.

[147] "Metric system was British". BBC News. 13 July 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6890000/newsid_6898200/6898274.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=10. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[148] "Isambard Kingdom Brunel". DesignMuseum.org. http://www.designmuseum.org/designinbritain/isambard-kingdom-brunel. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[149] Oakes 2002, p. 214

[saunders_jenner-150] Saunders 1982, p. 13

[white_jenner-151] White 2009, p. 335

[levine-152] Levine 1960, p. 183

[americanheritage-153] Curt Wohleber (Spring 2006). "The Vacuum Cleaner". Invention & Technology Magazine. American Heritage Publishing. http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2006/4/2006_4_4.shtml. Retrieved 8 December 2010.

[invent-154] "English Inventors and Inventions". English-Crafts.co.uk. http://www.english-crafts.co.uk/history/inventors.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[airports-155] O'Hanlon 2008, p. 205.

[roads-156] UK Parliament 2007, p. 175

[pubwhite-157] White 2002, p. 63.

[158] "27 September 1825 – Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway". The Stockton and Darlington Railway. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/johnmoore/1825/sept_27.htm. Retrieved 8 September 2009.

[wsj230211-159] "Delta Expects New Slots To Foster Growth At Heathrow Airport". The Wall Street Journal. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5yo0OE2ky. Retrieved 23 March 2011.

[waterworks-160] Else 2007, p. 781.

[161] "BBC History on William Beveridge". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/beveridge_william.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[162] "NHS Expenditure in England" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5L5oTN. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[163] "NHS costs and exemptions". Department of Health. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Medicinespharmacyandindustry/Prescriptions/NHScosts/DH_087013. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[budget2008-164] "Budget 2008, Chapter C" (PDF). HM Treasury. 3 March 2008. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/7/3/bud08_chapterc.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[165] "Private sector role in NHS". BBC News. 30 June 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5133480.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[166] Office for National Statistics. "Life expectancy". statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090525050617/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=168. Retrieved 20 July 2009.

[Population-167] Office for National Statistics. "Population estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – current datasets". statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15106. Retrieved 5 June 2009.

[168] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "World Population Prospects: Analytical Report for the 2004". United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WPP2004/WPP2004_Volume3.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[169] Mason, Chris (16 September 2008). "Density of England rises". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7610000/newsid_7618900/7618994.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[170] Khan, Urmee (16 September 2008). "England is most crowded country in Europe". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2967374/England-is-most-crowded-country-in-Europe.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[ethnicityengl-171] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Office for National Statistics (2001). "Ethnic group: Census 2001, Key Statistics for local Authorities". United Kingdom Census 2001. Statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=6561. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[opp-172] Oppenheimer 2006, p. 378.

[173] "British and Irish, descendant of the Basques?". Eitb24.com. http://www.eitb24.com/new/en/B24_38277/life/GENETIC-STUDY-British-and-Irish-descendant-of-the-Basques/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[174] Oppenheimer, Stephen (10 October 2006). "What does being British mean? Ask the Spanish". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/3348004/What-does-being-British-mean-Ask-the-Spanish.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[UKmaybe-175] Wade, Nicholas (6 March 2007). "A United Kingdom? Maybe". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/science/06brits.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 8 August 2009.

[176] Thomas, M.G.; M.P. Stumpf, H. Härke (2006). "Evidence for an apartheid-like social structure in early Anglo-Saxon England". Proceedings. Biological sciences / the Royal Society 273 (1601): 2651–7. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2006.3627. PMID 17002951.

[177] Hall, Allan (21 June 2011). "Forget two world wars and one World Cup... geneticists reveal 50 per cent of Britons are German". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2005829/Half-Britons-German-blood-geneticists-reveal.html. Retrieved 15 August 2011.

[178] "Roman Britons after 410". Britarch.ac.uk. http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba68/feat1.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[179] Cameron, Keith (March 1994). Anglo-Saxon Origins: The Reality of the Myth. Malcolm Todd. ISBN 978-1-871516-85-2. http://books.google.com/?id=D3GPUqysfoAC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Anglo-Saxon+Origins:+The+Reality+of+the+Myth&q=Anglo-Saxon%20Origins%3A%20The%20Reality%20of%20the%20Myth. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[180] "Legacy of the Vikings". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after_viking/legacy_vikings_01.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[181] "Shifting Identities – statistical data on ethnic identities in the US". Bnet. 2001. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_/ai_80408799. Retrieved 09-07-29.

[182] "Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories". Statistics Canada. http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/ethnic/pages/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Data=Count&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=3&Display=All&CSDFilter=5000. Retrieved 09-07-29.

[183] Centre for Population and Urban Research, Monash University. "Australian Population: Ethnic Origins". http://elecpress.monash.edu.au/pnp/free/pnpv7n4/v7n4_3price.pdf. Retrieved 09-07-29.

[184] "Inmigración británica en Chile". Galeon.com. http://www.galeon.com/typepad/. Retrieved 09-07-29.

[186] Burke, Jason (9 October 2005). "An Englishman's home is his casa as thousands go south". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/09/spain.spain. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[Leave-187] Travis, Alan; Sarah Knapton (16 November 2007). "Record numbers leave the country for life abroad". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/nov/16/emigration. Retrieved 8 August 2009.

[188] "ONS: Population Estimates by Ethnic Group 2002–2009" (PDF). http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/eth0511.pdf. Retrieved 20 August 2011.

[189] University of Wisconsin. "Medieval English society". http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/123/123%2013%20Society.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[190] Office for National Statistics. "The UK population: past, present and future". http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/01_FOPM_Population.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[191] "One in four Britons claim Irish roots". BBC News. 16 March 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1224611.stm. Retrieved 26 November 2010.

[migra-192] "British Immigration Map Revealed". BBC News. 7 September 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4218740.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[Paton-193] Paton, Graeme (1 October 2007). "One fifth of children from ethnic minorities". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/27/nschools127.xml. Retrieved 28 March 2008.

[194] Leppard, David (10 April 2005). "Immigration rise increases segregation in British cities". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article379434.ece. Retrieved 8 August 2009.

[195] "Immigration debate hots up in England". The Independent News Service. http://www.paperarticles.com/2008/11/immigration-debate-hots-up-in-england.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[196] Milland, Gabriel (23 July 2009). "80% say cap immigration". Daily Express (London). http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115745/80-say-cap-immigration. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[increase-197] "50 million population of England set to rise by six million in 25 years". Daily Mail (London). 12 October 2006. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-410112/50-million-population-England-set-rise-million-25-years.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[EUlang-198] "Official EU languages". European Commission. 8 May 2009. http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm. Retrieved 16 October 2009.

[199] Arlotto 1971, p. 108.

[200] Green 2003, p. 13.

[201] Mujica, Mauro E. (19 June 2003). "English: Not America's Language?". The Globalist (Washington DC). Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080117232711/http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3229. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[202] "English language history". Yaelf. http://www.yaelf.com/history.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[203] Government Offices for the English Regions. "Cornish language". gos.gov.uk. http://www.gos.gov.uk/gosw/culturehome/heritage/cornish/?view=Standard. Retrieved 22 September 2009.

[204] "Strategy for the Cornish language". Cornish Language Partnership. http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38603. Retrieved 22 September 2009.

[205] Bates, Claire (23 February 2009). "Manx, Cornish and Irish just three of 2,500 languages facing extinction, say UN". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1151045/Cornish-Manx-Irish-2-500-languages-facing-extinction-says-UN.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[206] "The Cornish Language Development Project – Evaluation – Final Report, page 20". Hywel Evans, Aric Lacoste / ERS. http://www.magakernow.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=41357&p=0. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[207] "South West – Cornish Language". Government Office South West. http://www.gos.gov.uk/gosw/culturehome/heritage/cornish/. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[208] "On being a Cornish "Celt": changing Celtic heritage and traditions". University of Exeter. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5LLsEM. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[209] Dugan, Emily (6 September 2009). "The Cornish: They revolted in 1497, now they're at it again". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-cornish-they-revolted-in-1497-now-theyre-at-it-again-1782535.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[210] "Cornish in Schools". Cornish Language Partnership. 2009. http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38586. Retrieved 22 September 2009.

[211] Lipsett, Anthea (26 June 2008). "Number of primaries teaching foreign languages doubles". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/jun/26/schools.uk2. Retrieved 23 September 2009.

[212] Drury, Ian (15 August 2008). "English is a second language for 1 in 8 pupils in England". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1045097/English-second-language-1-8-pupils-England.html. Retrieved 23 September 2009.

[213] "2011 Census: Rise in foreign-born residents". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20677515. Retrieved 11 December 2012.

[214] "Church of England". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/cofe/cofe_1.shtml. Retrieved 4 December 2010.

[215] "Global Anglicanism at a Crossroads". PewResearch.org. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/896/global-anglicanism-at-a-crossroads. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[216] "People here 'must obey the laws of the land'". The Daily Telegraph (London). 9 February 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578212/People-here-must-obey-the-laws-of-the-land.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[217] "The Methodist Church". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[218] "AN INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC STUDY ON CORNISH". p. 8. http://www.linguae-celticae.org/dateien/Independent_Study_on_Cornish_Language.pdf. Retrieved 26 December 2010.

[219] "Cambridge History of Christianity". Hugh McLeod. http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521815000&ss=exc. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[flaghistory-220] "United Kingdom – History of the Flag". FlagSpot.net. http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-hist.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[jews-221] "From Expulsion (1290) to Readmission (1656): Jews and England" (PDF). Goldsmiths.ac.uk. http://www.gold.ac.uk/media/350th-anniversary.pdf. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[statsio-222] Office for National Statistics. "Religion". Statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8301. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[223] Gearon 2002, p. 246.

[224] West 2003, p. 28.

[225] "Independent Schools in the United Kingdom". Independent Schools in the United Kingdom. encarta.msn.com. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580406/independent_schools_in_the_united_kingdom.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[226] Gearon 2002, p. 102.

[227] United Kingdom Parliament. "Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee Contents". publications.parliament.uk. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmdius/170/17004.htm. Retrieved 16 September 2009.

[229] "QS World University Rankings Results 2010". QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010/results. Retrieved 23 January 2011.

[london_156-230] "The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2007 – Profile for London School of Economics". The Times (London). 23 September 2007. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/sunday_times_university_guide/article2496158.ece. Retrieved 6 June 2008.

[ft-231] "FT Global MBA Rankings". Financial Times. http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings. Retrieved 25 January 2010.

[232] Webster 1937, p. 383.

[233] Lowe 1971, p. 317.

[234] "The Prehistoric Sites of Great Britain". Stone-Circles.org.uk. http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/index.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[roman-235] "Ancient Roman architecture in England and Wales". Castles.me.uk. http://www.castles.me.uk/ancient-roman-architecture-england-wales.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[236] Colgrave 1985, p. 326.

[237] Pevsner 1942, p. 14.

[buildings-238] Atkinson 2008, p. 189.

[239] Downes 2007, p. 17.

[ArchCon4-240] "Architects to hear Prince appeal". BBC News. 12 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8045027.stm. Retrieved 20 June 2009.

[keary-242] Keary 1882, p. 50.

[243] Pollard 2004, p. 272.

[woodbbc-244] Michael Wood. "King Arthur, 'Once and Future King'". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/arthur_03.shtml. Retrieved 16 September 2009.

[higham1-245] Higham 2002, p. 25.

[246] Koch 2006, p. 732.

[247] Lacy 1986, p. 649.

[249] Briggs 2004, p. 26.

[250] Withington 2008, p. 224.

[251] "What is England's national costume?". Woodlands-Junior.kent.sch.uk. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/costume.html. Retrieved 09-06-24.

[252] Else 2007, p. 76.

[253] "The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants". TheWorlds50Best.com. http://www.theworlds50best.com/module/acms_winners?group_id=1. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[254] Mart, Nicole (22 September 2008). "King Richard II's recipe book to go online". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3061656/King-Richard-IIs-recipe-book-to-go-online.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[tradfood-255] "Traditional English Food Specialities". TravelSignPosts.com. http://www.travelsignposts.com/England/traditional-English-food-specialities.php. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[256] "Catherine of Braganza". Tea.co.uk. http://www.tea.co.uk/catherine-of-braganza. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[257] "Types of Beer". Icons of England. http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-pint-of-real-ale/features/types-of-beer-finished. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[258] "The Prehistoric Cave Art of England" (PDF). ArchaeologyDataService.ac.uk. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-836-1/dissemination/pdf/ERA_Brochure.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[259] English Heritage. "Aldborough Roman Site". english-heritage.org.uk. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.17022. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[260] "Early Middle Ages Art". Tiscali.co.uk. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0023715.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[engart-261] "English art". Tiscali.co.uk. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0028010.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[262] Turner, Chris. "The Bronze Age: Henry Moore and his successors". Tate Magazine (6).

[263] "Freud work sets new world record". BBC News. 14 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7398949.stm. Retrieved 14 May 2008.

[warnancmod-264] Warner 1902, p. 35.

[265] Rogers 2001, p. 17.

[266] Rogers 2001, p. 135.

[elizren-267] Rowse 1971, p. 48.

[268] Norbrook 2000, p. 6.

[269] "Richard II". William Shakespeare. http://www.users.waitrose.com/~uk1/shakespeare/sceptred.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-05.

[270] Heywood 2007, p. 74.

[271] Watson 1985, p. 360.

[272] Cole 1947, p. 268.

[273] Hawkins-Dady 1996, p. 970.

[274] Eccleshare 2002, p. 5.

[275] Chappell 1966, p. 690.

[276] Lax 1989, p. 7.

[277] United Kingdom Parliament (July 2009). "British Citizen by Act of Parliament: George Frideric Handel". Parliamentary Archives. parliament.uk. http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_publications_and_archives/parliamentary_archives/handel_and_naturalisation.cfm. Retrieved 10 August 2009.

[278] Stradling 1993, p. 166.

[279] Recording Industry Association of America. "Top Selling Artists". riaa.com. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTopArt. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[280] Else 2007, p. 65.

[foreman-281] Foreman 2005, p. 371.

[282] UNESCO. "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". World Heritage. whc.unesco.org. http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/gb. Retrieved 8 September 2009.

[283] "English World Heritage Sites to get strongest ever protections" (PDF). Institute of Historic Building Conservation. http://www.ihbc.org.uk/news/docs/English%20World%20Heritage%20Sites%20to%20get%20strongest%20ever%20protections%20CLG%20press%20notice%2027%20May%202008.pdf. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[284] "Museum in London". BritishMuseum.org. http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_london.aspx. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[285] "250 Years of the British Museum". Time. 15 January 2009. http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1871956,00.html. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

[286] "British Library". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/80260/British-Library. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[287] "The National Gallery". ArtInfo.com. http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/22865/9383/the-national-gallery-london/about/. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[288] Youngs, Ian (31 October 2002). "The art of Turner protests". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2382373.stm. Retrieved 10 August 2009.

[Daily_Mail_-_stadium_ready-289] "Wembley kick-off: Stadium is ready and England play first game in fortnight". Daily Mail (London). 3 March 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=441182. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[football-290] "Sheffield FC: 150 years of history". FIFA. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=621801.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[291] "History of squash". WorldSquash2008.com. http://www.worldsquash2008.com/the-championships/history-of-squash.aspx. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[292] "History of the Game". NRA-Rounders.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071112065508/http://www.nra-rounders.co.uk/dyncat.cfm?catid=17177.

[1966_World_Cup_Final-293] "1966 World Cup Final". 3 January 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_FIFA_World_Cup_Final. Retrieved date=3 January 2012.

[Deloitte2-294] "Premier League towers over world football, says Deloitte". sportbusiness.com. http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/161923/premier-league-towers-over-world-football-says-deloitte. Retrieved 8 January 2010.

[295] "UEFA ranking of European leagues". UEFA. http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2006.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[296] "UEFA Champions League Finals 1956–2008". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/ec/ec1stats.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[297] Underdown 2000, p. 6.

[298] Cricinfo staff (26 August 2009). Ashes climax watched by a fraction of 2005 audience. Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/content/current/story/422272.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.

[299] ICC Test and ODI Championships / Official Team Rankings. Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/rankings/content/current/page/211271.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.

[300] A brief history of Yorkshire. Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/yorkshire/content/current/story/261973.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.

[301] Fay, Stephen (21 June 1998). "Cricket: Flaw Lord's out of order". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket-flaw-lords-out-of-order-1166513.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.

[302] "The History of British Motorsport and Motor Racing at Silverstone". Silverstone (Silverstone.co.uk). http://www.silverstone.co.uk/about/history/. Retrieved 31 October 2009.

[303] "England will host 2015 Rugby World Cup". BBC News. 28 July 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8170488.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[304] "UK to host 2013 World Cup". Rugby Football League. 28 July 2009. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=14835. Retrieved 28 July 2009.

[305] Clarey, Christopher (5 July 2008). "Traditional Final: It’s Nadal and Federer". The New York Times (nytimes.co.uk). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/sports/tennis/05wimbledon.html?_r=1&ref=tennis. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[306] Kaufman & Macpherson 2005, p. 958.

[307] "St. George – England's Patron Saint". Britannia.com. http://www.britannia.com/history/stgeorge.html. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

[Flowers-308] "National flowers". Number10.gov.uk. 13 January 2003. http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page828. Retrieved 8 August 2009.

[Rose-309] Smith, Jed (3 June 2005). "England's Rose – The Official History". Museum of Rugby, Twickenham. RugbyNetwork.net. http://www.rugbynetwork.net/main/s245/st74325.htm. Retrieved 8 August 2009.

[310] "Jason Cowley loves the Commonwealth Games". New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/200208050035. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[St._George-311] "The Great Saint George Revival". BBC News. 23 April 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/82166.stm. Retrieved 5 September 2009.

[1]

[2]

[nb 1]

[3]

[4]

[nb 2]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[nb 3]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

[50]

[51]

[52]

[53]

[54]

[55]

[56]

[57]

[nb 4]

[59]

[60]

[61]

[62]

[63]

[64]

[65]

[66]

[67]

[68]

[69]

[70]

[71]

[72]

[73]

[74]

[75]

[nb 5]

[77]

[78]

[79]

[80]

[81]

[82]

[83]

[84]

[85]

[86]

[87]

[88]

[89]

[90]

[91]

[92]

[93]

[94]

[95]

[96]

[97]

Rank	Urban area	Population	Localities	Major localities
1	Greater London Urban Area	8,278,251	67	Greater London, divided into the City of London and 32 London boroughs including Croydon, Barnet, Ealing, Bromley^[128]
2	West Midlands Urban Area	2,284,093	22	Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Aldridge
3	Greater Manchester Urban Area	2,240,230	57	Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Stockport, Oldham
4	West Yorkshire Urban Area	1,499,465	26	Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield
5	Tyneside	879,996	25	Newcastle, North Shields, South Shields, Gateshead, Jarrow
6	Liverpool Urban Area	816,216	8	Liverpool, St Helens, Bootle, Huyton-with-Roby
7	Nottingham Urban Area	666,358	15	Nottingham, Beeston and Stapleford, Carlton, Long Eaton
8	Sheffield Urban Area	640,720	7	Sheffield, Rotherham, Chapeltown, Mosborough
9	Bristol Urban Area	551,066	7	Bristol, Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford
10	Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton	461,181	10	Brighton, Worthing, Hove, Littlehampton, Shoreham, Lancing

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 :''For an explanation of often confusing terms like ''England'', ''([[Great Britain|Great]]) [[Britain]]'' and ''[[United Kingdom]]'' see '''[[wikipedia:British Isles (terminology)]]'''.''
+{{about}}
+{{Infobox country
+| conventional_long_name = England
+| common_name = England
+| image_flag = Flag of England.svg
+| flag_alt = Vertical red cross on a white background
+| national_motto = {{vlist |{{native phrase|fr|"[[Dieu et mon droit]]"|italics=off}} |{{small|"God and my right"}}&nbsp;<ref>{{harvnb|Marden|2003|p=460}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Brewer|2006|p=340}}.</ref>}}
+| national_anthem = {{vlist |[[National anthem of England|None]] (''[[de jure]]'') |''[[God Save the Queen]]'' (''[[de facto]]'')}}
+| image_map = England in the UK and Europe.svg
+| map_width = 250px
+| map_caption = {{map caption |location_color=dark green |subregion=United Kingdom |subregion_color=light green |region=European continent |region_color=dark grey}}
+| map_alt = Map of England within the British Isles and within Europe
+| capital = [[London]]
+| demonym = [[English people|English]]
+| latd=51 |latm=30 |lats=27.8 |latNS=N |longd=0 |longm=7 |longs=40.7 |longEW=W
+| largest_city = capital
+| official_languages = [[English language|English]] (''[[de facto]]'')<ref group="nb">English is established by ''de facto'' usage.</ref>
+| regional_languages = [[Cornish language|Cornish]]
+| ethnic_groups =
+ {{unbulleted list
+  | 85.5% [[White people|White]]
+  |  7.7% [[British Asian|Asian]]
+  |  3.4% [[Black British|Black]]
+  |  2.2% [[British Mixed|Mixed race]]
+  |  1.0% [[Other ethnic group (United Kingdom Census)|other]]
+ }}
+| ethnic_groups_year = 2011<ref>[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-ks201ew.xls rft-table-ks201ew.xls]</ref>
+| area_rank =
+| government_type = Non-[[Devolution|devolved]] [[constituent country]] within a [[constitutional monarchy]]
+| legislature = [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]
+| leader_title1 = [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Monarch]]
+| leader_name1 = [[Elizabeth II]]
+| leader_title2 = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
+| leader_name2 = {{nowrap|[[Boris Johnson]] [[MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 2019|MP]]}}
+| area_magnitude = 1 E11
+| area_sq_mi = 50,346
+| area_km2 = 130,395
+| percent_water =
+| population_estimate = | population_estimate_rank = | population_estimate_year =
+| population_census = 53,013,000<ref name=2011census>[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_270487.pdf 2011 Census - Population and household estimates for England and Wales, March 2011].  Accessed 16 July 2012.</ref>
+| population_census_year = 2011
+| population_density_mi2 = auto
+| population_density_km2 = 407
+| population_density_rank =
+| GDP_PPP = | GDP_PPP_rank = | GDP_PPP_year = | GDP_PPP_per_capita = | GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank =
+| GDP_nominal = $2.68 trillion
+| GDP_nominal_rank =
+| GDP_nominal_year =2009
+| GDP_nominal_per_capita = $50,566
+| Gini_year = | Gini_change =  <!--increase/decrease/steady--> | Gini =  <!--number only--> | Gini_ref = | Gini_rank =
+| HDI_year = | HDI_change =  <!--increase/decrease/steady--> | HDI =  <!--number only--> | HDI_ref = | HDI_rank =
+| currency = [[Pound sterling]]
+| currency_code = GBP
+| time_zone = GMT
+| utc_offset = 0
+| time_zone_DST = BST
+| DST_note =
+| utc_offset_DST = +1
+| calling_code = [[+44]]
+| date_format = dd/mm/yyyy ([[Anno Domini|AD]])
+| drives_on = left
+| patron_saint = [[Saint George]]
+| cctld = [[.uk]]<ref group="nb">Assigned on a United Kingdom basis, not [[Countries of the United Kingdom|constituent country]].</ref>
+}}
+{{Wikisource|Portal:England|England portal}}
+'''England''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-England.ogg|ˈ|ɪ|ŋ|ɡ|l|ə|n|d}}) is the most populous [[Countries of the United Kingdom|country]] in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Countries of the UK |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/uk_countries.asp |publisher=statistics.gov.uk |accessdate=1 February 2009 |author=Office for National Statistics |authorlink=Office for National Statistics |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20081220225201/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/uk_countries.asp <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archivedate=20 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Countries within a country|url=http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page823.asp|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080209003312/http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page823.asp|archivedate=9 February 2008|publisher=number-10.gov.uk|accessdate=1 February 2009|authorlink=Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |unused_data=Prime Minister's Office}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Changes in the list of subdivision names and code elements (Page 11)|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/newsletter_i-9.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=[[International Organization for Standardization]]|accessdate=1 February 2009}}</ref> It shares land borders with [[Scotland]] to the north and [[Wales]] to the west; the [[Irish Sea]] is to the north west, the [[Celtic Sea]] to the south west, while the [[North Sea]] to the east and the [[English Channel]] to the south separate it from [[continental Europe]]. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of [[Great Britain]] in the [[North Atlantic]]. The country also includes [[List of islands of England|over 100&nbsp;smaller islands]] such as the [[Isles of Scilly]] and the [[Isle of Wight]].
-{| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
-|+<big><big>'''England'''</big></big>
-|-
-| style="background:#efefef;" align="center" colspan=2 |
-{| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="padding-top: 0.5em;"
-|-
-| align="center" width="170px" | [[Image:flagofengland.PNG|English Flag]]
-| align="center" width="110px" | [[Image:Armsofengland.png|English Coat of Arms]]
-|-
-| align="center" width="170px" | <small>([[Flag of England|Flag]])</small>
-| align="center" width="110px" | <small>([[Coat of arms of England|Coat of Arms]])</small>
-|}
-|-
-| align="center" colspan=2 | <small>''[[Motto|Royal motto]] ([[French language|French]]): [[Dieu et mon droit]]<br />(Translated: "God and my right")''</small>
-|-
-| align=center colspan=2 style="background: #ffffff;" | [[Image:LocationEngland.PNG|England's location within Europe]]
-|-
-| align=center colspan=2 style="background: #ffffff;" | [[Image:Map of England within the United Kingdom.png|180px|England's location within the UK]]<br><small>England's location within the UK</small>
-|-
-| '''[[Official language]]'''
-| [[English language|English]] ''[[de facto]]''
-|-
-| '''Capital'''
-| [[London]] ''de facto''
-|-
-| '''Largest city'''
-| [[London]]
-|-
-| '''[[Area]]'''<br> - Total
-| [[List of United Kingdom nations by area|Ranked 1st UK]]<br> [[1 E11 m²|130,395]] [[square kilometre|km&sup2;]]
-|-
-| '''[[Population]]'''<br> - Total (mid-[[2004]])<br> - [[Population density|Density]]
-| [[List of United Kingdom nations by population|Ranked 1st UK]]<br>50.1 million<br>384/km&sup2;
-|-
-|Ethnicity: ([[United Kingdom Census 2001|Census 2001]])||90.92% White<br>4.57% South Asian<br>2.3% Black<br> 1.31% Mixed<br>0.89% Chinese
-|-
-| '''[[Religion]]'''
-| [[Church of England]]: 31,500,000<br>[[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]: 5,000,000<br>[[Islam|Muslim]]: 1,600,000<br>[[Methodism|Methodist]]: 1,400,000<br> [[Hinduism|Hindu]]: 559,000<br>[[Sikhism|Sikh]]: 336,000<br>[[Judaism|Jewish]]: 267,000<br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]]: 250,000<br>[[Baptists]]: 140,000<br>[[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormons]]: 100,000-200,000<br>[[Rastafari movement|Rastafari]]: 100,000
-|-
-| '''Unification'''
-| [[927]] by<br />[[Athelstan]]
-|-
-| '''[[Currency]]'''
-| [[Pound sterling]] (£) (GBP)
-|-
-| '''[[Time zone]]'''
-| [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] / [[Greenwich Mean Time|(GMT)]]<br />[[British Summer Time|Summer: UTC +1 (BST)]]
-|-
-| '''[[National anthem]]s '''
-| None officially<br>''see below''
-|-
-| '''[[National flower]] '''
-| ''[[rose]] (red, white)''
-|-
-| '''[[Patron saint]] '''
-| ''[[St. George|St George]]''
-|}
+The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the [[Upper Palaeolithic]] period, but it takes its name from the [[Angles]], one of the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD&nbsp;927, and since the [[Age of Discovery]], which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world.<ref>{{cite web |title= England&nbsp;– Culture|url=http://www.britainusa.com/sections/index_nt1.asp?i=41105&L1=41105&L2=41105&D=0|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080516162153/http://www.britainusa.com/sections/index_nt1.asp?i=41105&L1=41105&L2=41105&D=0|archivedate=16 May 2008|publisher=britainusa.com|accessdate=1 February 2009}}</ref> The [[English language]], the [[Anglican Communion|Anglican Church]], and [[English law]]—the basis for the [[common law]] legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliamentary system]] of government has been widely adopted by other nations.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1038758.stm |title=Country profile: United Kingdom |publisher=news.bbc.co.uk|work=BBC News|accessdate=1 February 2009 | date=26 October 2009}}</ref> The [[Industrial Revolution]] began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/Global_Warming/Older/Industrial_Revolution.html |publisher=Ace.mmu.ac.uk |title=Industrial Revolution|accessdate=1 February 2009}}</ref>
-'''England''' is the largest and most populous [[constituent country]] of the [[United Kingdom]], occupying most of the southern two-thirds of the island of [[Great Britain]]. It shares land borders with fellow [[home nations]] [[Scotland]], to the north, and [[Wales]], to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the [[Angles]], one of a number of [[Germanic tribes]] believed to have originated in [[Angeln]] in Northern [[Germany]], who settled there in the [[5th century|5th]] and [[6th century|6th]] centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since [[1707]], when [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of [[Scotland]] and [[Northern Ireland]], as part of the entity "[[England and Wales]]". England's largest city, [[London]], is also the capital of the [[United Kingdom]].
+England's terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north (for example, the mountainous [[Lake District]], [[Pennines]], and [[Yorkshire Dales]]) and in the south west (for example, [[Dartmoor]] and the [[Cotswolds]]). The former capital of England was [[Winchester]] until replaced by [[London]] in 1066. Today London is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the [[European Union]] by most measures.<ref group= "nb">According to the [[Eurostat|European Statistical Agency]], London is the largest [[Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) in the European Union|Larger Urban Zone]] which uses conurbations and areas of high population as its definition. A [[Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits|ranking of population]] within municipal boundaries places London first. However, the [[University of Avignon]] in France claims that Paris is first and London second when including the whole urban area and hinterland, that is the [[Largest urban areas of the European Union|outlying cities as well]].</ref> [[Demography of England|England's population]] is about 53&nbsp;million, around 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, and is largely concentrated in London, the [[Southeast England|South East]] and conurbations in the [[English Midlands|Midlands]], the [[North West England|North West]], the [[North East England|North East]] and [[Yorkshire]], which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century. Meadowlands and pastures are found beyond the major cities.
-==History==
-{{History of England}}
-''Main article: [[History of England]]''
+The [[Kingdom of England]]—which [[Statute of Rhuddlan|after 1284]] included Wales—was a sovereign state until 1&nbsp;May 1707, when the [[Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union]] put into effect the terms agreed in the [[Treaty of Union]] the previous year, resulting in a political union with the [[Kingdom of Scotland]] to create the new [[Kingdom of Great Britain]].<ref>William E. Burns, ''A Brief History of Great Britain'', [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Fjf4YynnC90C&pg=PT21#v=onepage&q&f=false p. xxi]</ref><ref>[http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/ Acts of Union 1707] parliament.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2011</ref> In 1801, Great Britain was united with the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] through another [[Act of Union 1800|Act of Union]] to become the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]. In 1922, the [[Irish Free State]] was established as a separate dominion, but the [[Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927]] reincorporated into the kingdom six Irish counties to officially create the current [[United Kingdom|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]].
-<div class="thumb tright">
+{{TOC limit|limit=2}}
-<div style="width:252px; background-color: red">
-<div style="width:240px;" style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; background-color: #ffffff">
-This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,<br>
-This earth of  majesty, this seat of Mars,<br>
-This other Eden, demi-paradise,<br>
-This fortress built by Nature for herself<br>
-Against infection and the hand of war,<br>
-This happy breed of men, this little world,<br>
-This precious stone set in  the silver sea,<br>
-Which serves it in the office of a wall<br>
-Or as a moat defensive to a house,<br>
-Against the envy of less happier lands,&mdash;<br>
-This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.<br>
-<div style="font-weight: bold; width: 95%;">[[William Shakespeare]]<br>
-''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'' (Act 2, Scene 1)</div>
-</b></font>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
+== Toponymy{{Anchor|Etymology}} ==<!--linked-->
-<div class="thumb tright">
+{{see also|Toponymy of England}}
-<div style="width:252px; background-color: red">
+The name "England" is derived from the [[Old English]] name ''Englaland'', which means "land of the [[Angles]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=England|title=England|publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary|accessdate=21 July 2010}}</ref> The Angles were one of the [[Germanic tribes]] that settled in Great Britain during the [[Early Middle Ages]]. The Angles came from the [[Angeln]] peninsula in the [[Bay of Kiel]] area of the [[Baltic Sea]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ripley|1869|p=570}}.</ref> According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the first known use of "England" to refer to the southern part of the island of Great Britain occurs in 897, and its modern spelling was first used in 1538.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50075354?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=England&first=1&max_to_show=10 |title=England|publisher=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>{{dead link|date=February 2013}}
-<div style="width:240px;" style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; background-color: #ffffff">
-The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'".<br>
-<div style="font-weight: bold; width: 95%;">Venetian ambassador to England<br>Early 16th century<br>Augusta Sneyd, <u>Italian Relations of England</u> (p. 20)</div>
-</b></font>
-</div>
-</div>
-</div>
+The earliest attested mention of the name occurs in the 1st century work by [[Tacitus]], ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'', in which the [[Latin]] word ''Anglii'' is used.<ref name="Fordham">{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/tacitus-germanygord.html |title= Germania|publisher=[[Tacitus]]|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> The etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars; it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an ''angular'' shape.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50075354?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=Angle&first=1&max_to_show=10 |title=Angle|publisher=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>{{dead link|date=February 2013}} How and why a term derived from the name of a tribe that was less significant than others, such as the [[Saxons]], came to be used for the entire country and its people is not known, but it seems this is related to the custom of calling the Germanic people in Britain ''Angli Saxones'' or English Saxons.<ref>{{harvnb|Crystal|2004| pp=26–27}}</ref> In [[Scottish Gaelic]], another language which developed on the island of Great Britain, the Saxon tribe gave their name to the word for England (''Sasunn''),<ref>{{cite book|last=Forbes|first=John|title=The Principles of Gaelic Grammar|year=1848|publisher=Oliver, Boyd and Tweeddale|location=Edinburgh}}</ref> and the Welsh use "''Saesneg''" - a form derived from "Saxon" - to describe the English language.
-England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated [[Ice Ages]] made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. [[Stone Age]] hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated [[megalithic]] civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by [[Phoenicia]]n traders - an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network.
+An alternative name for England is [[Albion]]. The name ''Albion'' originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The earliest record of the name appears in the [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] [[Corpus Aristotelicum|Corpus]], specifically the 4th century BC ''De Mundo'':<ref name="massey">{{harvnb|Massey|2007|p=440}}.</ref> "Beyond the [[Pillars of Hercules]] is the ocean that flows round the earth. In it are two very large islands called Britannia; these are [[Albion]] and [[Ireland|Ierne]]".<ref name="massey"/> The word ''[[Albion]]'' (Ἀλβίων) or ''insula Albionum'' has two possible origins. It either derives from a cognate of the Latin ''albus'' meaning white, a reference to the [[white cliffs of Dover]], the only part of Britain visible from the European Continent,<ref>{{harvnb|Room|2006|p=23}}.</ref> or from the phrase in ''[[Massaliote Periplus]]'', the "island of the ''Albiones''".<ref>{{harvnb|Major|2004|p=84}}.</ref> ''Albion'' is now applied to England in a more poetic capacity.<ref>{{harvnb|Foster|1988|p=9}}.</ref> Another romantic name for England is [[Lloegyr|Loegria]], related to the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] word for England, ''Lloegr'', and made popular by its use in [[Arthurian legend]].
-The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in [[Gaul]] militarily during the [[Gallic Wars]] with the [[Roman Republic]]. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with [[Julius Caesar]]'s raid in [[55 BC]], and then the Emperor [[Claudius]]' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island &mdash; roughly corresponding to modern day England and [[Wales]] &mdash; became a prosperous part of the [[Roman Empire]]. It was finally abandoned early in the [[5th century]] when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent.
+== History ==
-Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the [[5th century|5th]] and [[6th century|6th]] centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day [[Wales]] and western extremities of England, notably [[Cornwall]] and [[Cumbria]]. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day [[Brittany]], thus giving it its name and language ([[Breton language | Breton]]). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas.
+{{Main|History of England}}
+=== Prehistory and antiquity ===
-The invaders fell into three main groups: the [[Jutes]], the [[Saxons]], and the [[Angles]]. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon [[heptarchy]].) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "[[Bretwalda]]" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the [[Kingdom of England]] was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish [[Viking]] incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the [[8th century]]. [[Egbert of Wessex|Egbert]], King of [[Wessex]] (d. [[839]]) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by [[Alfred the Great]] (ruled [[871]]&ndash;[[899]]).
+{{Main|Prehistoric Britain}}
+[[File:Stonehenge.jpg|thumb|alt=Sun shining through row of upright standing stones with other stones horizontally on the top.|[[Stonehenge]], a [[Neolithic]] [[monument]].]]
+The earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of ''[[Homo antecessor]]'', dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000&nbsp;years ago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archaeology.co.uk/the-timeline-of-britain/boxgrove.htm|title=500,000 BC&nbsp;– Boxgrove|accessdate=20 December 2010|work=Current Archaeology|publisher=Current Publishing}}</ref> Modern humans are known to have first inhabited the area during the [[Upper Paleolithic]] period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~sgs04rh/SWRivers/Palaeolithic%20Archaeology%20Teaching%20Resource%20Box_Lifestyles_Basic.pdf|title= Palaeolithic Archaeology Teaching Resource Box|publisher= Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain Project(2006)|accessdate=20 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geo-east.org.uk/special_projects/eco_culture.htm|title= Chalk east|publisher= A Geo East Project|accessdate=20 December 2010}}</ref>
+After the last [[Last glacial period|ice age]] only large mammals such as [[mammoth]]s, [[bison]] and [[woolly rhinoceros]] remained. Roughly 11,000&nbsp;years ago, when the ice sheets began to recede, humans repopulated the area; genetic research suggests they came from the northern part of the [[Iberian Peninsula]].<ref>{{harvnb|Oppenheimer|2006|p=173}}.</ref> The sea level was lower than now, and Britain was connected by land to both Ireland and [[Eurasia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.qpg.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/tertiaryrivers/tectonics.html |title=Tertiary Rivers: Tectonic and structural background |publisher=University of Cambridge |accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref>
+As the seas rose, it was separated from Ireland 10,000&nbsp;years ago and from Eurasia two millennia later.
+The [[Beaker culture]] arrived around 2500&nbsp;BC, introducing drinking and food vessels constructed from clay, as well as vessels used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tp.revistas.csic.es/index.php/tp/article/viewFile/5/5|title=Function and significance of Bell Beaker pottery according to data from residue analyses|accessdate=21 December 2010}}</ref> It was during this time that major [[Neolithic]] monuments such as [[Stonehenge]] and [[Avebury]] were constructed. By heating together tin and copper, both of which were in abundance in the area, the Beaker culture people made [[bronze]], and later iron from iron ores. The development of iron [[smelting]] allowed the construction of better [[plough]]s, advancing agriculture (for instance, with [[Celtic field]]s), as well as the production of more effective weapons.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=bn88JPk_Fr0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=inventions+in+trade#v=onepage&q&f=false|last=Reid|first=Struan|title=Inventions and Trade. P.8|accessdate=23 December 2010|isbn=978-0-921921-30-1|year=1994}}</ref>
-The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the  language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley.
+According to [[John T. Koch]] and others, England in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the [[Atlantic Bronze Age]], that included the whole of the British Isles and much of what we now regard as France, together with the Iberian Peninsula. [[Celtic languages]] developed in those areas; [[Tartessian language|Tartessian]] may have been the earliest written Celtic language.<ref name=Koch2009>{{cite book | last = Koch | first = John | title = Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009)| publisher=Palaeohispanica | year = 2009 | pages = 339–351 | url = http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/54/26koch.pdf | id = | issn = 1578-5386 | accessdate =17 May 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe, Karl, Guerra, McEvoy, Bradley; Oppenheimer, Rrvik, Isaac, Parsons, Koch, Freeman and Wodtko |title=Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature |year=2010|publisher=Oxbow Books and Celtic Studies Publications |isbn=978-1-84217-410-4 |page=384 |url=http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298//Location/DBBC}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=A Race Apart: Insularity and Connectivity in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75, 2009 |year=2008| publisher=The Prehistoric Society |page=61}}</ref>
-[[Image:Bayeuxtap1.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Norman conquest of England, as depicted in the [[Bayeux Tapestry]]]]
-[[Image:Elizabeth I (Ermine Portrait).jpg|thumb|175px|right|[[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]]]]
-Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. 'A Y chromosome census of the British Isles'. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of Birmingham University; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.
+[[File:Queen Boudica by John Opie.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Painting of woman, with outstretched arm, in white dress with red cloak and helmet, with other human figures to her right and below her to the left.|right|upright|[[Boudica]] led an uprising against the [[Roman Empire]].]]
-Some school histories of England begin with the [[Norman Conquest]] in 1066, and the numbering system used for English monarchs treats that event as a blank slate from which to count (For example, the [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] who reigned in the 13th century was not the first king of England of that name, only the first since the conquest). But although he unquestionably engineered a pivotal moment in the country's history, [[William the Conqueror]] did not "found" or "unify" the country; a well-established English kingdom had already existed for several centuries.
+During the [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]], [[Celts|Celtic culture]], deriving from the [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt]] and [[La Tène culture]]s, arrived from Central Europe. [[British language (Celtic)|Brythonic]] was the spoken language during this time. Society was tribal; according to [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geographia]]'' there were around 20 tribes in the area. Earlier divisions are unknown because the Britons were not literate. Like other regions on the edge of the Empire, Britain had long enjoyed trading links with the Romans. Julius Caesar of the [[Roman Republic]] attempted to [[Caesar's invasions of Britain|invade twice]] in 55&nbsp;BC; although largely unsuccessful, he managed to set up a [[Roman client kingdoms in Britain|client king]] from the [[Trinovantes]].
-Rather, William took over a pre-existing England and gave it an [[Anglo-Norman]] administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer &mdash; arguably with traces lasting to the modern day.
+The Romans invaded Britain in AD&nbsp;43 during the reign of Emperor [[Claudius]], subsequently [[Roman conquest of Britain|conquering much of Britain]], and the area was incorporated into the Roman Empire as [[Britannia province]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,406152,00.html |title=Dig uncovers Boudicca's brutal streak |accessdate=5 September 2009 |work=The Observer  |location=London | first=Jason | last=Burke | date=2 December 2000 }}</ref> The best-known of the native tribes who attempted to resist were the [[Catuvellauni]] led by [[Caratacus]]. Later, an uprising led by [[Boudica]], Queen of the [[Iceni]], ended with Boudica's suicide following her defeat at the [[Battle of Watling Street]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Tac.+Ann.+14.37&redirect=true|title=Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals|publisher=Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brudribh, Ed|accessdate=22 December 2010}}</ref> This era saw a [[Greco-Roman]] culture prevail with the introduction of [[Roman law]], [[Roman architecture]], sewage systems, many agricultural items, and silk.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://heritage-key.com/publication/architecture-roman-britain|title=Architecture in Roman Britain|work=Heritage Key|first=Guy|last=Bedoyere|accessdate=23 December 2010}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=bylBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA276&dq=roman+law+after+roman+invasion+of+britain#v=onepage&q=roman%20law%20after%20roman%20invasion%20of%20britain&f=false|title=Thr History of Progress in Great Britain, Volume 2|first=Robert|last=Philip|accessdate=23 December 2010|year=1860}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=1qiFEQ1tAHQC&pg=PT119&dq=roman+occupation+brought+to+britain+a+sewage+system#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Medicine through time|publisher=Heinemann|author=Bob Rees, Paul Shute, Nigel Kelly|accessdate=24 December 2010|isbn=978-0-435-30841-4|date=9 January 2003}}</ref> In the 3rd century, Emperor [[Septimius Severus]] died at [[Eboracum]] ''(modern-day [[York]])'', where [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] was subsequently proclaimed emperor.<ref>{{harvnb|Rankov|1994|p=16}}.</ref>
-While [[Old English language|Old English]] continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of [[Middle English]] widely spoken in Chaucer's time.
+There is debate about when Christianity was first introduced; it was no later than the 4th century, with probability lying much earlier. According to [[Bede]], missionaries were sent from Rome by [[Pope Eleuterus|Eleutherius]] at the request of the chieftain [[Lucius of Britain]] in AD 180 to settle differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials which were disturbing the church. There are traditions linked to Glastonbury claiming an introduction through [[Joseph of Arimathea]], while others claim through [[Lucius of Britain]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2008|p=143}}.</ref> By 410, as the Empire [[Decline of the Roman Empire|declined]], Britain was left exposed by the [[End of Roman rule in Britain|withdrawal of Roman army units]], to defend the frontiers in continental Europe and partake in civil wars.<ref name="james_anglosaxons" />
-England came repeatedly into conflict with [[Wales]] and [[Scotland]], at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate [[nation]] (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative [[wool]] market.
+{{Clear}}
+=== Middle Ages ===
-The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the [[British Empire]]. The turmoil of the [[Reformation]] embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably [[Spain]], but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]]. Elizabeth's successor, [[James I of England | James I]] was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the [[Act of Union 1707]], which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]. This later became the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the [[United Kingdom|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]] (1927 to present)
+{{Main|England in the Middle Ages}}
+[[File:Sutton Hoo replica (face).jpg|thumb|alt=Studded and decorated metallic mask of human face.|Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial [[helmet]] from the [[Kingdom of East Anglia]], found at [[Sutton Hoo]].]]
+Roman military withdrawals left Britain open to invasion by pagan, seafaring warriors from north-western continental Europe, chiefly the [[Angles]], [[Saxons]] and [[Jutes]] who had long raided the coasts of the Roman province and began to settle, initially in the eastern part of the country.<ref name="james_anglosaxons">{{cite web |title=Overview: Anglo-Saxons, 410 to 800|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/overview_anglo_saxons_01.shtml|publisher=BBC|accessdate=3 December 2010|first=Edward|last=James}}</ref> Their advance was contained for some decades after the Britons' victory at the [[Battle of Mons Badonicus|Battle of Mount Badon]], but subsequently resumed, over-running the fertile lowlands of Britain and reducing the area under [[Britons (historical)|Brythonic]] control to a series of separate enclaves in the more rugged country to the west by the end of the 6th century. Contemporary texts describing this period are extremely scarce, giving rise to its description as a [[Dark Age]]. The nature and progression of the [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain]] is consequently subject to considerable disagreement. Christianity had in general disappeared from the conquered territories, but was reintroduced by missionaries from Rome led by [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]] from 597 onwards and by Irish missionaries led by [[Aidan of Lindisfarne|Aidan]] around the same time.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Christian Tradition|url=http://www.picturesofengland.com/history/england-history-p4.html|publisher=PicturesofEngland.com|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> Disputes between the varying influences represented by these missions ended in victory for the Roman tradition.
+During the settlement period the lands ruled by the incomers seem to have been fragmented into numerous tribal territories, but by the 7th century, when substantial evidence of the situation again becomes available, these had coalesced into roughly a dozen kingdoms including [[Northumbria]], [[Mercia]], [[Wessex]], [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]], [[Kingdom of Essex|Essex]], [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]] and [[Kingdom of Sussex|Sussex]]. Over the following centuries this process of political consolidation continued.<ref>{{harvnb|Kirby|2000|p=4}}</ref> The 7th century saw a struggle for hegemony between Northumbria and Mercia, which in the 8th century gave way to Mercian preeminence.<ref>{{harvnb|Lyon|1960|p=23}}.</ref> In the early 9th century Mercia was displaced as the foremost kingdom by Wessex. Later in that century escalating attacks by the [[Danes]] culminated in the conquest of the north and east of England, overthrowing the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Wessex under [[Alfred the Great]] was left as the only surviving English kingdom, and under his successors it steadily expanded at the expense of the kingdoms of the [[Danelaw]]. This brought about the political unification of England, first accomplished under [[Æthelstan]] in 927 and definitively established after further conflicts by [[Eadred]] in 953. A fresh wave of [[Scandinavia]]n attacks from the late 10th century ended with the conquest of this united kingdom by [[Sweyn Forkbeard]] in 1013 and again by his son [[Cnut the Great|Cnut]] in 1016, turning it into the centre of a short-lived [[North Sea]] empire that also included [[Kingdom of Denmark|Denmark]] and [[Norway]]. However the native royal dynasty was restored with the accession of [[Edward the Confessor]] in 1042.
-For post-unification history, see [[history of the United Kingdom]].
+[[File:King_Henry_V_at_the_Battle_of_Agincourt,_1415.png|thumb|left|[[Henry V of England (1387-1422)|King Henry V]] at the [[Battle of Agincourt]], fought on [[Saint Crispin|Saint Crispin's Day]] and concluded with an English victory against a larger French army in the [[Hundred Years' War]].]]
-==Politics==
+A dispute over the succession to Edward led to the [[Norman conquest of England]] in 1066, accomplished by an army led by [[William the Conqueror|Duke William of Normandy]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/overview_normans_01.shtml | title=Overview: The Normans, 1066–1154 |publisher=BBC|accessdate=3 December 2010}}</ref> The [[Normans]] themselves originated from [[Scandinavia]] and had settled in Normandy in the late 9th and early 10th centuries.<ref>{{harvnb|Crouch|2006|pp=2–4}}</ref> This conquest led to the almost total dispossession of the English elite and its replacement by a new French-speaking aristocracy, whose speech had a profound and permanent effect on the English language.<ref>{{cite news | title=Norman invasion word impact study | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7254446.stm |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=3 December 2010 | date=20 February 2008}}</ref>
-''Main article: [[Politics of the United Kingdom]], [[Government of England]]''
+The [[House of Plantagenet]] from Anjou inherited the English throne under [[Henry II of England|Henry II]], adding England to the budding [[Angevin Empire]] of fiefs the family had inherited in France including [[Duchy of Aquitaine|Aquitaine]].<ref name="bartlett">{{harvnb|Bartlett|1999|p=124}}.</ref> They reigned for three centuries, proving noted monarchs such as [[Richard I of England|Richard I]], [[Edward I of England|Edward I]], [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] and [[Henry V of England|Henry V]].<ref name="bartlett" /> The period saw changes in trade and legislation, including the signing of the ''[[Magna Carta]]'', an English legal charter used to limit the sovereign's powers by law and protect the privileges of freemen. Catholic [[monasticism]] flourished, providing philosophers and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were founded with royal patronage. The [[Principality of Wales]] became a Plantagenet fief during the 13th century<ref>{{cite web |title=Edward I (r. 1272–1307)|url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page61.asp|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080624181028/http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page61.asp|archivedate=24 June 2008|publisher=Royal.gov.uk |accessdate=21 September 2009}}</ref> and the [[Lordship of Ireland]] was gifted to the English monarchy by the Pope.
-Since the promulgation of the 1284 [[Statute of Rhuddlan]] and the [[Acts of Union 1536-1543]], [[Wales]] has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of [[England and Wales]]. The [[Act of Union 1707|Act of Union]] with the Kingdom of [[Scotland]] in 1707 created the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retains separate legal systems and identities. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights.
+During the 14th century, the Plantagenets and [[House of Valois]] both claimed to be legitimate claimants to [[House of Capet]] and with it France—the two powers clashed in the [[Hundred Years' War]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fowler|1967|p=208}}.</ref> The [[Black Death]] epidemic [[Black Death in England|hit England]]; starting in 1348, it eventually killed up to half of England's [[Medieval demography|inhabitants]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ziegler|2003|p=230}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|1996|p=4}}.</ref> From 1453 to 1487 civil war between two branches of the royal family occurred—the [[House of York|Yorkists]] and [[House of Lancaster|Lancastrians]]—known as the [[Wars of the Roses]].<ref>{{harvnb|Crofton|2007|p=111}}.</ref> Eventually it led to the Yorkists losing the throne entirely to a Welsh noble family the [[House of Tudor|Tudors]], a branch of the Lancastrians headed by [[Henry VII of England|Henry Tudor]] who invaded with Welsh and Breton mercenaries, gaining victory at the [[Battle of Bosworth Field]] where the Yorkist king [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] was killed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard III (r. 1483–1485)|url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page50.asp|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080710093939/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page50.asp|archivedate=10 July 2008|publisher=Royal.gov.uk |accessdate=21 September 2009}}</ref>
-All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the [[United Kingdom]] since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created [[Scottish Parliament]] and [[National Assembly for Wales]] left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to [[devolution]], and has become popularly known as the [[West Lothian question]].
+=== Early Modern ===
-Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific [[quango]]s, such as [[English Heritage]]. Although there are calls from some for a [[devolved English Parliament]], there appears to be little popular support for independence of England from the UK - perhaps due to its dominance in the Union. Those groups that do campaign for such a thing tend to be [[right-wing]] organisations with very little popular support.
+[[File:Portrait of King Henry VIII.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Painting of large bearded man with fur trimmed cloak, wearing a hat.|[[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]] became [[Supreme Head of the Church of England]].]]
+During the [[Tudor period]], the [[Renaissance]] reached England through Italian courtiers, who reintroduced artistic, educational and scholarly debate from classical antiquity.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=jzm2Vu9h-CYC&pg=PA165&dq=italian+influence+on+the+english+renaissance#v=onepage&q=italian%20influence%20on%20the%20english%20renaissance&f=false|title=Renaissance essays|author=Denys Hay|page=65|accessdate=26 December 2010|isbn=978-0-907628-96-5|year=1988}}</ref> During this time England began to develop [[English Navy|naval skills]], and exploration to the West intensified.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royal-navy.org/lib/index.php?title=Tudor_Period_and_the_Birth_of_a_Regular_Navy_Part_Two|title=Royal Navy History, Tudor Period and the Birth of a Regular Navy|accessdate=24 December 2010}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=RdOTQUDgH54C&printsec=frontcover&dq=england+under+the+tudors+by+goldwin+smith#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=England Under the Tudors|author=Goldwin Smith|page=176|accessdate=26 December 2010|isbn=978-1-60620-939-4}}</ref>
+[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] broke from communion with the Catholic Church, over issues relating to divorce, under the [[Acts of Supremacy]] in 1534 which proclaimed the monarch head of the [[Church of England]]. In contrast with much of European Protestantism, the [[English Reformation|roots of the split]] were more political than theological.{{#tag:ref|As [[Roger Scruton]] explains, "The Reformation must not be confused with the changes introduced into the Church of England during the 'Reformation Parliament' of 1529–36, which were of a political rather than a religious nature, designed to unite the secular and religious sources of authority within a single sovereign power: the Anglican Church did not until later make substantial change in doctrine".<ref>{{harvnb|Scruton|1982|p=470}}.</ref>|group=nb}} He also legally incorporated his ancestral land Wales into the Kingdom of England with the [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542|1535–1542 acts]]. There were internal religious conflicts during the reigns of Henry's daughters, [[Mary I of England|Mary I]] and [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]]. The former brought the country back to Catholicism, while the later broke from it again, more forcefully asserting the supremacy of [[Anglicanism]].
-The current [[British Labour Party|Labour]] government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A [[Northern England referendums, 2004|referendum]] on this issue in [[North East England]] on [[4 November]] [[2004]] decisively rejected the proposal.
+An English fleet under [[Francis Drake]] defeated an invading [[Spanish Armada]] during the [[Elizabethan period]]. Competing with [[Spanish Empire|Spain]], the first English colony in the Americas was founded in 1585 by explorer [[Walter Raleigh]] in [[Virginia]] and named [[Roanoke Colony|Roanoke]]. The Roanoke colony failed and is known as the lost colony, after it was found abandoned on the return of the late arriving supply ship.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=W8cr4Vgt9ekC&printsec=frontcover&dq=roanoke+colony#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Roanak:the abandoned colony|author=Karen Ordahl|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield publishers Inc|accessdate=24 December 2010|isbn=978-0-7425-5263-0|date=25 February 2007}}</ref> With the [[East India Company]], England also competed with the [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] and [[French colonial empire|French]] in the East. The political structure of the island was changed in 1603, when the [[House of Stuart|Stuart]] [[King of Scotland|James VI of Scotland]], a kingdom which was a longtime rival, inherited the throne of England as [[James VI and I|James I]]—creating a [[Union of the Crowns|personal union]] .<ref name="Britons">{{harvnb|Colley|1992|p=12}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Making the Act of Union|url=http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/01_background.html|publisher=Parliament.uk|accessdate=5 September 2009 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080609075346/http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/01_background.html |archivedate = 9 June 2008}}</ref> He styled himself [[King of Great Britain]], although this had no basis in English law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_089/89_055_066.pdf|format=PDF|title=The term "Great Britain" in the Middle Ages|last=Hay|first=Denys|publisher=ads.ahds.ac.uk|accessdate=19 February 2009}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref> Under the auspices of King James VI and I the so-called [[Authorized King James Version]] of the Holy Bible was published in 1611. It has not only been ranked with [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s works as the greatest masterpiece of literature in the English language, but also has been the standard version of the Bible most Christians have read for four hundred years.
-Some criticised the English regional proposals for not [[decentralisation|decentralising]] enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the [[Welsh Assembly]], much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the [[Scottish Parliament]]. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the [[Joel Barnett, Baron Barnett|Barnett Formula]], which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent [[Scotland]], was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as [[Mebyon Kernow]], which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support.
+[[File:Charles II (1675).jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Painting of seated male figure, with long black hair wearing a white cape and breeches.|The [[English Restoration]] restored the monarchy under King [[Charles II of England|Charles&nbsp;II]] and peace after the [[English Civil War]].]]
-Some [[euroscepticism|eurosceptics]] believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model.
+Based on conflicting political, religious and social positions, the [[English Civil War]] was fought between the supporters of [[Long Parliament|Parliament]] and those of King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], known as [[Roundhead]]s and [[Cavalier]]s respectively. This was an interwoven part of the wider multifaceted [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]], involving [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]. The Parliamentarians were victorious, Charles I was executed and the kingdom replaced with the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]. Leader of the Parliament forces, [[Oliver Cromwell]] declared himself [[Lord Protector]] in 1653, a period of [[the Protectorate|personal rule]] followed.<ref name="Ocromwell">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/143822/Oliver-Cromwell|title=Oliver Cromwell (English statesman)|year=2009|work=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|publisher=britannica.com|accessdate=8 August 2009}}</ref> After Cromwell's death, and his son [[Richard Cromwell|Richard's]] resignation as Lord Protector, [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] was invited to return as monarch in 1660 with the [[English Restoration|Restoration]]. It was now constitutionally established that King and Parliament should rule together, though Parliament would have the real power. This was established with the [[Bill of Rights 1689|Bill of Rights]] in 1689. Among the statutes set down were that the law could only be made by Parliament and could not be suspended by the King, and the King could not impose taxes or raise an army without prior approval by Parliament.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=mPoqfoiIp4sC&pg=PA340&lpg=PA340&dq=with+the+restoration+it+was+not+constitutionally+established+that+king+and+parliament+should+rule+together#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=World Civilization|author=Philip J. Adler, Randall L. Pouwels|page=340|accessdate=24 December 2010|isbn=978-0-495-50262-3|date=27 November 2007}}</ref> With the founding of the [[Royal Society]] in 1660, science was greatly encouraged.
+The [[Great Fire of London]] in 1666 gutted the City of London but it was rebuilt shortly afterwards.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_02.shtml|publisher=BBC News|title=London's Burning: The Great Fire|accessdate=25 September 2009}}</ref> In Parliament two factions had emerged—the [[Tory|Tories]] and [[Whig (British political faction)|Whigs]]. The former were royalists while the latter were classical liberals. Though the Tories initially supported Catholic king [[James II of England|James II]], some of them, along with the Whigs, deposed him in the [[Glorious Revolution|Revolution of 1688]] and invited Dutch prince [[William III of England|William III]] to become monarch. Some English people, especially in the north, were [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]] and continued to support James and his sons. After the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed,<ref name="unionwithscotland" /> the two countries joined in [[political union]], to create the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] in 1707.<ref name="Britons" /> To accommodate the union, institutions such as the law and national church of each remained separate.<ref>{{harvnb|Gallagher|2006|p=14}}.</ref>
-Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. [[Winchester, Hampshire|Winchester]] served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the [[Norman Conquest]]. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.
+=== Late Modern and contemporary ===
-==Subdivisions==
+[[File:Saltaire New Mill Reflected.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A stone factory stands against a vivid blue sky, its reflection mirrored in the waters below.|[[Saltaire]], West Yorkshire, is a model mill town from the [[Industrial Revolution]], and a [[World Heritage Site]].]]
-''Main article: [[Subdivisions of England]]''
+Under the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain, output from the Royal Society and other [[English Enlightenment|English initiatives]] combined with the [[Scottish Enlightenment]] to create innovations in science and engineering. This paved the way for the establishment of the [[British Empire]]. Domestically it drove the [[Industrial Revolution]], a period of profound change in the [[socioeconomics|socioeconomic]] and cultural conditions of England, resulting in industrialised agriculture, manufacture, engineering and mining, as well as new and pioneering road, rail and water networks to facilitate their expansion and development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/workshop_of_the_world_01.shtml|title=The Workshop of the World|author=Hudson, Pat|publisher=BBC|accessdate=10 December 2010}}</ref> The opening of Northwest England's [[Bridgewater Canal]] in 1761 ushered in the [[History of the British canal system|canal age in Britain]].<ref name="Briton20015">{{Harvnb|Office for National Statistics|2000|p=5}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|McNeil|Nevell|2000|p=4}}.</ref> In 1825 the world's first permanent steam locomotive-hauled passenger railway—the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]]—opened to the public.<ref name="Briton20015"/>
+During the Industrial Revolution, many workers moved from England's countryside to new and expanding urban industrial areas to work in factories, for instance at [[Manchester]] and [[Birmingham]], dubbed "Warehouse City" and "Workshop of the World" respectively.<ref>{{harvnb|McNeil|Nevell|2000|p=9}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visitbirmingham.com/arts_and_culture/heritage/|title=Heritage|publisher=visitbirmingham.com|author=Birmingham City Council|authorlink=Birmingham City Council|accessdate=4 October 2009}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref> England maintained relative stability throughout the [[French Revolution]]; [[William Pitt the Younger]] was British Prime Minister for the reign of [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]]. During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], [[Napoleon]] planned to [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|invade from the south-east]]. However this failed to manifest and the Napoleonic forces were defeated by the British at sea by [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Lord Nelson]] and on land by the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]. The Napoleonic Wars fostered a concept of [[Britishness]] and a united national [[British people]], shared with the [[Scottish people|Scots]] and Welsh.<ref name="Colley1">{{Harvnb|Colley|1992|p=1}}.</ref>
-Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the [[Counties of England|county]]. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as [[Kingdom of Essex|Essex]] and [[Sussex]]; [[Duchy|Duchies]], such as [[Yorkshire]], [[Cornwall]] and [[Lancashire]] or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with [[Berkshire]]. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called [[Hundred (division)|hundreds]].
+[[File:Portland.stone.cenotaph.london.arp.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A cuboid granite cenotaph.|[[The Cenotaph, Whitehall]] is a memorial to members of the [[British Armed Forces]] who died during the two World Wars.]]
-These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the [[Traditional_counties_of_England%2C_Scotland_and_Wales|traditional counties]]. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors.
+London became the largest and most populous metropolitan area in the world during the [[Victorian era]], and trade within the British Empire—as well as the standing of the British military and navy—was prestigious.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=53VUwDw_UYMC&pg=PA13&dq=prestige+of+the+british+empire+in+victorian+times#v=onepage&q=prestige%20of%20the%20british%20empire%20in%20victorian%20times&f=false|title=The persistence of Victorian liberalism:The Politics of Social Reform in Britain, 1870–1900|author=Robert F. Haggard|page=13|accessdate=26 December 2010|isbn=978-0-313-31305-9|year=2001}}</ref> Political agitation at home from radicals such as the [[Chartism|Chartists]] and the [[suffragette]]s enabled legislative reform and [[universal suffrage]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/abolition_women_article_01.shtml#five|title=Women: From Abolition to the Vote|author=Crawford, Elizabeth|publisher=BBC|accessdate=10 December 2010}}</ref> Power shifts in east-central Europe led to World War I; hundreds of thousands of English soldiers died fighting for the United Kingdom as part of the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]].{{#tag:ref|Figure of 550,000 military deaths is for England and Wales<ref>{{Harvnb|Cox|1970|p=180}}</ref>|group=nb}} Two decades later, in World War II, the United Kingdom was again one of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. At the end of the [[Phoney War]], [[Winston Churchill]] became the wartime Prime Minister. Developments in warfare technology saw many cities damaged by air-raids during [[the Blitz]]. Following the war, the British Empire experienced rapid [[decolonisation]], and there was a speeding up of technological innovations; automobiles became the primary means of transport and [[Frank Whittle]]'s development of the [[jet engine]] led to wider [[air travel]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-air-commodore-sir-frank-whittle-1309015.html | title=Obituaries: Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle | author=Golley, John | date=10 August 1996 |accessdate=2 December 2010|newspaper=The Independent | location = London}}</ref> Residential patterns were altered in England by private motoring, and by the creation of the [[National Health Service (England)|National Health Service]] (NHS) in 1948. England's NHS provided [[publicly funded health care]] to all UK permanent residents free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. Combined, these changes prompted the reform of [[local government in England]] in the mid-20th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Clark|1973|p=1.}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Wilson|Game|2002|p=55}}.</ref>
+Since the 20th century there has been significant population movement to England, mostly from other parts of the [[British Isles]], but also from the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]], particularly the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gallagher|2006|pp=10–11}}.</ref> Since the 1970s there has been a large move away from [[manufacturing]] and an increasing emphasis on the [[service industry]].<ref name="thatcher" /> As part of the United Kingdom, the area joined a [[common market]] initiative called the [[European Economic Community]] which became the [[European Union]]. Since the late 20th century the [[politics of the United Kingdom|administration of the United Kingdom]] has moved towards [[devolution|devolved governance]] in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://publius.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/217 |title=Reforging the Union: Devolution and Constitutional Change in the United Kingdom|accessdate=4 February 2009|journal=Publius: the Journal of Federalism|volume=28|issue=1|page=217|author=Keating, Michael|authorlink=Michael Keating (political scientist)|date= 1 January 1998|ref=harv|postscript=<!--None--> }}</ref> [[England and Wales]] continues to exist as a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom.<ref name="BBC Wales">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch11_part2_coming_of_the_tudor.shtml|title=The coming of the Tudors and the Act of Union|year=2009|publisher=BBC News|work=[[BBC Wales]]|accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref> Devolution has stimulated a greater emphasis on a more English-specific identity and patriotism.<ref>{{harvnb|Kenny|English|Hayton|2008|p=3}}.</ref><ref name="Ward180">{{Harvnb|Ward|2004|p=180}}.</ref> There is no devolved English government, but an attempt to create a similar system on a sub-regional basis was rejected by referendum.<ref name="refreject" />
-The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the [[industrial revolution]] and the mass urbanisation of England.
+{{Clear}}
+== Governance ==
-The solution was the creation of large [[Metropolitan_Counties_of_England|metropolitan counties]] centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into [[Unitary authorities in England|unitary authorities]], unifying the county and district/borough levels of government.
+=== Politics ===
+{{Main|Politics of England}}
+[[File:Palace of Westminster.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of rectangular floodlight building, reflected in water. The building has multiple towers including one at each end. The tower on the right includes an illuminated clock face.|right|The [[Palace of Westminster]], the seat of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].]]
+As part of the United Kingdom, the basic political system in England is a [[constitutional monarchy]] and [[parliamentary system]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The British Parliamentary System|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A591383|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=20 April 2010}}</ref> There has not been a [[Government of England]] since 1707, when the [[Acts of Union 1707]], putting into effect the terms of the [[Treaty of Union]], joined England and Scotland to form the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]].<ref name="unionwithscotland">{{cite web |title=The first Parliament of Great Britain|url=http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/08_02_great.html|publisher=Parliament.uk|accessdate=5 September 2009 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080621165514/http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/08_02_great.html |archivedate = 21 June 2008}}</ref> Before the union England was ruled by [[List of English monarchs|its monarch]] and the [[Parliament of England]]. Today England is governed directly by the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], although other [[countries of the United Kingdom]] have [[Devolution|devolved]] governments.<ref name="Devolution">{{cite web|url=http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/devolution.aspx|title=Devolution in the United Kingdom|date=26 March 2009|author=Cabinet Office|authorlink=Cabinet Office|publisher=cabinetoffice.gov.uk|accessdate=16 August 2009}}</ref> In the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] which is the [[lower house]] of the British Parliament based at the [[Palace of Westminster]], there are 532 Members of Parliament (MPs) for constituencies in England, out of the 650 total.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lists of MPs|url=http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/ |publisher=Parliament.uk |accessdate=21 May 2009}}</ref>
+In the [[United Kingdom general election, 2010]] the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] had won an absolute majority in England's 532 contested seats with 61 seats more than all other parties combined (the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House]] not being counted as a Conservative). However, taking Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales into account this was not enough to secure an overall majority, resulting in a [[hung parliament]].<ref>{{cite news |title=What is a hung parliament?|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8427233.stm|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=20 May 2009 | date=7 May 2009}}</ref> In order to achieve a majority the Conservative party, headed by [[David Cameron]], entered into a coalition agreement with the third largest party, the [[Liberal Democrats]], led by [[Nick Clegg]]. Subsequently the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] leader, [[Gordon Brown]] was forced to step down as prime minister<ref>{{cite news |title=Gordon Brown's resignation speech |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8676273.stm|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=20 May 2009 | date=11 May 2009}}</ref> and leader of the Labour party, now led by [[Ed Miliband]].
-[[London]] is a special case, and is the one [[Regions of England|region]] which currently has a representative [[Greater London Authority|authority]] as well as a directly elected [[Mayor of London|mayor]]. The 32 [[London borough|London boroughs]] and the [[Corporation of London]] remain the local form of government in the city.
+[[File:Buck.palace.soldiers.arp.jpg|thumb|alt=Lines of men wearing large black bearskin hats and red tunics.|left|Changing of the [[Queen's Guard]] at the [[British monarch|royal residence]], [[Buckingham Palace]].]]
-Other than [[Greater London]], the official regions are:
+As the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, there are elections held regionally in England to decide who is sent as [[Members of the European Parliament]]. The [[European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)|2009 European Parliament election]] saw the regions of England elect the following MEPs: 23 Conservatives, ten Labour, nine [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP), nine Liberal Democrats, two [[Green Party of England and Wales|Greens]] and two [[British National Party]] (BNP).<ref>{{cite news |title=European Election 2009: UK Results|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/euro/09/html/ukregion_999999.stm|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=19 April 2009}}</ref>
-*[[North East England]]
-*[[North West England]]
-*[[Yorkshire and the Humber]]
-*[[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]]
-*[[East Midlands]]
-*[[East of England]]
-*[[South West England]]
-*[[South East England]]
+Since [[devolution]], in which other countries of the United Kingdom—Scotland, Wales and [[Northern Ireland]]—each have their own devolved parliament or assemblies for local issues, there has been debate about how to counterbalance this in England. Originally it was planned that various [[regions of England]] would be devolved, but following the proposal's rejection by the [[North East England|North East]] in a referendum, this has not been carried out.<ref name="refreject"/>
-Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, [[Local government in England|local government in England]] will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever.
+One major issue is the [[West Lothian question]], in which MPs from Scotland and Wales are able to vote on legislation affecting only England, while English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate on devolved matters.<ref>{{cite news |title=West Lothian question|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7702326.stm|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=31 October 2008}}</ref> This when placed in the context of England being the only country of the United Kingdom not to have free cancer treatment, prescriptions, residential care for the elderly and [[top-up fees|free top-up university fees]],<ref name="msnmoney">{{cite web |title=Are Scottish people better off?|url=http://money.uk.msn.com/consumer/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6543296|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080417222726/http://money.uk.msn.com/consumer/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6543296|archivedate=17 April 2008|publisher=MSN Money|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> has led to a steady rise in [[English nationalism]].<ref>{{cite news |title=English nationalism 'threat to UK'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/596703.stm|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=9 January 2000}}</ref> Some have suggested the creation of a [[devolved English parliament]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Gordon Brown pressed on English parliament|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article4061785.ece|work=The Times  |location=London|accessdate=5 September 2009 | first=Lorraine | last=Davidson | date=3 June 2008}}</ref> while others have proposed simply limiting voting on legislation which only affects England to English MPs.<ref>{{cite news |title=English votes for English laws' plan by Tories|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/english-votes-for-english-laws-plan-by-tories-857647.html|accessdate=5 September 2009|work=The Independent  | location=London | first=Andrew | last=Grice | date=1 July 2008}}</ref>
-==Geography==
+{{Clear}}
-''Main articles: [[Geography of the United Kingdom]], [[Geography of England]]''
+=== Law ===
-[[Image:England satellite image.png|thumb|right|A satellite view of England.]]
+{{Main|English law}}
+[[File:Royal courts of justice.jpg|thumb|alt=Ornate grey stone building.|right|The [[Royal Courts of Justice]]]]
+The [[English law]] legal system, developed over the centuries, is the basis of [[common law]]<ref>[http://dictionary.law.com/definition2.asp?selected=248 ]{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref> legal systems used in most [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~law/ASLH/conferences/2000conference/101900345b.htm |title=The Common Law in the British Empire |publisher=H-net.msu.edu |date=19 October 2000 |accessdate=20 August 2011}}</ref> and the United States (except [[Louisiana]]). Despite now being part of the United Kingdom, the legal system of the [[Courts of England and Wales]] continued, under the [[Treaty of Union]], as a separate legal system from the one used in Scotland. The general essence of English law is that it is made by judges sitting in [[court]]s, applying their common sense and knowledge of [[legal precedent]]—''[[stare decisis]]''—to the facts before them.<ref>{{harvnb|Fafinski|2007|p=60}}.</ref>
+The [[Courts of England and Wales|court system]] is headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]], the [[High Court of Justice]] for civil cases, and the [[Crown Court]] for criminal cases.<ref>{{harvnb|Fafinski|2007|p=127}}.</ref> The [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]] is the highest court for criminal and civil cases in [[England and Wales]]. It was created in 2009 after constitutional changes, taking over the [[Judicial functions of the House of Lords|judicial functions]] of the [[House of Lords]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitutional reform: A Supreme Court for the United Kingdom|url=http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/supremecourt/supreme.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=DCA.gov.uk |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> A decision of the Supreme Court is binding on every other court in the hierarchy, which must follow its directions.<ref>{{harvnb|Fafinski|2007|p=67}}.</ref>
-England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of [[Great Britain]], plus offshore islands of which the largest is the [[Isle of Wight]]. It is bordered to the north by [[Scotland]] and to the west by [[Wales]]. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 [[statute mile]] or 21 [[nautical mile]]) <!-- source:http://www.eurotunnel.com/ukcP3Main/ukcCorporate/ukcAboutUs/ukpHistory.htm -->  sea gap.
+Crime increased between 1981 and 1995, but fell by 42% in the period 1995–2006.<ref>{{cite web |title=Crime over the last 25 years |url=http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/crime0607summ.pdf |publisher=HomeOffice.gov.uk |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> The prison population doubled over the same period, giving it the [[List of countries by incarceration rate|highest incarceration rate]] in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000.<ref name="crimebbc">{{cite news |title=New record high prison population |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7235438.stm |work=BBC News |accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=8 February 2008}}</ref> [[Her Majesty's Prison Service]], reporting to the [[Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Justice]], manages most [[prisons in England|prisons]], housing over 85,000 convicts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/prison-population-figures |title=Prison population figures|accessdate = 2012-12-11|year=2012 |publisher=Ministry Of Justice}}</ref>
-Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the [[Pennines]], dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the [[Tees-Exe line]]. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use.
+=== Regions, counties, and districts ===
-The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in [[British English]] the normal meaning of [[city]] is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. [[London]] is by far the largest English city. [[Manchester]] and [[Birmingham]] vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: [[Liverpool]], [[Leeds]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]], [[Nottingham]], [[Bristol]], [[Sheffield]], [[Bradford]] and [[Leicester]]. Using the standard U.S. [[city limits]] definition of a city the [[list of English districts by population|top six]] are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list ([[Greater London]] is a [[Regions of England|region]] and the [[City of London]] is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it.
+{{Main|Subdivisions of England}}
+{{See also|Regions of England|Counties of England|Districts of England}}
+{{England Ceremonial Counties Labelled Map|Londonprefix = Greater|WMsuffix = (county)|float=right|width=400}}
+The [[subdivisions of England]] consist of up to four levels of [[administrative division|subnational division]] controlled through a variety of types of administrative entities created for the purposes of [[local government in England|local government]]. The highest tier of local government were the nine [[regions of England]]: [[North East England|North East]], [[North West England|North West]], [[Yorkshire and the Humber]], [[East Midlands]], [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]], [[East of England|East]], [[South East England|South East]], [[South West England|South West]], and London. These were created in 1994 as [[Government Office]]s, used by the British Government to deliver a wide range of policies and programmes regionally, but there are no elected bodies at this level, except in London, and in 2011 the regional Government offices were abolished.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tiers shed as regional government offices disappear|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/29/regional-government-disappears-1500-jobs-lost |work=The Guardian  |accessdate=16 June 2011 |location=London |first=Hilary |last=Cooper |date=29 March 2011}}</ref> The same boundaries remain in use for electing [[Members of the European Parliament]] on a regional basis.
-The [[Channel Tunnel]], near [[Folkestone]], links England to the [[Europe|European]] [[Continental_Europe|mainland]]. The English/[[France|French]] border is halfway along the tunnel.
+After [[devolution]] began to take place in other parts of the United Kingdom it was planned that referendums for the regions of England would take place for their own elected [[Regional Assemblies in England|regional assemblies]] as a counterweight. [[Greater London Authority referendum, 1998|London accepted]] in 1998: the [[London Assembly]] was created two years later. However, when the proposal was rejected by the [[northern England devolution referendums, 2004]] in the North East, further referendums were cancelled.<ref name="refreject">{{cite news |title=Prescott's dream in tatters as North East rejects assembly |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article503255.ece |work=The Times  |location=London |accessdate=5 September 2009 | first=Jill | last=Sherman | coauthors=Andrew Norfolk | date=5 November 2004}}</ref> The regional assemblies outside London were abolished in 2010, and their functions transferred to respective [[Regional Development Agency|Regional Development Agencies]] and a new system of [[local authority leaders' board]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Prosperous Places|url=http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/citiesandregions/pdf/1073344.pdf|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5KtF1u|archivedate=5 December 2009 |publisher=communities.gov.uk |accessdate=5 September 2009 |author=Department for Communities and Local Government|authorlink=Department for Communities and Local Government}}</ref>
-The highest temperature ever recorded in England was 38.5 [[degree Celsius|°C]] (101.3  [[Fahrenheit|&deg;F]]) on [[August 10]], [[2003]] in [[Kent]]. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]
+Below the regional level, all of England is divided into 48 [[Ceremonial counties of England|ceremonial counties]].<ref name="britannicagov">{{harvnb|Encyclopædia Britannica|2002|p=100}}</ref> These are used primarily as a geographical frame of reference and have developed gradually since the [[Middle Ages]], with some established as recently as 1974.<ref name=maud>{{harvnb|Redcliffe-Maud|Wood|1974}}.</ref> Each has a [[Lord Lieutenant]] and [[High Sheriff]]; these posts are used to represent the [[British monarch]] locally.<ref name="britannicagov" /> Outside [[Greater London]] and the [[Isles of Scilly]], England is also divided into 83 [[Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England|metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties]]; these correspond to areas used for the purposes of local government<ref name="localgov">{{harvnb|Singh|2009|p=53}}.</ref> and may consist of a single district or be divided into several.
-===Major rivers===
-[[Image:CanalettoSomersetHouseTerrace.jpg|thumb|right|220px|View of the [[River Thames]] from the terrace at Somerset House, by [[Antonio Canaletto]].]]
-* [[River Thames|Thames]]
-* [[River Severn|Severn]]
-* [[River Trent|Trent]]
-* [[Humber]]
-* [[River Ouse, Yorkshire|Yorkshire Ouse]]
-* [[River Tyne, England|Tyne]]
-* [[River Mersey|Mersey]]
-* [[River Dee, Wales|Dee]]
-* [[River Avon|Avon]]
+There are six [[metropolitan county|metropolitan counties]] based on the most heavily urbanised areas, which do not have county councils.<ref name="localgov" /> In these areas the principal authorities are the councils of the subdivisions, the [[metropolitan borough]]s. Elsewhere, 27 [[non-metropolitan county|non-metropolitan "shire" counties]] have a [[county council]] and are divided into districts, each with a district council. They are typically, though not always, found in more rural areas. The remaining non-metropolitan counties are of a single district and usually correspond to large towns or sparsely populated counties; they are known as [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authorities]]. Greater London has a different system for local government, with 32 [[London borough]]s, plus the [[City of London]] covering a small area at the core, governed by the [[City of London Corporation]].<ref>{{harvnb|Axford|2002|p=315}}.</ref> At the most localised level, much of England is divided into [[civil parishes in England|civil parish]]es with [[Parish councils in England|councils]]; they do not exist in Greater London.<ref>{{harvnb|Singh|2009|p=54}}.</ref>
-''Main article: [[Waterways of the United Kingdom]]''
+== Geography ==
-===Major towns and cities===
+{{Main|Geography of England}}
-{| align=right
-| [[Image:Birmingham (UK) skyline - Centenary Square 700.jpg|thumb|220px|The City of Birmingham]]
+=== Landscape and rivers ===
+[[File:Wastwater, Lake District.jpg|thumb|alt=Blue lake between green hills.|right|[[Wast Water|Wastwater]] in the [[Lake District]]]]
+Geographically England includes the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus such offshore islands as the [[Isle of Wight]] and the [[Isles of Scilly]]. It is bordered by two other countries of the United Kingdom—[[Anglo Scottish border|to the north]] by Scotland and [[Wales-England border|to the west]] by Wales. England is closer to the European continent than any other part of mainland Britain. It is separated from France by a {{convert|34|km|mi|adj=on}}<ref name="Engchannel">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/187921/English-Channel|title=English Channel|year=2009|work=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|publisher=britannica.com|accessdate=15 August 2009}}</ref> sea gap, though the two countries are connected by the [[Channel Tunnel]] near [[Folkestone]].<ref>{{cite web |title=History|url=http://www.eurotunnel.com/ukcP3Main/ukcCorporate/ukcAboutUs/ukm/history.htm|publisher=EuroTunnel.com|accessdate=5 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref> England also has shores on the [[Irish Sea]], [[North Sea]] and Atlantic Ocean.
+The ports of London, [[Liverpool]], and [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] lie on the tidal rivers [[River Thames|Thames]], [[River Mersey|Mersey]] and [[River Tyne|Tyne]] respectively. At {{convert|354|km|mi}}, the [[River Severn|Severn]] is the longest river flowing through England.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/sevenwonders/west/severn-river/ |publisher=BBC | title=The River Severn|accessdate=5 December 2010}}</ref> It empties into the [[Bristol Channel]] and is notable for its [[Severn Bore]] tidal waves, which can reach {{convert|2|m|ft}} in height.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/31439.aspx | title=Severn Bore and Trent Aegir | publisher=Environment Agency|accessdate=5 December 2010}}</ref> However, the longest river entirely in England is the Thames, which is {{convert|346|km|mi}} in length.<ref name="Thames">{{cite web|url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-home/related-139-94056-articles-reviews/River+Thames-London+(England)/related.do|title=River Thames and London (England)|work=London Evening Standard|location=London|accessdate=17 August 2009}} {{Dead link|date=April 2012|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> There are many [[lakes in England]]; the largest is [[Windermere]], within the aptly named [[Lake District]].<ref name="metoffice_nw">{{cite web | url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/nw/|title=North West England & Isle of Man: climate|publisher=Met Office|accessdate=5 December 2010}}</ref>
+[[File:Widecombe in the Moor, Devon.jpg|thumb|alt=Green hills with trees in the foreground.|left|Terrain of [[Dartmoor]], Devon]]
+In geological terms, the [[Pennines]], known as the "backbone of England", are the oldest range of mountains in the country, originating from the end of the [[Paleozoic Era]] around 300&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/220026/pennines.html|title=Pennines|publisher=Smmit Post|accessdate=8 September 2009}}</ref> Their geological composition includes, among others, [[sandstone]] and [[limestone]], and also coal. There are [[karst]] landscapes in calcite areas such as parts of Yorkshire and [[Derbyshire]]. The Pennine landscape is high [[moorland]] in upland areas, indented by fertile valleys of the region's rivers. They contain three [[national parks in England|national parks]], the [[Yorkshire Dales]], [[Northumberland National Park|Northumberland]], and the [[Peak District]]. The highest point in England, at {{convert|978|m|ft}}, is [[Scafell Pike]] in Cumbria.<ref name="metoffice_nw" /> Straddling the border between England and Scotland are the [[Cheviot Hills]].
+The [[English Lowlands beech forests|English Lowlands]] are to the south of the Pennines, consisting of green rolling hills, including the [[Cotswold Hills]], [[Chiltern Hills]], [[North Downs|North]] and [[South Downs]]—where they meet the sea they form white rock exposures such as the [[cliffs of Dover]]. The granite Southwest Peninsula in the [[West Country]] includes upland moorland, such as [[Dartmoor]] and [[Exmoor]], and enjoys a [[Climate of south-west England|mild climate]]; both are national parks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/aboutus|title=National Parks&nbsp;– About us|publisher=nationalparks.gov.uk|accessdate=5 December 2010}}</ref>
+{{Clear}}
+=== Climate ===
+{{Main|Climate of England}}
+England has a [[temperate climate|temperate]] [[maritime climate]]: it is mild with temperatures not much lower than {{convert|0|°C|°F}} in winter and not much higher than {{convert|32|°C|°F}} in summer.<ref name="weather">{{cite web |title=What is the Climate like in Britain?|url=http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/weather/|publisher=Woodlands Kent|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> The weather is damp relatively frequently and is changeable. The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the [[Geography of the United Kingdom|English coast]], while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather are May, June, September and October.<ref name="weather" /> Rainfall is spread fairly evenly throughout the year.
+Important influences on the climate of England are its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its northern [[latitude]] and the warming of the sea by the [[Gulf Stream]].<ref name="weather" /> Rainfall is higher in the west, and parts of the [[Lake District]] receive more rain than anywhere else in the country.<ref name="weather" /> Since weather records began, the highest temperature recorded was {{convert|38.5|°C|°F}} on 10 August 2003 at [[Brogdale]] in Kent,<ref>{{cite news |title=Temperature record changes hands|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=30 September 2003}}</ref> while the lowest was {{convert|−26.1|°C|°F}} on 10 January 1982 in [[Edgmond, Shropshire|Edgmond]], Shropshire.<ref>{{cite web |title=English Climate|url=http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071219165514/http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature|archivedate=19 December 2007|publisher=MetOffice.com}}</ref>
+{{Weather box
+|location = England
+|metric first = Yes
+|single line = Yes
+|Jan high C = 7
+|Feb high C = 7
+|Mar high C = 10
+|Apr high C = 12
+|May high C = 16
+|Jun high C = 19
+|Jul high C = 21
+|Aug high C = 21
+|Sep high C = 18
+|Oct high C = 14
+|Nov high C = 10
+|Dec high C = 7
+|year high C = 14
+|Jan low C = 1
+|Feb low C = 1
+|Mar low C = 3
+|Apr low C = 4
+|May low C = 7
+|Jun low C = 10
+|Jul low C = 12
+|Aug low C = 12
+|Sep low C = 10
+|Oct low C = 7
+|Nov low C = 4
+|Dec low C = 2
+|year low C = 6
+|Jan precipitation mm = 83
+|Feb precipitation mm = 60
+|Mar precipitation mm = 64
+|Apr precipitation mm = 59
+|May precipitation mm = 58
+|Jun precipitation mm = 62
+|Jul precipitation mm = 63
+|Aug precipitation mm = 69
+|Sep precipitation mm = 70
+|Oct precipitation mm = 92
+|Nov precipitation mm = 88
+|Dec precipitation mm = 87
+|year precipitation mm = 855
+|source 1 = Met Office<ref name="england">{{cite web | year = 2012| url = http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/19812010/areal/england.html | title = England 1981–2010 averages | publisher=Met Office|date=February 2013}}</ref>
+|date=August 2010
+}}
+=== Major conurbations ===
+{{See also|List of places in England}}
+The [[Greater London Urban Area]] is by far the largest urban area in England<ref name="largesturb" /> and one of the busiest cities in the world. It is considered a [[global city]] and has a population larger than other countries in the United Kingdom besides England itself.<ref name="largesturb" /> Other urban areas of considerable size and influence tend to be in [[northern England]] or the [[English Midlands]].<ref name="largesturb" /> There are [[List of cities in the United Kingdom|fifty settlements]] which have been designated [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status in England]], while the wider United Kingdom has sixty-six.
+While many cities in England are quite large in size, such as [[Birmingham]], [[Sheffield]], Manchester, [[Liverpool]], [[City of Leeds|Leeds]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]], [[City of Bradford|Bradford]], [[Nottingham]] and others, a large population is not necessarily a prerequisite for a settlement to be afforded city status.<ref name="cathcities">{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/the-complete-guide-to-cathedral-cities-in-the-uk-760201.html|title=The Complete Guide To: Cathedral cities in the UK|last=O'Brian|first=Harriet|date=24 November 2007|work=The Independent  |location=London|accessdate=8 September 2009 }}</ref> Traditionally the status was afforded to towns with [[List of cathedrals in England and Wales|diocesan cathedrals]] and so there are smaller cities like [[Wells]], [[Ely, Cambridgeshire|Ely]], [[Ripon]], [[Truro]] and [[Chichester]].<ref name="cathcities" /> According to the [[Office for National Statistics]] the ten largest, continuous built-up urban areas are:<ref name="largesturb">{{cite web |title=UK's major urban areas|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/03_FOPM_UrbanAreas.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=Statistics.gov.uk |accessdate=5 September 2009|author=Office for National Statistics|authorlink=Office for National Statistics}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref>
+{| style="width:100%;" class="wikitable"
 |-
+! style="width:5%;"| Rank
-| [[Image:Liverpool skyline.jpg|thumb|220px|The City of Liverpool]]
+! style="width:30%;"| Urban area
+! style="width:15%;"| Population
+! style="width:5%;"| Localities
+! style="width:45%;"| Major localities
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||1 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Greater London Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"|8,278,251|| 67 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Greater London]], divided into the [[City of London]] and 32 [[London borough]]s including [[London Borough of Croydon|Croydon]], [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]], [[London Borough of Ealing|Ealing]], [[London Borough of Bromley|Bromley]]<ref>{{cite web |title=ONS Key Population and Vital Statistics|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/KPVS34-2007/KPVS2007.pdf|format=PDF|year=2007|publisher=statistics.gov.uk|accessdate=18 September 2009|author=Office for National Statistics|authorlink=Office for National Statistics}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref>
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||2 || style="text-align:center;"|[[West Midlands Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"|2,284,093 || 22 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Birmingham]], [[Wolverhampton]], [[Dudley]], [[Walsall]], [[Aldridge]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||3 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Greater Manchester Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"|2,240,230 || 57 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Manchester]], [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]], [[Bolton]], [[Stockport]], [[Oldham]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||4 || style="text-align:center;"|[[West Yorkshire Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"|1,499,465 || 26 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Leeds]], [[Bradford]], [[Huddersfield]], [[Wakefield]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||5 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Tyneside]] || style="text-align:center;"|879,996 ||25 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]], [[North Shields]], [[South Shields]], [[Gateshead]], [[Jarrow]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||6 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Liverpool Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"|816,216 || 8 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Liverpool]], [[St Helens, Merseyside|St Helens]], [[Bootle]], [[Huyton-with-Roby]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||7 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Nottingham Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"|666,358 || 15 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Nottingham]], [[Beeston, Nottinghamshire|Beeston]] and [[Stapleford, Nottinghamshire|Stapleford]], [[Carlton, Nottinghamshire|Carlton]], [[Long Eaton]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||8 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Sheffield Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"|640,720 || 7 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Sheffield]], [[Rotherham]], [[Chapeltown, South Yorkshire|Chapeltown]], [[Mosborough]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||9 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Bristol Urban Area]] || style="text-align:center;"| 551,066 || 7 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Bristol]], [[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire|Kingswood]], [[Mangotsfield]], [[Stoke Gifford]]
+|- style="text-align:center;"
+||10 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton]] || style="text-align:center;"| 461,181 || 10 || style="text-align:center;"|[[Brighton]], [[Worthing]], [[Hove]], [[Littlehampton]], [[Shoreham-by-Sea|Shoreham]], [[Lancing, West Sussex|Lancing]]
 |}
-The largest cities in England are as follows (in alphabetical order):
-* [[Birmingham]]
-* [[Bradford]]
-* [[Bristol]]
-* [[Coventry]]
-* [[Derby]]
-* (Kingston upon) [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]]
-* [[Leeds]]
-* [[Leicester]]
-* [[Liverpool]]
-* [[London]]
-* [[Manchester]]
-* [[Newcastle upon Tyne]]
-* [[Nottingham]]
-* [[Plymouth]]
-* [[Sheffield]]
-* [[Sunderland]]
-* [[Stoke-on-Trent]]
-* [[Wolverhampton]]
+== Economy ==
-''Main article: [[List of towns in England]]''
+{{Main|Economy of England}}
+[[File:City of London skyline from London City Hall - Oct 2008.jpg|thumb|alt=An aerial photograph of the City of London and its surrounding London boroughs.|The [[City of London]] is the world's largest [[financial centre]].<ref name="London vs. New York">{{cite web|url=http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/mercados/Londres-versus-Nueva-York/20080901cdscdimer_3/cdsmer/|title=London vs. New York, 2005–06|publisher=Cinco Dias|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref><ref name="Global Financial Centres Index">{{cite web|url=http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/8D37DAE2-5937-4FC5-A004-C2FC4BED7742/0/BC_RS_GFCI5.pdf|title=Global Financial Centres Index, 2009-03 |format=PDF |publisher=City of London Corporation |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>]]
+England's economy is one of the largest in the world, with an average [[GDP per capita]] of £22,907.<ref name="regionalacc" /> Usually regarded as a [[Anglo-Saxon economy|mixed market economy]], it has adopted many [[free market]] principles, yet maintains an advanced social welfare infrastructure.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Welfare State&nbsp;– Never Ending Reform|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/field_01.shtml|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=17 September 2009}}</ref> The official currency in England is the [[pound sterling]], whose [[ISO 4217]] code is GBP. [[Taxation in England]] is quite competitive when [[List of countries by tax rates|compared]] to much of the rest of Europe—as of 2009 the basic rate of personal tax is 20% on taxable income up to £37,400, and 40% on any additional earnings above that amount.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tax in England|url=http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/tax/income_tax_rates.htm|publisher=AdviceGuide.org.uk|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>
+The economy of England is the largest part of the [[economy of the United Kingdom|UK's economy]],<ref name="regionalacc">{{cite web |title=Regional Accounts|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/economy/national-accounts/regional-accounts/index.html|publisher=statistics.gov.uk|accessdate=17 September 2009|author=Office for National Statistics|authorlink=Office for National Statistics}}</ref> which has the [[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita|18th]] highest GDP [[Purchasing power parity|PPP]] per capita in the world. England is a leader in the chemical<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html CIA&nbsp;– The World Factbook<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and pharmaceutical sectors and in key technical industries, particularly [[aerospace]], the [[arms industry]], and the manufacturing side of the [[software industry]]. London, home to the [[London Stock Exchange]], the United Kingdom's main [[stock exchange]] and the largest in Europe, is England's financial centre—100 of Europe's 500&nbsp;largest corporations are based in London.<ref>{{cite web |title=Financial Centre|url=http://legacy.london.gov.uk/london-life/business-and-jobs/financial-centre.jsp|publisher=London.gov.uk|accessdate=5 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref> London is the largest financial centre in Europe, and {{as of|lc=y|2009}} is also the largest in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Global Financial Centres Index|url=http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/8D37DAE2-5937-4FC5-A004-C2FC4BED7742/0/BC_RS_GFCI5.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=cityoflondon.gov.uk|author=City of London Policy and Resources Committee|authorlink=City of London Corporation |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>
-==Economy==
-''Main article: [[Economy of England]]''
+[[File:Bentley Mulsanne 2009.JPG|thumb|alt=A blue coloured car.|The [[Bentley Mulsanne (2010)|Bentley Mulsanne]]. [[Bentley]] is a well-known English car company.]]
-==Demographics==
+The [[Bank of England]], founded in 1694 by Scottish banker [[William Paterson (banker)|William Paterson]], is the United Kingdom's [[central bank]]. Originally established as private banker to the Government of England, since 1946 it has been a [[nationalisation|state-owned institution]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bank's relationship with Parliament|url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/parliament/index.htm|publisher=BankofEngland.co.uk|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> The Bank has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in [[England and Wales]], although not in other parts of the United Kingdom. The government has devolved responsibility to the Bank's [[Monetary Policy Committee]] for managing the monetary policy of the country and setting interest rates.<ref>{{cite web |title=Monetary Policy Committee|url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/overview.htm|publisher=BankofEngland.co.uk|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>
-''Main articles: [[Demographics of England]], [[Population of England]]''
+England is highly industrialised, but since the 1970s there has been a decline in traditional heavy and [[manufacturing]] industries, and an increasing emphasis on a more [[service industry]] oriented economy.<ref name="thatcher">{{harvnb|Reitan|2003|p=50}}.</ref> Tourism has become a significant industry, attracting millions of visitors to England each year. The export part of the economy is dominated by [[pharmaceuticals]], cars—although many English [[marque]]s are now foreign-owned, such as [[Rolls-Royce Motor Cars|Rolls-Royce]], [[Lotus Cars|Lotus]], [[Jaguar Cars|Jaguar]] and [[Bentley]]—[[crude oil]] and petroleum from the English parts of [[North Sea oil]] along with [[Wytch Farm]], [[aircraft engine]]s and alcoholic beverages.<ref>{{cite web |title=England Exports|url=http://mambiz.com/main/?cat=28|publisher=EconomyWatch.com|accessdate=5 September 2009}} {{Dead link|date=June 2010| bot=DASHBot}}</ref> Agriculture is intensive and highly mechanised, producing 60% of food needs with only 2% of the labour force.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intute.ac.uk/worldguide/html/1069_economic.html|title=World Guide&nbsp;– England&nbsp;– Economy Overview |work=World Guide|publisher=Intute|accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref> Two thirds of production is devoted to livestock, the other to arable crops.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pteducation.com/gk/UK.pdf|format=PDF|title=Economy of the United Kingdom|publisher=PTeducation|accessdate=8 October 2009}}</ref>
-England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the [[Netherlands]] in terms of population density.
+=== Science and technology ===
-This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 <small>BC</small> ([[Celts]]), the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350&ndash;550 ([[Angles]], [[Saxons]], [[Jutes]]), 800&ndash;900 ([[Viking]]s, [[Danes]]), 1066 ([[Normans]]), 1650&ndash;1750 ([[Continental Europe|European]] refugees and [[Huguenot]]s), 1880&ndash;1940 ([[Jew]]s), 1950&mdash; ([[British Afro-Caribbean community|Caribbeans]], [[Africa]]ns, [[South Asia]]ns), 1985&mdash; (citizens of [[European Community]] member states, [[Eastern Europe|East Europeans]], [[Iranians]], [[Kurds]], [[refugee]]s).
+{{Main|List of English inventions and discoveries|Royal Society}}
+[[File:Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727).jpg|thumb|alt=Torso of man with long white hair and dark coloured jacket|left|upright|Sir [[Isaac Newton]] is one of the most influential figures in the [[history of science]].]]
+Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics include Sir [[Isaac Newton]], [[Michael Faraday]], [[Robert Hooke]], [[Robert Boyle]], [[Joseph Priestley]], [[J. J. Thomson]], [[Charles Babbage]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Stephen Hawking]], [[Christopher Wren]], [[Alan Turing]], [[Francis Crick]], [[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]], [[Tim Berners-Lee]], [[Paul Dirac]], [[Andrew Wiles]] and [[Richard Dawkins]]. Some experts claim that the earliest concept of a [[metric system]] was invented by [[John Wilkins]], the first secretary of the [[Royal Society]], in 1668.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6890000/newsid_6898200/6898274.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=10|publisher=BBC News|title=Metric system was British|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=13 July 2007}}</ref> As the birthplace of the [[Industrial Revolution]], England was home to many significant inventors during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Famous English engineers include [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]], best known for the creation of the [[Great Western Railway]], a series of famous [[steamship]]s, and numerous important bridges, hence revolutionising public transport and modern-day engineering.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.designmuseum.org/designinbritain/isambard-kingdom-brunel|publisher=DesignMuseum.org|title=Isambard Kingdom Brunel|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> [[Thomas Newcomen]]'s [[Newcomen steam engine|steam engine]] helped spawn the Industrial Revolution.<ref>{{harvnb|Oakes|2002|p=214}}</ref> The physician [[Edward Jenner]]'s [[smallpox vaccine]] is said to have "saved more lives [...] than were lost in all the wars of mankind since the beginning of recorded history."<ref name="saunders_jenner">{{harvnb|Saunders|1982|p=13}}</ref><ref name="white_jenner">{{harvnb|White|2009|p=335}}</ref><ref name="levine">{{harvnb|Levine|1960|p=183}}</ref>
+Inventions and discoveries of the English include: the [[jet engine]], the first industrial [[spinning frame|spinning machine]], [[Analytical engine|the first computer]] and the first [[Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine|modern computer]], the [[World Wide Web]] along with [[HTML]], the first successful human [[blood transfusion]], the motorised [[vacuum cleaner]],<ref name="americanheritage">{{cite web|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2006/4/2006_4_4.shtml|title=The Vacuum Cleaner|author=Curt Wohleber|date=Spring 2006|accessdate=8 December 2010|work=Invention & Technology Magazine|publisher=American Heritage Publishing}}{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref> the [[lawn mower]], the [[seat belt]], the [[hovercraft]], the [[electric motor]], [[steam engine]]s, and theories such as the Darwinian theory of [[evolution]] and [[atomic theory]]. Newton developed the ideas of [[universal gravitation]], [[Newtonian mechanics]], and [[infinitesimal calculus]], and [[Robert Hooke]] his eponymously named [[Hooke's law of elasticity|law of elasticity]]. Other inventions include the iron plate railway, the [[thermosiphon]], [[tarmac]], the [[rubber band]], the [[mousetrap]], [[Cat's eye (road)|"cat's eye"]]<!--should the specific be removed?--> [[raised pavement marker|road marker]], joint development of the [[light bulb]], steam [[locomotive]]s, the modern [[seed drill]] and many modern techniques and technologies used in [[precision engineering]].<ref name="invent">{{cite web |url= http://www.english-crafts.co.uk/history/inventors.htm|publisher=English-Crafts.co.uk|title=English Inventors and Inventions|accessdate=5 September 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>
-The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from [[Ireland]] and [[Scotland]]. This segment of English [[homogeneous]] society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the [[British Empire]]; especially the [[Commonwealth of Nations]].
+{{Clear}}
-==English identity==
+=== Transport ===
+{{Main|Transport in England}}
-The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, it is quite commonplace to hear inhabitants of England refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a [[linguistics|linguist]] would put it, an "unmarked" state, (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while Scots, Welsh, Irish and some [[Cornish]], proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms.
+[[File:Heathrow T5.jpg|thumb|alt=Planes congregate by a building.|right|[[London Heathrow Airport]] has more international [[World's busiest airports by international passenger traffic|passenger traffic]] than any other airport in the world.<ref name="airports">{{harvnb|O'Hanlon|2008|p=205}}.</ref>]]
+The [[Department for Transport]] is the government body responsible for overseeing transport in England. There are many [[List of motorways in the United Kingdom|motorways in England]], and many other trunk roads, such as the [[A1 road (Great Britain)|A1 Great North Road]], which runs through eastern England from London to Newcastle<ref name="roads">{{harvnb|UK Parliament|2007|p=175}}</ref> (much of this section is motorway) and onward to the Scottish border. The longest motorway in England is the [[M6 motorway|M6]], from [[Rugby, Warwickshire|Rugby]] through the [[North West England|North West]] up to the [[Anglo-Scottish border]].<ref name="roads" /> Other major routes include: the [[M1 motorway|M1]] from London to Leeds, the [[M25 motorway|M25]] which encircles London, the [[M60 motorway|M60]] which encircles Manchester, the [[M4 motorway|M4]] from London to South Wales, the [[M62 motorway|M62]] from Liverpool via Manchester to East Yorkshire, and the [[M5 motorway|M5]] from Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.<ref name="roads" />
-A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as [[nationalism|nationalistic]]. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the [[British National Front|National Front]] made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right.
+[[Bus]] transport across the country is widespread; major companies include [[National Express Group|National Express]], [[Arriva]] and [[Go-Ahead Group]]. The red [[double-decker bus]]es in London have become a symbol of England. There is a [[rapid rail]] network in two English cities: the [[London Underground]]; and the [[Tyne and Wear Metro]] in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland.<ref name="pubwhite">{{harvnb|White|2002|p=63}}.</ref> There are several tram networks, such as the [[Blackpool tramway]], [[Manchester Metrolink]], [[Sheffield Supertram]] and [[Midland Metro]], and the Tramlink system centred on Croydon in South London.<ref name="pubwhite" />
-The success of the England football team in the early 21st Century has seen a revival of the use of the "[[Cross of St George]]" and it now seems that efforts to reclaim the flag from the far right are being successful. While it has not yet replaced the "[[Union Flag]]" its use is far, far greater than at the end of the 20th Century.
+[[Rail transport in England]] is the oldest in the world: passenger railways originated in England in 1825.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/johnmoore/1825/sept_27.htm|title=27 September 1825&nbsp;– Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway|publisher=The Stockton and Darlington Railway|accessdate=8 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref> Much of Britain's {{convert|16116|km|mi}} of rail network lies in England, covering the country fairly extensively, although a high proportion of railway lines were closed in the second half of the 20th century. There are plans to reopen lines such as the [[Varsity Line]] between Oxford and Cambridge. These lines are mostly standard gauge ([[single track (rail)|single]], [[double track|double]] or [[quadruple track]]) though there are also a few [[British narrow gauge railways|narrow gauge lines]]. There is rail transport access to France and Belgium through an undersea rail link, the [[Channel Tunnel]], which was completed in 1994.
-Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
+England has extensive domestic and international aviation links. The largest airport is [[London Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]], which is the [[World's busiest airports by international passenger traffic|world's busiest airport measured by number of international passengers]].<ref name=wsj230211>{{cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110223-710213.html|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5yo0OE2ky|archivedate=19 May 2011|title=Delta Expects New Slots To Foster Growth At Heathrow Airport|accessdate=23 March 2011|work=The Wall Street Journal| date=23 February 2011}}</ref> Other large airports include [[Manchester Airport]], [[London Stansted Airport]], [[Luton Airport]] and [[Birmingham Airport, England|Birmingham Airport]].<ref name="airports" /> By sea there is ferry transport, both local and international, including to Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium.<ref name="waterworks">{{harvnb|Else|2007|p=781}}.</ref> There are around {{convert|7100|km|mi|-2|abbr=on}} of navigable waterways in England, half of which is owned by the [[Canal and River Trust]],<ref name="waterworks" /> however water transport is very limited. The [[river Thames|Thames]] is the major waterway in England, with imports and exports focused at the [[Port of Tilbury]] in the Thames Estuary, one of the United Kingdom's three major ports.<ref name="waterworks" />
-All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British", since this will be correct even if not as precise
-==Culture==
+== Healthcare ==
+{{Main|Healthcare in England}}
-[[Image:Shakespeare.jpg|thumb|right|[[William Shakespeare]].]]
+[[File:Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England-7March2011.jpg|thumb|alt=Birds I view of a large hospital.|right|[[Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham]], an NHS hospital.]]
+The [[National Health Service (England)|National Health Service]] (NHS) is the [[Socialised medicine|publicly funded healthcare system]] in England responsible for providing the majority of healthcare in the country. The NHS began on 5 July 1948, putting into effect the provisions of the [[National Health Service Act 1946]]. It was based on the findings of the [[Beveridge Report]], prepared by economist and social reformer [[William Beveridge]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/beveridge_william.shtml|title=BBC History on William Beveridge|accessdate=5 September 2009|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> The NHS is largely funded from general taxation including [[National Insurance]] payments,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snsg-00724.pdf | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5L5oTN | archivedate=5 December 2009| title=NHS Expenditure in England |format=PDF | work=House of Commons Library | accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> and it provides most of its services free at the point of use, although there are charges for some people for eye tests, dental care, prescriptions and aspects of personal care.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Medicinespharmacyandindustry/Prescriptions/NHScosts/DH_087013| title=NHS costs and exemptions| work=Department of Health| accessdate=5 September 2009}} {{Dead link|date=June 2010| bot=DASHBot}}</ref>
-''Main article: [[Culture of England]]''
+The government department responsible for the NHS is the [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Department of Health]], headed by the [[Secretary of State for Health]], who sits in the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|British Cabinet]]. Most of the expenditure of the Department of Health is spent on the NHS—£98.6&nbsp;billion was spent in 2008–2009.<ref name="budget2008">{{cite news | date=3 March 2008| url=http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/7/3/bud08_chapterc.pdf |format=PDF | title=Budget 2008, Chapter C| work=HM Treasury| accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> In recent years the private sector has been increasingly used to provide more NHS services despite opposition by doctors and trade unions.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5133480.stm|title=Private sector role in NHS|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=5 September 2009| date=30 June 2006}}</ref> The average [[life expectancy]] of people in England is 77.5 years for males and 81.7 years for females, the highest of the four [[countries of the United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=168|title=Life expectancy|publisher=statistics.gov.uk|accessdate=20 July 2009|author=Office for National Statistics|authorlink=Office for National Statistics|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090525050617/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=168 <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archivedate=25 May 2009}}</ref>
-*[[English literature]]
-**[[Sir Thomas Browne]]
-**[[Geoffrey Chaucer]]
-**[[John Milton]]
-**[[William Shakespeare]]
-**[[Jane Austen]]
-*[[List of national parks of England and Wales]]
-*[[England/Food and Drink|Food and Drink]]
-*[[English folklore]]
-*[[English art]]
-**[[English school of painting]]
-*[[Music of England]]
-==Languages==
+== Demography ==
+=== Population ===
-[[Image:Beowulf.firstpage.jpeg|thumb|right|[[Beowulf]] is one of the oldest surviving epic poems in what is identifiable as a form of the [[English language]].]]
+{{Main|Demography of England|English people|English diaspora}}
+[[File:England counties population (crop).png|thumb|alt=Map of England with regions shaded in different shades of blue.|The [[metropolitan county|metropolitan]], [[Non-metropolitan county|non-metropolitan counties]] and [[unitary authorities of England]], colour-coded to show population.]]
+[[File:England and Wales population cartogram.svg|thumb|Population by administrative areas. Their size is approximately in proportion to their population. The darker colour the bigger is the real area.]]
+With over 53&nbsp;million inhabitants, England is by far the most populous country of the United Kingdom, accounting for 84% of the combined total.<ref name=2011census/><ref name="Population">{{cite web |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15106 |title=Population estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland&nbsp;– current datasets |author=[[Office for National Statistics]] |publisher=statistics.gov.uk|accessdate=5 June 2009}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref> England taken as a unit and measured against international states has the fourth largest population in the European Union and would be the 25th largest [[List of countries by population in 2005|country by population]] in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Population Prospects: Analytical Report for the 2004 |url=http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WPP2004/WPP2004_Volume3.htm |publisher=United Nations |accessdate=5 September 2009 |author=[[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs]]}}</ref> With a density of 407 people per square kilometre, it would be the second most densely populated country in the European Union after [[Malta]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Density of England rises | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7610000/newsid_7618900/7618994.stm |work=BBC News | accessdate=5 September 2009| date=16 September 2008 | first=Chris | last=Mason}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=England is most crowded country in Europe |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2967374/England-is-most-crowded-country-in-Europe.html|work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |accessdate=5 September 2009| first=Urmee | last=Khan | date=16 September 2008}}</ref>
+The [[English people]] are a [[British people]].<ref name="ethnicityengl">{{cite web |title=Ethnic group: Census 2001, Key Statistics for local Authorities |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=6561 |publisher=Statistics.gov.uk |accessdate=5 September 2009 |author=[[Office for National Statistics]]|year=2001 |work=[[United Kingdom Census 2001]]}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref> Some genetic evidence suggests that 75–95% descend in the paternal line from prehistoric settlers who originally came from the [[Iberian Peninsula]], as well as a 5% contribution from [[Angles]] and [[Saxons]], and a significant [[Norseman|Norse]] element.<ref name="opp">{{harvnb|Oppenheimer|2006|p=378}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=British and Irish, descendant of the Basques? |url=http://www.eitb24.com/new/en/B24_38277/life/GENETIC-STUDY-British-and-Irish-descendant-of-the-Basques/ |publisher=Eitb24.com |accessdate=5 September 2009}} {{Dead link|date=June 2010| bot=DASHBot}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=What does being British mean? Ask the Spanish |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/3348004/What-does-being-British-mean-Ask-the-Spanish.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |accessdate=5 September 2009 | first=Stephen | last=Oppenheimer | date=10 October 2006}}</ref> However, other geneticists place the Norse-[[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] estimate up to half.<ref name="UKmaybe">{{cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/science/06brits.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all |title=A United Kingdom? Maybe |last=Wade |first=Nicholas |date=6 March 2007|newspaper =The New York Times |accessdate=8 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Evidence for an apartheid-like social structure in early Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=PubMedCentral.nih.gov|pmc=1635457 |year=2006 |volume=273 |issue=1601 |pmid=17002951 |last=Thomas |first=M.G. |coauthors=M.P. Stumpf, H. Härke |pages=2651–7 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2006.3627 |journal=Proceedings. Biological sciences / the Royal Society |ref=harv}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Hall|first=Allan|title=Forget two world wars and one World Cup... geneticists reveal 50 per cent of Britons are German|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2005829/Half-Britons-German-blood-geneticists-reveal.html|date=21 June 2011|work=Daily Mail |accessdate=15 August 2011|location=London}}</ref> Over time, various cultures have been influential: [[Prehistoric Britain|Prehistoric]], [[Britons (historical)|Brythonic]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Roman Britons after 410 |url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba68/feat1.shtml |publisher=Britarch.ac.uk |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> [[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Anglo-Saxon]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Anglo-Saxon Origins: The Reality of the Myth |url=http://books.google.com/?id=D3GPUqysfoAC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Anglo-Saxon+Origins:+The+Reality+of+the+Myth&q=Anglo-Saxon%20Origins%3A%20The%20Reality%20of%20the%20Myth |publisher=Malcolm Todd| accessdate=5 September 2009 |isbn=978-1-871516-85-2 |last=Cameron | first = Keith |year=1994 | month = March}}</ref> [[Norsemen|Norse]] [[Viking]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Legacy of the Vikings |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after_viking/legacy_vikings_01.shtml |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> [[Gaels|Gaelic]] cultures, as well as a large influence from [[Normans]]. There is an English diaspora in former parts of the British Empire; especially the United States, Canada, Australia, [[Chile]], South Africa and New Zealand.{{#tag:ref|For instance, in 1980 around 50&nbsp;million [[United States|Americans]] claimed [[English Americans|English ancestry]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Shifting Identities&nbsp;– statistical data on ethnic identities in the US |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_/ai_80408799 |publisher=Bnet |accessdate=09-07-29 | year=2001}}</ref> In Canada there are around 6.5&nbsp;million [[Demographics of Canada|Canadians]] who claim [[English Canadians|English ancestry]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories |url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/ethnic/pages/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Data=Count&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=3&Display=All&CSDFilter=5000 |publisher=Statistics Canada |accessdate=09-07-29}}</ref> Around 70% of [[Demographics of Australia|Australians]] in 1999 denoted their origins as [[Anglo-Celtic]], a category which includes all peoples from Great Britain and Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |title=Australian Population: Ethnic Origins |url=http://elecpress.monash.edu.au/pnp/free/pnpv7n4/v7n4_3price.pdf |author=Centre for Population and Urban Research, Monash University |accessdate=09-07-29}}</ref> Chileans of [[English Chilean|English descent]] are somewhat of an anomaly in that [[Chile]] itself was never part of the British Empire, but today there are around 420,000 people of English origins living there.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inmigración británica en Chile |url=http://www.galeon.com/typepad/|publisher=Galeon.com |accessdate=09-07-29}}</ref> |group=nb}} Since the late 1990s, many English people [[British migration to Spain|have migrated]] to Spain.<ref>{{cite news |title=An Englishman's home is his casa as thousands go south |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/09/spain.spain |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |accessdate=5 September 2009 | first=Jason | last=Burke | date=9 October 2005}}</ref><ref name="Leave">{{cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/nov/16/emigration |title=Record numbers leave the country for life abroad |first =Alan | last = Travis |coauthors=Sarah Knapton |date=16 November 2007 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |accessdate=8 August 2009 }}</ref>
-As its name suggests, the [[English language]], today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An [[Indo-European]] language in the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] family, it is closely related to [[Scots language|Scots]], [[Frisian language|Frisian]] and [[Low Saxon language|Low Saxon]]. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "[[Old English language|Old English]]" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived.
+[[File:England ethnicity estimates 2009.jpg|left|thumb|alt=Pie chart with main body in blue and multiple smaller segments in other colours.|2009 estimates of [[Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom|ethnic groups in England and Wales]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/eth0511.pdf |title=ONS: Population Estimates by Ethnic Group 2002–2009 |format=PDF |accessdate=20 August 2011}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref>]]
+At the time of the ''[[Domesday Book]]'', compiled in 1086, more than 90% of the English population of about two million lived in the countryside.<ref>{{cite web |title=Medieval English society |url=http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/123/123%2013%20Society.htm |author=University of Wisconsin |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> By 1801 the population had grown to 8.3&nbsp;million, and by 1901 had grown to 30.5&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web |title=The UK population: past, present and future |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/01_FOPM_Population.pdf |accessdate=5 September 2009 |author=[[Office for National Statistics]]}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref> Due in particular to the economic prosperity of [[South East England]], it has received many economic migrants from the other parts of the United Kingdom.<ref name="ethnicityengl" /> There has been [[Irish migration to Great Britain|significant Irish migration]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1224611.stm|title=One in four Britons claim Irish roots|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=26 November 2010 | date=16 March 2001}}</ref> The proportion of ethnically European residents totals at 87.50%, including [[British Germans|Germans]]<ref name="migra" /> and [[Polish British|Poles]].<ref name="ethnicityengl" />
+Other people from much further afield in the former British colonies have arrived since the 1950s: in particular, 6% of people living in England have family origins in the [[Indian subcontinent]], mostly India and [[Pakistan]].<ref name="ethnicityengl" /><ref name="migra">{{cite news |title=British Immigration Map Revealed |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4218740.stm |work=BBC News|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=7 September 2005}}</ref> 2.90% of the population are black, from both the [[Caribbean]] and countries in Africa itself, especially former British colonies.<ref name="ethnicityengl" /><ref name="migra" /> There is a significant number of Chinese and [[British Chinese]].<ref name="ethnicityengl" /><ref name="migra" /> {{As of|2007}}, 22% of primary school children in England were from [[minority group|ethnic minority]] families.<ref name="Paton">{{cite news| url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/27/nschools127.xml |title=One fifth of children from ethnic minorities |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |first=Graeme | last = Paton |date=1 October 2007 |accessdate=28 March 2008 }}</ref> About half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to immigration.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article379434.ece |title=Immigration rise increases segregation in British cities |last=Leppard |first=David |date=10 April 2005 |work=The Times  |location=London |accessdate=8 August 2009 }}</ref> Debate over immigration is politically prominent;<ref>{{cite web |title=Immigration debate hots up in England |url=http://www.paperarticles.com/2008/11/immigration-debate-hots-up-in-england.html |publisher=The Independent News Service |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> according to a [[Home Office]] poll, 80% of people want to cap it.<ref>{{cite news |title=80% say cap immigration |url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115745/80-say-cap-immigration |newspaper=Daily Express | location = London | date = 23 July 2009 | first=Gabriel | last = Milland |accessdate=5 September 2009 }}</ref> The [[Office for National Statistics|ONS]] has projected that the population will grow by six million between 2004 and 2029.<ref name="increase">{{cite news |title=50&nbsp;million population of England set to rise by six million in 25&nbsp;years |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-410112/50-million-population-England-set-rise-million-25-years.html |newspaper=Daily Mail |location=London |accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=12 October 2006}}</ref>
-Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the [[Norman conquest]] (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the [[Norman language|Norman French]] language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of [[Latin]] and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But [[Middle English]], as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the [[renaissance]], many words were coined from [[Latin (language)|Latin]] and [[Greek (language)|Greek]] origins; and more recent years, [[Modern English]] has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words.
+=== Language ===
-The law does not recognise any language as being official, but [[English language|English]] is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK ([[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Irish language|Irish Gaelic]] and [[Scots Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]]) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales).
+{{Main|English language|English language in England|History of the English language}}
+[[File:Anglospeak.svg|thumb|right|The [[English-speaking world]]. Countries in dark blue have a majority of native speakers. Countries in light blue have English as an official language, ''de jure'' or ''de facto''. English is also one of the [[Languages of the European Union|official languages of the European Union]].<ref name="EUlang">{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm |title=Official EU languages |date=8 May 2009 |publisher =[[European Commission]] |accessdate=16 October 2009}}</ref>]]
+As its name suggests, the [[English language]], today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today. It is an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language in the [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]] branch of the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] family.<ref>{{harvnb|Arlotto|1971|p=108}}.</ref> After the [[Norman Conquest of England|Norman conquest]], the [[Old English|Old English language]] was displaced and confined to the [[Working class|lower social classes]] as [[Norman language|Norman French]] and [[Latin]] were used by the aristocracy.
-The only non-[[Anglic]] native spoken language in England is the [[Cornish language]], a [[Celtic languages|Celtic language]] spoken in [[Cornwall]], which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]]. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. [[Scots language|Scots]] is spoken by some adjacent the Anglo-Scottish Border.
+By the 15th century, English came back into fashion among all classes, though much changed; the [[Middle English]] form showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the [[English Renaissance]], many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins.<ref>{{harvnb|Green|2003|p=13}}.</ref> [[Modern English]] has extended this custom of flexibility, when it comes to incorporating words from different languages. Thanks in large part to the [[British Empire]], the English language is the world's unofficial ''[[lingua franca]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=English: Not America's Language? |url=http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3229 | first = Mauro E. | last = Mujica | date = 19 June 2003 | location = Washington DC |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080117232711/http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3229 |archivedate=17 January 2008 |work=The Globalist |accessdate=1 February 2009}}</ref>
-Most [[deaf]] people within England speak [[British sign language]] (BSL), a [[sign language]] native to Britain. The [[British Deaf Association]] estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The [[BBC]] broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters.
+[[English as a second or foreign language|English language learning and teaching]] is an important [[Economics|economic activity]], and includes [[language schools|language schooling]], [[tourism]] spending, and [[publishing]]. There is no [[United Kingdom legislation|legislation]] mandating an [[official language]] for England,<ref>{{cite web |title=English language history |url=http://www.yaelf.com/history.shtml |publisher=Yaelf |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> but English is the only language used for official business. Despite the country's relatively small size, there are many distinct [[Regional accents of English speakers#England|regional accents]], and individuals with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood everywhere in the country.
-Different languages from around the world, especially from the former [[British Empire]] and the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Hindi language|Hindi]], [[Urdu language|Urdu]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances.
+[[Cornish language|Cornish]], which died out as a community language in the 18th century, is being revived,<ref>{{cite web |title=Cornish language |url=http://www.gos.gov.uk/gosw/culturehome/heritage/cornish/?view=Standard |publisher=gos.gov.uk |accessdate=22 September 2009 |authorlink=Government Office |author=Government Offices for the English Regions}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Strategy for the Cornish language |url=http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38603 |publisher=Cornish Language Partnership |accessdate=22 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Manx, Cornish and Irish just three of 2,500 languages facing extinction, say UN |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1151045/Cornish-Manx-Irish-2-500-languages-facing-extinction-says-UN.html |work=Daily Mail  |location=London| accessdate=17 September 2009 | first=Claire | last=Bates | date=23 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Cornish Language Development Project&nbsp;– Evaluation&nbsp;– Final Report, page 20 |url=http://www.magakernow.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=41357&p=0 |publisher=Hywel Evans, Aric Lacoste / ERS |accessdate=17 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref> and is now protected under the [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]].<ref>{{cite web |title=South West&nbsp;– Cornish Language |url=http://www.gos.gov.uk/gosw/culturehome/heritage/cornish/ |publisher=Government Office South West |accessdate=17 September 2009}}</ref> It is spoken by 0.1% of people in [[Cornwall]],<ref>{{cite web |title=On being a Cornish "Celt": changing Celtic heritage and traditions |url=http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/cornishcom/documents/OnbeingaCornishcelt.pdf |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5ln5LLsEM |archivedate=5 December 2009 |publisher=[[University of Exeter]] |accessdate=1 February 2009}}</ref> and is taught to some degree in several [[Primary school|primary]] and [[secondary school]]s.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Cornish: They revolted in 1497, now they're at it again |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-cornish-they-revolted-in-1497-now-theyre-at-it-again-1782535.html |work=The Independent  |location=London|accessdate=17 September 2009 | first=Emily | last=Dugan | date=6 September 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38586 |title=Cornish in Schools |year=2009 |work=Cornish Language Partnership |accessdate=22 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref> [[State school]]s teach students a [[second language]], usually [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]] or [[Spanish language|Spanish]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Number of primaries teaching foreign languages doubles |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/jun/26/schools.uk2 |work=The Guardian  |location=London |accessdate=23 September 2009 | first=Anthea | last=Lipsett | date=26 June 2008}}</ref> Due to [[immigration]], it was reported in 2007 that around 800,000 school students spoke a [[foreign language]] at home,<ref name="Paton"/> the most common being [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Urdu]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1045097/English-second-language-1-8-pupils-England.html |title=English is a second language for 1 in 8 pupils in England |last=Drury |first=Ian |date=15 August 2008 |work=Daily Mail  |accessdate=23 September 2009 | location=London}}</ref>
-Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including [[Romany language|Romany]].
+=== Religion ===
-Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct [[Regional accents of English speakers#England|English regional accents]]. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.
+{{Main|Religion in England}}
+[[File:Canterbury Cathedral - Portal Nave Cross-spire.jpeg|thumb|alt=Large yellow stone ornate building with buttresses and square central tower.|right|[[Canterbury Cathedral]], seat of the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]]]
+Christianity is the most widely practised religion in England, as it has been since the Early Middle Ages, although it was first introduced much earlier, in Gaelic and Roman times. It continued through [[Early Insular Christianity]], and today about 59% of English people identify as Christians.<ref>{{cite web|title=2011 Census: Rise in foreign-born residents|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20677515|accessdate=11 December 2012}}</ref>  The largest form practised in the present day is [[Church of England|Anglicanism]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Church of England|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/cofe/cofe_1.shtml|publisher=BBC|accessdate=4 December 2010}}</ref> dating from the 16th century [[English Reformation|Reformation]] period, with the 1536 split from Rome over [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] wanting to divorce [[Catherine of Aragon]], and the need for the Bible in the [[English language|English tongue]].  The religion regards itself as both Catholic and [[Reformed]].
+There are [[High Church]] and [[Low Church]] traditions, and some Anglicans regard themselves as [[Anglo-Catholics]], after the [[Tractarian movement]]. The monarch of the United Kingdom is a titular leader of the Church, acting as its [[Supreme Governor of the Church of England|Supreme Governor]]. It has the status of [[established church]] in England. There are around 26&nbsp;million adherents to the Church of England and they form part of the [[Anglican Communion]] with the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] acting as the symbolic worldwide head.<ref>{{cite web |title=Global Anglicanism at a Crossroads|url=http://pewresearch.org/pubs/896/global-anglicanism-at-a-crossroads|publisher=PewResearch.org|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> Many [[List of cathedrals in England and Wales|cathedrals]] and parish churches are historic buildings of significant architectural importance, such as [[Westminster Abbey]], [[York Minster]], [[Durham Cathedral]] and [[Salisbury Cathedral]].
-==Nomenclature==
-The country is named after the [[Angles]], one of several [[Germanic tribe]]s who settled the country in the [[5th century|5th]] and [[6th century|6th]] centuries.
+[[File:George novgorod.jpg|thumb|alt=Icon of man in armour on white horse fighting black dragon to his left.|left|upright|[[Saint George]], the [[patron saint]] of England]]
-There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country. The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
+The second largest Christian practice is the [[Latin Rite]] of the Catholic Church, which traces its formal, corporate history in England to the 6th century with [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine's mission]] and was the main religion on the entire island for around a thousand years. Since its reintroduction after the [[Catholic Emancipation]], the Church has organised ecclesiastically on an [[Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales|England and Wales]] basis where there are 4.5&nbsp;million members (most of whom are English).<ref>{{cite news |title=People here 'must obey the laws of the land'|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578212/People-here-must-obey-the-laws-of-the-land.html|work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=9 February 2008}}</ref> There has been one Pope from England to date, [[Pope Adrian IV|Adrian IV]]; while saints [[Bede]] and [[Anselm of Canterbury|Anselm]] are regarded as [[Doctors of the Church]].
+A form of [[Protestantism]]  known as [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|Methodism]] is the third largest Christian practice and grew out of Anglicanism through [[John Wesley]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Methodist Church|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> It gained popularity in the [[mill town]]s of [[Lancashire]] and [[Yorkshire]], and amongst tin miners in [[Cornwall]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linguae-celticae.org/dateien/Independent_Study_on_Cornish_Language.pdf|title=AN INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC STUDY ON CORNISH|page= 8|accessdate=26 December 2010}}</ref> There are other [[non-conformist]] minorities, such as [[Baptists]], [[Quakers]], [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]], [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]] and [[The Salvation Army]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Cambridge History of Christianity|url=http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521815000&ss=exc|publisher=Hugh McLeod|accessdate=5 September 2009 }}</ref>
-*"England" ([[Danish language|Danish]], [[German language|German]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]])
-*"Engeland" ([[Dutch language|Dutch]])
-*"Inglismaa" ([[Estonian language|Estonian]])
-*"Angleterre" ([[French language|French]])
-*"Inghilterra" ([[Italian language|Italian]])
-*"Inglaterra" ([[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Galician language|Galician]])
-*"Anglia" ([[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]])
-*"Anglija" ([[Russian language|Russian]], [[Slovenian language|Slovene]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]])
-*"Engleska" ([[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]])
-*"Αγγλία" ("Anglía") ([[Greek language|Greek]])
-*"Englanti" ([[Finnish language|Finnish]])
+The patron saint of England is [[Saint George]]; his symbolic cross is included in the flag of England, as well as in the Union Flag as part of a combination.<ref name="flaghistory">{{cite web |title=United Kingdom&nbsp;– History of the Flag|url=http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-hist.html|publisher=FlagSpot.net|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref><ref name="flaghistory" /> There are many other English and associated saints; some of the best known include: [[Cuthbert]], [[Edmund the Martyr|Edmund]], [[Saint Alban|Alban]], [[Wilfrid]], [[Aidan of Lindisfarne|Aidan]], [[Edward the Confessor]], [[John Fisher]], [[Thomas More]], [[Saint Petroc|Petroc]], [[Saint Piran|Piran]], [[Margaret Clitherow]] and [[Thomas Becket]]. There are non-Christian religions practised. Jews have a history of a small minority on the island since 1070.<ref name="jews">{{cite web |title=From Expulsion (1290) to Readmission (1656): Jews and England|url=http://www.gold.ac.uk/media/350th-anniversary.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=Goldsmiths.ac.uk |accessdate=1 February 2009}}</ref> They were expelled from England in 1290 following the [[Edict of Expulsion]], only to be allowed back in 1656.<ref name="jews" />
-The [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] names are quite different, deriving from the languages of tribes existing throughout the British Isles, often for thousands of years before even the [[Romans]] arrived:
+Especially since the 1950s, Eastern religions from the [[British Empire|former British colonies]] have begun to appear, due to foreign immigration; Islam is the most common of these, accounting for around 3.1% of the population in England.<ref name="statsio">{{cite web |title=Religion|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8301|publisher=Statistics.gov.uk|accessdate=5 September 2009|author=Office for National Statistics|authorlink=Office for National Statistics}}{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref> [[Hinduism]], [[Sikhism]] and [[Buddhism]] are next in number, adding up to 2% combined,<ref name="statsio" /> introduced from India and [[South East Asia]].<ref name="statsio" /> Around 14.6% have [[irreligion|no religion]].<ref name="statsio" />
-*"Bro-Saoz" ([[Breton language|Breton]])
-*"Pow Sows" ([[Cornish language|Cornish]])
-*"Sasana" ([[Irish language|Irish]])
-*"Sasainn" ([[Scottish Gaelic]])
-*"Lloegr" ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]), but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
+== Education ==
-Yet more linguistic diversity was contributed by the [[Saxons]], another Germanic tribe which arrived at about the same as the Angles.
+{{Main|Education in England|List of universities in England}}
+[[File:Senate House, University of London.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Senate House of the University of London.|right|[[Senate House (University of London)|Senate House]], the administrative centre of the [[University of London]]]]
+The [[Department for Education]] is the government department responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including education.<ref>{{harvnb|Gearon|2002|p=246}}.</ref> State-run and -funded schools are attended by approximately 93% of English schoolchildren.<ref>{{harvnb|West|2003|p=28}}.</ref> Of these, a minority are [[faith school]]s, primarily Church of England or Catholic. Between three and four is nursery school, 4 and 11 is primary school, and 11 to 16 is secondary school. After finishing compulsory education, pupils take a [[General Certificate of Secondary Education|GCSE]] examination, following which they may decide to continue in [[further education]] for two years. [[List of further education colleges in England|Further education colleges]], such as [[sixth form colleges]] are either separate or attached to the secondary school institution and prepare students to sit [[A-Level]] examinations, for [[higher education]] at universities.
+Although most English secondary schools are [[comprehensive school|comprehensive]], in some areas there are selective intake [[grammar school]]s, to which entrance is subject to passing the [[eleven plus exam]]. Around 7.2% of English schoolchildren attend [[Independent school (UK)|private schools]], which are funded by private sources.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Independent Schools in the United Kingdom|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580406/independent_schools_in_the_united_kingdom.html|publisher=encarta.msn.com|work=[[Encarta]]|accessdate=17 September 2009|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5kwbmg0Pk|archivedate=31 October 2009|deadurl=yes |ref=harv}}</ref> Standards in state schools are monitored by the [[Office for Standards in Education]], and in private schools by the [[Independent Schools Inspectorate]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gearon|2002|p=102}}.</ref>
-See: [[wikt:England|Wiktionary:England]] for a further list of non-English names for England.
+[[File:KingsCollegeChapelWest.jpg|thumb|alt=Large yellow stone building with an arched window and two towers at the end nearest the photographer. In the foreground is grass and water with people in a punt.|left|[[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]], University of Cambridge]]
-"England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire [[United Kingdom]], the island of [[Great Britain]], or the [[British Isles]]. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct.
+Students normally enter [[universities in the United Kingdom]] from 18 onwards, where they study for an [[academic degree]]. There are over 90&nbsp;universities England, all but one of which are [[Public university|public]]. The [[Department for Business, Innovation and Skills]] is the government department responsible for higher education in England.<ref>{{cite web |title=Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee Contents |url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmdius/170/17004.htm|publisher=publications.parliament.uk|accessdate=16 September 2009|authorlink=Parliament of the United Kingdom|author=United Kingdom Parliament}}</ref> Students are generally entitled to [[student loan]]s for maintenance.{{#tag:ref|Students attending English universities now have to pay tuition fees towards the cost of their education, as do English students who choose to attend university in Scotland. Scottish students attending Scottish universities have their fees paid by the devolved Scottish Parliament.<ref name="msnmoney" />|group=nb}} The [[Undergraduate degree|first degree]] offered to undergraduates is the [[Bachelor's degree]], which usually takes three years to complete. Students are then eligible for a postgraduate degree, a Master's degree, taking one year, or a Doctorate degree, which takes three.
+[[List of universities in England|England's universities]] include some of the highest-ranked universities in the world; the University of Cambridge, [[Imperial College London]], the University of Oxford and [[University College London]] are all ranked in the global top 10 in the 2010 ''[[QS World University Rankings]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010/results|title=QS World University Rankings Results 2010|accessdate=23 January 2011|publisher=QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited}}</ref> The [[London School of Economics]] has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research.<ref name=london_156>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/sunday_times_university_guide/article2496158.ece |title=The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2007&nbsp;– Profile for London School of Economics|work=The Times  |location=London|accessdate=6 June 2008 | date=23 September 2007 |ref=harv}}</ref> The [[London Business School]] is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme was ranked best in the world by the ''[[Financial Times]]''.<ref name = "ft">{{cite web|url=http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings| title= FT Global MBA Rankings |work=Financial Times |accessdate=25 January 2010}}</ref> [[Academic degree]]s in England are usually split into classes: first class (I), upper second class (II:1), lower second class (II:2) and third (III), and unclassified (below third class).
-Alternative names include:
+[[The King's School, Canterbury]] and [[King's School, Rochester]] are the oldest schools in the English-speaking world.<ref>{{harvnb|Webster|1937|p=383}}.</ref> Many of England's better-known schools, such as [[Winchester College]], [[Eton College]], [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]], [[Rugby School]], and [[Harrow School]] are fee-paying institutions.<ref>{{harvnb|Lowe|1971|p=317}}.</ref>
-*the slang "Blighty", from the [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
+{{Clear}}
-* "[[Albion]]", an ancient name popularised by [[Pliny the Elder]] and [[Ptolemy]] in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white ([[Latin]] ''alba'') cliffs of [[Dover, England|Dover]], this term has also been interpreted as a relative of [[Alba]], today the [[Scots Gaelic]] name for Scotland. Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole island of [[Great Britain]] and is still sometimes seen that way today &mdash; but is more often used for England.
-*More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations respectively from the poetry of [[William Shakespeare]] (in ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'') and [[William Blake]] (''[[And did those feet in ancient time]]'').
+== Culture ==
-The inhabitants of England are the '''English'''. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the [[Scots Gaelic]]), "Limeys" (in reference to the [[citrus fruit]]s carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent [[scurvy]]) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in [[Australian English#Vocabulary|Australian English]] and [[New Zealand English]]), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see [[alternative words for British]].
+{{Main|Culture of England|English Renaissance}}
+=== Architecture ===
-==Symbols and insignia==
+[[File:St Pauls Cathedral, London.jpg|thumb|alt=White stone building with tower topped with a dome. In the foreground are trees and a red rectangular vertical box with windows.|right|175px|[[St Paul's Cathedral]], [[English Baroque]], and a [[red telephone box]]]]
-[[Image:England crest.png|thumb|right|The logo of the [[England national football team]] combines the ''Three Lions'' with the [[Tudor rose]].]]
+Many ancient [[standing stone]] monuments were erected during the prehistoric period, amongst the best known are [[Stonehenge]], [[Devil's Arrows]], [[Rudston Monolith]] and [[Castlerigg stone circle|Castlerigg]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/index.htm|publisher=Stone-Circles.org.uk|title=The Prehistoric Sites of Great Britain|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> With the introduction of [[Ancient Roman architecture]] there was a development of [[basilicas]], [[Roman baths|baths]], [[amphitheaters]], [[triumphal arch]]es, [[villa]]s, [[Roman temple]]s, [[Roman road]]s, [[Roman fort]]s, [[stockade]]s and [[aqueduct (bridge)|aqueduct]]s.<ref name="roman">{{cite web |url=http://www.castles.me.uk/ancient-roman-architecture-england-wales.htm|publisher=Castles.me.uk|title=Ancient Roman architecture in England and Wales|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps the best known example is [[Hadrian's Wall]] stretching right across northern England.<ref name="roman" /> Another well preserved example is the [[Roman Baths (Bath)|Roman Baths]] at [[Bath, Somerset]].<ref name="roman" />
+[[Anglo-Saxon architecture|Early Medieval architecture's]] secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with [[thatch]] for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of [[Early Christian Ireland|Hiberno]]—[[Germanic Christianity|Saxon]] [[monasticism]],<ref>{{harvnb|Colgrave|1985|p=326}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Pevsner|1942|p=14}}.</ref> to [[Early Christian art and architecture|Early Christian]] [[basilica]] and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various [[Castles in England]] were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best known medieval castles include the [[Tower of London]], [[Warwick Castle]], [[Durham Castle]] and [[Windsor Castle]] amongst others.<ref name="buildings" />
-The two traditional symbols of England are the [[St. George's cross]] (the [[English flag]]) and the ''Three Lions'' [[coat of arms of England|coat of arms]] (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy - the Cross of [[Aquitaine]] and the Lions of [[Anjou]]. The three lions were first definitely used by [[Richard I]] (''Richard the Lionheart'') in the late 12th century (although it is also possible that [[Henry I]] may have bestowed it on his son Henry before then). Historian [[Simon Schama]] has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the [[Angevin]] line.
+[[File:Broadway tower edit.jpg|thumb|alt=Yellow stone tower with two circular turrets which run the height of the building.|left|The [[Broadway Tower]] is a [[folly]], or mock tower, in [[Worcestershire]].]]
-A red cross acted as a symbol for many [[crusade|Crusaders]] in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with [[St George]] and England, along with other countries and cities (such as [[Georgia_(country)| Georgia]], [[Milan]] and the [[Republic of Genoa]]), which claimed him as their [[patron saint]] and used his cross as a banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the [[Union Flag]] (which English and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606) was adopted for all purposes to unite the whole of Great Britain under a common flag. The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it is widely flown by [[Church of England]] properties and at sporting events. (Paradoxically, the latter is a fairly recent development; until the late 20th century, it was commonplace for fans of English teams to wave the Union Flag, rather than the St George's Cross).
+Throughout the Plantagenet era an [[English Gothic architecture]] flourished—the [[Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England|medieval cathedrals]] such as [[Canterbury Cathedral]], [[Westminster Abbey]] and [[York Minster]] are prime examples.<ref name="buildings">{{harvnb|Atkinson|2008|p=189}}.</ref> Expanding on the [[Norman architecture|Norman base]] there was also [[castle]]s, [[palace]]s, [[List of historic houses in England|great houses]], universities and [[parish church]]es. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th century [[Tudor architecture|Tudor style]]; the four-centred arch, now known as the [[Tudor arch]], was a defining feature as were [[wattle and daub]] houses domestically. In the aftermath of the [[Renaissance]] a form of architecture echoing classical antiquity, synthesised with Christianity appeared—the [[English Baroque]] style, architect [[Christopher Wren]] was particularly championed.<ref>{{harvnb|Downes|2007|p=17}}.</ref>
+[[Georgian architecture]] followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the [[Royal Crescent]] at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of [[romanticism]] during Victorian period, a [[Gothic Revival]] was launched—in addition to this around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as [[The Crystal Palace]]. Since the 1930s various [[modernist architecture|modernist]] forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.{{#tag:ref|While people such as [[Norman Foster (architect)|Norman Foster]] and [[Richard Rogers]] represent the modernist movement, [[Prince Charles]] since the 1980s has voiced strong views against it in favour of traditional architecture and put his ideas into practice at his [[Poundbury]] development in Dorset.<ref name=ArchCon4>{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8045027.stm|publisher=BBC News| title=Architects to hear Prince appeal | date=12 May 2009| accessdate=20 June 2009}}</ref> Architects like [[Raymond Erith]], [[Francis Johnson (architect)|Francis Johnson]] and [[Quinlan Terry]] continued to practice in the classical style.|group=nb}}
-The [[rose]] is widely recognised as the [[national flower]] of England and is used in a variety of contexts. Predominantly, this is a red rose (which also symbolises [[Lancashire]]), such as the badge of the [[England national rugby union team|English Rugby Union team]]. However, a white rose (which also symbolises [[Yorkshire]]) or a "[[tudor rose]]" (symbolising the end of the [[Wars of the Roses|War of the Roses]]) may also be used on different occasions.
+{{Clear}}
+=== Folklore ===
-The Three Lions badge performs a similar role for the [[English national football team]] and [[English national cricket team]].
+{{Main|English folklore}}
+[[File:Robin shoots with sir Guy by Louis Rhead 1912.png|thumb|alt=Drawing depicting Robin Hood, wearing Lincoln green clothing, and Sir Guy of Gisbourne, wearing brown furs, in a forest preparing to shoot with bows and arrows.|right|upright|[[Robin Hood]] illustrated in 1912 wearing [[Lincoln green]]]]
+English folklore developed over many centuries. Some of the characters and stories are present across England, but most belong to specific regions. Common folkloric beings include [[pixie]]s, [[giant (mythology)|giants]], [[elf|elves]], [[bogeymen]], [[troll]]s, [[goblin]]s and [[dwarf (mythology)|dwarves]]. While many legends and folk-customs are thought to be ancient, for instance the tales featuring [[Offa of Angel]] and [[Wayland the Smith]],<ref name=keary>{{harvnb|Keary|1882|p=50}}.</ref> others date from after the Norman invasion; [[Robin Hood]] and his [[Merry Men]] of [[Sherwood Forest|Sherwood]] and their battles with the [[Sheriff of Nottingham]] being, perhaps, the best known.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|2004|p=272}}.</ref>
+During the [[High Middle Ages]] tales originating from Brythonic traditions entered English folklore—the [[Arthurian myth]].<ref name=woodbbc>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/arthur_03.shtml |title=King Arthur, 'Once and Future King' |author=Michael Wood|publisher=BBC News |accessdate=16 September 2009}}</ref><ref name=higham1>{{harvnb|Higham|2002|p=25}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Koch|2006|p=732}}.</ref> These were derived from [[Anglo-Norman]], French and Welsh sources,<ref name=higham1/> featuring [[King Arthur]], [[Camelot]], [[Excalibur]], [[Merlin]] and the [[Knights of the Round Table]] such as [[Lancelot]]. These stories are most centrally brought together within [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]''.{{#tag:ref|These tales may have come to prominence, at least in part, as an attempt by the Norman ruling elite to legitimise their rule of the British Isles, finding [[Anglo-Saxon]] history ill-suited to the task during an era when members of the deposed [[House of Wessex]], especially [[Edgar the Ætheling]] and his nephews of the Scottish [[House of Dunkeld]], were still active in the isles.<ref name=higham1/><ref>{{harvnb|Lacy|1986|p=649}}.</ref> Also [[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]] explains; "Over the centuries the figure of Arthur became a symbol of British history—a way of explaining the matter of Britain, the relationship between the Saxons and the Celts, and a way of exorcising ghosts and healing the wounds of the past."<ref name=woodbbc/>|group=nb}} Another early figure from [[Britons (historic)|British tradition]], [[King Cole]], may have been based on a real figure from Sub-Roman Britain. Many of the tales and [[pseudohistory|pseudo-histories]] make up part of the wider [[Matter of Britain]], a collection of shared British folklore.
-==National anthems==
-Although England does not have an official anthem of its own, the following are widely regarded as English national hymns:
+[[File:Morris men.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Men in bright red clothing holding sticks in the air.|[[Morris dance]], an English [[folk dance]]]]
-*"[[And did those feet in ancient time|Jerusalem]]:" Words by [[William Blake]], Music by [[Hubert Parry]]
+Some folk figures are based on semi or actual historical people whose story has been passed down centuries; [[Lady Godiva]] for instance was said to have ridden naked on horseback through [[Coventry]], [[Hereward the Wake]] was a heroic English figure resisting the Norman invasion, [[Herne the Hunter]] is an [[equestrianism|equestrian]] ghost associated with [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] Forest and [[Windsor Great Park|Great Park]] and [[Mother Shipton]] is the archetypal witch.<ref>{{harvnb|Briggs|2004|p=26}}.</ref> On 5 November people make bonfires, set off [[fireworks]] and eat [[toffee apple]]s in [[Guy Fawkes Night|commemoration]] of the foiling of the [[Gunpowder Plot]] centred around [[Guy Fawkes]]. The chivalrous bandit, such as [[Dick Turpin]], is a recurring character, while [[Blackbeard]] is the archetypal pirate. There are various national and regional folk activities, participated in to this day, such as [[Morris dancing]], [[Maypole dance|Maypole dancing]], [[Rapper sword]] in the North East, [[Long Sword dance]] in Yorkshire, [[Mummers Play]]s, [[bottle-kicking]] in Leicestershire, and [[Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake|cheese-rolling]] at [[Brockworth, Gloucestershire|Cooper's Hill]].<ref>{{harvnb|Withington|2008|p=224}}.</ref> There is no official national costume, but a few are well established such as the [[Pearly Kings and Queens]] associated with cockneys, the [[Queen's Guard|Royal Guard]], the [[Morris dance|Morris costume]] and [[Beefeater]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/costume.html|publisher=Woodlands-Junior.kent.sch.uk|title=What is England's national costume?|accessdate=09-06-24}}</ref>
-*"[[I Vow to Thee, My Country]]": Words by [[Cecil Spring-Rice]], Music by [[Gustav Holst]]
+{{Clear}}
-*"[[Land of Hope and Glory]]": Words by [[A C Benson]], Music by [[Edward Elgar]] (although this refers to all of [[Great Britain]], not only England)
-*"[[Enigma Variations|Nimrod]]": Music by [[Edward Elgar]]
+=== Cuisine ===
-"[[God Save The Queen]]" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches), although "Land of Hope and Glory" has also been used as the English anthem for the [[Commonwealth Games]]. [[Rule Britannia]] despite being a song about Britain as a whole was often used for the [[English national football team]] when they play against another of the [[home nations]] but more recently
+{{Main|English cuisine}}
-"[[God Save The Queen]]" has been used by both the rugby and football teams. Many believe that English teams should use their own anthems, most popular of which is the use of Jerusalem.
+[[File:Fish and chips.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Fish and chips.|[[Fish and chips]] is a widely consumed part of [[English cuisine]].]]
+Since the [[Early Modern Period]] the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach and a reliance on the high quality of natural produce.<ref>{{harvnb|Else|2007|p=76}}.</ref> During the [[Middle Ages]] and through the Renaissance period, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the [[Industrial Revolution]] with the move away from the land and increasing urbanisation of the populace. The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by the food critics with some good ratings in ''[[Restaurant (magazine)|Restaurant]]'''s [[best restaurant in the world]] charts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theworlds50best.com/module/acms_winners?group_id=1|publisher=TheWorlds50Best.com|title=The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants|accessdate=5 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref> An early book of English recipes is the ''[[Forme of Cury]]'' from the royal court of [[Richard II of England|Richard II]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3061656/King-Richard-IIs-recipe-book-to-go-online.html|work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London|title=King Richard II's recipe book to go online|accessdate=5 September 2009 | first=Nicole | last=Mart | date=22 September 2008}}</ref>
+[[File:Apple pie.jpg|thumb|left|alt=An apple pie on a red table cloth, with green apples next to it.|[[Apple pie]] has been consumed in England since the [[Middle Ages]].]]
+Traditional examples of English food include the [[Sunday roast]], featuring a [[roasting|roasted joint]] (usually beef, [[lamb and mutton|lamb]], chicken or pork) served with assorted vegetables, [[Yorkshire pudding]], [[stuffing]] and [[gravy]].<ref name="tradfood" /> Other prominent meals include [[fish and chips]] and the [[Full breakfast|full English breakfast]] (generally consisting of [[bacon]], [[sausages]], grilled tomatoes, fried bread, [[black pudding]], [[baked beans]], [[mushrooms]], and eggs). Various [[meat pie]]s are consumed such as [[steak and kidney pie]], [[steak and ale pie]], [[cottage pie]], [[pork pie]] (usually eaten cold)<ref name="tradfood">{{cite web |url= http://www.travelsignposts.com/England/traditional-English-food-specialities.php|publisher=TravelSignPosts.com|title=Traditional English Food Specialities|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> and the [[Cornish Pasty]].
+Sausages are commonly eaten, either as [[bangers and mash]] or [[toad in the hole]]. [[Lancashire hotpot]] is a well known stew. Some of the most popular cheeses are [[Cheddar cheese|Cheddar]] and [[Wensleydale (cheese)|Wensleydale]]. Many [[Anglo-Indian]] hybrid dishes, [[curries]], have been created such as [[chicken tikka masala]] and [[balti (food)|balti]]. Sweet English dishes include [[apple pie]], [[mince pie]]s, [[spotted dick]], [[scones]], [[Eccles cake]]s, [[custard]] and [[sticky toffee pudding]]. Common drinks include tea, whose popularity was increased by [[Catherine of Braganza]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tea.co.uk/catherine-of-braganza|publisher=Tea.co.uk|title=Catherine of Braganza|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> whilst frequently consumed alcoholic drinks include wines, [[cider]]s and [[English beer]]s, such as [[bitter (beer)|bitter]], [[mild ale|mild]], [[stout]], and [[brown ale]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-pint-of-real-ale/features/types-of-beer-finished|publisher=Icons of England|title=Types of Beer|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>
+{{Clear}}
+=== Visual arts ===
+{{Main|English art|Arts Council England}}
+[[File:JWW TheLadyOfShallot 1888.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A painting of a red haired woman, sitting in a boat, surrounded by trees.|''[[The Lady of Shalott (painting)|The Lady of Shalott]]'' by [[John William Waterhouse]] in the [[Pre-Raphaelite]] style.]]
+The earliest known examples are the prehistoric rock and [[cave art]] pieces, most prominent in [[North Yorkshire]], Northumberland and [[Cumbria]], but also feature further south, for example at [[Creswell Crags]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-836-1/dissemination/pdf/ERA_Brochure.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=ArchaeologyDataService.ac.uk|title=The Prehistoric Cave Art of England|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> With the arrival of [[Roman culture]] in the 1st century, various forms of art utilising statues, busts, glasswork and mosaics were the norm. There are numerous surviving artefacts, such as those at [[Lullingstone Roman Villa|Lullingstone]] and [[Isurium Brigantum|Aldborough]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.17022|publisher=english-heritage.org.uk|title=Aldborough Roman Site|accessdate=5 September 2009|author=English Heritage|authorlink=English Heritage}}</ref> During the Early Middle Ages the style was sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs such as in the [[Staffordshire Hoard]] discovered in 2009. Some of these blended [[Insular art|Gaelic and Anglian]] styles, such as the [[Lindisfarne Gospels]] and [[Vespasian Psalter]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0023715.html|publisher=Tiscali.co.uk|title=Early Middle Ages Art|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> Later [[Gothic art]] was popular at Winchester and Canterbury, examples survive such as [[Benedictional of St. Æthelwold]] and [[Luttrell Psalter]].<ref name="engart" />
+The Tudor era saw [[Artists of the Tudor court|prominent artists]] as part of their court, portrait painting which would remain an enduring part of English art, was boosted by German [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Hans Holbein]], natives such as [[Nicholas Hilliard]] built on this.<ref name="engart">{{cite web |url= http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0028010.html|publisher=Tiscali.co.uk|title=English art|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> Under the Stuarts, Continental artists were influential especially the Flemish, examples from the period include—[[Anthony van Dyck]], [[Peter Lely]], [[Godfrey Kneller]] and [[William Dobson]].<ref name="engart" /> The 18th century was a time of significance with the founding of the [[Royal Academy]], a [[classicism]] based on the [[Renaissance art|High Renaissance]] prevailed—[[Thomas Gainsborough]] and [[Joshua Reynolds]] became two of England's most treasured artists.<ref name="engart" />
+The [[Norwich School (art movement)|Norwich School]] continued the landscape tradition, while the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]] with their vivid and detailed style revived the [[Early Renaissance]] style—[[Holman Hunt]], [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] and [[John Everett Millais]] were leaders.<ref name="engart" /> Prominent amongst 20th-century artists was [[Henry Moore]], regarded as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Turner|first=Chris|title=The Bronze Age: Henry Moore and his successors|journal=Tate Magazine|issue=6|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/magazine/issue6/moore.htm|ref=harv}}</ref> Contemporary painters include [[Lucian Freud]], whose work ''[[Benefits Supervisor Sleeping]]'' in 2008 set a world record for sale value of a painting by a living artist.<ref>{{cite news | title = Freud work sets new world record | date = 14 May 2008 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7398949.stm |publisher=BBC News | accessdate =14 May 2008}}</ref>
+=== Literature, poetry and philosophy ===
+{{Main|English literature}}
+[[File:Geoffrey Chaucer (17th century).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A man dressed in grey with a beard, holding a rosary, depicted next to a coat of arms.|[[Geoffrey Chaucer]] was an English author, poet and philosopher, best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''.]]
+Early authors such as [[Bede]] and [[Alcuin]] wrote in Latin.<ref name="warnancmod">{{harvnb|Warner|1902|p=35}}.</ref> The period of [[Old English literature]] provided the epic poem ''[[Beowulf]]'' and the secular prose of the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'',<ref>{{harvnb|Rogers|2001|p=17}}.</ref> along with Christian writings such as ''[[Judith (poem)|Judith]]'', [[Cædmon|Cædmon's]] ''[[Cædmon|Hymn]]'' and [[hagiography|hagiographies]].<ref name="warnancmod" /> Following the Norman conquest [[Latin literature|Latin]] continued amongst the educated classes, as well as an [[Anglo-Norman literature]].
+[[Middle English literature]] emerged with [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], author of ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', along with [[John Gower|Gower]], the [[Pearl Poet]] and [[William Langland|Langland]]. [[William of Ockham]] and [[Roger Bacon]], who were [[Franciscans]], were major philosophers of the Middle Ages. [[Julian of Norwich]], who wrote ''[[Revelations of Divine Love]]'', was a prominent Christian mystic. With the [[English Renaissance]] literature in the [[Early Modern English]] style appeared. [[William Shakespeare]], whose works include ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', ''[[Macbeth]]'', and ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', remains one of the most championed authors in English literature.<ref>{{harvnb|Rogers|2001|p=135}}.</ref>
+[[Christopher Marlowe]], [[Edmund Spenser]], [[Philip Sydney]], [[Thomas Kyd]], [[John Donne]], and [[Ben Jonson]] are other established authors of the [[Elizabethan literature|Elizabethan age]].<ref name="elizren">{{harvnb|Rowse|1971|p=48}}.</ref> [[Francis Bacon]] and [[Thomas Hobbes]] wrote on [[empiricism]] and [[materialism]], including [[scientific method]] and [[social contract]].<ref name="elizren" /> [[Robert Filmer|Filmer]] wrote on the [[Divine Right of Kings]]. [[Andrew Marvell|Marvell]] was the best known poet of the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]],<ref>{{harvnb|Norbrook|2000|p=6}}.</ref> while [[John Milton]] authored ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' during the [[Restoration literature|Restoration]].
+{{Quote box
+ | quote =This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden, demi-paradise; this fortress, built by nature for herself. This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
+ | source = [[William Shakespeare]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard II|url=http://www.users.waitrose.com/~uk1/shakespeare/sceptred.htm|publisher=[[William Shakespeare]]|accessdate=2009-09-05}}</ref>
+ | width =28%
+ | align =right
+}}
+Some of the most prominent philosophers of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] were [[John Locke]], [[Thomas Paine]], [[Samuel Johnson]] and [[Jeremy Bentham]]. More radical elements were later countered by [[Edmund Burke]] who is regarded as the founder of conservatism.<ref>{{harvnb|Heywood|2007|p=74}}.</ref> The poet [[Alexander Pope]] with his satirical verse became well regarded. The English played a significant role in [[romanticism]]: [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Lord Byron]], [[John Keats]], [[Mary Shelley]], [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], [[William Blake]] and [[William Wordsworth]] were major figures.<ref>{{harvnb|Watson|1985|p=360}}.</ref>
+In response to the [[Industrial Revolution]], agrarian writers sought a way between [[liberty]] and tradition; [[William Cobbett]], [[G. K. Chesterton]] and [[Hilaire Belloc]] were main exponents, while the founder of [[guild socialism]], [[Arthur Penty]], and [[cooperative movement]] advocate [[G. D. H. Cole]] are somewhat related.<ref>{{harvnb|Cole|1947|p=268}}.</ref> Empiricism continued through [[John Stuart Mill]] and [[Bertrand Russell]], while [[Bernard Williams]] was involved in [[analytics]]. Authors from around the [[Victorian era]] include [[Charles Dickens]], the [[Brontë sisters]], [[Jane Austen]], [[George Eliot]], [[Rudyard Kipling]], [[Thomas Hardy]], [[H. G. Wells]], [[Lewis Carroll]] and [[Evelyn Underhill]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hawkins-Dady|1996|p=970}}.</ref> Since then England has continued to produce novelists such as [[C. S. Lewis]], [[George Orwell]], [[D. H. Lawrence]], [[Virginia Woolf]], [[Enid Blyton]], [[Aldous Huxley]], [[Agatha Christie]], [[Terry Pratchett]], [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], and [[J. K. Rowling]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eccleshare|2002|p=5}}.</ref>
+{{Clear}}
+=== Performing arts ===
+{{Main|Folk music of England|Music of the United Kingdom}}
+{{Listen
+|filename=Greensleeves.ogg
+|title=Traditional "Greensleeves"
+|filename2=Pomp and circumstances No. 1.ogg
+|title2=Elgar's "Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1"
+|filename3=The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black.ogg
+|title3=The Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black"
+|filename4=Getbacksample.ogg
+|title4=The Beatles' "Get Back"
+|format=[[Ogg]]
+}}
+The traditional [[folk music of England]] is centuries old and has contributed to several genres prominently; mostly [[sea shanties]], [[jig]]s, [[hornpipe]]s and [[dance music]]. It has its own distinct variations and regional peculiarities. [[Wynkyn de Worde]] printed ballads of Robin Hood from the 16th century are an important artefact, as are [[John Playford]]'s ''[[The Dancing Master]]'' and [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer|Robert Harley's]] ''[[Roxburghe Ballads]]'' collections.<ref>{{harvnb|Chappell|1966|p=690}}.</ref> Some of the best known songs are ''The Good Old Way'', ''[[Pastime with Good Company]]'', ''[[Maggie May (traditional song)|Maggie May]]'' and ''[[Spanish Ladies]]'' amongst others. Many [[nursery rhymes]] are of English origin such as ''[[Twinkle Twinkle Little Star]]'', ''[[Roses are red]]'', ''[[Jack and Jill (song)|Jack and Jill]]'', ''[[Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush]]'' and ''[[Humpty Dumpty]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Lax|1989|p=7}}.</ref>
+Early English composers in classical music include Renaissance artists [[Thomas Tallis]] and [[William Byrd]], followed up by [[Henry Purcell]] from the [[Baroque music|Baroque period]]. German-born [[George Frideric Handel]] became a British subject<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_publications_and_archives/parliamentary_archives/handel_and_naturalisation.cfm|title=British Citizen by Act of Parliament: George Frideric Handel|month=July | year=2009|work=Parliamentary Archives|publisher=parliament.uk|authorlink=Parliament of the United Kingdom|author=United Kingdom Parliament|accessdate=10 August 2009}}</ref> and spent most of his composing life in London, creating some of the most well-known works of classical music, ''[[Messiah (Handel)|The Messiah]]'', ''[[Water Music (Handel)|Water Music]]'', and ''[[Music for the Royal Fireworks]]''. There was a revival in the profile of composers from England in the 20th century led by [[Benjamin Britten]], [[Frederick Delius]], [[Edward Elgar]], [[Gustav Holst]], [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] and others.<ref>{{harvnb|Stradling|1993|p=166}}.</ref> Present-day composers from England include [[Michael Nyman]], best known for ''[[The Piano]]''.
+In the field of [[popular music]] many English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as [[The Beatles]], [[Led Zeppelin]], [[Pink Floyd]], [[Elton John]], [[Queen (band)|Queen]], [[Rod Stewart]] and [[The Rolling Stones]] are among the highest selling recording artists in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTopArt |title=Top Selling Artists |publisher=riaa.com|author=Recording Industry Association of America|authorlink=Recording Industry Association of America |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> Many musical genres have origins or strong associations with England, such as [[British invasion]], [[hard rock]], [[glam rock]], [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[mod (subculture)|mod]], [[britpop]], [[drum and bass]], [[progressive rock]], [[punk rock]], [[indie rock]], [[gothic rock]], [[shoegazing]], [[acid house]], [[UK garage]], [[trip hop]] and [[dubstep]].<ref>{{harvnb|Else|2007|p=65}}.</ref>
+Large outdoor [[List of music festivals in the United Kingdom|music festivals]] in the summer and autumn are popular, such as [[Glastonbury Festival|Glastonbury]], [[V Festival]], [[Reading and Leeds Festivals]]. The most prominent [[opera house]] in England is the [[Royal Opera House]] at [[Covent Garden]].<ref name="foreman">{{harvnb|Foreman|2005|p=371}}.</ref> [[The Proms]], a season of [[orchestral]] classical music concerts held at the [[Royal Albert Hall]], is a major cultural event held annually.<ref name="foreman" /> [[The Royal Ballet]] is one of the world's foremost classical ballet companies, its reputation built on two prominent figures of 20th century dance, ''[[prima ballerina]]'' [[Margot Fonteyn]] and choreographer [[Frederick Ashton]].
+=== Museums, libraries, and galleries ===
+{{Further|Museums in England}}
+[[File:London Natural History Museum Panorama.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A museum building entrance.|The [[Natural History Museum]] in London]]
+[[English Heritage]] is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the [[Department for Culture, Media and Sport]]. The charity [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty]] holds a contrasting role. 17 of the 25 United Kingdom UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]]s fall within England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/gb|title=United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|work=World Heritage|publisher=whc.unesco.org|author=UNESCO|authorlink=UNESCO|accessdate=8 September 2009}}</ref> Some of the best known of these include; [[Hadrian's Wall]], [[Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites]], [[Tower of London]], [[Jurassic Coast]], [[Saltaire]], [[Ironbridge Gorge]], [[Studley Royal Park]] and various others.<ref>{{cite web |title=English World Heritage Sites to get strongest ever protections|url=http://www.ihbc.org.uk/news/docs/English%20World%20Heritage%20Sites%20to%20get%20strongest%20ever%20protections%20CLG%20press%20notice%2027%20May%202008.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=Institute of Historic Building Conservation |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>
+There are many [[museums in England]], but the most notable is London's [[British Museum]]. Its collection of more than seven million objects<ref>{{cite web |title=Museum in London|url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_london.aspx |publisher=BritishMuseum.org |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world,<ref>{{cite news |title=250 Years of the British Museum|url=http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1871956,00.html|work=Time |accessdate=17 September 2009 | date=15 January 2009}}</ref> sourced from every continent, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. The [[British Library]] in London is the [[national library]] and is one of the world's largest [[research libraries]], holding over 150&nbsp;million items in all known languages and formats; including around 25&nbsp;million books.<ref>{{cite web |title=British Library|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/80260/British-Library |publisher=britannica.com |accessdate=5 September 2009|work=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> The most senior art gallery is the [[National Gallery]] in [[Trafalgar Square]], which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.<ref>{{cite web |title=The National Gallery|url=http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/22865/9383/the-national-gallery-london/about/ |publisher=ArtInfo.com |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> The [[Tate]] galleries house the national collections of British and international modern art; they also host the famously controversial [[Turner Prize]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2382373.stm|title=The art of Turner protests|last=Youngs|first=Ian|date=31 October 2002|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=10 August 2009}}</ref>
+== Sports ==
+{{Main|Sport in England}}
+[[File:Wembley Stadium interior.jpg|thumb|right|alt=The interior of an empty stadium as viewed from its upper tier of seating. The seats are a vivid red and the pitch is a vivid green. The pale grey sky is visible through an opening in the ceiling above the pitch.|Inside [[Wembley Stadium]], one of the most expensive stadiums ever built<ref name="Daily Mail - stadium ready">{{cite news | date=3 March 2007| url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=441182 | title=Wembley kick-off: Stadium is ready and England play first game in fortnight |work=Daily Mail  |location=London | accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>]]
+England has a strong sporting heritage, and during the 19th century codified many sports that are now played around the world. Sports originating in England include [[association football]],<ref name="football" /> [[cricket]], [[rugby union]], [[rugby league]], tennis, badminton, [[squash (sport)|squash]],<ref>{{cite web |title=History of squash|url=http://www.worldsquash2008.com/the-championships/history-of-squash.aspx |publisher=WorldSquash2008.com |accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> [[rounders]],<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Game|url=http://www.nra-rounders.co.uk/dyncat.cfm?catid=17177|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071112065508/http://www.nra-rounders.co.uk/dyncat.cfm?catid=17177|archivedate=12 November 2007|publisher=NRA-Rounders.co.uk}}</ref> [[hockey]], [[boxing]], [[snooker]], [[billiards]], [[darts]], table tennis, [[bowls]], [[netball]], [[thoroughbred|thoroughbred horseracing]], [[greyhound racing]] and [[fox hunting]]. It has helped the development of sailing and [[Formula One]]. Football is the most popular of these sports. The [[England national football team]], whose home venue is [[Wembley Stadium]], won the [[1966 FIFA World Cup]] against the [[Germany national football team|West Germany national football team]] where they won 4–2, with [[Geoff Hurst]] scoring a hatrick.<ref name="1966 World Cup Final">{{cite news | date=3 January 2012| url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_FIFA_World_Cup_Final | title=1966 World Cup Final | accessdate=date=3 January 2012}}</ref> That was the year the country hosted the competition.
+At club level England is recognised by [[FIFA]] as the birthplace of club football, due to [[Sheffield F.C.|Sheffield FC]] founded in 1857 being the oldest club.<ref name="football">{{cite web |url=http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=621801.html|publisher=[[FIFA]]|title=Sheffield FC: 150 years of history|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> [[The Football Association]] is the oldest of its kind, [[FA Cup]] and [[The Football League]] were the first cup and league competitions respectively. In the modern day the [[Premier League]] is the world's most lucrative football league<ref name=Deloitte2>{{cite web| url = http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/161923/premier-league-towers-over-world-football-says-deloitte | title = Premier League towers over world football, says Deloitte | publisher=sportbusiness.com | accessdate =8 January 2010}}</ref> and amongst the elite.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2006.html|title=UEFA ranking of European leagues|publisher=UEFA|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref> The [[European Champion Clubs' Cup|European Cup]] (now the [[UEFA Champions League]]) has been won by [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]], [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]], [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]], [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]] and [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]], while [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]], and [[Leeds United A.F.C.|Leeds United]] have reached the final.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rsssf.com/ec/ec1stats.html|publisher=[[RSSSF]]|title=UEFA Champions League Finals 1956–2008|accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>
+[[File:Flintoff bowling Siddle, 2009 Ashes 2.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Men in cricket whites play upon a green grass cricket field amidst a stadium.|[[England cricket team|England]] on the way to victory against [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] in the [[2009 Ashes series]] at [[Lord's Cricket Ground]]]]
+[[Cricket]] is generally thought to have been developed in the early medieval period among the farming and metalworking communities of the [[Weald]].<ref>{{harvnb|Underdown|2000|p=6}}.</ref> The [[England cricket team]] is a composite England and Wales team. One of the game's top rivalries is [[The Ashes]] series between England and [[Australia cricket team|Australia]], contested since 1882. The finale of the [[2009 Ashes series|2009 Ashes]] was watched by nearly 2&nbsp;million people, although the climax of the [[2005 Ashes series|2005 Ashes]] was viewed by 7.4&nbsp;million as it was available on terrestrial television.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/content/current/story/422272.html |title=Ashes climax watched by a fraction of 2005 audience |author=Cricinfo staff |publisher=[[Cricinfo]] |date=26 August 2009 |accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref> England are the current holders of the trophy and are ranked 1st in [[Test cricket|Test]] and 4th in [[One Day International]] cricket.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.cricinfo.com/rankings/content/current/page/211271.html |title=ICC Test and ODI Championships / Official Team Rankings |publisher=[[Cricinfo]] |accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref>
+England has hosted four [[Cricket World Cup]]s (1975, 1979, 1983, 1999) and the [[ICC World Twenty20]] in [[2009 ICC World Twenty20|2009]]. There are several domestic level competitions, including the [[County Championship]] in which [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]] are by far the most successful club having won the competition 31&nbsp;times.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.cricinfo.com/yorkshire/content/current/story/261973.html |title=A brief history of Yorkshire |publisher=[[Cricinfo]] |accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref> [[Lord's Cricket Ground]] situated in London is sometimes referred to as the "Mecca of Cricket".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket-flaw-lords-out-of-order-1166513.html |title=Cricket: Flaw Lord's out of order |last=Fay |first=Stephen |work=The Independent  |location=London |date=21 June 1998 |accessdate=9 September 2009 }}</ref> [[William Penny Brookes]] was prominent in organising the format for the modern [[Olympic Games]]. London has hosted the [[Summer Olympic Games]] three times, in [[1908 Summer Olympics|1908]], [[1948 Summer Olympics|1948]], and [[2012 Summer Olympics|2012]]. England competes in the [[Commonwealth Games]], held every four years. [[Sport England]] is the governing body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in England. A [[British Grand Prix|Grand Prix]] is held at [[Silverstone Circuit|Silverstone]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.silverstone.co.uk/about/history/|publisher=Silverstone.co.uk|title=The History of British Motorsport and Motor Racing at Silverstone|accessdate=31 October 2009|work=Silverstone}}</ref>
+[[File:England world cup winners.jpg|thumb|right|alt=White men in grey suits, pale blue shirts and red ties celebrate upon the top floor of an open-top bus. On man holds a golden trophy in the air with one hand.|The [[England national rugby union team|England rugby union team]] during their victory parade after winning the [[2003 Rugby World Cup]]]]
+The [[England national rugby union team|England rugby union team]] won the [[2003 Rugby World Cup]], the country was one of the host nations of the competition in the [[1991 Rugby World Cup]] and is set to host the [[2015 Rugby World Cup]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8170488.stm|publisher=BBC News|title=England will host 2015 Rugby World Cup|accessdate=5 September 2009 | date=28 July 2009}}</ref> The top level of club participation is the [[Guinness Premiership|English Premiership]]. [[Leicester Tigers]], [[London Wasps]], [[Bath Rugby]] and [[Northampton Saints]] have had success in the Europe-wide [[Heineken Cup]].
+[[Rugby league]] was born in [[Huddersfield]] in 1895. The [[England national rugby league team]] are ranked third in the world and first in Europe. Since 2008 England has been a full test nation in lieu of the [[Great Britain national rugby league team]], which won three [[Rugby League World Cup|World Cups]] but is now retired. Club sides play in [[Super League]], the present-day embodiment of the [[Rugby Football League Championship]]. Some of the most successful clubs include [[Wigan Warriors]], [[St Helens RLFC|St Helens]], [[Leeds Rhinos]] and [[Huddersfield Giants]]; the former three have all won the [[World Club Challenge]] previously. The United Kingdom is to host the [[2013 Rugby League World Cup]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=14835 |publisher=Rugby Football League |title=UK to host 2013 World Cup |date=28 July 2009 |accessdate=28 July 2009}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>
+In tennis, [[The Championships, Wimbledon|the Wimbledon Championships]] are the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered the most prestigious.<ref>{{cite news | date=5 July 2008| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/sports/tennis/05wimbledon.html?_r=1&ref=tennis | title=Traditional Final: It’s Nadal and Federer|work=The New York Times | accessdate=5 September 2009|publisher=nytimes.co.uk | first=Christopher | last=Clarey}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kaufman|Macpherson|2005|p=958}}.</ref>
+{{Clear}}
+== National symbols ==
+{{Main|National symbols of England}}
+[[File:Royal Arms of England (1198-1340).svg|thumb|right|upright|alt=A red shield tapers to its bottom end; on it are three stylised golden lions with blue claws.|The [[Royal Arms of England]]]]
+The St George's Cross has been the national [[flag of England]] since the 13th century. Originally the flag was used by the maritime [[Republic of Genoa]]. The English monarch paid a tribute to the [[Doge of Genoa]] from 1190 onwards, so that English ships could fly the flag as a means of protection when entering the Mediterranean.
+A red cross was a symbol for many [[Crusades|Crusaders]] in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with [[Saint George]], along with countries and cities, which claimed him as their [[patron saint]] and used his cross as a banner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/history/stgeorge.html |title=St. George&nbsp;– England's Patron Saint |publisher=Britannia.com |accessdate=1 February 2009}}</ref> Since 1606 the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the [[Union Flag]], a Pan-British flag designed by King [[James I of England|James I]].<ref name="flaghistory" />
+[[File:Tudor Rose.svg|left|thumb|alt=A red and white flower.|The [[Tudor rose]], England's [[national flower|national floral emblem]]]]
+There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the [[Tudor rose]], the nation's [[national emblem|floral emblem]], and the Three Lions featured on the [[Royal Arms of England]]. The Tudor rose was adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of the [[Wars of the Roses]] as a symbol of peace.<ref name="Flowers">{{cite web|url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page828|title=National flowers|date=13 January 2003|publisher=Number10.gov.uk|accessdate=8 August 2009}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref> It is a [[syncreticism|syncretic]] symbol in that it merged the white rose of the [[House of York|Yorkists]] and the red rose of the [[House of Lancaster|Lancastrians]]—cadet branches of the [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenets]] who went to war over control of the nation. It is also known as the ''Rose of England''.<ref name="Rose">{{cite web|url=http://www.rugbynetwork.net/main/s245/st74325.htm|title=England's Rose&nbsp;– The Official History|last=Smith|first=Jed|date=3 June 2005|work=Museum of Rugby, Twickenham|publisher=RugbyNetwork.net|accessdate=8 August 2009}}</ref> The [[oak|oak tree]] is a symbol of England, representing strength and endurance. The [[Royal Oak]] symbol and [[Oak Apple Day]] commemorate the escape of King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] from the grasp of the parliamentarians after his father's execution: he hid in an oak tree to avoid detection before safely reaching exile.
+The Royal Arms of England, a national [[coat of arms]] featuring three lions, originated with its adoption by [[Richard the Lionheart]] in 1198. It is [[blazon]]ed as ''gules, three lions passant guardant or'' and it provides one of the most prominent symbols of England; it is similar to the traditional arms of [[Normandy]]. England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has ''[[God Save the Queen]]''. However, the following are often considered unofficial English national anthems:
+''[[Jerusalem (hymn)|Jerusalem]]'', ''[[Land of Hope and Glory]]'' (used for England during the [[2002 Commonwealth Games]]),<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.newstatesman.com/200208050035 | title=Jason Cowley loves the Commonwealth Games|work=New Statesman | accessdate=5 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=November 2012}}</ref> and ''[[I Vow to Thee, My Country]]''. England's [[National Day]] is 23 April which is [[St George's Day in England|St George's Day]]: St George is the patron saint of England.<ref name="St. George">{{cite news | date=23 April 1998| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/82166.stm | title=The Great Saint George Revival|publisher=BBC News| accessdate=5 September 2009}}</ref>
 ==See also==
+{{portal|England}}
-* [[English language]]
-* [[English law]]
+* [[Outline of England]]
+{{Clear}}
-* [[English (people)]]
-* [[List of monarchs of England]] - [[Kings of England family tree]]
-* [[List of English people]]
-* [[Angeln]] (region in northern [[Germany]], presumably the origin of the [[Angles]] for whom England is named)
-* [[UK topics]]
-* [[List of not fully sovereign nations]]
-* [[Education in England]]
-==External links==
+== Notes ==
+{{reflist|30em|group=nb}}
-{{wikiquote|England}}
-{{Commonscat|England}}
-<!-- hmm, seems to be red {{wikicommons|England}} -->
-* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]: articles on England and her neighbours
-* [http://www.thecep.org.uk/ The Campaign for an English Parliament]
-* [http://www.stonepages.com/england/england.html Stones of England]: information on the historic sites of England
-* [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles]: information on England
-* [http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page398.asp The Monarchy Today]: information about the Union Jack
-* {{wikitravel}}
-*[http://www.familytreedna.com/pdf/capelli2_CB.pdf A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles]
+== References ==
-{{United Kingdom}}
+{{reflist|30em}}
+=== Bibliography ===
+<!-- Please order books alphabetically by the author's last name -->
+{{Refbegin|30em}}
+* {{cite book |title=London: the biography|last=Ackroyd|first=Peter|authorlink=Peter Ackroyd|year=2000|publisher=Chatto & Windus|isbn=1-85619-716-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Introduction to historical linguistics|last=Arlotto|first=Anthony|year=1971|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=0-395-12615-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=English Architecture|last=Atkinson|first=T.D.|year=2008|publisher=Read Books|isbn=978-1-4097-2581-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Politics: an introduction|last=Axford|first=Barrie|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-25181-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Celtic Languages|last=Ball|first=Martin|year=1993|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-01035-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075–1225 |last=Bartlett |first=Robert |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-925101-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Anglosphere Challenge|last=Bennett|first=James|authorlink=James C. Bennett|year=2004|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=0-7425-3333-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable|last=Brewer|first=Ebenezer|authorlink=Ebenezer Cobham Brewer|year=2006|publisher=Wordsworth Editions|isbn=1-84022-310-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=A Dictionary of British Folk-tales in the English Language|last=Briggs|first=Katharine|authorlink=Katharine Mary Briggs|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-203-39737-1 |isbn-status=May be invalid&nbsp;– please double check|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Roxburghe Ballads|last=Chappell|first=William|year=1966|publisher=AMS Press | location = New York | oclc = 488599560|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book|title=Greater Manchester Votes: A Guide to the New Metropolitan Authorities |first=David M.|last=Clark | coauthors=[[Michael Steed]], Sally Marshall |year=1973|publisher=Redrose | location = Stockport |isbn=978-0-9502932-0-2|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Anglo-Saxon England, Volume 12|last=Clemoes|first=Peter|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-03834-0 |isbn-status=May be invalid&nbsp;– please double check|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Life of William Cobbett|last=Cole|first=George|authorlink=G. D. H. Cole|year=1947|publisher=Home & Van Thal |isbn=0-8492-2139-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Two lives of Saint Cuthbert|last=Colgrave|first=Bertram|year=1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-31385-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |last=Colley|first=Linda|authorlink=Linda Colley|title=Britons: Forging the Nation, 1701–1837|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-300-05737-9|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Demography|last=Cox|first=Peter|year=1970|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-09612-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Normans: The History of a Dynasty|last=Crouch|first=David|year=2006|publisher=Hambledon Continuum|isbn=978-1-85285-595-6Z|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Kings and Queens of England|last=Crofton|first=Ian|year=2007 |publisher=Quercus|isbn=1-84724-065-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Stories of English|last=Crystal|first=David|authorlink=David Crystal|year=2004|publisher=The Overlook Press|isbn=1-58567-601-2|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Christopher Wren|last=Downes|first=Kerry|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-921524-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter|last=Eccleshare|first=Julia|year=2002|publisher=National Portrait Gallery|isbn=1-85514-342-9|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Inghilterra|last=Else|first=David|year=2007|publisher=EDT srl|isbn=978-88-6040-136-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Encyclopædia Britannica|last=Encyclopædia Britannica|authorlink=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2009|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=0-559-09589-9 |isbn-status=May be invalid&nbsp;– please double check|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica|last=Encyclopædia Britannica|authorlink=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2002|publisher=University of Michigan|isbn=0-85229-787-4|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=English legal system|last=Fafinski|first=Stefan|year=2007|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=1-4058-2358-5|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=London: a musical gazetteer|last=Foreman|first=Susan|year=2005|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-10402-2|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=A Blake dictionary|last=Foster|first=Damon|authorlink=S. Foster Damon|year=1988|publisher=UPNE|isbn=0-87451-436-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Age of Plantagenet and Valois: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1328–1498|last=Fowler|first=Kenneth|year=1967|publisher=Putnam|isbn=0-236-30832-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The United Kingdom Today|last=Gallagher|first=Michael|isbn=978-0-7496-6488-6|publisher=Franklin Watts|location=London|year=2006|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Education in the United Kingdom|last=Gearon|first=Liam|year=2002|publisher=David Fulton|isbn=1-85346-715-4|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Black Death in England|last=Goldberg|first=Jeremy|authorlink=Jeremy Goldberg|editor=Mark Ormrod & P.G. Lindley|chapter=Introduction|year=1996|place=Stamford|publisher=Paul Watkins|isbn=1-871615-56-9|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Greek & Latin roots of English|last=Green|first=Tamara|year=2003|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=0-7425-1466-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Reader's guide to literature in English|last=Hawkins-Dady|first=Mark|year=1996|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=1-884964-20-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Political Ideologies: An Introduction|last=Heywood|first=Andrew|year=2007|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=0-230-52179-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=King Arthur: myth-making and history|last=Higham|first=NJ|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-21305-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History|last1=Kaufman|first1=Will|last2=Macpherson|first2=Heidi|year=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=1-85109-431-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The earliest English kings|last=Kirby|first=D.P.|year=2000|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-24210-X|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Outlines of primitive belief among the Indo-European races|last=Keary|first=Charles Francis|year=1882| publisher=C Scribner's Sons |isbn=0-7905-4982-4|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia|last=Koch|first=John|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=1-85109-440-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Arthurian Encyclopedia|last=Lacy|first=Norris|year=1986|publisher=Garland Pub|isbn=0-8240-8745-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Great Song Thesaurus|last=Lax|first=Roger|year=1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-505408-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Conqueror of smallpox: Dr. Edward Jenner|last=Levine|first=Israel E.|year=1960|publisher=Messner|isbn=978-0-671-63888-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The English school|last=Lowe|first=Roy|year=1971|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=0-7100-6882-4|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=A constitutional and legal history of medieval England|last=Lyon|first=Bryce Dale|year=1960|publisher=University of Michigan|isbn=0-393-95132-4|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=History in Quotations|last=Major|first=John|year=2004|publisher=Cassell|isbn=0-304-35387-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Home Lover's Library|last=Marden|first=Orison|year=2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=0-7661-5324-X|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=A Book of the Beginnings, Vol.1|last=Massey|first=Gerald|year=2007|publisher=Cosimo|isbn=1-60206-829-1|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |last1=McNeil|first1=Robina|last2=Nevell|first2=Michael|title=A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Greater Manchester|publisher=Association for Industrial Archaeology|year=2000|isbn=0-9528930-3-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Beyond the Constitution? Englishness in a post-devolved Britain|last1=Kenny|first1=Michael|last2=English|first2=Richard|last3=Hayton|first3=Richard|publisher=[[Institute for Public Policy Research]]|year=2008|isbn=|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Writing the English Republic: Poetry, Rhetoric and Politics, 1627–1660 |last=Norbrook|first=David|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-78569-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Global Airlines|last=O'Hanlon|first=Ardal|year=2008|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=0-7506-6439-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=A to Z of STS scientists|first=Elizabeth H.|last=Oakes|publisher=Facts on File Inc|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8160-4606-5|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Britain 2001: The Official Handbook of the United Kingdom|year=2000|author=Office for National Statistics|authorlink=Office for National Statistics|publisher=[[Stationery Office Books]]|location=London|isbn=978-0-11-621278-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Origins of the British|last=Oppenheimer|first=Stephen|authorlink=Stephen Oppenheimer|year=2006|publisher=Carroll & Graf|isbn=0-7867-1890-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=An outline of European architecture|last=Pevsner|first=Nikolaus|authorlink=Nikolaus Pevsner|year=1942|publisher=University of Michigan |isbn=0-14-061613-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Imagining Robin Hood|last=Pollard|first=A.J.|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-22308-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Praetorian Guard|last=Rankov|first=Boris|year=1994|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=1-85532-361-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=English Local Government Reformed|last1=Redcliffe-Maud|first1=John|authorlink=John Redcliffe-Maud, Baron Redcliffe-Maud|last2=Wood|first2=Bruce |year=1974|isbn=0-19-885091-3|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Thatcher Revolution|last=Reitan|first=Earl Aaron|year=2003|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=0-7425-2203-2|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The New American Cyclopædia|last=Ripley|first=George|authorlink=George Ripley (transcendentalist)|year=1869|publisher=D. Appleton|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Oxford illustrated history of English literature|last=Rogers|first=Pat|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-285437-2|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Placenames of the World|last=Room|first=Adrian|year=2006|publisher=McFarland|isbn=0-7864-2248-3|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Elizabethan Renaissance|last=Rowse|first=Alfred|authorlink=A. L. Rowse|year=1971|publisher=Scribner|isbn=0-684-12682-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Edward Jenner, the Cheltenham years, 1795–1823|last=Saunders|first=Paul|year=1982|publisher=University Press of New England|isbn=978-0-87451-215-1|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=A dictionary of political thought|last=Scruton|first=Roger|authorlink=Roger Scruton|year=1982|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-333-33439-6|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Decentralized democratic governance in new millennium|last=Singh|first=Udai|year=2009|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=81-8069-540-9 |isbn-status=May be invalid&nbsp;– please double check|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The English musical Renaissance, 1860–1940|last=Stradling|first=R.A.|year=1993|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=0-415-03493-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Department for Transport annual report 2007|last=UK Parliament|year=2007|publisher=Stationery Office|isbn=978-0-10-170952-1 |isbn-status=May be invalid&nbsp;– please double check|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Start of Play: Cricket and Culture in 18th century England |last=Underdown|first=David|authorlink=David Underdown|year=2000|publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=0-7139-9330-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Britishness Since 1870|last=Ward|first=Paul|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-0-203-49472-1|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern|last=Warner|first=Charles|authorlink=Charles Dudley Warner|year=1902|publisher=International society |isbn=1-60520-202-9|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=English poetry of the Romantic period, 1789–1830|last=Watson|first=John|year=1985|publisher=Longman|isbn=0-582-49259-9|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Our great public schools: their traditions, customs and games |last=Webster |first=Frederick A.M. |year=1937 |publisher=Ward, Lock | location = London | oclc = 638146843|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Underachievement in schools|last=West|first=Anne|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-24132-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Physical Signs in Medicine and Surgery: An Atlas of Rare, Lost and Forgotten Physical Signs|last=White|first=Fred|year=2009|publisher=Xlibris Corp|isbn=978-1-4415-0829-4|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Public transport|last=White|first=Peter|year=2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=0-415-25772-7|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=Local Government in the United Kingdom|last1=Wilson|first1=David|last2=Game|first2=Chris|year=2002|edition=3rd|publisher= Palgrave MacMillan|location=Basingstoke |isbn=978-0-333-94859-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=English Pageantry; An Historical Outline|last=Withington|first=Robert|year=2008|publisher=Read Books|isbn=978-1-4086-8062-9|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 6|last=World Book|authorlink=World Book Encyclopedia|year=2007|publisher=University of Michigan|isbn=0-7166-0102-8|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Christian Travel Planner|last=Wright|first=Kevin J|year=2008|publisher=Thomas Nelson Inc|isbn=1-4016-0374-2|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Idea of English Ethnicity|last=Young|first=Robert JC|authorlink=Robert J.C. Young|year=2008|publisher=Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-0129-5|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book |title=The Black Death|first=Philip|last=Ziegler|authorlink=Philip Ziegler|edition=New|publisher=Sutton Publishing Ltd.|location=Sutton|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7509-3202-8|ref=harv}}
+{{Refend}}
+== External links ==
+*[https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/England_Medieval_Research England Medieval Research] - FamilySearch chart of what England records cover what period from 1150 to 1650
+{{Sister project links|voy=England}}
+* [http://www.direct.gov.uk/ Official website of the United Kingdom Government]
+* [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/ English Heritage]&nbsp;&nbsp;– national body protecting English heritage
+* [http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ Natural England]&nbsp;&nbsp;– wildlife and the natural world of England
+* [http://www.visitengland.com/en/EN/ Enjoy England]&nbsp;&nbsp;– website of the English Tourist Board
+* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/ BBC England]&nbsp;&nbsp;– news items from the BBC relating to England
+* {{osmrelation-inline|58447}}
+{{Navboxes
+|title = {{flagicon|ENG}} Articles related to England
+|list =
+{{England topics}}
+{{English official language clickable map}}
+{{United Kingdom topics}}
+{{United Kingdom constituents and affiliations}}
+{{British Isles}}
+{{British peoples}}
+{{England counties}}
+{{National personifications}}
+}}
-{{enWP|England}}
 [[Category:England| ]]
-[[Category:Monarchies]]
+[[Category:English-speaking countries and territories]]
+[[Category:Great Britain]]
+[[Category:Island countries]]
+[[Category:Northern Europe]]
+[[Category:United Kingdom]]
+[[Category:Western Europe]]
+{{usedwp|England}}