英国由四个构成国组成，分别为英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰，其中后三者在权力下放体系之下，各自拥有一定的权力。三地首府分别为爱丁堡、加的夫和贝尔法斯特。
1922年，爱尔兰自由邦成立，而北爱尔兰则仍由英国政府控制，英国国名也在1927年改为大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国。
英国的民主制度是渐进缓慢开放而形成，英国上议院议员世袭贵族与主教担任，并非选举产生，英国下议院议员最初由各地贵族、大地主、士绅、富豪操纵指派，平民最初并无选举权，后来甚至出现已经荒凉的市镇仍有权派出议员，新兴城市如曼彻斯特或伯明翰却无权派出议员的怪现象。1832年执政的辉格党（Whig）让成年男性家境小康者有选举权。1867年执政的保守党进一步降低选民的财产限制给工人选举权，1884年执政的自由党才完全取消选民的财产限制，给农民选举权使成年男性有选举权。英国的女性于第一次世界大战后获得选举权。
未行币值十进位制之前，1英镑（Libra）等于20先令（Solidi），而1先令又等于12便士（Denarii）。
自1971年2月15日实行十进位制后，其值为一英镑的百分之一，1英镑兑换100新便士。有1便士、2便士、5便士、10便士、20便士、50便士面额作流通货币。
His Majesty’s Government (abbreviated to HM Government, commonly known as the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government or UK Government) is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Jury trial
In the 12th century, Henry II took a major step in developing the jury system. Henry II set up a system to resolve land disputes using juries. A jury of twelve free men were assigned to arbitrate in these disputes. As with the Saxon system, these men were charged with uncovering the facts of the case on their own rather than listening to arguments in court. Henry II also introduced what is now known as the “grand jury” through his Assize of Clarendon. Under the assize, a jury of free men was charged with reporting any crimes that they knew of in their hundred to a “justice in eyre”, a judge who moved between hundreds on a circuit. A criminal accused by this jury was given a trial by ordeal.
财政大臣
财政大臣（Chancellor of the Exchequer）是英国内阁中，主管经济与金融事务之部长职称，通常简称财相（The Chancellor）。财政大臣负责管理国王陛下财政部，职位相当于其他国家的“财政部长”。财政大臣一般被认为是四大内阁重臣之一，地位更是仅次于英国首相。
唐宁街10号
传统上是首席财政大臣的官邸，但自从1905年此职由英国首相兼领后，就成为今日普遍认为的英国首相官邸。
Imperial units
Mile: equal to 5,280 English feet, or 1,760 yards.
100 Greatest Britons
100 Greatest Britons is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002.
Winston Churchill, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Diana, Princess of Wales, Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Elizabeth I, John Lennon, Horatio Nelson, Oliver Cromwell
English Reformation
The Russell Group
- University of Birmingham
- University of Bristol
- University of Cambridge
- Cardiff University
- Durham University
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Exeter
- University of Glasgow
- Imperial College London
- King’s College London
- University of Leeds
- University of Liverpool
- London School of Economics
- University of Manchester
- Newcastle University
- University of Nottingham
- University of Oxford
- Queen Mary University of London
- Queen’s University Belfast
- University of Sheffield
- University of Southampton
- University College London
- University of Warwick
- University of York
England
Population: 56m
Area: 130,279 km2
Religion: 46.3% Christianity
Church of England
Scotland
Population: 5 m
Area: 77,933 km2
Mary, Queen of Scots
Kilt
A kilt is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Highland dress for men, it is first recorded in 16th century as the great kilt, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak. The small kilt or modern kilt emerged in the 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt. Since the 19th century, it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland, and more broadly with Gaelic or Celtic heritage.
Tartan (花呢格纹)
True Scotsman
“True Scotsman” is a humorous term used in Scotland for a man wearing a kilt without undergarments. Though the tradition originated in the military, it has entered Scottish lore as a rite, an expression of light-hearted curiosity about the custom, and even as a subversive gesture.
Wales
Population: 3 m
Area: 20,779 km2
Northern Ireland
Population: 2 m
Area: 14,130 km2
War & Revolution
Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)
The Hundred Years’ War was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages.
English Civil War (1642-1651)
Glorious Revolution (1688)
英国议会中辉格党以及部分支持新教（英国国教）的托利党人联合起义；将信奉天主教的詹姆斯二世国王驱逐，改由詹姆斯之女玛丽二世与夫婿威廉三世，两伉俪君主共治英国。这场政变以不流血著称，日本译为“名誉革命（名誉革命）”。
Political
Conservative and Unionist Party (1834)
Tory: a member or supporter of the Conservative Party.
Labour Party (1900)
Liberal Democrats (1988)
The Liberal Party, Whig
2014 Scottish independence referendum
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
History
Anglo-Saxon England (410-1066)
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of England by King Æthelstan (r. 927–939). It became part of the short-lived North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway in the 11th century.
House of Cnut’s Descendants
The Danish House of Knýtlinga was a ruling royal house in Middle Age Scandinavia and England. Its most famous king was Cnut the Great, who gave his name to this dynasty.
House of Plantagenet
The House of Stuart (1371-1807)
The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain.
The first monarch of the Stewart line was Robert II, whose male-line descendants were kings and queens in Scotland from 1371, and of England, Ireland and Great Britain from 1603, until 1714.
House of Tudor (1485-1603)
Historian John Guy (1988) argued that “England was economically healthier, more expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors” than at any time since the Roman occupation.
Henry VIII (1537-1562)
Edward VI (1547-1553)
Mary I (1553-1558)
Elizabethan era (1558–1603)
This “golden age” represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for its theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England’s past style of theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish Armada was repelled. It was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm before its royal union with Scotland.
James VI and I (1603-1625)
Charles I (1625-1649)
Commonwealth of England (1649-1660)
The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I.
Stuart Restoration (1660-1688)
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be known as the Interregnum (1649–1660).
Georgian era (1714-1837)
乔治时代（Georgian era）指大不列颠王国汉诺威王朝1714年－1837年的一段时期，期间四位名为乔治的国王，即乔治一世、乔治二世、乔治三世和乔治四世连续在位时间，其中1811年至1820年又称为摄政时期。有时，也将威廉四世（1830年至1837年）在位时期算入乔治王时期。
Victorian era (1837-1901)
针对维多利亚时代的研究很多着重于所谓“维多利亚时代道德观念”，包含了高度的道德操守，与细致的语言和行为规范。
部分历史学家视维多利亚时代为一个矛盾的时代，外表体面克制，内里却充满黑暗，表里不一。
British monarchs
Anne (1707-1714)
George I (1714-1727)
George II (1727-1760)
George III (1760-1820)
George IV (1820-1830)
William IV (1830-1837)
Victoria (1837-1901)
Edward VII (1901-1910)
George V (1910-1936)
Edward VIII (1936-1936)
George VI (1936-1952)
Elizabeth II (1952-2022)
Charles III (2022-)
Independence from the United Kingdom
Colonies, Protectorates, and Mandates
- United States (1776)
- Afghanistan (1919)
- Egypt (1922)
- Iraq (1932)
- Jordan (1946)
- Pakistan (1947)
- India (1947)
- Myanmar (1948)
- Sri Lanka (1948)
- Israel (1948)
- Libya (1951)
- Sudan (1956)
- Ghana (1957)
- Malaysia (1957)
- Somaliland (1960)
- Cyprus (1960)
- Nigeria (1960)
- Sierra Leone (1961)
- Kuwait (1961)
- Tanganyika (1961)
- Jamaica (1962)
- Trinidad and Tobago (1962)
- Uganda (1962)
- Zanzibar (1963)
- Kenya (1963)
- Malawi (1964)
- Malta (1964)
- Zambia (1964)
- The Gambia (1965)
- Maldives (1965)
- Guyana (1966)
- Botswana (1966)
- Lesotho (1966)
- Barbados (1966)
- South Yemen (1967)
- Nauru (1968)
- Mauritius (1968)
- Eswatini (1968)
- Tonga (1970)
- Fiji (1970)
- Oman (1970)
- Bahrain (1971)
- Qatar (1971)
- United Arab Emirates (1971)
- The Bahamas (1973)
- Grenada (1974)
- Seychelles (1976)
- Solomon Islands (1978)
- Tuvalu (1978)
- Dominica (1978)
- Saint Lucia (1979)
- Kiribati (1979)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1979)
- Zimbabwe (1980)
- Vanuatu (1980)
- Belize (1981)
- Antigua and Barbuda (1981)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983)
- Brunei (1984)
Evolution of Dominions to independence
- Ireland (1949)
- South Africa (1961)
- Canada (1982)
- Australia (1986)
- New Zealand (1986)
City
Domestic appliances, cooking & cooling equipment
43% of all households (equivalent to 9.5 million households) use portable fans. Other fixed fans are in use by around 9% of households (2 million households). Air conditioning use is very rare with less than 3% of households using fixed or portable air conditioning units during the summer months.