8
Country and people
W h y is B r it a in ‘G r e a t '?
T h e o rig in o f th e adje ctive
‘g re a t’ in th e nam e G re a t B rita in
w as n o t a piece o f a d v e rtis in g
(a lth o u g h m o d e rn p o litic ia n s
s o m e tim e s tr y to use it th a t
w a y !). It w as fir s t used to
d is tin g u is h i t fro m th e s m a lle r
area in France w h ic h is called
‘ B ritta n y ’ in m o d e rn English.
N a tio n a l te a m s in se le c te d s p o rts
England
O lym pics G re a t B rita in
Cricket
Rugby union
Football
England and W ales
England
England
1 —
This is a book about Britain. But what exactly is Britain? And who are the
British? The table below illustrates the problem. You might think that,
in international sport, the situation would be simple - one country,
one team. But you can see that this is definitely not the case with Britain.
For each o f the four sports or sporting events listed in the table, there
are a different number o f national teams which might be described as
‘British’. This chapter describes how this situation has come about and
explains the many names that are used when people talk about Britain.
G eographically sp eak in g
Lying off the north-west coast o f Europe, there are two large islands and
hundreds o f much smaller ones. The largest island is called Great Britain.
The other large one is called Ireland (G re a t B rita in and Ireland). There is no
agreement about what to call all o f them together (L o o k in g fo r a n a m e ).
P olitically sp eak in g
In this geographical area there are two states. One o f these governs
most o f the island o f Ireland. This state is usually called The Republic
o f Ireland. It is also called ‘Eire’ (its Irish language name). Informally,
it is referred to as just ‘Ireland’ or ‘the Republic’.
The other state has authority over the rest o f the area (the whole
o f Great Britain, the north-eastern area o f Ireland and most o f the
smaller islands). This is the country that is the main subject o f this
book. Its official name is The United Kingdom o f Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, but this is too long for practical purposes, so it is
usually known by a shorter name. At the Eurovision Song Contest, at
the United Nations and in the European parliament, for instance, it is
referred to as ‘the United Kingdom’. In everyday speech, this is often
W ales Scotland Northern Ireland Republic o f Ireland
Ireland
W ales
Scotland
Scotland
Scotland
Ireland
Ireland
| N orthern Ireland Republic o f Ireland
 POLITICALLY SPEAKING 9

shortened to ‘the UK5and in internet and email addresses it is ‘.uk5.

In other contexts, it is referred to as cGreat Britain5. This, for example,
is the name you hear when a medal winner steps onto the rostrum at
the Olympic Games. The abbreviation ‘GBP5 (Great Britain Pounds) in
international bank drafts is another example o f the use o f this name.
In writing and speaking that is not especially formal or informal, the
name ‘Britain5is used. The normal everyday adjective, when talking
about something to do with the UK, is ‘British5( W h y is B r ita in ‘ G r e a t ? ) .

G r e a t B r it a in a n d Ire la n d

L o o k in g f o r a n a m e

I t ’s n o t easy to keep geography

and p o litic s a p a rt. G eographically
speaking, it is c le a r th a t G reat
B rita in , Ireland and all those
sm aller islands belong together. So
you w o u ld th in k there w o u ld be
a (single) nam e fo r th e m . D u rin g
the n in e te e n th and tw e n tie th
centuries, they were generally
called T h e B ritish Isles'. B ut
m o s t people in Ireland and some
people in B rita in regard th is name
SCO TLAN D as o u td a te d because it calls to
m in d th e tim e w hen Ireland was
p o litic a lly d o m in a te d by B rita in .

So w h a t can we call these islands?

A m o n g the names w h ich have been
used are T h e n o rth -e a st A tla n tic
arch ip e la g o ’, T h e n o rth -w e st
NO RTH ERN
European arch ip e la g o ’, IO N A ’
I R E L A N D • Belfast
(Islands o f the N o rth A tla n tic )
and sim p ly T h e Isles’. B u t none o f
these has becom e w id e ly accepted.

REPUBLIC UNITED KINGDOM T he m o s t c o m m o n te rm a t

OF IRELAND »*ьн» OF GREAT BRITAIN AND present is ‘G re a t B rita in and

. -(EIRE) NORTHERN IRELAND

Ire la n d ’. B u t even th is is n o t
s tric tly co rre ct. It is n o t c o rre c t
W ALES g e o g ra p h ica lly because it ignores
EN G LAN D all the sm a lle r islands. A n d it is
n o t c o rre c t p o litic a lly because
London there are tw o sm all p a rts o f the
area on the m aps w h ic h have
special p o litic a l arrangem ents.
These are the C hannel Islands
and the Isle o f M a n , w h ic h
are ‘cro w n dependencies’ and
n o t o ffic ia lly p a rt o f th e UK.
Each has co m p le te in te rn a l
Channel self-governm ent, in c lu d in g its
200km Islands o w n p a rlia m e n t and its o w n tax
system . B o th are ‘ ru le d ’ by a
L ie u te n a n t G o v e rn o r a p p o in te d
by th e B ritish gove rn m e n t.
10 CO U N TRY A N D PEOPLE
S o m e h is to r ic a l a n d p o e tic
nam es
A lbion is a w o rd used by poets
and songw riters to refer, in
d iffe re n t contexts, to England o r
to S cotland o r to G reat B rita in as
a w hole. It com es fro m a Celtic
w o rd and w as an early Greek
and R om an nam e fo r G reat
B rita in . T he R om ans associated
G reat B rita in w ith the Latin w ord
‘a lb u s’, m eaning w h ite . The w h ite
cha lk cliffs a ro u n d D over on
the English sou th coa st are the
firs t land fo rm a tio n s one sights
when crossing the sea fro m the
European m ain la n d .
B rita n n ia is th e nam e th a t the
R om ans gave to th e ir s o u th e rn
B ritis h p ro vin ce (w h ic h covered,
a p p ro x im a te ly , the area o f
p re se n t-d a y E ngland and W a les).
It is also th e nam e given to the
fe m a le e m b o d im e n t o f B rita in ,
alw ays sh o w n w e a rin g a h e lm e t
a n d h o ld in g a tr id e n t (th e
sym b o l o f p o w e r o ve r th e sea),
hence th e p a tr io tic so n g w h ic h
begins ‘ Rule B rita n n ia , B rita n n ia
ru le th e w aves’. T he fig u re o f
B rita n n ia has been o n th e reverse
side o f m a n y B ritis h co in s fo r
m o re th a n 3 0 0 years.
T h e fo u r n a tio n s
People often refer to Britain by another name. They call it
'England’. But this is not correct, and its use can make some people
angry. England is only one o f'th e four nations’ in this part o f the
world. The others are Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Their political
unification was a gradual process that took several hundred years
(see chapter 2). It was completed in 1800 when the Irish parliament
was joined with the parliament for England, Scotland, and Wales
in Westminster, so that the whole area became a single state - the
United Kingdom o f Great Britain and Ireland. However, in 1922,
m ost o f Ireland became a separate state (see chapter 12).
At one time, culture and lifestyle varied enormously across the
four nations. The dom inant culture o f people in Ireland, Wales
and Highland Scotland was Celtic; that o f people in England and
Lowland Scotland was Germanic. This difference was reflected in
the languages they spoke. People in the Celtic areas spoke Celtic
languages; people in the Germanic areas spoke Germanic dialects
(including the one which has developed into modern English). The
nations also tended to have different economic, social, and legal
systems, and they were independent o f each other.
O t h e r sig ns o f n a tio n a l id e n tity
B rito n is a w o rd used in o ffic ia l Jo h n Bull (see b elow ) is a fic tio n a l
c o n te x ts and in w r itin g to ch a ra cte r w h o is supposed to personify
d e scrib e a c itiz e n o f the U n ite d Englishness and certain English virtues.
K in g d o m . ‘A n c ie n t B rito n s ’ is (H e can be com p a re d to Uncle Sam in
th e nam e given to the p e o p le the U SA.) He appears in hundreds o f
w h o lived in s o u th e rn B rita in nineteenth ce n tu ry ca rto o n s. Today,
b e fo re and d u rin g th e R om an som e b o d y dressed as him o fte n appears at
o c c u p a tio n (A D 4 3 -4 1 0 ). T h e ir fo o tb a ll o r ru g b y m atches w hen England
heirs are th o u g h t to be th e W elsh are playing. His appearance is typical o f
and th e ir language has deve lo p e d an eighteenth ce n tu ry c o u n try gentlem an,
in to th e m o d e rn W elsh language. evoking an idyllic rural p ast (see ch a p te r 5).
C aled onia, C a m b ria and H ib ern ia
w ere th e R om an nam es fo r
S c o tla n d , W ales and Ire la n d
respectively. T h e w o rd s are
c o m m o n ly used to d a y in s c h o la rly
c la s s ific a tio n s ( f o r exa m p le , the
typ e o f English used in Ire la n d
is so m e tim e s ca lle d ‘ H ib e rn o -
E n g lis h ’ and th e re is a d iv is io n
o f g e o lo g ic a l tim e kn o w n as
‘th e C a m b ria n p e rio d ’ ) and fo r
th e nam es o f o rg a n iz a tio n s ( f o r
exa m p le , ‘G la s g o w C a le d o n ia n ’
U n iv e rs ity ).
Erin is a p o e tic nam e f o r Ire la n d .
T h e Em erald Isle is a n o th e r w a y
o f re fe rrin g to Ire la n d , e vo kin g the
lush g re e n e ry o f its c o u n try s id e .
 THE FOUR NATIONS 11

Today, these differences have become blurred, but they have not O t h e r tok ens o f n a tio n a l id entity

completely disappeared. Although there is only one government

T h e fo llo w in g are also associated
for the whole o f Britain, and everybody gets the same passport by B ritish people w ith one o r
regardless o f where in Britain they live, many aspects o f government m ore o f t h e fo u r n a tio n s.
are organized separately (and sometimes differently) in the four
Surnam es
parts o f the United Kingdom. Moreover, Welsh, Scottish and T h e prefix ‘ M a c ’ o r ‘ M e ’ (such as
Irish people feel their identity very strongly. That is why they have M c C a ll, M a cC a rth y, M a c D o n a ld )
separate teams in many kinds o f international sport. is S co ttish o r Irish. T h e prefix
‘O ’ (as in O ’ B rien, O ’C o n n o r) is
Irish. A large n u m b e r o f surnam es
( f o r exam ple, Evans, Jones,
M o rg a n , Price, W illia m s ) suggest
W elsh o rig in . T h e m o s t c o m m o n
surnam e in b o th E ngland and
S co tla n d is ‘S m ith ’.

Id e n tify in g s y m b o ls o f th e f o u r n a tio n s
First names fo r men
T he S cottish o f ‘J o h n ’ is ‘ Ian’ and
England W ales S co tla n d Ireland its Irish fo rm is ‘Sean’, a lth o u g h
all three names are c o m m o n
th ro u g h o u t B rita in . O u tsid e th e ir
ow n coun trie s, there are also
nicknam es fo r Irish, S cottish and
W elsh men. For instance, S cottish
men are som etim es know n and
Flag St. G eorge’s D ragon o f St. A n d re w ’s St. P a trick’s
addressed as ‘Jock’, Irishm en
Cross C a d w a lla d e r Cross Cross
are called ‘ Paddy’ o r ‘ M ic k ’ and
W elshm en as ‘ D a i’ o r ‘T a ffy’. I f the
person using one o f these names is
n o t a frie n d , and especially i f it is
used in the p lu ra l (e.g. ‘ M ic k s ’), it
can sound insulting.
Lion R a m p a n t R epublic o f
Ireland Clothes
T h e k ilt, a s k irt w ith a ta rta n
p a tte rn w o rn by m en, is a
very w e ll-k n o w n sym bol o f
Scottishness (th o u g h it is h a rd ly
ever w o rn in everyday life).

C h a r a c te r is tic s

T here are c e rta in stereotypes

o f n a tio n a l c h a ra c te r w h ic h
are w ell kn o w n in B rita in . For
C o lo u r2
instance, the Irish are supposed
to be g re a t ta lke rs, the Scots
have a re p u ta tio n fo r being
P atron saint St. George St. A n d re w St. P atrick careful w ith m oney and the
W elsh are renow ned fo r th e ir
singing a b ility . These are, o f
S a in t’s day 23 A p ril 1 M a rch 3 0 N ove m b e r 17 M a rch course, o n ly ca rica tu re s and n o t
relia b le d e scrip tio n s o f in d iv id u a l
people fro m these co u n trie s.
Nevertheless, they in d ic a te some
1 there is some disagreem ent a m o n g W elsh people as to w hich is the real n a tio n a l s lig h t differences in the value
p la n t, b u t the leek is the m o s t w ell-kn o w n a tta c h e d to ce rta in kinds o f
2 as typ ica lly w o rn by s p o rts team s o fth e d iffe re n t n a tio n s b e h a v io u r in these co u n trie s.
12 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

P o p u la tio n s in 2 0 0 6
T h e d o m in a n c e o f E n g lan d
S cotland
There is, perhaps, an excuse for the people who use the word
Northern ‘England’ when they mean ‘Britain’. It cannot be denied that the
Ireland
ф dom inant culture o f Britain today is specifically English. The system
o f politics that is used in all four nations today is o f English origin,
and English is the main language o f all four nations. Many aspects
o f everyday life are organized according to English custom and
practice. But the political unification o f Britain was not achieved by
m utual agreement. On the contrary, it happened because England
was able to assert her economic and military power over the other
three nations (see chapter 2).

ф England
W ales
(figures in m illions)
и К Total
60.6
These figures are estim ates
provided by the O ffice fo r
N a tio n a l S tatistics (England and
W ales), the General Register O ffice
fo r S cotland and the N o rth e rn
Ireland S tatistics and Research
Agency. In the tw e n ty -firs t century,
the to ta l p o p u la tio n o f B ritain
has risen by a b o u t a q u a rte r o f a
m illio n each year.
Today, English dom ination can be detected in the way in which
various aspects o f British public life are described. For example, the
supply o f money in Britain is controlled by the Bank o f England
(there is no such thing as a ‘Bank o f Britain’). Another example
is the name o f the present monarch. She is universally known as
‘Elizabeth 1Г, even though Scotland and Northern Ireland have
never had an ‘Elizabeth Г. (Elizabeth I o f England and Wales ruled
from 1553 to 1603). The common use o f the term ‘Anglo’ is a
further indication. (The Angles were a Germanic tribe who settled
in England in the fifth century. The word ‘England’ is derived
from their name.) When newspapers and the television news talk
about ‘Anglo-American relations’, they are talking about relations
between the governments o f Britain and the USA (and not ju st
England and the USA).
In addition, there is a tendency in the names o f publications and
organizations to portray England as the norm and other parts o f
Britain as special cases. Thus there is a specialist newspaper called

M u s ic a l in s tru m e n ts

T h e h a rp is an e m b le m o f b o th
W ales and Ire la n d . B agpipes
are reg a rd e d as d is tin c tiv e ly
S c o ttis h , a lth o u g h a s m a lle r
type is a lso used in tr a d itio n a l
Irish m usic.

(Right) A harp.
(Far right) A Scottish bagpipe.

the Times Educational Supplement, but also a version o f it called the
Times Educational Supplement (Scotland). Similarly, the umbrella
organization for employees is called the ‘Trades Union Congress’,
but there is also a ‘Scottish Trades Union Congress’. When
som ething pertains to England, this fact is often not specified in
its name; when it pertains to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland,
it always is. In this way, these parts o f Britain are presented as
som ething ‘other’.
N atio n al loyalties
The dominance o f England can also be detected in the way that many
English people don’t bother to distinguish between ‘Britain’ and
‘England’. They write ‘English’ next to ‘nationality’ on forms when
they are abroad and talk about places like Edinburgh as if it was part
o f England.
Nevertheless, when you are talking to people from Britain, it is safest
to use ‘Britain’ when talking about where they live and ‘British’
as the adjective to describe their nationality. This way you will
be less likely to offend anyone. It is, o f course, not wrong to talk
about ‘people in England’ if that is what you mean - people who
live within the geographical boundaries o f England. After all, m ost
British people live there (P o p u la t io n s in 2 0 0 6 ). But it should always
be remembered that England does not make up the whole o f the UK
(C a r e fu l w ith t h a t a d d re s s !).
T h e p e o p le o f B r ita in
w h ite o th e r
Asian Indian
A sian Pakistani
mixed e th n ic ity
w h ite Irish
b la ck C aribbean
bla ck A fric a n
© black Bangladeshi
® Chinese
% o f U K population
® Asian o th e r
in 2001
One o f the questions in the 2001 census o f the UK w as ‘W h a t
is y o u r e th n ic g ro u p ? ’ and the categories above were offered as
choices. Here are some o f the results, listed in o rd e r o f size.
NATIONAL LOYALTIES 13
C a r e fu l w ith t h a t a d d re s s !
W h e n you are add re ssin g a le tte r
to som ew here in B rita in , d o n o t
w rite a n y th in g like ‘ E d in b u rg h ,
E n g la n d ’ o r ‘ C a rd iff, E n g la n d ’.
You s h o u ld w rite ‘ E d in b u rg h ,
S c o tla n d ’ a n d ‘ C a rd iff, W a le s ’
- o r ( i f you feel ‘S c o tla n d ’ and
‘ W a le s ’ are n o t re cognizable
e n o u g h ) w rite ‘ G re a t B rita in ’ o r
‘ U n ite d K in g d o m ’ inste a d .
As you can see, a b o u t one in nine pe o p le id e n tifie d them selves
as s o m e th in g o th e r th a n ‘w h ite B ritis h ’. T h e largest cate g o ry
w as ‘w h ite o th e r’, b u t these people were fro m a v a rie ty o f
places and m any w ere o n ly te m p o ra rily resident in B rita in . As
a result, th e y d o n o t fo rm a single id e n tifia b le c o m m u n ity . (F o r
these and o th e r reasons, the same is largely tru e o f those in
the w h ite Irish and b la ck A fric a n categories.) By fa r the largest
recognizable e th n ic g ro u p in g was fo rm e d by people w hose
e th n ic ro o ts are in the In d ia n s u b c o n tin e n t (In d ia n , Pakistani
and Bangladeshi in the c h a rt); to g e th e r th e y m ade up m ore
th a n tw o m illio n people. T h e o th e r established, recognizable
e th n ic g ro u p in B rita in w ere b la ck C arib b e a n s (a little o ve r h a lf
a m illio n p eople).
W h a t th is c h a rt does n o t sh o w are all th e people w h o came
to B rita in fro m eastern E urope (especially P o la n d ) in th e years
2 0 0 4 -2 0 0 7 . T h e ir num b e rs, estim ated between three q u a rte rs
o f a m illio n and one m illio n , represent th e largest single wave
o f im m ig ra tio n to B rita in in m ore th a n 3 0 0 years. However, it
is n o t clea r a t th is tim e h o w m any w ill set up hom e in B rita in .
A n o th e r p o in t a b o u t the people o f B rita in is w o rth n o tin g . Since
the 1980s, m ore people im m ig ra te to B rita in th a n em igrate
fro m it every year. A q u a rte r o f all babies b o rn in B rita in are
b o rn to a t least one fo re ig n -b o rn parent. A t the same tim e ,
e m ig ra tio n is also very high. T he people o f B rita in are changing.
14 CO U N TRY A N D PEOPLE

There has been a long history o f migration from Scotland, Wales

and Ireland to England. As a result, there are millions o f people who
live in England but who would never describe themselves as English
(or at least not as only English). They may have lived in England
all their lives, but as far as they are concerned they are Scottish or
Welsh or Irish - even if, in the last case, they are citizens o f Britain
and not o f Eire. These people support the country o f their parents or
grandparents rather than England in sporting contests. They would
also, given the chance, play for that country rather than England.
The same often holds true for the further millions o f British citizens
whose family origins lie outside Britain or Ireland. People o f Caribbean
or south Asian descent, for instance, do not mind being described as
‘British’ (many are proud o f it), but many o f them would not like to be
called ‘English’ (or, again, not only English). And whenever the West
Indian, Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi cricket team plays against
England, it is usually not England that they support!
There is, in fact, a complicated division o f loyalties among many
people in Britain, and especially in England. A black person whose
family are from the Caribbean will passionately support the West
Indies when they play cricket against England. But the same person is
quite happy to support England just as passionately in a sport such as
football, which the West Indies do not play. A person whose family are
from Ireland but who has always lived in England would want Ireland
to beat England at football but would want England to beat (for
example) Italy just as much.
This crossover o f loyalties can work the other way as well. English
people do not regard the Scottish, the Welsh or the Irish as ‘foreigners’
(or, at least, not as the same kind o f foreigner as other foreigners!). An
English commentator o f a sporting event in which a Scottish, Irish
or Welsh team is playing against a team from elsewhere in the world
tends to identify with that team as if it were English.

Flag
Q U E ST IO N S
1 Which o f the names suggested in this chapter for the group o f
T he U n io n flag, o fte n kn ow n as
islands o ff the north-west coast o f Europe do you think would be
the ‘ U n io n ja c k ’, is the n a tio n a l
fla g o f th e U K. It is a c o m b in a tio n the best? Can you think o f any others?
o f the cross o f St. George, the
2 Is there the same kind o f confusion o f and disagreement about
cross o f St. A n d re w and the cross
o fS t. P atrick. names in your country as there is in Britain and Ireland? How does
this happen?
3 Think o f the well-known symbols and tokens o f nationality in your
country. Are they the same types o f real-life objects (e.g. plants and
clothes) that are used in Britain?
4 In the British government, there are ministers with special
responsibility for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but there is
no minister for England. Why do you think this is?