Country and people
This is a book about Britain. But what exactly is Britain? And who are the
W h y is B r ita in ‘ G r e a t?
The o rig in o f the adjective
‘great’ in the name G reat B ritain
was n o t a piece o f advertising
(a lth o u g h m odern p o liticia n s
som etim es try to use it th a t
w ay!). It was firs t used to
distinguish it fro m the sm aller
area in France w hich is called
‘ B ritta n y ’ in m odern 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 reat B ritain
C ricket England and Wales
Rugby union England
Football England
British? The table below illustrates the problem. You m ight th in k that,
in international sport, the situation would be simple - one country,
one team. But you can see th at 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 num ber o f national team s which m ight be described as
‘British’. This chapter describes how this situation has come about and
explains the many names th a t are used when people talk about Britain.
Geographically speaking
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 a nd Ireland). There is no
agreem ent about w hat to call all o f them together (L o o k in g f o r a n a m e ).
Politically speaking
In this geographical area there are two states. One o f these governs
m ost o f the island o f Ireland. This state is usually called The Republic
o f Ireland. It is also called ‘Eire5(its Irish language name). Informally,
it is referred to as ju st ‘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 m ost o f the
smaller islands). This is the country th a t is the m ain subject o f this
book. Its official name is The United Kingdom o f Great Britain and
N orthern Ireland, b u t this is too long for practical purposes, so it is
usually known by a shorter name. At the Eurovision Song Contest, at
the United N ations and in the European parliam ent, for instance, it is
referred to as ‘the United Kingdom’. In everyday speech, this is often
Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Republic o f Ireland
Ireland
Scotland Ireland
Scotland Ireland
Scotland N o rth e rn Ireland | Republic o f Ireland
 POLITICALLY SPEAKING 9

shortened to cthe UK’ and in internet and email addresses it is ‘.uk’.

In other contexts, it is referred to as ‘Great Britain’. This, for example,
is the name you hear when a m edal winner steps onto the rostrum at
the Olympic Games. The abbreviation ‘GBP’ (Great Britain Pounds) in
international bank drafts is another example o f the use o f this name.
In w riting and speaking th a t is n o t especially form al or informal, the
nam e ‘Britain’ is used. The norm al everyday adjective, when talking
about som ething to do w ith the UK, is ‘British’ (W h y is B rita in ‘ G r e a t? ).

G re a t B rita in a n d Ire la n d

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

It’s n o t easy to keep geography

and politics apart. Geographically
speaking, it is clear th a t Great
B ritain, Ireland and all those
smaller islands belong together. So
you w o u ld th in k there w ould be
a (single) name fo r them . D uring
the nineteenth and tw entieth
centuries, they were generally
called T h e British Isles'. But
most people in Ireland and some
people in Britain regard this name
SCOTLAND as outdated because it calls to
mind the tim e when Ireland was
po litica lly dom inated by Britain.

So w h a t can we call these islands?

Am ong the names which have been
used are ‘The north-east A tlantic
archipelago’, T h e north-west
NORTHERN European archipelago’, cIONA’
IRELAND •Belfast (Islands o f the N orth A tlantic)
and simply T h e Isles’. But none o f
these has become widely accepted.

REPUBLIC * UNITED KINGDOM The m ost com m on term at

OF IRELAND D u b lin OF GREAT BRITAIN AND present is ‘Great B ritain and
Ireland’. But even this is not
. 4EIRI-) NORTHERN IRELAND strictly correct. It is n o t correct
WALES geographically because it ignores
ENGLAND all the sm aller islands. And it is
n o t correct p o litica lly because
London there are tw o small parts o f the
area on the maps w hich have
special po litica l arrangements.
These are the Channel Islands
and the Isle o f M an, w hich
are ‘crown dependencies’ and
n o t o fficia lly p a rt o f the UK.
Each has com plete internal
Channel self-government, including its
200km Islands own parliam ent and its own tax
system. Both are ‘ ruled’ by a
Lieutenant G overnor appointed
by the British government.
10 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE
S o m e h is to r ic a l a n d p o e tic
n am es
Albion is a w ord used by poets
and songwriters to refer, in
different contexts, to England or
to Scotland o r to Great Britain as
a whole. It comes from a Celtic
w ord and was an early Greek
and Roman name fo r Great
Britain. The Romans associated
Great Britain w ith the Latin word
‘albus’, meaning white. The white
chalk cliffs around Dover on
the English south coast are the
first land form ations one sights
when crossing the sea from the
European mainland.
Britannia is the name th a t the
Romans gave to th e ir southern
B ritish province (w h ich covered,
approxim ately, the area o f
present-day England and Wales).
It is also the name given to the
fem ale em b o d im e n t o f B rita in ,
always shown w earing a helmet
and h o ld in g a trid e n t (the
symbol o f pow er over the sea),
hence the p a trio tic song which
begins ‘ Rule B ritan n ia, B ritannia
rule the waves’. The figure o f
B ritann ia has been on the reverse
side o f m any British coins fo r
more than 300 years.
The four nations
People often refer to Britain by an o th er name. They call it
‘E ngland5. But this is n o t correct, and its use can make some people
angry. England is only one o f ‘the four n atio n s’ in this p a rt o f the
world. The others are Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Their political
unification was a gradual process th a t took several h u n d red years
(see chapter 2). It was com pleted in 1800 w hen the Irish parliam ent
was joined w ith the parliam ent for England, Scotland, and Wales
in W estminster, so th a t the whole area became a single state - the
U nited K ingdom o f G reat 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 enorm ously across the
four nations. The d o m in an t culture o f people in Ireland, Wales
and H ighland Scotland was Celtic; th a t 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 G erm anic areas spoke G erm anic dialects
(including the one which has developed into m odern 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 n s o f n a tio n a l id e n tity
Briton is a w o rd used in o fficia l John Bull (see below) is a fictional
contexts and in w ritin g to character w ho is supposed to personify
describe a citizen o f the U nited Englishness and certain English virtues.
K ingdom . ‘A n cie n t B rito n s ’ is (He can be compared to Uncle Sam in
the name given to the people the USA.) He appears in hundreds o f
w ho lived in southern B ritain nineteenth century cartoons. Today,
before and d u rin g the Roman somebody dressed as him often appears at
o c cu p a tio n (A D 4 3 -4 1 0 ). T h e ir football o r rugby matches when England
heirs are th o u g h t to be the Welsh are playing. His appearance is typical o f
and th e ir language has developed an eighteenth century country gentleman,
in to the m odern Welsh language. evoking an idyllic rural past (see chapter 5).
Caledonia, Cam bria and Hibernia
were the Roman names fo r
S cotland, W ales and Ireland
respectively. The w ords are
c o m m o n ly used to d a y in scholarly
classifications (fo r example, the
type o f English used in Ireland
is som etim es called ‘ H ib e rn o -
English’ and there is a division
o f geological tim e know n as
‘the C am brian p e rio d ’ ) and fo r
the names o f o rg anizations (fo r
example, ‘Glasgow C a le d o n ia n ’
U niversity).
Erin is a p oetic name fo r Ireland.
The Emerald Isle is a n o th e r way
o f referring to Ireland, evoking the
lush greenery o f its co untryside.
 THE FOUR NATIONS 11

Today, these differences have become blurred, b u t they have n o t O th e r to k e n s o f n a tio n a l id e n tity
com pletely disappeared. A lthough there is only one governm ent
The fo llo w in g are also associated
for th e whole o f Britain, and everybody gets the same passport by British people w ith one o r
regardless o f where in B ritain they live, many aspects o f governm ent more o fth e fo u r nations.
are organized separately (and som etim es differently) in the four
Surnames
p arts o f the U nited Kingdom. Moreover, Welsh, Scottish and The prefix ‘ M ac’ o r ‘M e’ (such as
Irish people feel their identity very strongly. T h a t is why they have M cC all, MacCarthy, M acD onald)
separate team s in m any kinds o f in tern atio n al sport. is Scottish o r Irish. The prefix
‘O ’ (as in O ’ Brien, O ’C onnor) is
Irish. A large num ber o f surnames
(fo r example, Evans, Jones,
M organ, Price, W illia m s) suggest
Welsh o rigin. The m ost com m on
surname in both England and
Scotland 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 for men
The Scottish o f ‘John’ is ‘ Ian’ and
England Wales Scotland Ireland its Irish form is ‘Sean’, although
all three names are com m on
th ro u g h o u t Britain. Outside their
own countries, there are also

-H iM i nicknames fo r Irish, Scottish and

Welsh men. For instance, Scottish
men are sometimes known and
Flag St. George’s Dragon o f St. A ndrew ’s St. Patrick’s
addressed as ‘Jock’, Irishmen
Cross C adw allader Cross Cross
are called ‘ Paddy’ o r ‘ M ick’ and
Welshmen as ‘ Dai’ o r ‘Taffy’. If the
person using one o f these names is
n o t a friend, and especially i f it is
used in the plural (e.g. ‘ M icks’), it
can sound insulting.
Lion Ram pant Republic o f
Ireland Clothes
The kilt, a s k irt w ith a ta rta n
pattern w orn by men, is a
very w ell-known symbol o f
Scottishness (though it is hardly
ever w o rn in everyday life).

Plant rose le e k/d a ffo d il1 thistle shamrock

C h a ra c te ris tic s

□
There are certain stereotypes
o f national character w hich
are well known in B ritain. For
C o lo u r2
instance, the Irish are supposed
to be great talkers, the Scots
have a reputation fo r being
Patron saint St. George St. David St. Andrew St. Patrick careful w ith money and the
Welsh are renowned fo r th e ir
singing ability. These are, o f
S aint’s day 23 April 1 March 30 November 17 March course, only caricatures and not
reliable descriptions o f individual
people from these countries.
Nevertheless, they indicate some
1 there is some disagreement among Welsh people as to which is the real national slight differences in the value
plant, b u t the leek is the m ost well-known attached to certain kinds o f
2 as typically w orn by sports teams o fth e different nations behaviour in these countries.
12 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

P op u la tio n s in 2 0 0 6
The dom inance o f England
Scotland
There is, perhaps, an excuse for the people who use the word
N orthern ‘E ngland’ w hen they m ean ‘B ritain’. It cannot be denied th a t the
Ireland
m m m
d o m in an t culture o f Britain today is specifically English. The system
o f politics th a t is used in all four nations today is o f English origin,
and English is the m ain 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 B ritain was n o t achieved by
m u tu al agreem ent. O n the contrary, it happened because England
was able to assert her econom ic and m ilitary power over the other
three nations (see chapter 2).

© England
Wales
(figures in m illions)
UK Total
60.6
These figures are estimates
provided by the Office fo r
N ational Statistics (England and
Wales), the General Register Office
fo r Scotland and the N orthern
Ireland Statistics and Research
Agency. In the tw enty-first century,
the to ta l population o f Britain
has risen by about a quarter o f a
m illion each year.
Today, English d o m in atio n can be detected in the way in which
various aspects o f B ritish public life are described. For example, the
supply o f m oney in B ritain is controlled by the Bank o f England
(there is no such th in g as a ‘Bank o f B ritain’). A nother example
is the nam e o f the present m onarch. She is universally know n as
‘Elizabeth II’, even th o u g h Scotland and N o rth e rn Ireland have
never had an ‘Elizabeth I’. (Elizabeth I o f England an d Wales ruled
from 1553 to 1603). The com m on use o f the term ‘A nglo’ is a
fu rth er indication. (The Angles were a G erm anic tribe who settled
in England in the fifth century. The word ‘E ngland’ is derived
from their name.) W hen newspapers and the television news talk
ab o u t ‘Anglo-American relations’, they are talking ab o u t relations
between the governm ents o f B ritain and the USA (and n o t 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

The harp is an em blem o f b oth

Wales and Ireland. Bagpipes
are regarded as d istin ctive ly
S cottish, although a sm aller
type is also used in tra d itio n a l
Irish music.

(Right) A harp.
(Far right) A Scottish bagpipe.
 NATIONAL LOYALTIES 13

the Times Educational Supplement, b u t also a version o f it called the C a re fu l w it h t h a t a d d re s s !

Times Educational Supplement (Scotland). Similarly, the um brella W hen you are addressing a letter
organization for employees is called the ‘Trades U nion C ongress’, to somewhere in B ritain, d o n o t
b u t there is also a ‘Scottish Trades U nion C ongress’. W hen w rite anything like ‘ E dinburgh,
som ething pertains to England, this fact is often n o t specified in E ngland’ o r ‘ C ardiff, England’.
You should w rite ‘ Edinburgh,
its name; when it pertains to Wales, Scotland or N o rth ern Ireland,
S co tla n d ’ and ‘ C ardiff, W ales’
it always is. In this way, these parts o f B ritain are presented as - o r ( i f you feel ‘S co tla n d’ and
som ething ‘o th e r’. ‘ W ales’ are n o t recognizable
enough) w rite ‘ Great B rita in ’ or
‘ U nited K in g d o m ’ instead.
N ational loyalties
The dom inance o f England can also be detected in the way th a t 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 p art
o f England.
Nevertheless, w hen you are talking to people from Britain, it is safest
to use ‘B ritain’ when talking ab o u t where they live and ‘B ritish’
as the adjective to describe their nationality. This way you will
be less likely to offend anyone. It is, o f course, n o t w rong to talk
ab o u t ‘people in England’ if th a t is w hat you m ean - people who
live w ithin the geographical boundaries o f England. After all, m ost
B ritish people live there ( P o p u la tio n s in 2 0 0 6 ). But it should always
be rem em bered th a t England does n o t make up the whole o f the UK
(C a re 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 rita in

As you can see, a b o u t one in nine people identified themselves

as som ething o th e r than ‘w hite B ritish’. The largest category
w hite other was ‘w hite o th e r’, b u t these people were from a variety o f
places and m any were only te m p o ra rily resident in B ritain. As
a result, they do n o t form a single identifiable com m unity. (For
Asian Indian
these and o th e r reasons, the same is largely true o f those in
the w hite Irish and black African categories.) By fa r the largest
Asian Pakistani recognizable ethnic grouping was form ed by people whose
ethnic roots are in the Indian subcontinent (Indian, Pakistani
mixed ethnicity and Bangladeshi in the ch a rt); together they made up more
than tw o m illion people. The o ther established, recognizable
w hite Irish ethnic group in B ritain were black Caribbeans (a little over h a lf
a m illio n people).
black Caribbean
W h a t this c h a rt does n o t show are all the people w ho came
black African to Britain from eastern Europe (especially Poland) in the years
2004-2007. T h e ir numbers, estimated between three quarters
black Bangladeshi
o f a m illio n and one m illio n , represent the largest single wave
Chinese o f im m igration to Britain in more than 300 years. However, it
% o f UK population
Asian other is n o t clear at this tim e how many w ill set up home in Britain.
in 2001
A nother p o in t abo u t the people o f Britain is w o rth noting. Since
the 1980s, more people im m igrate to Britain than emigrate
One o fth e questions in the 2001 census o fth e UK was ‘W h a t from it every year. A quarter o f all babies born in Britain are
is your ethnic group?’ and the categories above were offered as born to at least one foreign-born parent. A t the same tim e,
choices. Here are some o fth e results, listed in order o f size. emigration is also very high. The people o f Britain are changing.
14 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

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

and Ireland to England. As a result, there are millions o f people who
live in England b u t who would never describe themselves as English
(or at least n o t as only English). They may have lived in England
all their lives, b u t 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 su p p o rt the country o f their parents or
grandparents rather th an England in sporting contests. They would
also, given the chance, play for th a t country rather th an 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 n o t m ind being described as
‘British’ (many are proud o f it), b u t many o f them would n o t 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 n o t England th a t they support!
There is, in fact, a complicated division o f loyalties am ong 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 ju st as passionately in a sport such as
football, which the West Indies do not play. A person whose family are
from Ireland b u t who has always lived in England w ould w ant Ireland
to beat England at football b u t would w ant England to beat (for
example) Italy ju st as much.
This crossover o f loyalties can work the other way as well. English
people do n o t regard the Scottish, the Welsh or the Irish as ‘foreigners’
(or, at least, n o t as the same kind o f foreigner as other foreigners!). An
English com m entator 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 w ith th a t team as if it were English.

Flag
QUESTIONS
1 W hich o f the names suggested in this chapter for the group o f
The Union flag, often known as
islands off the north-w est coast o f Europe do you th in k would be
the ‘ U n io n ja c k ’, is the national
flag o fth e UK. It is a com bination the best? Can you th in k o f any others?
o fth e cross o f St. George, the
2 Is there the same kind o f confusion o f and disagreem ent about
cross o f St. Andrew and the cross
o fS t. Patrick. 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) th a t are used in Britain?
4 In the British government, there are ministers with special
responsibility for Scotland, Wales and N orthern Ireland, b u t there is
no m inister for England. Why do you th in k this is?