40 Amazing Facts About England ( Part 2) | Amazing Facts 4U
Politics/ Legal
- The amazing Fact is that in Medieval England animals were brought into court, and tried and sentenced by the judge for any mischief or damage they did!
- William the Conqueror ordered that everyone should go to bed at eight o’clock.
- Queen Anne had 17 children, all of them amazingly died before she did.
- East Peckham in Kent has a unique claim to fame: it’s where the first-ever speeding ticket was issued to a motorist in January 1896. Walter Arnold was spotted doing 8mph in a 2mph zone but was easily apprehended by a policeman riding a bicycle.
- Suicide attempts were punished as crimes in England and Wales until 1961.
- Slavery was not made a statutory offense in the UK until April 6, 2010.
- British police do not carry guns except in emergencies.
- Amazingly the Queen owns all the sturgeons, whales, and dolphins in the waters within 3 miles from the UK. The reason for this is that these sea creatures are considered royal animals and are not allowed to be caught or sold by anyone.
- The flag of England is called the Union Flag when it is seen on land and Union Jack when it is being used on a ship. “Jack” because it must be flown on the jack mast of a vessel.
- By law, a pregnant woman is allowed to relieve herself wherever she wishes.
Economy & Corporates
- England was the first industrialized nation after the industrial revolution that began around 1760. England’s first great industry was wool. Its export had become the nation’s largest source of income by the late Middle Ages.
- During the first three decades of the 19th century, West Cornwall produced two-thirds of the world’s copper.
- Harry Ramsden holds the Guinness World Record for the largest fish and chip shop in the world, seating 250 people, serving nearly a million customers a year. It is Britain’s longest established restaurant chain. Its first shop opened in 1928 at Guiseley, West Yorkshire.
- Britain has the highest per capita consumption of cider, as well as the largest cider-producing companies in the world. Over half of England’s cider is produced in Herefordshire. Cider making was introduced by Viscount Scudamore in 1639, who brought the recipe from France.
- England boasts the company that is the third-largest employer on Earth. The National Health Service is preceded only by China’s Red Army and Indian railway.
Inventions
- The mathematician Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) invented the symbols for “is less than” [<] and “is greater than” [>].
- Champagne was in fact invented in England, not in France. In 1662 scientist Christopher Merret described how the addition of sugar and molasses to wine make it brisk and sparkling. This method was adopted by Dom Pérignon over 30 years later to produce the first sparkling wine in Champagne.
- The claim for the world’s oldest working railway is disputed between Tanfield Railway in County Durham, with the oldest section dating back to 1725, and Middleton Railway in West Yorkshire, which has been working continuously since 1758.
- Shoelaces were invented in England in 1790.
- The first postage stamps appeared in England. The first Penny Post was invented by entrepreneur William Dockwra in the 1680s for delivery of packets within London. The first adhesive stamp was the Penny Black, introduced in 1840 as part of postal reforms. Because Britain was the first country to issue national stamps, British stamps still have the unique distinction of not mentioning the country’s name on them.
- The world’s first public street lighting with gas was installed in Pall Mall, London in 1807. In 1812, the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company became the world’s first gas company.
- London is the first city in the world to have an underground subway system. It has finished 150 years of existence.
- The first telephone directory for England was published in 1880 and contained only 25 names.
- In 1884, Charles Parsons invented the turbine. In 1894 he launched the first steam turbine-powered boat, the Turbinia, by far the fastest ship in the world at the time. It revolutionized marine transport and naval warfare.
- The statue of Anteros on Piccadilly Circus (1892) was the world’s first statue to be cast in aluminum.
- The first road in the world to be surfaced with tarmac (asphalt) was five miles of Radcliffe Rd. in Nottingham, England during 1902.
- The amazing Fact is that the world’s first electronic, digital, the programmable computer was made at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, in 1943-44. Nicknamed Colossus, it was used by British codebreakers to help read encrypted German messages during WWII. Colossus was kept a state secret until 1974, which is why Americans have been credited with the invention of the first computers. English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web.
Literature
- There have been a number of influential English authors but perhaps the most well-known is William Shakespeare, who wrote classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Macbeth is the most produced play ever written. On average, a performance is staged every 4 hours somewhere in the world.
- The world’s first modern encyclopedia was Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, published in 1728 in London.
- The most published novel is “The Lord of the Rings” by British author J. Tolkien with more than 150 million copies printed. The Harry Potter series by British author J K Rowling has over 400 million printed but is essentially seven separate books with a continuous theme. J.K. Rowling is the first person to make a billion dollars from writing books.
Famous People
- The national anthem of the United States (“The Star-Spangled Banner”) was in fact composed by an Englishman, John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) from Gloucester.
- The man behind the construction of the world-famous Sydney Opera House was Sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962), an English conductor and composer of Belgian origin, who was director of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music at the time.
- Famous English scientists include Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Isaac Newton, and Stephen Hawking among many others.
Sport
- England brought the world soccer, rugby, and polo.
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