Amazing & Interesting Facts About United Kindom

United Kingdom, officially known as United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located at north-west Europe. United Kingdom has four countries:  England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Let us know some interesting facts about United Kingdom

Interesting Facts About United Kingdom

Drink Drink

• London has the credit for the first hot chocolate store ever opened.


• The English drink the most tea in the world.


• It is against the law to get drunk in a pub in England.


• In Scotland, it is against the law to get drunk and possess a cow.

Name Forms

• The conventional long form of the United Kingdom is United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain includes England, Scotland and Wales.


• Many people use just the abbreviation UK.


• The conventional short form is the United Kingdom.

Landscape

• UK mostly has knife edge ridges and high grounds with valleys in between. Thick glaciers from the Ice age are responsible for such a terrain.


• Almost 75% of the land in the UK is taken for farming.


• The highest point is Ben Navis at 1,343 m and the lowest point is -4m at The Fens.

Firsts

• The United Kingdom happens to be the first industrialized country in the World.


• Polo, soccer and Rugby were introduced to the world by the UK.


• The British invented the world’s earliest railways.


• John Walker invented the matches in 1827. He was British.

Famous Architecture

• The Buckingham Palace has its own police station.


• The largest Royal home is the Windsor castle.


• Big Ben refers to the bell and not the clock.


• There are 4 world heritage sites in the UK. These include The west minister palace, The tower of London, Maritime Greenwich, Kew Botanical gardens. These interesting facts about United Kingdom Architecture are are really exciting.

Tube & The Underground

• In all of Western Europe, Angel tube station has the longest escalator.


• About 409 escalators are there in the subways.


• London bags the first place to have an underground subway system.


• The tube route from Leicester Square to Covent Garden can be covered quicker on foot.  However this seems to be the most popular route tourists take.


• The tube route also happens to be the costliest and unreliable.

Artists

• Nelson Mandela called the spice girls his heroes when he met them.


• The Beatles originally called themselves the Blackjacks and then the Quarrymen.


• There is no portrait of William shakespeare painted, when he was alive.


• To make a billion dollars from writing books has been achieved by JK Rowling.


• From Canterbury to London, the bus route that Ian Flemming took inspired the 007 for James Bond.

Bridges

• According to history, the London Bridge had indeed fallen down according to the old rhyme, when the Saxons had torn it down using ropes and boats.


• The Thames has over 200 bridges and tunnels along its course.

Animals

There are some interesting facts about United Kingdom related to animals:

• In Medieval England, animals were tried for their crimes and even punished for them.


• Pygg meant clay in Olden days. People stored their coins in these clay jars which later evolved to piggy banks.


• The Mute swans are officially owned by the Queen.


• The driver of the vehicle who kills a deer cannot eat it, but the person sitting beside can do so.


• The chickens outnumber the humans in UK