The British Experience. Part Five Quiz

Answer: West End

The West End is the heart of London's theatre land, containing most of the capital's major theatres. It is located in the Leicester Square and Covent Garden area.
The West End is also a famous shopping district with many prestigious stores situated in the Oxford Street, Bond Street and Regent Street district.

Answer: 70 miles

Yes, its true the greatest distance from the sea in the UK is around 70 miles.
The Ordnance Survey says the heart of Britain is at Church Flatts Farm close to the Derbyshire village of Coton-in-the-Elms.

Answer: Cornwall

The traditional Cornish pasty is thought to have originated in the middle ages. The pasty contains beef, potato, sliced onions and swede all wrapped in a semicircular pastry case. Other popular fillings have included bacon, rabbit, egg, also sweet fillings of jam, apples or currants.
It is said that the Cornish Pasty was first made as a convenient working lunch for Cornish tin miners. In order to keep the pasties hot some tin mines had ovens built on the surface. The miners wives used to mark their husband's initials on the pastry to help him identify his lunch.
Superstitious miners would leave a morsel of pasty for the "Knockers", troublesome little people who were said to lived in the tin mines.

Answer: A festival of music and literature

An eisteddfod is an annual festival of Welsh musicians and poets. The National Eisteddfod, held in north and south Wales on alternate years, is the premier event. These are competitive events and the winners are awarded crowns and chairs in recognition of their achievements. An International Eisteddfod is held each year in Llangollen, celebrating folk-art traditions from around the world.

Answer: Timothy Berners-Lee

Timothy Berners-Lee was born in London in 1955. He was caught hacking, and banned from using, the computers while studying at Oxford University. It was in 1980 that Berners-Lee first proposed the use of hypertext for sharing information between researchers. He put the first website, http://info.cern.ch/ (European Organization for Nuclear Research), online in 1991.
Despite his massive achievement, Timothy Berners-Lee is a modest man who shuns publicity. Sir Timothy Berners-Lee was honoured with an KBE (Knight Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.

Answer: Windsor

Windsor has been the name of the Royal House since 1917. Before that date the family name was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The name was changed by King George V because it was felt inappropriate for the British royal family to have a German sounding name the while the nations were at war.
The Queen's full name was Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. She was born in April 1926 and became Queen of England and Head of the Commonwealth on the death of her father, King George VI, in 1952. Her son Charles became King Charles III in 2022.

Answer: Northern Ireland

The Giants Causeway rock formation, on the coast of County Antrim, was created by volcanic activity some 60 million years ago. The area has 40 thousand closely packed basalt rock columns. The hexagonal columns are up to 40 feet high.
In 1987 The Giant's Causeway was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). The Causeway was also voted the 4th greatest of Britain's natural wonder in a 2005 nation poll.

Answer: Oliver Hardy

Charlie Chaplin was born in London in 1889. He moved to the US in 1912 and for a while shared a boarding house room with fellow Brit Stan Laurel. Chaplin's career really took off when he was hired by film producer Mack Sennett of the Keystone Film Company. Chaplin later became a founder member of United Artists along with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D W Griffith.
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975.
Alfred Hitchcock, "The Master of Suspense", was also a London lad, born in 1899. He established himself as a movie director and in 1939 was lured to Hollywood by fellow producer David Selznick. Hitchcock's most notable films include, "Rear Window", "Psycho", "Vertigo" and "Rebecca", for which he won an "Academy Award for Best Picture" in 1940. He also fronted his own TV series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from 1955 to 1962. Alfred Hitchcock was honoured with a KBE (Knight Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth in 1980.
Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson at Ulverston north-west England in 1890. He joined Fred Karno's travelling group, becoming Charlie Chaplin's understudy. Laurel appeared in the 1927 Hal Roach film "The Second Hundred Years" with Oliver Hardy and thus a 30-year-long partnership began.
Oliver Norvell Hardy was born in Harlem, Georgia in 1892.

Answer: Greenwich Mean Time

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was introduced to aid mariners with the accurate calculation of their longitudinal location. This has now been superseded by satellite location.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) replaced GMT in 1972. Almost all of the world's time-zones are referenced to a number of hours ahead of, or behind, GMT.
The Greenwich Time signal was first broadcast in 1924 and can still be heard on the BBC World Service.

Answer: London taxi

London taxis are predominately black, while red is the traditional colour of London buses, telephone and post boxes.
The classic red telephone box was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1924. The cast iron creation was designated the K2 by the UK Post Office and painted red to improve recognition from a distance.
The red Royal Mail post boxes, or pillar boxes, were first seen on the streets of the UK in 1855. There were many ornate designs before today's standard cylindrical model emblazoned with the royal monogram was introduced by the Royal Mail.
The best loved London bus is the familiar Routemaster double-decker which was introduced in 1956. Although Routemasters are being replaced, because they have limited wheelchair accessibility, there are plans for two 'heritage routes' to keep this iconic vehicle on the streets of the London.