All state schools in Britain are free, and schools provide their pupils with books and equipment for their studies.

Nine million children attend 35.000 schools in Britain. Education is compulsory from 5 till 16 years. Parents can choose to send their children to a nursery school or a pre-school playgroup to prepare them for the start of compulsory education.

Children start primary school at 5 and continue until they are 11. Most children are taught together, boys and girls in the same class. At 11 most pupils go to secondary schools called comprehensives which accept a wide range of children from all backgrounds and religious and ethnic groups.

Everyone knows that tea is the most popular drink in Britain. It's even more popular than coffee, which is favoured throughout Europe and America.

The British have taken good ideas from all over the world. You can eat Chinese, Indian, Italian and Greek food in any big city. There is a fantastic variety of restaurants.
The restaurants' best customers are business people, who meet in them to talk business in a relaxed atmosphere away from the telephone. They can eat what they like because the company pays the bill.

British religion used to be closely connected with kings, queens and politics. England was a Roman Catholic country until 1534.

In 1525 King Henry VIII decided to divorce his queen, Catherine of Aragon, because he fell in love with Anne Boleyn. But when Henry asked the Pope for permission to divorce Catherine, he refused.

Pubs can be found in every town or village. Social life for many people has centred on the pub for many years. Opening and closing times are decided by law.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. Britain does not have a written constitution. Parliament is the most important authority in Britain.

The monarch serves formally as head of state. The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II (the second).

The House of Commons consists of Members of Parliament. General elections are held every five years. Ail citizens aged 18 have the right to vote.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. It means that the sovereign reigns but does not rule.

Britain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws.

Britain is rich in its historic places which link the present with the past. The oldest part of London is Lud Hill, where the city is originated. About a mile west of it there is Westminster Palace, where the king lived and the Parliament met, and there is also Westminster Abbey, the coronation church. Liverpool, the "city of ships", is England's second greatest port, ranking after London. The most interesting sight in the Liverpool is the docks. They occupy a river frontage of seven miles. The University of Liverpool, established in 1903, is noted for its School of Tropical Medicine. And in the music world Liverpool is a well-known name, for it's the home town of "The Beatles".

Great Britain is rich in world-famous places. Certainly among them there are famous university cities Oxford and Cambridge, Shakespeare's birthplace — Stratford-upon-Avon, towns of Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Stratford-upon-Avon is a small town. Its chief points of interest are associated with Shakespeare, the greatest English poet and playwright. Shakespeare was buried in the church at Stratford on the banks of the Avon.

Great Britain is rich in world-famous places. Certainly among them there are famous university cities Oxford and Cambridge, Shakespeare's birthplace — Stratford-upon-Avon, towns of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow.

Great Britain is rich in world-famous places. Hide Park is the London's largest and most fashionable park. It was once a royal hunting forest. There are restaurants and bars at each end of the Serpentine lake. You can hire a boat there.

Number 10, Downing Street has been the home of the British Prime Minister since 1735.

Britain is administered from the Palace of Westminster in London. This is also known as the Houses of Parliament. Parliament is made up of two chambers — the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

This university town is very beautiful. The oldest university there is Oxford. The first of its colleges was founded in 1249. The university now has thirty-five colleges and about thirteen thousand students, many of them from other countries.

There were many outstanding events in the history of Great Britain. Many different tribes tried to control the territory of Britain. England was added to the Roman Empire in 43 A.D. Roman invasion played a very important role in the history of the country. The Roman built the first roads in the country, dug the first walls. The Romans, who were great architects, constructed the first towns in Britain.

The United Kingdom (abbreviated from "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland") is the political name of the country which consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (sometimes known as Ulster).

Great Britain is the name of the island which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, whereas the British Isles is the geographical name of all the islands off the north-west coast of the European continent. In everyday speech "Britain" is used to mean the United Kingdom.

Since the 1970's eating habits in Britain have undergone a change. People have been encouraged by doctors, health experts and government advertisements to eat less fat and more fibre. Fat is believed to be one of the major causes of obesity and heart disease. Forty per cent of adults in Britain are overweight and Britain has one of the highest death rates due to cardiovascular disease in the world. Britons have also become more aware of calories, the energy value of food.

Traditionally English people have three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast is served in the morning. It used to be a large meal with cereal, eggs and bacon, sausages, tomatoes. But such a large breakfast takes a long time to prepare and is not very healthy. Nowadays, Britain's most popular breakfast consists of cereal, toast with marmalade, juice and yogurt with a cup of tea or coffee.

Manchester is one of the English most important cities. It is located in the northern part of England, not far from Liverpool. Today the population of Manchester is 438,000.

London is so large that visitors must learn to use buses and the underground to get about. London taxis are too expensive for any but the rich. You can get a map of the underground and the bus routes at any ticket office. The word "Underground" across a large circle shows you where the stations are. The London underground is called the "tube".

Bus stops are marked clearly. In the suburbs buses do not stop unless there are passengers who wish to get on or off. These stops are marked "Request Steps".

London is the capital of Great Britain, its political, economic and cultural centre. It's one of the largest cities in the world. Its population is more than million people. London is situated on the river Thames. The city is very old and beautiful. It was founded more than two thousand years ago. Traditionally London is divided into several parts: the City, the West End, the East End and Westminster. The City is the oldest part of London, its financial and business centre. The heart of the City is the Stock Exchange. Westminster is the most important part of the capital. It's the administrative centre.

As well as being the capital of England, London is the capital of the United Kingdom. London was founded by the Romans in 43 A.D. and was called Londinium. In 61 A.D. the town was burnt down and when it was rebuilt by the Romans it was surrounded by a wall. That area within the wall is now called the City of London. It is London's commercial and business centre. It contains the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and the head offices of numerous companies and corporations. Here is situated the Tower of London. The Tower was built by William the Conqueror who conquered England in 1066. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Now most of the Government buildings are located there.

London is the capital of Great Britain or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is an old city, its history counts more than two thousand years. London is both the capital oi the country and a huge port. London is situated upon both banks of the Thames, about forty miles from the mouth and is divided into two parts by the river: north and south. There are 17 bridges that cross the river. The population of London is more than 9 million people.

The full name of the country the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and a great number of small islands. Their total area is over 314 000 sq. km. The British Isles are separated from the European continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. Northern Ireland occupies one third of the island of Ireland. It borders on the Irish Republic in the south.

The official name of the country, we usually call England and occasionally Great Britain, is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The U. K. is situated on the group of islands, lying just off the mainland of northwestern Europe. The British Isles include Great Britain proper, Ireland and a number of smaller islands. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales. The southern part of Ireland is occupied by Great Britain and is called by native citizens the Republic of Eire.

The United Kingdom (or Great Britain) is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244,000 square kilometres.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) occupies most of the territory of the British Isles. It consists of four main parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. London is the capital of England, Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, Cardiff— of Wales and Belfast — of Northern Ireland. The UK is a small country with an area of some 244,100 square kilometres. It occupies only 0.2 per cent of the world's land surface.

A "typical" British family used to consist of mother, father and two children. But in recent years there have been many changes in family life. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. That's why 24% of British children live with only one parent, usually their mother.

Every nation and every country has its own customs and traditions. In Britain traditions play a more important part in the life of the people than in other countries.

One of the most peculiar features of life in England which immediately strikes any visitor to this country is the cherishing and preserving of many traditions, sometimes very archaic as they may seem. Uniforms are not particularly characteristic of this fact. However, when one sees the warders at the Tower of London with their funny flat hats, their trousers bound at the knee, and the royal monogram on their breast, one feels carried back to the age of Queen Elisabeth I.

The English proverb says: every cook praises his own broth. One can not say English cookery is bad, but there is not a lot of variety in it in comparison with European cuisine. The English are very particular about their meals. The usual meals in England are breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.

England is the largest and the richest country of Great Britain. The capital of England is London but there are other large industrial cities, such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and other famous and interesting cities such as York, Chester, Oxford and Cambridge. Stonehenge is one of the most famous prehistoric places in the world. This ancient circle of stones stands in Southwest England. It measures 80 metres across and made with massive blocks of stone up to four metres high. Why it was built is a mystery.

In Britain it is compulsory for everyone between the ages of 5 and 16 years to receive some officially recognized form of schooling, though most secondary schools continue to provide education until the age of 18.

There is a considerable choice of post-school education in Britain. In addition to universities, there are also polytechnics and a series of different types of assisted colleges, such as colleges of technology, art, etc., which tend to provide more work-orientated courses than universities.

For seven hundred years Oxford and Cambridge universities dominated the British education. Scotland had four universities, all founded before A. D. 1600. Wales only acquired a university in the 20th century; it consisted of four university colleges located in different cities (Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor, and Aberystwith). The first English university after Oxford and Cambridge (sometimes referred to as Oxbridge) was Durham, in the North of England, founded in 1832. The University of London was founded a few years later in 1836.

In England and Wales compulsory school begins at the age of five, but before that age children can go to a nursery school, also called play school. School is compulsory till the children are 16 years old.