Culture and history
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The United Kingdom is proud of its multi-cultural society, so you’ll find a diverse mix of influences. Each country represented here has its own set of customs and national pride.
Britain is, of course, a cultural superpower and has given the world Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mr Darcy, Oscar Wilde, Susan Boyle, The Beatles, Tom Jones, Aled Jones, nursery rhymes, roast dinners, fish and chips, Led Zeppelin, Charlie Chaplin, the BBC, Wallace and Gromit, Rudyard Kipling, Mr Kipling, Andy Murray and Alan Partridge to name but a few!
With regards to the past, we should all be relatively familiar with British history by now, but here it is in rather broad brushstrokes… As successive ice ages advanced and retreated over the centuries, hunter-gatherers roamed across the land bridge with Europe to forage in the British Isles. In fact there is evidence of ‘human’ activity in the UK dating back some 700,000 years. Then, in around 4000 BC, some of these wanderers decided to stay put and farm the fertile lands of southern England. Their legacy can be seen to this day at Stonehenge (built 3100 BC).
During the Iron Age new arrivals, known as the Celts, trickled in from Central Europe. Their use of more sophisticated tools changed the landscape of Britain forever as they cut down forests and replaced them with fields and villages. Then came the Romans, conquering most of present-day England and Wales by around AD 100. The Scottish proved rather more difficult to subdue, and instead of continuing to battle, the then Emperor Hadrian opted for fencing them off instead, and built Hadrian’s Wall in AD 122. Another of the Romans’ most enduring legacies was the introduction of Christianity.
As the Empire waned in the early 5th century it left a power gulf in the UK. This era, known as the Dark Ages, was characterised by unrest and power struggles amongst small-scale warlords. Cue the Anglo-Saxons who headed over from present-day Germany and brought their language and culture with them. Then it was the Scandinavian Vikings’ turn to invade, mostly arriving from Denmark around 850 AD and establishing a capital in present-day York. In 927 AD, after the Vikings were briefly pushed out of the North, the first King of England was crowned. And so began centuries of Royal rule, contested time and again, initially by the Normans of today’s Northern France who sailed over to claim the throne in 1066. The feudal system became entrenched at this time and there was much wrangling amongst the Church and the Monarchy, as well as the initiation of the parliamentary system, originating from the signing of the Magna Carta near Windsor in 1215.
Jumping forward several centuries of rather complicated subterfuge and scheming amongst the Royals and the Church, we come to 1707 and the unification of England, Scotland and Wales under one parliament. The 1700s also marked the beginning of the British Empire, which rolled on into the 1800s buoyed by the industrial era. Both brought great wealth to Britain, and the rest of the 19th century, under the reign of Queen Victoria, was somewhat of a golden age for the UK. Along with the demise of Queen Victoria and the British Empire, the 20th century brought with it two catastrophic wars. And the rest? Well, we’ll take it that most of us have been around long enough to experience it first hand.
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Things to do
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Saga’s holidays within the United Kingdom are as numerous and varied as the country’s myriad sights and experiences. History buffs are well catered for with tours of medieval Canterbury Cathedral, the archaeological mysteries of Stonehenge and castles galore in Scotland.
While the fleet footed can dance the afternoon away at the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool, and music aficionados can enjoy classical breaks in Bournemouth, Jazz in Dorset or even Gilbert and Sullivan in Yorkshire.
We also have some great options for breaks right across the country, from the beaches of Brighton to the hills of Harrogate. Our cruises of the British Isles set sail from both Dover and Southampton heading for Newcastle, Scotland, Northern Ireland and beyond.
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