10 Curious Facts About Great Britain

1. Nowhere in England is further than 75 miles (121 km) from the sea (the nearest beach to Madrid is 360 km away in Valencia!). The coastline of Britain is 11,073 miles (17,820 km) long.
2. Every day 165 million cups of tea are drunk in Britain. Whether to put milk into the cup before or after the tea is the cause of considerable debate!
3. The London Eye is the tallest observation wheel in the world, and each rotation takes about 30 minutes. The structure is 443 feet (135 m) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet (120 m)
4. The British coronation ceremony is over 1,000 years old. Ever since William the Conqueror was crowned on Christmas Day in A.D. 1066, Westminster Abbey has been the setting. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was the first to be shown on television.
5. Queen Elizabeth II travels with her own toilet seat and feather pillows, and she is the only person in Britain who travels without a passport. During her 63-year-long reign, she has visited 128 countries.
6. The London underground, or the “Tube,” is the oldest in the world. The first line was built in 1863. The underground now has 270 stations and is the 11th busiest in existence.
7. England took part in the shortest war in history. It fought against Zanzibar in 1896 and Zanzibar surrendered after just 38 minutes! The East African forces suffered about 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured.
8. The first postage stamps appeared in England. The first nation-wide stamp (and first adhesive stamp) was the Penny Black, introduced in 1840. 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.
9. The one-and-a-half mile journey from Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands in Scotland is the shortest scheduled flight in the world. The trip takes less than two minutes.
10. The most popular ‘convenience’ food in the world was invented – or so the story goes – by an English aristocrat with a passion for gambling, the Earl of Sandwich. So he didn’t have to stop playing and to keep his hands clean for the cards, the Earl of Sandwich asked for meat to be put between two slices of bread.

Thanks to Oxford CultureMania