Life in the UK Test cheat sheet

24 questions, 45 minutes, 18 needed to pass.

Test is in English, or by arrangement Welsh or Scottish Gaelic.

Book online, sit at an approved centre, bring ID and proof of address.

Questions cover the whole book, and each person gets a different set.

DRIT-P: Democracy, Rule of law, Individual liberty, Tolerance, Participation.

Rights = freedoms: belief, speech, fair trial, no discrimination, a vote.

Key freedoms: belief and religion, speech, and freedom from unfair discrimination.

Respect the law, respect others, look after your family and your area.

Respect others' rights, including their right to their own opinions.

Rights and responsibilities apply to all residents, citizen or not.

Discrimination is illegal; everyone is equal before the law.

British values reject extremism and intolerance; respect others even when you disagree.

To settle: respect UK values + pass the English requirement + pass the Life in the UK Test.

To settle, you usually need to show you can speak and understand English.

English needed = ESOL Entry Level 3, the same as B1 on the CEFR.

New citizens pledge to respect the UK's rights, freedoms and laws at a ceremony.

Pledge = loyalty, respect rights and freedoms, uphold democratic values, observe the laws.

Good citizens get involved: volunteer, help neighbours, care for the environment.

Care for your area: recycle, don't litter, walk or use public transport.

Great Britain = the island (England + Scotland + Wales). Add Northern Ireland to get the UK.

Full name: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Great Britain = three nations only; Britain and British Isles are looser, wider terms.

Northern Ireland is in the UK; the rest of Ireland is an independent country.

England-London, Scotland-Edinburgh, Wales-Cardiff, NI-Belfast.

Glasgow is Scotland's biggest city, but Edinburgh is the capital.

Parliamentary democracy, capital London, Parliament at Westminster.

Constitutional monarchy: a king, but Parliament holds the real law-making power.

Westminster governs the UK; Scotland, Wales and NI also have devolved bodies.

Westminster for the whole UK; Scotland, Wales and NI handle their own defined areas.

Three crosses on the flag: George + Andrew + Patrick. Wales (the dragon) was left off.

George, Andrew and Patrick are on the flag; the Welsh dragon is not.

England = red St George's cross; Scotland = white St Andrew's cross on blue.

David's the early bird (1 March), then Patrick (17 Mar), George (23 Apr), Andrew last (30 Nov).

Rose (England), Thistle (Scotland), Daffodil/Leek (Wales), Shamrock (NI).

£1 = 100 pence.

Coins up to two pounds; notes are five, ten, twenty and fifty pounds.

Scottish and Northern Irish banks can print their own pound notes too.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own note designs, but they are still pounds.

English everywhere; Welsh in Wales; Gaelic in Scotland.

Welsh in Wales; Gaelic in parts of Scotland; English everywhere.

Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Irish Gaelic and Cornish all sit alongside English.

Highest peak = Ben Nevis (Scotland). The Thames flows through London.

Over 60 million people; most live in England.

Most people live in England; Scotland, Wales and NI have much smaller shares.

Channel Islands + Isle of Man = linked to the Crown, but NOT in the UK.

Crown dependencies: closely linked, own governments, but outside the UK.

Overseas Territories (e.g. the Falklands) are linked to the UK but not part of it.

St Helena and the Falklands are Overseas Territories, linked to the UK but not in it.

Stone Age = hunter-gatherers; Britain became an island about 10,000 years ago.

Stone Age first; Stonehenge and Skara Brae are the famous prehistoric sites.

Stonehenge = Wiltshire ceremonies; Skara Brae = Orkney, best preserved prehistoric village.

Bronze Age: roundhouses, round barrows for burials, fine bronze and gold metalwork.

Order of metals: Bronze Age first, then Iron Age (hill forts, first coins, Celtic language).

Iron Age: hill forts (Maiden Castle, Dorset), Celtic language, the first British coins.

Caesar 55 BC = failed; Claudius AD 43 = the conquest succeeds.

Caesar failed in 55 BC; Claudius succeeded in AD 43; Boudicca led the revolt.

Romans 43-410 AD; Hadrian's Wall kept out the Picts in the north.

Boudicca = queen of the Iceni who fought the Romans; statue on Westminster Bridge.

Hadrian's Wall kept out the Picts; forts Housesteads and Vindolanda; a World Heritage Site.

Romans stayed about 400 years; first Christians 3rd-4th centuries; army left in AD 410.

Anglo-Saxons gave us early English; St Augustine and St Columba spread Christianity.

Jutes, Angles, Saxons; kingdoms by AD 600; Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk.

Patrick = Ireland; Columba = Iona; Augustine = first Archbishop of Canterbury.

Vikings raid from AD 789; Alfred the Great defeats them and unites the Anglo-Saxons.

Vikings from Denmark and Norway; first raids AD 789; settled area = the Danelaw.

Alfred the Great beat the Vikings; Cnut = first Danish king; MacAlpin = the name 'Scotland'.

Cnut = first Danish king of England; the Danelaw = the Viking-settled area; MacAlpin began 'Scotland'.

1066, the last successful invasion of England. William the Conqueror wins at Hastings.

1066 Hastings: William of Normandy beats King Harold; the last successful invasion of England.

The Bayeux Tapestry pictures the 1066 Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings.

1086, the Domesday Book: William's great survey of who owned what in England.

Bayeux Tapestry pictures Hastings (kept in France); Domesday Book = William's great survey.

Middle Ages = 1066 to about 1485, an age of near-constant war.

Bannockburn 1314 (Scotland free); Black Death 1348 kills a third of the people.

Feudalism: king -> lords (for military service) -> serfs work the land; clans in the Scottish/Irish north.

Parliament's two Houses: Lords (nobles and bishops) and Commons (elected); Scotland had three Estates.

English judges built 'common law' from past cases; Parliament grew into Lords + Commons.

1215, King John signs Magna Carta, the king is no longer above the law.

1215 Magna Carta: King John forced to agree; even the king is under the law.

Edward I + Statute of Rhuddlan (1284) annexed Wales; castles Conwy and Caernarvon.

Edward I + the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan brought Wales under the English Crown; he built castles like Caernarfon.

The Pale = the English-ruled area around Dublin by 1200.

1314 Bannockburn: Robert the Bruce beats the English; Scotland stays free.

Feudalism: king to lords to serfs; Black Death 1348 killed about a third of the people.

Crusades = fighting for the Holy Land; Hundred Years War vs France; Agincourt 1415.

Agincourt 1415, Henry V's smaller army beats the French in the Hundred Years War.

By 1400, English (not French) became the language of court and official documents.

By 1400 English is the court language; Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales; Caxton brought printing.

Chaucer wrote 'The Canterbury Tales', early literature in English.

Caxton brought the printing press to England, books for many, not just a few.

Castles (Windsor, Edinburgh) and cathedrals (Lincoln, York Minster glass) built in the Middle Ages.

Roses: Lancaster = Red, York = White. Tudors begin in 1485 at Bosworth.

Roses 1455 to 1485: Lancaster red, York white; ends at Bosworth Field 1485.

Henry VII = first Tudor; the Tudor rose joins red Lancaster and white York.

Henry VII = first Tudor; the Tudor rose joins Lancaster (red) and York (white).

Six wives' fates: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

Henry VIII broke with Rome to get a divorce, creating the Church of England.

Order: Aragon, Boleyn, Seymour, Cleves, Howard, Parr. Fates: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

Fates of the six: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

Reformation = Protestant movement against the Pope; Bible read in everyday language.

Reformation = Protestant change; Scotland gets a Presbyterian church; Mary Queen of Scots executed.

Order after Henry VIII: Edward VI (Protestant), Mary I (Catholic), Elizabeth I (Protestant).

Edward VI (Protestant, Book of Common Prayer), then Catholic Mary I, 'Bloody Mary'.

1588, Elizabeth I's England defeats the Spanish Armada.

Elizabeth I = Protestant; 1588 = defeat of the Spanish Armada.

1560 Scotland turns Protestant; Mary, Queen of Scots (Catholic) executed by Elizabeth I.

Sir Francis Drake, Elizabethan sailor, beat the Armada, sailed around the world.

Elizabethan exploration: Sir Francis Drake and the Golden Hind circumnavigate the world.

Shakespeare 1564 to 1616, from Stratford-upon-Avon; the Globe Theatre; Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet.

1603, one king, two crowns: James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England.

1603: James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England; the King James Bible.

James I: 'Divine Right of Kings' + the King James Bible.

Divine Right of Kings = the king is appointed by God; Charles I ruled 11 years without Parliament.

Henry VIII = King of Ireland; Protestant plantations settled in Ulster.

Protestant 'plantations' in Ulster brought English and Scottish settlers to northern Ireland.

Remember, remember the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes, 1605.

1620, the Pilgrim Fathers sail to America on the Mayflower.

Civil War from 1642: Cavaliers (king) vs Roundheads (Parliament); Puritans dominate Parliament.

Charles I loses his head in 1649; Cromwell rules; monarchy restored 1660.

Marston Moor and Naseby; Charles I executed 1649; Cromwell = Lord Protector until 1658.

Charles II beaten at Dunbar and Worcester, hides in an oak tree, flees to Europe.

1660 Restoration: Charles II returns from the Netherlands; the Church of England restored.

1660 Restoration (Charles II); 1679 Habeas Corpus stops unlawful imprisonment.

Charles II era: Pepys's diary, the Royal Society (Newton, Halley), Wren rebuilds London.

Newton = gravity, the laws of motion, and white light split into rainbow colours.

1665 Great Plague, then 1666 Great Fire of London.

1688. Protestants invite William of Orange; Catholic James II flees. The 'Glorious Revolution'.

William III + Mary rule jointly; a Declaration of Rights is read at their coronation.

1688 Glorious Revolution → 1689 Bill of Rights → Parliament gains power over the king.

1689 Bill of Rights: no taxes or justice without Parliament; army funding renewed yearly.

Constitutional monarchy: the king reigns but cannot overrule Parliament; the monarch must be Protestant.

Two early parties: Whigs and Tories. 'Tories' still nickname the Conservatives today.

From 1695 newspapers no longer needed a government licence, so the free press grows.

Pocket borough = run by one rich family; rotten borough = almost no voters.

Jews return to London 1656; Huguenots (French Protestants) arrive between 1680 and 1720.

Huguenots = French Protestant refugees who settled in Britain.

1690 Battle of the Boyne, William III beats James II; James's supporters = Jacobites.

Queen Anne had no surviving heir, raising the succession question that led to union with Scotland.

1707, England + Scotland become the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1707 Act of Union = Kingdom of Great Britain; Scotland keeps its law, schools and church.

German-speaking George I leans on ministers; Walpole becomes first PM, 1721 to 1742.

German-speaking George I relied on ministers, so Walpole became the first PM.

Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister, from 1721.

Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite rising ends in defeat at Culloden in 1746.

Bonnie Prince Charlie's rebellion ends at Culloden in 1746.

Highland Clearances: small 'crofts' destroyed for sheep; many Scots emigrate to North America.

Enlightenment = new ideas; Adam Smith (economics) and David Hume (philosophy).

Enlightenment = new ideas; Adam Smith (economics) and David Hume (philosophy) were Scottish.

Robert Burns, 'the Bard', wrote 'Auld Lang Syne', sung at New Year.

James Watt improved steam power, helping to drive the Industrial Revolution.

Britain industrialised first: steam, factories, railways, people move to cities.

Britain industrialised first: machines and steam power; people move to towns to work in factories.

Arkwright = efficient factories; the Bessemer process = mass-produced steel for ships and railways.

Arkwright = the efficient cotton-spinning factory pioneer of the Industrial Revolution.

Canals linked factories to towns and ports, especially in the Midlands and the north of England.

Brunel (bridges/ships), the Stephensons (railways), Arkwright (factories).

Cook maps Australia; Britain gains Canada; the East India Company controls much of India.

Captain Cook mapped Australia; the East India Company controlled much of India.

Sake Dean Mahomet opened Britain's first curry house (1810) and introduced shampooing.

Sake Dean Mahomet, opened an early curry house and introduced 'shampooing'.

Enslaved people came from West Africa, taken to America and the Caribbean for sugar and tobacco.

Wilberforce + the Quakers campaign; slave trade banned 1807; slavery abolished 1833.

1807 trade abolished; 1833 slavery itself abolished.

Florence Nightingale = modern nursing; Wilberforce = ending the slave trade.

1776 American colonies declare independence; Boer War 1899-1902 in South Africa.

'No taxation without representation'; 13 colonies declare independence 1776; Britain accepts in 1783.

French Revolution 1789; war with Britain; Napoleon fights on until 1815.

1801, Ireland joins, forming the United Kingdom.

1801. Ireland joins to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Union Flag = St George (England) + St Andrew (Scotland) + St Patrick (Ireland). No Welsh dragon.

Union Flag = St George (England) + St Andrew (Scotland) + St Patrick (Ireland).

Trafalgar 1805. Nelson wins at sea but dies; Nelson's Column and HMS Victory remember him.

Waterloo 1815. Wellington (the Iron Duke) beats Napoleon and later becomes PM.

Nelson at sea (Trafalgar 1805), Wellington on land (Waterloo 1815) beats Napoleon.

Victoria reigned 1837 to 1901 (nearly 64 years); her age = the Victorian Age.

Victorian Age 1837-1901: the British Empire was the largest in history.

Victorian Britain ruled the largest empire ever, with over 400 million people.

1832 Reform Act: scrapped rotten boroughs, more votes, fairer seats for towns.

1832 Reform Act: scraps pocket and rotten boroughs, more seats for towns, more (male) voters.

Corn Laws repealed in 1846, allowing cheaper grain imports and helping free trade.

1847. Women and children's factory hours limited to 10 per day.

1851 Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace, Victorian Britain shows off its industry.

19th-century Britain made over half the world's iron, coal and cotton; the 1851 Great Exhibition showed it off.

George and Robert Stephenson, father and son, pioneered the railway engine.

Brunel built bridges, tunnels, ships and the Great Western Railway from London westward.

Brunel built the Great Western Railway, plus famous bridges, tunnels and ships.

Crimean War 1853 to 1856: Britain, Turkey and France vs Russia; the Victoria Cross is created.

Crimean War (1850s) → Queen Victoria creates the Victoria Cross for bravery.

Florence Nightingale nursed in the Crimean War and founded modern nursing; her school opened in 1860.

Crimean War 1850s -> Florence Nightingale improves nursing and founds a training school.

Chartists demand votes for working men; the 1867 Reform Act widens the vote further.

1870 and 1882 Acts let married women keep their own earnings and property.

Irish famine = potato crop fails; Fenians want full independence; Parnell supports Home Rule.

Dickens = Victorian novels about the poor: 'Oliver Twist', 'Great Expectations'.

Kipling wrote 'The Jungle Book' and the poem 'If'; he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Kipling, born in India, wrote 'The Jungle Book' and 'If'; he won the Nobel Prize in 1907.

Boer War 1899 to 1902 in South Africa, against Dutch settlers called the Boers.

Before WWI: old-age pensions, free school meals and unemployment help were introduced.

Emmeline Pankhurst led the suffragettes (the WSPU) in the fight for women's votes.

Emmeline Pankhurst founded the WSPU (1903); its members, the suffragettes, used civil disobedience.

1918 some women vote; 1928 equal voting age with men.

1918 women over 30 can vote; 1928 women can vote at 21, the same as men.

WWI: 1914-1918. Remembrance Day is 11 November.

Trigger of WWI: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

WWI 1914 to 1918; Allies (Britain, France, Russia) vs Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary).

Somme 1916 (huge casualties); WWI ended at 11am on 11 November 1918.

Somme 1916: about 60,000 British casualties on day one; WWI ends at 11am on 11 November 1918.

Home Rule promised 1913; war delays it; the Easter Rising in Dublin happens in 1916.

Easter Rising 1916; Ireland partitioned in 1922, the north stays in the UK.

Treaty 1921; Ireland split in 1922; the north stays in the UK as Northern Ireland.

Easter Rising 1916; Ireland split 1921; Good Friday Agreement 1998 brings peace.

1929 Great Depression, mass unemployment, but new car and aviation industries grew.

1929 Great Depression: shipbuilding suffers, but car and aviation industries grow; BBC radio from 1922.

Hitler to power 1933; Germany invades Poland 1939 -> Britain and France declare war.

Hitler to power 1933; invades Poland 1939; Britain and France declare war. Axis vs Allies.

WWII: 1939-1945. Churchill is the wartime PM. VE Day = 8 May.

Churchill became wartime PM in 1940; inspirational speeches; PM again in 1951.

Dunkirk 1940: small boats help rescue over 300,000 men; the 'Dunkirk spirit'.

1940: Dunkirk rescue, then the RAF wins the Battle of Britain; the Blitz = bombing of cities.

Battle of Britain, summer 1940: the RAF wins in the air with the Spitfire and Hurricane.

The Blitz = German night bombing of British cities; Coventry was almost destroyed.

USA joins after Pearl Harbor (Dec 1941); Hitler attacks the USSR; the Holocaust murders millions.

Battle of Britain 1940; Beveridge Report 1942 (welfare state); 1944 Education Act.

D-Day = 6 June 1944 (Normandy); Germany surrenders May 1945; Japan August 1945.

D-Day 6 June 1944 (Normandy); Germany defeated May 1945; Japan defeated August 1945.

Alexander Fleming, a Scottish doctor, discovered penicillin in 1928.

1928, Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.

Watson-Watt radar; Whittle jet engine; Baird TV; Berners-Lee the web; DNA 1953.

Baird-TV, Whittle-jet engine, Berners-Lee-the web; DNA structure discovered in 1953.

Cockerell-hovercraft; Britain and France-Concorde; Harrier jump jet; the ATM.

Beveridge's five 'giant evils': want, disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness.

1944 Butler Education Act: free secondary education; primary and secondary schools separated.

1945 Attlee's Labour government builds the welfare state from the 1942 Beveridge Report.

Attlee, PM from 1945, builds the NHS and welfare state.

1948, the NHS is born, free at the point of use.

1948 NHS, led by Nye Bevan, free at the point of use; railways and coal nationalised.

Aneurin (Nye) Bevan = the minister behind the founding of the NHS in 1948.

After WWII, workers were invited from the West Indies, India and Pakistan to rebuild Britain.

After 1945, workers invited from Ireland, the West Indies, India, Pakistan and later Bangladesh.

Post-war: UK joins NATO and develops its own atomic bomb; 1950s bring recovery.

1947 India/Pakistan independent; 1973 UK joins the EEC.

1947 India, Pakistan and Ceylon independent; Macmillan's 'wind of change' speech.

Swinging Sixties: social change + The Beatles and The Rolling Stones lead British pop.

Late 1970s: rising prices and strikes; debate over the power of the trade unions.

Thatcher = first female PM (1979); Falklands conflict 1982.

Thatcher: first woman PM (1979 to 1990); privatisation and curbs on trade unions.

Thatcher (1979-1990): privatisation, weaker unions, decline of coal and shipbuilding.

Blair, PM from 1997: devolution in 1999 and the Good Friday Agreement (1998).

1999, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly created (devolution).

1990 Iraq invades Kuwait; Britain joins coalitions; later operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Referendum 2016 -> UK leaves the EU in 2020 (Brexit).

Elgar (classical), The Beatles (pop); the Proms = summer classical concerts.

The Proms: summer classical season, BBC since 1927, Last Night at the Royal Albert Hall.

Henry Purcell: organist at Westminster Abbey, an early distinctly British composer.

Handel: German-born British citizen; Water Music for George I; Messiah sung at Easter.

Handel (Messiah), Elgar, Holst (The Planets), Britten, famous British composers.

Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance (Land of Hope and Glory); Vaughan Williams: English folk.

Britten: operas Peter Grimes and Billy Budd; founded the Aldeburgh festival in Suffolk.

Mercury Prize: best album (September); BRIT Awards: best British group and solo artist.

Summer festivals: Glastonbury, Isle of Wight, V Festival; venues: Wembley, The O2, SECC.

London's West End = 'Theatreland'; 'The Mousetrap' has run for decades.

Gilbert and Sullivan: comic operas (The Mikado); Lloyd Webber: Cats, Phantom of the Opera.

Pantomime = Christmas comic theatre (with a 'Dame'); the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is in summer.

Laurence Olivier Awards: top UK theatre prizes, named after the actor Sir Laurence Olivier.

Shakespeare = plays; the Proms = classical music; the Turner Prize = modern art.

Gainsborough (portraits), Constable and Turner (landscapes), Henry Moore (sculpture).

Pre-Raphaelites: bright detailed 19th century pictures; Lavery (NI), Freud and Hockney (portraits/pop art).

Turner Prize (since 1984): contemporary art at Tate Britain, named after Joseph Turner.

Sir Christopher Wren designed St Paul's Cathedral after the 1666 Great Fire of London.

Inigo Jones (17th c., Banqueting House); Robert Adam (18th c., Scottish, Royal Crescent in Bath).

Gothic revival (19th c.): Houses of Parliament and St Pancras Station.

Lutyens: designed New Delhi and the Cenotaph in Whitehall (Remembrance Day site).

Capability Brown: 18th century landscape gardener of natural-looking country house grounds.

Recent UK fashion: Mary Quant, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood.

Shakespeare, born in Stratford-upon-Avon; wrote Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet.

Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon); Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain (Middle Ages).

Robert Burns ('the Bard', Auld Lang Syne) - Scottish; Dylan Thomas - Welsh.

Wordsworth (The Daffodils), Blake (The Tyger), Byron (She Walks in Beauty), Owen (WW1).

Dickens (Oliver Twist), Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Roald Dahl (children's books).

Dickens (Great Expectations), Hardy (rural novels), Stevenson (Treasure Island).

Bronte sisters (19th c. novelists); Agatha Christie (detective stories, The Mousetrap).

Austen (Pride and Prejudice), Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Rowling (Harry Potter).

Booker Prize (since 1968): best novel; Nobel winners include Golding, Heaney, Pinter.

Newton-gravity, Darwin-evolution, Fleming-penicillin, Berners-Lee-the web.

Newton = gravity and motion; Darwin = evolution.

Christmas = 25 December; Easter is the other big Christian festival.

Hogmanay = Scottish New Year; Pancake Day comes before Lent.

Christmas Day 25 December; Boxing Day is the day after and is also a public holiday.

Easter: Good Friday and Easter Sunday; 40 days of Lent; Shrove Tuesday is Pancake Day.

New Year 1 January; in Scotland 31 December is Hogmanay and 2 January is also a holiday.

Burns Night: 25 January, celebrating Scottish poet Robert Burns, with haggis.

Valentine's 14 Feb; April Fool's 1 April (jokes until midday); Mothering Sunday before Easter.

Hallowe'en 31 October (trick or treat); Bonfire Night 5 November (Guy Fawkes, 1605).

5 Nov = fireworks (Bonfire Night); 11 Nov = poppies (Remembrance Day).

Bank holidays = public days off (e.g. at Christmas and Easter), not religious festivals.

Diwali = festival of lights (Hindus and Sikhs); famously celebrated in Leicester.

Eid al-Fitr ends Ramadan (Muslim); Vaisakhi (14 April) is a Sikh festival.

Hanukkah: eight day Jewish festival with the menorah; Eid ul-Adha remembers Ibrahim.

David (1 Mar), Patrick (17 Mar), George (23 Apr), Andrew (30 Nov).

David 1 Mar, Patrick 17 Mar, George 23 Apr, Andrew 30 Nov.

Football = most popular; cricket from England; golf from Scotland; Wimbledon = tennis.

London 2012 Olympics; Andy Murray (tennis), Mo Farah (running), Mary Peters (athletics).

London hosted the Olympics three times: 1908, 1948 and 2012.

Paralympics: London 2012; origins with Dr Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville hospital.

Bannister = first sub-4-minute mile; Redgrave = rowing gold at five Olympics.

Hoy (cycling), Farah (distance running), Simmonds (Paralympic swimming), Weir (wheelchair racing).

Stewart (F1), Bobby Moore (1966 captain), Torvill and Dean (ice dancing), Wiggins (Tour de France).

Grey-Thompson (Paralympic wheelchair), Kelly Holmes (2004 running gold), Murray (tennis).

Cricket (England, the Ashes), golf (Scotland, St Andrews), rugby (England).

Two rugby codes: union (Six Nations) and league (Super League). Rugby began in England.

Football: most popular; English Premier League; England won the 1966 World Cup at home.

Horse racing: Royal Ascot (Berkshire), the Grand National (Aintree), Scottish version at Ayr.

Formula 1 winners: Hill, Hamilton, Button; rowing: the Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race.

Wimbledon: only grass Grand Slam; golf from 15th century Scotland; the Ashes (England v Australia).

England: roast beef & fish and chips; Scotland: haggis; NI: the Ulster fry.

Must be 18+ to buy alcohol in a pub; age limits also apply to gambling.

Buy alcohol at 18; at 16 you may have wine or beer with a meal if with an adult over 18.

Betting shops and gambling clubs: 18 and over; the National Lottery has weekly draws.

Gardening is hugely popular; the Chelsea Flower Show is the famous gardening event.

Social networking (Facebook, Twitter): popular way to stay in touch and share online.

Charlie Chaplin = early British film star; the UK has a major film industry.

Chaplin: silent-film tramp; Hitchcock: famous director who moved to Hollywood.

UK films: Harry Potter and James Bond; BAFTAs are the British equivalent of the Oscars.

British satire: Punch (1840s) and Private Eye; Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969).

BBC = public broadcaster funded by the TV licence you need to watch live TV.

A TV licence is needed to watch live TV; the fee funds the BBC.

Big Ben (London), Edinburgh Castle (Scotland), Snowdonia (Wales), Giant's Causeway (NI).

Tower of London: built after 1066, home of the Crown Jewels, guarded by 'Beefeaters'.

London Eye: millennium Ferris wheel; Big Ben's tower is the Elizabeth Tower (2012 Jubilee).

Eden Project (Cornwall, biomes); Snowdonia (North Wales, with Snowdon).

Lake District (Windermere) in England; Loch Lomond is Britain's largest mainland fresh water.

National parks protect countryside; the National Trust is a charity preserving places.

15 national parks in England, Wales and Scotland; the National Trust was founded in 1895.

Many faiths in the UK; Christianity is the largest; freedom to follow any or none.

Christianity is largest; many other faiths too; a large share have no religion.

England = Church of England (monarch is head). Scotland = Church of Scotland (Presbyterian).

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian group outside the Church of England.

Longest mainland trip: John O'Groats (north) to Land's End (south-west).

London (UK and England), Edinburgh (Scotland), Cardiff (Wales), Belfast (Northern Ireland).

English cities: Leeds, Bradford, Manchester; Scottish: Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen.

Population growing (migration and longer lives); England is about 84 per cent of the total.

Welsh in Wales; Gaelic in the Scottish Highlands and Islands; Irish Gaelic in Northern Ireland.

Pound sterling everywhere; Scottish and NI banks can print their own notes too.

Men and women have equal rights in the UK; women are about half the workforce.

Women voted from 1918 (over 30), equal with men in 1928, voting age cut to 18 in 1969.

Constitutional monarchy: the monarch is head of state, but the government governs.

The monarch is head of state and stays politically neutral.

The monarch gives stability and represents the UK abroad, while governments come and go.

The monarch opens Parliament each year and gives Royal Assent to new laws.

The national anthem is 'God Save the King'.

Commons = elected MPs; Lords = appointed peers and bishops (not elected).

Commons is more important because it is elected; the PM and most of the Cabinet sit there.

Lords = appointed peers + bishops; mostly life peers; the Commons can overrule them.

The Speaker chairs the Commons and stays neutral; second-biggest party = the Opposition.

The Speaker keeps order and is strictly neutral, no party while in the chair.

Whips organise their party's MPs and make sure they turn up to vote.

Bill -> Commons -> Lords -> Royal Assent -> Act of Parliament.

Hansard = the official record of Parliament; the UK has a free press.

General election at least every 5 years; voting age 18; secret ballot.

First past the post: most votes in a constituency wins the seat.

One constituency = one MP, elected to represent everyone living there.

An MP leaves mid-term -> a 'by-election' fills the seat.

Vote at 18 if registered; UK, Irish and resident Commonwealth citizens can vote.

Members of the Lords, the armed forces and civil servants cannot stand as MPs.

Register to vote first; then vote at a polling station or by post, by secret ballot.

Vote in private at a polling station, or apply for a postal vote if you cannot attend.

PM leads the government; the Cabinet are the senior ministers running departments.

Chancellor = the economy; Home Secretary = crime/policing/immigration; Foreign Secretary = abroad.

The PM lives at 10 Downing Street and faces MPs weekly at Prime Minister's Questions.

Second-biggest party = Opposition; its shadow cabinet challenges the government.

Civil servants are neutral, chosen on merit, and stay on when governments change.

Pressure (lobby) groups try to influence government policy on the issues they care about.

Scotland-Edinburgh, Wales-Senedd in Cardiff, NI Assembly-Belfast.

Reserved to the UK: defence, foreign affairs, immigration. Devolved: health, education.

Devolved can decide health and education; reserved to the UK: defence, foreign affairs, immigration, tax policy.

NI Assembly = Stormont (Belfast); Scottish Parliament = Holyrood (Edinburgh).

Scottish Parliament: 129 MSPs, at Holyrood in Edinburgh, elected by proportional representation.

Welsh Parliament = the Senedd in Cardiff; members are MSs, elected by proportional representation.

NI Assembly: 90 MLAs, at Stormont in Belfast, power-sharing, proportional representation.

Scotland MSPs, Wales MSs, Northern Ireland MLAs, all by proportional representation.

The UK government can suspend a devolved assembly; this has happened in Northern Ireland.

Councils run local services (bins, schools, roads); paid for partly by council tax.

Councillors are elected (often in May); some areas have a mayor, including the Mayor of London.

Council tax helps pay for local services like schools, roads and rubbish collection.

Freedoms: speech, religion, fair trial, no unfair discrimination.

Roots of UK rights: Magna Carta (1215), Habeas Corpus, the Bill of Rights (1689).

Human Rights Act 1998 brought the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law.

It's unlawful to discriminate by age, disability, sex, race, religion or sexuality.

Equality law bans unfair treatment by age, disability, sex, race, religion or sexuality.

Forced marriage, domestic violence and FGM are crimes; an agreed arranged marriage is legal.

Courts can issue a Forced Marriage Protection Order to protect someone at risk.

Criminal law = crimes (theft, violence); civil law = disputes (money, property).

Crimes: weapons, illegal drugs, racial harassment, selling alcohol or tobacco to under-18s.

Civil law: housing, consumer rights, employment, and debt disputes.

Judges and police are both independent of the government and must follow the law.

Minor crimes -> magistrates; serious crimes -> Crown Court with a jury; top court = Supreme Court.

Minor crime = magistrates; serious crime = Crown Court (judge + jury of 12); civil = County Court.

Youth Court: ages 10 to 17; closed to the public; the young person cannot be named.

Small claims = a cheap, informal way to settle minor disputes without a lawyer.

A jury of 12 decides guilt in serious cases; jurors are picked from the electoral register.

Scotland = 15-member jury; England, Wales and NI = 12-member jury.

Scotland: Justice of the Peace Court, Sheriff Court, High Court; Court of Session for big civil cases.

Northern Ireland is like England and Wales; only Scotland has the 'not proven' verdict.

Police protect people and property, prevent crime, and must obey the law themselves.

PCCs are elected in England and Wales; they set police priorities and appoint the Chief Constable.

You can complain about the police to the Chief Constable or an independent body.

Income tax on earnings; National Insurance funds benefits/pensions; VAT on goods.

Employees pay via PAYE; the self-employed use self-assessment; HMRC collects tax.

You get your National Insurance number just before you turn 16.

Drive at 17 with a licence; cars need tax, insurance and (if over 3 years) an annual MOT.

Drive at 17; register with the DVLA, tax and insure; MOT yearly if the car is over 3 years old.

Get involved: vote, do jury service if called, volunteer, become a school governor.

Jury service from 18 (up to 70); you can usually stand for office from 18 too.

School governors (school boards in Scotland) help run schools; you must be 18 or over.

Volunteering = unpaid work for good causes; it helps the community and the volunteer.

Help the environment: recycle, shop locally, walk or use public transport.

Join a party to get involved; canvassing means asking people for their support.

UK is in the UN, the Commonwealth and NATO (it left the EU in 2020).

Commonwealth = former Empire countries; the King is head; it shares values, not laws.

The UK is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

NATO is a defence alliance; members help each other if attacked. The UK is a member.

Council of Europe (not the EU) drew up the European Convention on Human Rights.

Referendum 2016, the UK left the EU in 2020. Still in the UN and Commonwealth.

UK joined in 1973, left the EU in 2020 (Brexit); it is no longer an EU member.