Compilation of Facts about England and Random Things to See In London

Unusual love for tea, the reign of the Queen and rainy weather are usually among the first associations connected with Great Britain in general and with England, in particular. But there is so much more to add about this country.

Our list of random facts about this country we will start with a quick video presentation.


England: 10 Interesting Facts about the Country (Part of the United Kingdom)

#1. Queens of England

England is the country with the biggest number of ruling queens in its history. The list of reigning queens includes Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary), Queen Elizabeth I (the last Queen of England, after her reign the title sounds like this – the Monarch of the United Kingdom), Queen Mary II, Queen Anne, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II.

#2. What's new? Nothing!

There was a day in BBC radio history, where the hosts run out of news.  On April 18, 1930, due to the lack of news, the BBC radio host announced that there was absolutely nothing to tell. So, instead of the news, the radio played piano music.

#3. The origins of table tennis

In the 1880s British upper-class have took a liking to a very unusual game, which was usually practiced after dinner reception. It was a very primitive form of modern table tennis, where the role of a net was performed by stacked up books, the rackets were replaced by cigarette cases and, finally, instead of a ball, players used champagne corks.

#4. London Underground and music

There are so many interesting things about the Tube or London Underground that everyone should experience. One of the most prominent things is that it not only serves its primary mission – transportation – but also is a great place for checking out unusual music, as the authorities have provided the musicians, who want to perform there, with special spots.

#5. Yet another bizarre competition

England, alongside some of other UK countries annually hosts an unusual contest, which is called "The Biggest Liar". This event brings hundreds of skilled liars, who come and tell amazing stories, which are improbable and very unlikely to have happened.

Nowadays, every competitor has only five minutes in order to tell his/her story, but the story has to be coherent and reading from a paper or just it is telling jokes is forbidden. Let's not forget that #Finland still remains the country of the weirdest competitions, so England has a long way to go.

#6. World’s first zoo

England is the place to open the first zoo in the world. London Zoological Gardens were open in 1828 for general scientific research but started accepting visitors only in 1857.

#7. Why does it rain so much in London?

Rainy London weather, which never seems to end, is nothing but a very common myth. This city has an average of 594 mm of annual rainfall, which is less than in other popular capital cities – Sydney (Australia) with 1,213 mm or Rome (#Italy) with 837.3 mm of rain annually. Rain, of course, is a common thing in London but although it is common but short in duration.

#8. Dismaland bemusement park

Banksy, probably the most popular art prankster in the world, once presented his latest art project. It was an amusement park in Weston-super-Mare called Dismaland or a grim version of the famous Disneyland.

Contrary to the bright and fabulous Disneyland, here everything looks bleak and reflects the harsh realities of the modern world. The entrance fee to the Banksy’s Park used to cost just 3 pounds.

#9. Millions of pounds worth of damage

The 21st of March 2015 turned out to be a terrible day for many car enthusiasts in the world, especially the ones, who were driving two vintage cars on the Goodwood track in England. During the race 1955 Mercedes SLS 300 crashed into the back of the 1959 Lister-Jaguar.

The worth of the first car was estimated at 4 million pounds and the second - 1 million pounds. Considering that the cars were totaled, this race turned out to cost 5 million in damages.

#10. Testing Leonardo da Vinci’s parachute

In his lifetime #Leonardo da Vinci has come up with many inventions and ideas for future machines. Among his sketches one can find a drawing of a parachute but were his calculations right?

In 2000 Adrian Nicholas decided to test the concept of a parachute, which was made several centuries, before the first parachute jump. Luckily for Adrian, the da Vinci’s idea was right and he managed to perform a successful parachute jump.

#11. Weasel hitching a surprise lift

Martin Le-May may have captured one of the most unusual examples of animal friendship in the world. During his stroll in a park in London he took a photo of a weasel, which was taking a ride on a woodpecker.

#12. Creating a replica of the Stonehenge

Even the weirdest ideas could be turned into reality with the help of human desire and ingenuity and an experiment accomplished by a group of friends from Wisconsin clearly proves this statement.

These people managed to create a full-size copy of the original Stonehenge in Wiltshire (England). They managed to perfectly align 140 kg vertical and 90 kg horizontal boulders according to the original dimensions and proportions of Stonehenge.

#13. Grand piano for cats

A team of British scientists alongside veterinarians and sound engineers have worked together to create a unique musical instrument – a so-called grand piano, which creates music for cats.

The invention was tested on the real audience, when a concert for cats was organized in London. The musician played the compositions of the Backstreet Boys and Jay Z to the furry visitors of the concert.

#14. Telephone booths in London turn green

Although the famous red telephone booths in London have become iconic and serve as a good attraction for visitors, there are not in such a big demand as they were before, so some of them were given to the creators on a promising start-up called Solarbox.

Solarbox booths were painted green and have solar panels on their roofs. Every passer-by can recharge their mobile device in such booths and service earns money by showing advertising inside.

#15. How long does a moment last?

Over the years a word "moment" has undergone a slight expansion of meaning but originally this word was used as a medieval English measure of time. So, one moment was equal to one and a half minutes.

#16. Coffee as an alternative source of energy

Kraft Foods company are using a very unusual sort of raw materials to produce energy for their factories at Banbury. The power station was tuned to use coffee grounds, as fuel.

#17. The shortest music single in history

In 1986 a 1,316 second-long music single was recorded in Birmingham, England. It was a very unusual music composition by the English band called the Napalm Death, as it contains just one phrase: "You suffer - but why?". 

At first, the song was released as a part of an album, but later, in 1989, was released as a single and was sold on a separate disk.

#18. Turning a Hedge into a Massive Dragon

John Brooker from King's Lynn in Norfolk, England spent over 10 years to shape a massive hedge in the form of a dragon. The dragon is 6 meters high and 30 meters in length.

#19. Art on bird feathers

Rebecca Jewell, an artist from London, has created an unusual art form. She creates paintings on bird feathers.

#20. The biggest Pacman game

The facade of an abandoned Millenium Mills plant in London was once turned into a huge screen for playing an iconic game - Pacman.

#21. One of the most unusual houses in London

Leigh Osborne and Graham Voce own a very unusual house in London. It is located in an old water tower in the north-west London. The 30-meter high construction was built back in 1877 and became obsolete over time.

But Leigh Osborne and Graham Voce saw a great potential in it and decided to turn it into a piece of a very unusual real estate. After the conversion, the house has four bedrooms, an exceptional contemporary design with a great glass room in at the base of the tower.

#22. Don't Miss a Sec

Designer Monica Bonvicini created an unseen before art installation, which was named "Don't Miss a Second". The exterior of the installation looks like a large mirror box, which reflects the surrounding area.

This box is actually a portable toiled, where the walls the see-thorough from the inside but are mirrored on the outside. As a result, any person, who needs to use this toiled get a "front row seat" view of the urban life, can monitor everything that happens on the outside, while remaining invisible to passers-by.

#23. Extraordinary Victorian gas lamps

London in 1897 started to get new city lights, which served more than one mission. Similarly to modern vending machines, the Victorian gas lamps could be used for buying beverages, for examples tea, coffee or cocoa.

The later models of Pluto Lamp made this #invention even more popular, as it enabled people to buy cigarettes and post cards or even to transmit messages to Scotland Yard.

Other quick facts to know about England:

- The Royal Ascot horse race is usually called the festival of hats. Most of the visitors, especially the females, choose to wear extravagant and stylish hats to this event, as no self-respecting Briton would come with an uncovered head.

- Many people in England dream of leading a suburban lifestyle and fancy having a house with a good yard. So if you are invited to visit a private home for the first time, don’t expect a traditional tour out the house, but rather be ready to check out the belongings of a proud garden owner.

- The English people are fond of living by the rules and are known to follow their particular schedules.

- In most of the restaurants, if you are dining by yourself but have taken up the table for two or more people, the waiters are very likely to sit and serve other visitor near you. Although dining with complete strangers is a normal thing here, the country has been recently hit with new restaurant experience called the solo dining, where restaurants have single tables.

- In Britain is known for its variety of local English accents, which sometimes even causes problems in communication from people from different regions of the country;

- Even until now many households in England use separate taps for hot and cold water;

- There is no entrance fee to the most of museums in England. It is believed that the visitors will donate to the museum, as much as he/she can;

- National customs and traditions in the UK greatly differ due to differences between the population of #Wales, Ireland, #Scotland and England;

- Contrary to popular belief, Big Ben - is not the name of a famous tower, nor is it the name of the clock inside the tower. It is the name of the bell, which is located in the Elizabeth Tower;

- Until recently, the Irish and English Parliaments were preserving the historical tradition and printing all the adopted Acts on vellum – calfskin. But due to protests from the public, it seems that the tradition will be forgotten, as this type of documents is now being printed on archival-quality paper.

Image credits:

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