Religion

Christianity arrived in Britain in the first or second centuries and existed independently of the Church of Rome after it was founded in the 5^th century.The Protestant Church of England, or Anglican Church, is the official state church in England. The British monarch must belong to it, but all other English people may worship as they choose.Canterbury Cathedral, dates back to Roman times, the first recorded part of the building being erected in 740 AD.Many English people belong to other Protestant churches, known as Free Churches. The largest Free Churches include the Baptist, Methodist, and United Reformed churches.The Church of England has about 27 million members, but most of them do not attend services regularly. There are about 4 million other Protestants and about the same number of Roman Catholics in England. The Catholic church is headed by the archbishop of Westminster. England also has about 1 million Muslims, about 400,000 Sikhs, about 300,000 Jews, and about 300,000 Hindus.

On March 12,1994 the Church of England ordained its first female priests.

Sport Football

The most popular sport in England, both spectator and participant, is football As it is so widespread internationally, it is described here mainly in linguistic and commercial terms. However it must be noted that the game almost certainly originated in England.

Football is more commonly known as soccer in certain English-speaking nations where the word football refers to a rival code of football developed within thatnation, specifically Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland and the United States, and also in nations where Rugby football is more popular, such as Wales, New Zealand and South Africa.

• "All I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football." - Albert Camus, French philosopher, novelist and goalkeeper

Cricket

As with football, cricket originated in England.Although it is perhaps followed by more people in India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean and South Africa, the game remains essentially 'English".

Squash

Squash is an indoor racquet sport which was, until recently, called "Squash Rackets". It is becoming one of the most popular participant sports in England.

The game is played by two players, with 'standard' rackets (or occasionally four players for doubles) in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball. In the more popular and widespread "International" (originally English) version of the game, the court is 9.6 m long by 6.4 m wide. The "American" version of the game uses a harder ball and a court 5.4 m. wide. The court has a 45 cm high panel called the "tin" at the base of the front wall, and "out" lines 2.1 m high at the back wall and 4.5 m high at the front wall. These "out" lines are joined by a raking "out" line on each side wall.

The Oxford-Cambridge University Boat Race

The Boat Race is a rowing race between the rowing clubs of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. It is rowed annually each Spring on River Thames in London. The event is an extremely popular one, not only with the alumni of the universities, but also with rowers in general and those with no connection at all. It is estimated that a quarter of a million people watch the race from the river banks. The first race was in 1829 and it has been held annually since 1856 with the exception of the war years. Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues and the boats as blue boats, with Cambridge being represented as light blue, and Oxford as dark blue. The course is 4 miles and 374 yards from Putney to Mortlake in west London.

The event is very much a British national institution. The race has been won by Cambridge 78 times and Oxford 71. The race in 1877 was declared a dead heat. The 2003 race was amongst the closest in history, with Oxford winning by less than 30 cm. One entertainment for spectators is the possibility of a boat sinking. This has occurred on three occasions; to the Oxford crew in 1925 and 1951, and to Cambridge in 1859 and in 1978. In 1912, the race had to be rescheduled after both teams sank.