- •Lectures in british studies lecture 01 one of the greatest countries of the world
- •1.1. General description: what comes to mind first?
- •1.2. Contributions to human civilization.
- •1.3 Contributions to world culture.
- •1.4 English, one of the world languages.
- •Lecture 02 britain’s geography and climate
- •2.1. The geographical position.
- •2.2. Britain's relief.
- •2.3. British climate.
- •2.4. Mineral resources.
- •Lecture 03 an outline of early british history
- •3.1. Ancient history of the nation.
- •3.2. The beginning of the Christian era and after.
- •3.3. The Anglo-Saxon period.
- •3.4. Christianity in Britain.
- •Lecture 04 an outline of medieval british history
- •4.1 The formative centuries, 1066 – 1500s.
- •4.2 Wars and conflicts.
- •4.3 Tudor England.
- •4.4. The age of Elizabeth.
- •Lecture 05 the puritan revolution and after
- •5.1. The Civil War.
- •5.2. The Republican rule
- •5.3. The events after 1660.
- •5.4. The Industrial Revolution.
- •Lecture 06 the victorian age, long and glorious
- •6.1. The Victorian Age (1837 – 1901).
- •6.2. Political movements of the Victorian Age.
- •6.3. Social issues during the Victorian Age.
- •6.4. Cultural life: literature and other arts.
- •Lecture 07 britain in the XX century
- •7.1. World War I.
- •7.2. The period between the world wars.
- •7.3. World War II
- •7.4. Postwar Britain.
- •Lecture 08 education in the uk
- •8.1. Secondary education.
- •8.2. Tertiary education.
- •8.3. Great universities: Oxford and Cambridge.
- •8.4. Other establishments of note.
- •Lecture 09 social life in the uk
- •9.1. Social life.
- •9.2. Social issues.
- •9.3. Youth life.
- •9.4. Communications and travel.
- •Lecture 10 the mass media in the uk
- •10.1. The mass media.
- •10.2. Radio and television.
- •10.3. The era of computers.
- •10.4. Top 10 Britons of all time.
9.4. Communications and travel.
9.4.1. Communication systems were first established by commercial concerns and merchants who needed to exchange information about trade routes and goods. The ruling aristocracy used trusted messengers to carry confidential or sensitive information from capital to capital or kingdom to kingdom, but they were typically soldiers or servants. Over time, these arrangements evolved into government-operated systems for any citizen or subject to post messages to any other, financed by charging users a tax or fee for postage (verified by postage stamps). In England, the Post Office was founded in 1635 and is noted in history for issuing the famous Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive stamp, in 1840.
9.4.2. British fleet has always played an important role in the country’s development. It was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I that support for naval exploration increased dramatically. In 1580 Sir Francis Drake became the first Englishman to sail around the world. Overseas commercial and trade interests were also established in the form of the English East India Company in 1600. English colonization in the Americas began with the attempted settlement of Roanoke Island off the North American coast in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh. This settlement did not survive. Later, British ships began to carry settlers to every part of the world. British fleet consolidated Britain’s economic and military power in later centuries.
9.4.3. Historically, railroads played a very important role in the history of the country. The Victorian era was also known as the Railway Age. The world’s first public railway was the Stockton and Darlington, which opened in 1825. It was built by George Stephenson. One of the latest large-scale construction projects is the Channel Tunnel that links England with France and runs underground beneath the relatively shallow English Channel. It was finished in 1994 and cost more than $16 billion to complete, twice its estimated budget. It has enormous symbolic importance as an unbroken link between Britain and the Continent.
9.4.4. The automobile is a chief means of transportation in the modern world. It is interesting to know that it was English physicist Sir Isaac Newton who, among other things, proposed a steam carriage. In 1794, Robert Street of England filed a patent that summarized how an internal-combustion engine might work. The first modern cars appeared in Germany, and the real revolution in car-making took place in the USA in the early XX century.
Along with other industries, the airlines were nationalized after World War II, but they were privatized in the late 1980s. British Airways is one of the world’s leading airlines and operates the world’s largest network of international scheduled services. London’s main airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, are among the world’s busiest centers for international travel. There are another 146 licensed civil airfields in Britain.
Lecture 10 the mass media in the uk