8

I
Country and people

This is a book about Britain. But what exactly is Britain? And who are
the British ' The table below illus trates the problem. You might th ink
that, when it co mes to inte rnational sport. the situation would be
simple - one country. o ne team. But yOll can see that this is defini tely
no t the case w ith Britain . For each of the fou r spo rts or sporting eve nts
listed in the table . there arc a differe nt numb er of nation al teams
which m ight be called 'British ' . Th is chapter describes how this situation has come ab o ut and explains the differ ent names which are used
when people talk about Britain.

Geographically spea king

Lying off the north-west coast of Europe , there are two large island s
and several mu ch smaller ones. Collec tive ly, they are kno wn as The
British Isles . The largest island is called Great Britain. The o ther lar ge o ne
is called Ireland (t> The Bri tish Isles) .

Polit ically speaking

In the British Isles there are two states. One of these goy erns most of
the island of Ireland. This state is usually called The Republic of Ireland.
It is also called ' Eire' (its Irish langu age name). Inform ally it is referred
to as just ' Ireland ' or 'the Repu blic '.
Th e other state has auth or ity o ver the res t of the British Isles (the
whole of Great Britain, the no rthea stern area o fIreland and most o f
th e sm aller islands). Th is is the country that is the main subject of
this bo ok . Its o fficial name is The Un ited Kingdom ofGreat Britainand Northern
~

N ati on al t eams from th e British Isles in selected sports

England
o lympics
cricket

rugby
union

football

QX9

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

Irish Republic
Irish Republic

United Kingdom

iii

England

l.'JP

England

Wa les

England

W ales

Scotland

Ir eland

Ireland
Scotl and

N orthern Ireland

Irish Republic

Politically speaking

Ireland althoug h it is usuall y known by a shorte r nam e. At the Euro visio n Song Contest, at the Un ited Nations and in the Europe an
Parliam ent , for in stance , it is re ferre d to as ' the United Kingdom '. In
ever yda y speech this is often shortened to ' the U K' . In o ther contexts
it is referred to as 'Great Britain'. This, fo r exa m ple , is the name you
hear whe n a go ld meda! winner steps onto the rostru m at the
Olympic Games. The slicker s on cars ('G B') are another example of
the use of th is name. In w riting and speaking that is no t especially
formal or info rm al, th e na me ' Britain ' is used . The no rm al adjec tive,
w he n talkin g about som eth ing to do with the UK, is 'British' .

T he British Isles

NORTHER
IRELAND

5)~

0(1

\j\UNl iTEDAl KINGDOM

.0

'"

IRELAND

r:

' Isle

MM

REPUBLIC
OF I RELA N D "bublin
>U( EIR E)
)

GREAT BRITAIN

ENGLAND

Channel
Islands *It
Oxford University Press

... Crown depend enci es

There are tw o sm all pans of the

British Isles w hich have special polir ical arrang em ents. These 'Crown
depende ncies' are the Channel
Island s and the Isle of Man. Each has
complete internal selfgovernmelH, including its own
Parliam ent and its own tax system.
Both are 'ruled ' by a Lieutenant
Governor appointed by the Bnush
governmen l.

10

I Cou ntry and pe ople

The four nations

Some historical and

poetic names

People often refer to Britain by ano the r nam e. They call it ' England'.
But th is is not strictly correct, and it can m ake some people angry.
England is only one of the four nations of the British Isles (England,
Scotland, Wales and Ireland) . Their political unification w as a
gradual process tha t took several hundred years (see chap ter 2). It
wa s com pleted in 1 80 0 w hen the Irish Parliament w as joined wit h
the Parliament for England, Scotland and Wales in Westm inster, so
that the w hole of the British Isles becam e a single state - the United
King do m of Great Britain and Ireland. Ho w ever, in 19 2 2, most of
Ireland becam e a separate state (see chapter 12) .
At one time the four nati on s w ere distin ct from each other in
almost every aspect oflife. In the first place , they w ere different

Albion is a w or d used in some poe tic

or rhetorical contexts to refer to
England . It was the original Rom an
name for Britain. It may come fro m the
Latin word albus, meaning 'wh ite'. The
w hite cha lk cliff" aro und Dover on the
south coast are the first pan of Englan d
to be seen when crossing the sea from
the European mainland.
Britannia is the name that the Romans
gave to the ir southern British pro vince
(which covered, approxim ately, the
area ofpresent-day England ). It is also
the name given to the female em bodiment of Britain, always shoe....n wearing
a helmer and ho lding a tride nt (the
symbol of power over the sea) , hence
the patriotic song which beg ins 'Ru le
Britannia, Britannia rule the waves'.
The figure of Britanni a has bee n on the
reverse side of many British coins for
more tha n 300 years.

.... Identifying symbols of the four nations

England

Flag

EB
St George's
Cross

Wa les

Dragon of
Cadwallader

Scotland

Ireland

~~
St Andrew's
Cross

St Pat rick's
Cross

Lion rampant

Republic of
Ire land

Th istle

Shamrock

tl
Plant

Britannia

Colour 2

Rose

Leek/DaffodilI

Patron saint

St George

St David

St Andrew

St Patrick

Sai nt's day

23 Apri l

I March

30 November

17 March

The re is som e disagreement among Welsh peo ple as to which is t he rea l national
plant. but t he leek is the most we ll-known .

As typically worn by sports team s of the different nat ions.

The four nations

racially. Th e peo ple in Ireland , Wales and highland Scotland belon ged
to the Celtic race; those in England and low land Scotland w ere m ainly
of Germanic origin. This di fferenc e wa s reflected in the languages
the y spo ke. People in th e Celti c areas spoke Celtic lan gua ges: Irish
Gaelic, Sco ttis h Gaelic and We lsh . Peo ple in the German ic areas spoke
Germa nic dialects (inclu d ing th e one w hich has developed in to
modern Englis h). The nations also te nde d to have di fferen t econom ic,
social and legal systems .
Today these differen ces have become blur re d . But the y have not
completely d isappeared . Although th ere is o nly one government for
the whole of Britain , and peo ple h ave the sam e passpo rt regard less of
where in Britain th ey live , som e aspec ts of gov ernmen t are or ganize d
separately (and sometimes d iffer ent ly) in the four parts of the Uni ted
Kingdo m. Moreover, Wels h , Sco ttish and Irish peo ple feel the ir iden tity very strongly.

Joh n Bu ll is a fictional character

who is supposed to personify
Englishness and certain English
virtues. (He can be compared to
Uncle Sam in the USA.) He features
in hundreds of nineteenth century
cartoons. His appearance is typical of an
eighteenth century country gentleman,
evoking an idy llic rural past (see
chapter s).

.. Other signs of national ide nt ity

The following are also associated by
British people with one or more of
the four nat ions.
Names
The prefix 'Mac' or 'Me' in surnames
(such as McCall, MacCarthy,
MacDonald) is always either Scottish
or Irish . The prefix' 0' (as in
O'Brien, O'Hara) is distinctly Irish.
A very large number of surnames
(for example, Davis, Evans, Jones ,
Lloyd, Morgan, Price, Rees.
Williams) suggest Welsh origin
(alt hough many of these are found
thro ughout Englan d). The most
common surname in both England
and Scotland is actually 'Smith' .
First nam es can also be indicative.
The Scouish form of 'John' is ' Ian'
and its Irish form is 'Sean' (although
all three names are common
th roughout Britain). There are also
nick names for Scottish, Irish and
Welsh men . For example, an
English, Welsh or Irish person
mig ht refer to and address a Scott ish
frien d as 'Jock', whatever his first
name is. Irishm en are called 'Paddy '
or 'Mick' and Welshmen are kno wn
as 'Dai' or 'Taffy'. If the person is not
a friend the nickname can sound
rather insulting.

Clothe s
The kilt , a skirt w ith a tartan pattern
worn by me n, is a very well -known
symbol of Scottish ness (though it is
hardly ever worn in every day life) .
Musica l in st rumen ts
The harp is an emblem of both Wales
and Ireland. The bag pipes are
regar ded as d istinctively Scottish
(though a sma ller type is also used
in traditional Irish music) .
Charac te r ist ics
The re are certain ster eotypes of
nat ional character which are we llknown in Britain . For instance, the
Irish are sup pose d to be grea t
talkers, the Scots have a rep uta tion
for being care ful wi th money, and
the Welsh are ren ow ne d for their
sing ing ability. These characteristics
are , of course, only caricatures and
are not reliable descriptions of indi vidual people from these cou nt ries.
Nevertheless, they indicate some
slight di fferences in the value
attac hed to certa in kinds of beh aviour in the countries concerned.

John Bull
Briton is a word used in official con texts and in formal writing to
describe a citize n of the Un ited
Kingdom. 'Ancient Britons' is the
name given to the race of people
who lived in England before and
during (he Roman occ upation
(AD 43-410) . These are the ancestors
of the present-day Welsh people.
Caledonia. Cam bri a and Hibernia
were the Roman names for Scotland,
Wales and, Ireland respectively. The
w ords are commonly used today in
scholarly classlficauons (for example,
the type of English used in Ireland is
sometimes called ' Hibcrno-Enghsh ')
and for the names of organizations
(for exam ple, the airline 'British
Caledonian ').
Erin is a poetic name for Ireland . 'The
Em erald Isle' is another way of referring to Ireland, evoking the lush
greenery of its countryside.

I I

l2

I Countr y and people

... Th e invisibl e Sc ot
Here are some brie f extracts from an
article w ritten by a Scotswoman,
Janet Swinney , which expresses
anger at how the dominance of
England over Scotland is reflected in
the way things are described.
First, there is 'domination by
omission'. A map appeared in the
Observer newspaper in May 1989
under the heading 'Britain's Dirty
Rivers'. It showed only England and
Wales. Janet Swinney says: 'What is
the meaning of this illustration?
Does Scotland have no rivers or no
dirty ri vers, or has someone sim ply
used the word Britain to mean England
and Wales?'
Second, she points out the
common use of England/English to
mean Brilain/Brilish : 'When I wen t to
Turkey a few years ago with an
assorted group of Britons , most of
the En glish w ere happy to record
their nationality on the ir em barkation cards as English, and saw nothi ng
offensive about it. It's not un usu al,
either, for Scots to recei ve mail fro m
elsew here in the UK addressed SCOl land , England .. . Last year, wo rks of art
from the Soviet Union intended for
d isplay at the Edin bur gh International Festival w ere sent to the City
Art Gallery add ressed Edinburgh,
England'.
A third aspect of domination can
be seen in the names given to pub lications and or gani zations : 'The
practice is to label any thi ng that pertains to England and (usually) Wale s
as tho ugh it we re the norm , and
anything Scottish as though it were
a dev iation from it. Wh y else do w e
have The TimesEducational Supplement
and The Times Educnioncl Supplement
(Scotland), the "Nationa l Trust" and
the "Na tional Tru st for Scotland ",
the "Trades Union Cong ress " and
the "Scottish Trades Union Congress"? In a society of equals, all
these names would carry their geo graphical markers: The TimesEduca tionalSupplement (England and Wales) etc'.

J Swinney, 'The Invisible Scot' ,

English Today, April [989

The dom inance of England

There is, pe rhaps , an excuse for people w ho use the word 'England'
when they mean 'Britain', It cannot be denied that the dominant
culture of Britain today is spec ifically English. The system of politics
that is used in all four na tions today is of English origin, and English
is the ma in language of all four na tions . Many aspects of every day life
are organized according to English cus tom and pra ctice. But the po litical unification of Britain was not achieved by mutual agreement. On
th e contrary. It happened beca use England wa s able to exert her
economic and milita ry power over the other three nat ion s (see
chapter 2).
Today En glish domina tion can be detected in th e wa y in which
various aspects of British public life are described (C> The invisible Scot).
For example, the supply of money in Britain is contro lled by the Bank
of England (there is no such thing as a 'Bank of Britain'). The pre sem
queen of the country is uni versally known as 'Elizabe th the Second' ,
even though Scotlan d and Northern Ireland have never had an 'Elizabeth the First " (Elizabeth I of England and Wales ruled from 1553 to
160 3.) The term 'Anglo ' is also commonly used . (The An gles were a
Germanic tribe who settled in En gland in the fifth century. The word
'Eng land' is derived from thei r name.) For example, ne\vspapers and
the television news talk about 'Anglo-American relati ons' to refer to
relations between the governments of Britain and the USA (and not
just those between England and the USA).

Nat ional loyalti es

When you are talking to people from Britain, it is safest to use 'Britain'
when talking abo ut where they live and 'British ' as the adjective to
desc ribe the ir nat io nality. This wa y you w ill be less likel y to offend
anyone , It is, of course, not wrong to talk about 'people in England '
if that is what yo u m ean - people who live w ith in the geographi cal
boundaries of England. After all, most British people live there
(C> Populations in 1995). But it should always be remembered that
England does no t make up the whole of the U K.
There h as bee n a long history of migration from Scotland , Wale s
and Ireland to England . As a result there are millions of people who
live in England but who would never describe themselves as English.
They may have lived in England all their lives, but as far as they are
concerned they are Scottish or Welsh or Irish - even if, in the last
case, they are citizens of Britain and not of Eire. Th ese people su pport
the country of their parents or grandparents rather than England in
sporting con tests. They would also, given the chance, play for that
country rather than Engla nd. If, for example, you had hea rd the
members of the Republi c of Ireland World Cnp foo tball team talking
in I 994c , you wo uld have hea rd several different kinds ofEnglish
accent and some Scottish accen ts, but onl y a few Irish accen ts. Mo st

Nat ional loyalties

... Populations in 1995
of the players did not live in Ireland and were not bro ugh t up in
Ireland. Nevert heless, most of them would never have considered
England
48.9 million
playing for an y country other than Ireland!
5.1 million
Scotland
The sam e holds true for the further million s of British citizens
Wales
2.9 million
N orthern Ireland
1.6 million
whose fam ily origins lie o utside the British Isles altogethe r. Peop le
of Caribbean or so uth Asian descent . fo r instance , do not m ind being
UK total
58.6 million
described as 'British ' (many are proud of it), but many of them
would nat like to be called 'Eng lish ' . And whenever the West Indi an
These figures arc est imates provided by

or Indian cricket tea m plays agains t England, it is certainly not England

that they support!

There is, in fact, a complicated divisio n of lo yalties anlong many
people in Britain, and especially in England . A black per son w ho se
family are from the Caribbean will pass iona tely support the West

the Governm ent Actuary's Departme nt

of the UK, based on the 19 9 I Census .
It is expe cted that the total population
of Britain will co ntinue to rise by very
small amou nts until around the year
202 !;.

Ind ies when the y play cric ket agains t England . But the sam e person

is quite happy to support England just as passio natel y in a sport such

as football , which the West Indies do not play. A person whose
family are from Ireland but who has always lived in England would
want Ireland to beat England at football but would want England to
beat (for example) italy just as much . This cros sove r of loya ln es can
work the other wa y as well. English people do not rega rd the Scottish ,
the Wel sh or the Irish as 'foreig ne rs' (or. at least , not as the sam e kind
o f foreigners as other foreigners !). An English co mmentator of a
sport ing eve n t in which a Scottish, Irish o r We lsh team is playing
agains t a team from o utside the British Isles tend s to iden tify with
that team as if it were English.

A wonderful example of double ident ity was heard on the BBC

during the Eurovision Song Con test in 1992. The cornrnen tator for
the BBC was Terr y Wogan. Mr Wogan is an Irishman w ho had become
Britain's most popular television talk-show ho st dur in g the 1980s.
Towards the end o f the programme , with the vot ing for the songs
nearl y complete, it became clear that the contest (in which Euro pean
countries compete to present the best new popular song) wa s going
to be won by either Ireland or the Uni ted Kingdom. Within a five-

minute period , Mr Wogan could be heard using the pronouns 'we'

and ' LIS' several times; so me tim es he meant the UK and so me times
he meant Ireland!
... Th e Uni on Jack
The Union Jackis the national flag of
the UK. It is a co mbinatio n of the
cross ofSt George, the cross o f
St Andrew and the cross of St Patrick

(e> Idcmifying symbolsof the four nations) .

The Union Jack