46 Surprising Facts About England

England is one of the most well-known and renowned countries in the world.
It is a country with a long and fascinating history. History can be found at every turn, with old castles dotting the countryside, colleges with histories dating back to Middle Ages, ancient Roman sites, and centuries-old Royal Palaces that are still in use today. But England is more than its history; it has vibrant cities, world-class cultural institutions, and has exciting things to see and do. So here are 46 astonishing facts about this vibrant country that will astound you.

1. England is bordered with Scotland in the north and wales in the west. While it lies between the North Atlantic and the north sea. It also comes within 35 km(22 miles) of the northwest coast of France.
2. England ruled on 23% of the total earth. The country ruled on 80 nations and out of which 56 nations are counted into British the commonwealth today.
3. There are 5.9 calories in the glue of a standard British postage stamp. While a bigger British stamp contains 14.5 calories.
4. At the outbreak of the Second World War, zookeepers killed all the poisonous insects and snakes in London Zoo. It was done as a precautionary measure in case it was bombed, and they escaped.
5. In the capital city of London, about 90 lakh people are living in just 600 square miles of area. According to the forestry commission, there are 8.6 million trees in the city; it is an urban jungle.

   

6. River Severn is the longest river in England, and it stretches over 354 km (220 miles). The second-longest river is the Thames, which is slightly shorter than the Severn river and stretches over 346 km (215 miles).
7. Slavery was not made a statutory offense in England and other parts of the united kingdom until 6th April 2010.
8. There is more information in one edition of the present New York Times than the average person in 17th-century England would have come across in a lifetime.
9. Over 417,000 companies are registered in the British Virgin Islands, where the total population is about 29,802.
10. In 1884, London was facing a crisis called as great “horse manure crisis.” The Times newspaper predicted that if the crisis stays like this, every city of London will be buried under nine feet deep in the next 50 years.

    

11. In 2014, about one-third (33.9 percent) of the people who were not and never got married. Twenty-eight percent males and 22 percent females live alone and are not married.
12. Each year 20 to 30 earthquakes are felt by the people of Britain. While hundreds of earthquakes strike England, which is not felt by people but is recorded in the sensitive instruments.
13. Some of the significant inventions took place in Britain. Some of them are the reflecting telescope, the first mass production of a toothbrush, the first modern torpedo, telegraph, chocolate bar, and even the ATM. The country is also the land where the world wide web was invented, and the first website was made.
14. Over 95 percent of the lead used in the British army’s bullets comes from recycled materials.
15. In the 18th century, England became the first country on the planet to become an industrialized country.

    

16. It is been estimated that about half a million rats live in the London Underground.
17. The country is the 13th most complex economy in the world.
18. The top exports of the country are Cars ($43.4 Billion), Crude Petroleum ($26.4 Billion), Gold ($25.8 Billion), Gas Turbines ($23.5 Billion), and Packaged Medicaments ($19.3 Billion).
19. The top imports of Britain are Cars ($48.5 Billion), Gold ($25.4 Billion), Crude Petroleum ($24.9 Billion), Refined Petroleum ($24.2 Billion), and Packaged Medicaments ($17 Billion).
20. The Barbary lion is the national animal of England.

    

21. The Red Rose is the national flower of the country. Whereas the oak is the national tree of England which represents endurance and strength.
22. In 2018-2019, British trains were delayed by 950 hours just because of people stealing metal parts and cables from the railways. The stealth affected over 7000 journeys.
23. The Companies Act (2006) is the longest in the Britain parliament history; it is so complex and so long that it contains about 1300 sections and has a span of 700 pages.
24. The mail service of Britain, the royal mail, spends about £1 million each year on a billion red rubber bands. The postmen of the mail service use 2 million of these red rubber bands daily.
25. Buckingham Palace is the home of the queen of London since 1837, and today it is the administrative headquarters of the monarch.

    

26. To keep someone in prison, the Britain government spends around £118 per day or £43000 a year.
27. Recent research reveals that an average British woman spends up to £40,000 on hairdressing and £100,000 on cosmetics in their lifetime. The total expenditure in the country on cosmetics is about £300 billion per year.
28. The bank of England has issued a non-circulating note Giants, which is of A5 size, and titans, of A4 size. The Giant has a face value of £1 million, and titan is £1 billion. A total of 4,040 notes have been printed so far, which has a total value of £8 billion.
29. The largest lake in England is the Windermere. The lake area stretches over 14.73 km2, length of 18.08 km, and has a maximum depth of 219 ft (66.76 meters).
30. The country became the host of the summer Olympics 3 times in 1908, 1948, and 2012. The country has also bid to be the host for the games of the year 2032 or 2036.

    

31. Gatwick is the second busiest airport in the whole united kingdom. The name of the airport Gatwick means ‘the farm where goats are kept.
32. An average British person spends over four months of their life talking about the weather.
33. There is an underwater rail tunnel known as the channel tunnel. It is one of the biggest underground tunnel in the world, which is 50 km long and connects England and France.
34. The Scafell Pike is the highest peak in the country and has an elevation of 978 meters.
35. There is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, which is about 5,019 years old. It is made of about 82 saren stones standing in the ring formation. Each stone is 13 feet high, seven feet wide, and weighs around 25 tons.

    

36. A car in Britain, on average, is parked for 96% of the time.
37. There are between 5.9 million closed-circuit television cameras in Britain, making Britons the most-watched people on earth. This means one surveillance camera for every 11 people.
38. According to genetic analysis by oxford university, the Celts(Britain’s indigenous people) are descendants of the Iberian fisherman who crossed the Bay of Biscay around 6000 years ago.
39. During the last ice age (around 18000 years ago), Britain was covered entirely in ice as far as the bristol channel.
40. The Colchester town of England is the oldest recorded town in the country and is there from 77 AD.

    

41. Until the 1990s, Britain’s nuclear weapons were secured with bike locks and could get armed with a screwdriver or a strong human nail.
42. Devon, England, has about 33,000 miles of hedgerows, more hedgerows than any other country.
43. The popular rhyme London Bridge is falling down was first published in 1744(18th century) in the pretty songbook, which was a collection of Tommy thung.
44. The biggest road in the country is the A1 road. It is 660 km(410 miles) long and connects England with Edinburgh, which is the capital city of Scotland.
45. The oldest building in Britain is the Saltford manor, a stone house in Saltford, near a bath and built back in the 12th century.

    

46. For over 300 years, i.e., from 1066 to 1362, french was the official language of England.