[Music]
the United Kingdom might not seem like a
place that could offer you anything more
exciting than a cup of tea and some
gloomy weather but this place does in
fact have its oddities if you're
planning a trip you can meet some
scousers possibly a unicorn and
definitely a Sofia but first one can't
talk about Great Britain without
mentioning the world-famous clock
Big Ben only Big Ben isn't the name of
the clock or the tower it's on it's the
Bell inside and here's another funny
tidbit in 1945 a flock of birds perched
on the clocks minute-hand
and put the time back by five minutes to
at an astonishing 443 feet in height the
London Eye is the fourth tallest Ferris
wheel in the world a single rotation on
this bad boy takes roughly 30 minutes to
complete but a little-known fact is that
it wasn't London's first giant wheel
that honor goes to the great wheel which
was open to the public in 1895 and
demolished 22 years later in 1907 three
Queen Elizabeth the second has been to
over a hundred countries she is a major
world leader after all but the real
kicker is that she did it without a
passport and that's perfectly okay she
doesn't need one since well she's the
Queen for lots of people make the same
mistake over and over again so let's set
the record straight Great Britain and
the United Kingdom are not the same
thing the UK includes Northern Ireland
Great Britain doesn't five hey ever met
a scouser
I've come across some scoundrels in my
time but no not a scouser if you know
anyone from Liverpool then yes you have
people from this Northwestern English
city got this nickname from the word mob
Scouse which was a famous stew popular
among sailors that visited Liverpool
local people adopted the dish and the
name just stuck so the Beatles were
scousers then the more you know
6.now a fun fact for all you bookworms
out there the towering British Library
in Kings Cross London has lots and lots
of books for you to enjoy no I'm serious
it's got over 170 million items in its
catalogue seven there's a village in
Wales with a tongue-twister of a name
you guys ready for it lil and fair lil
and fair pull oh just put it on the
screen did it fit great anyway the Welsh
- English translation is st. Mary's
Church in the hollow of the white hazel
near the fierce whirlpool of Saint -
silo we ate London has the oldest and
one of the largest underground transport
systems on our planet the London Tube
includes 270 fully functioning stations
and at least 40 more that aren't even in
use but it also manages to steal about
80 thousand umbrellas from passengers
each year nine in Scotland you can take
the world's shortest light between rest
ray and the Papa West ray islands get
ready because this flight will take just
2 minutes 10 make sure you don't stick a
stamp with the Queen upside down on an
envelope in the UK otherwise eat is
considered an act of treason by the way
the United Kingdom was the first country
to use postage stamps it was the Black
penny from back in 1840 as for your
final step fact of the day Great Britain
is the only country in the world that
doesn't have its name on its stamps 11
yet born JK Rowling is the first
billionaire author in the world
she sold more than 400 million copies of
the Harry Potter book series and her
actual name is Joanne Rowling JK is her
pen name 12 are you currently on a
bright side binge watching marathon nice
but you can thank English computer
scientist Sir Timothy John berners-lee
for inventing the world wide web that
you spend so many hours on each day
thirteen are you about to finish school
and thinking about where to go to
college you got plenty of choices in the
UK there are more than 100 universities
all over the country 14 any guesses what
the national animal of Scotland is strap
in for this one it's the unicorn
according to Scottish mythology the
unicorn is the sworn enemy of the lion
which is the symbol of the English royal
family hmm
15 greetings are a very important part
of communication there's no doubt about
that and how can you greet someone hi
hello hey salutations
if your fancy well if you're ever in
Britain you might be greeted with a you
alright or even just alright moving on
sixteen it's illegal to wear an armor
suit into the house of parliament I know
I know it's always been on your bucket
list but you'll just have to forget
about it and wear your armor someplace
else
seventeen what was the official language
of Great Britain in the 11th century
English you say nope from 1066 to 1362
the predominant language of England was
actually French that explains why almost
30 percent of the English language comes
from French eighteen okay I'm sure you
know that the English love their tea but
do you really know how much the British
drink it more than any other nation in
the world
for instance they drink 20 times more
tea than Americans do nineteen if you
make it to 100 years old in the UK the
Queen will send you a telegram and wish
you a happy birthday you can get another
one if you celebrate your hundred fifth
birthday and still more each year after
that how thoughtful
twenty you won't find any US eggs in the
UK they're illegal since they get washed
the funny thing is that the same applies
vice versa
UK eggs are illegal in the u.s. because
they're not washed you have to watch out
for those bad eggs a 21
king of strange laws it's actually
illegal to go to the cinema on a Sunday
in Northern Ireland you can even be
fined up to 50 pounds or roughly
sixty-five dollars for breaking this law
wait
so our movie theaters they're even open
on Sundays hmm
22 in order to become one of those super
cool-looking black cab drivers in London
you need to pass a special test called
the knowledge sounds cryptic the hard
part about it is memorizing every single
Street in London a lot of drivers spend
years preparing for this test 23 in the
early 1800s just about a quarter of all
women in Britain were named Mary imagine
trying to call out to your friend Mary
in a crowd back then Sophia has held on
to the number one spot for nine years in
a row and Mary didn't even make it to
the top 25 in 2018 oh how the times have
changed which of these facts did you
know already and which one surprised you
the most let me know down in the
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