What is the name of each country in its own language? - Qual è il nome di ogni paese nella sua lingua?

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Vote of Confidence - Voto di Fiducia

The Greek Parliament - Il Parlamento Greco

When there is an important issue and the Prime Minister believes that the Parliament will not support him, he claims the vote of confidence. To obtain the confidence of the Greek Parliament, the governing party needs more than half the votes of the Members. The Greek Parliament has 300 members, so the votes needed are 151. If a government does not take the vote of confidence, then resigns and the President of Democracy calls the leaders of the political parties to form a new government.The first to take the command is the party-leader who has the majority. Every political leader has three days at his disposal. If there is no solution, then a date for elections must be determined.

Quando  c' è una questione importante e il primo ministro ritiene che il Parlamento non lo sosterrà, egli sostiene il voto di fiducia. Per ottenere la fiducia del Parlamento Greco, il partito di governo ha bisogno più della metà dei voti dei membri. Il Parlamento greco ha 300 membri, per cui i voti necessari sono 151. Se un governo non ottiene il voto di fiducia, poi si dimette e il Presidente della Democrazia chiama i leader dei partiti politici per formare un nuovo governo. Il primo a prendere questo comando è il leader della maggioranza. Ogni leader politico ha tre giorni a sua disposizione. Se non c'è soluzione, deve essere determinata la data delle nuove elezioni.

The Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the Queen's (Elizabeth) official and main royal London home. It has been the official London residence of Britain's monarchy since 1837. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live there. Buckingham Palace is also an office Buckingham Palace is used also for the administrative work for the monarchy. It is here in the state apartments that the Queen receives and entertains guests invited to the Palace. History of Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace was originally a grand house built by the Dukes of Buckingham for his wife. George IV began transforming it into a palace in 1826. Royal Flag When the Queen is at home, you can see her royal flag flying from the flag pole on top of Buckingham Palace. This flag is called the Royal Standard. The flag is split into four quadrants. The first and fourth quadrants represent England and contain three gold lions walking on a red field; the second quadrant represents Scotland; it contains a red lion standing on the left hind foot on a gold field;  the third quadrant represents Ireland and contains the gold Coat of arms of Ireland on a blue field. Foot Guards  Five regiments of Foot Guards guard the Palace. They wear red jackets and tall, furry hats called bearskins.When the first guards come on duty, there is a ceremony called the Changing of the Guard.  Inside Buckingham Palace The Palace has around 600 rooms, including 19 State rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 78 bathrooms, 92 offices, a cinema and a swimming pool. It also has its own post office and police station.  About 400 people work at the Palace, including domestic servants, chefs, footmen, cleaners, plumbers, gardeners, chauffers, electricians, and two people who look after the 300 clocks.

The Big Ben

The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, commonly known as the Big Ben, is one of London's most famous landmarks.

The name Big Ben actually refers to the clock's hour bell, the largest of the clock's five bells, the others being used as quarter bells.

Big Ben

There were two bells cast as the clock tower's hour bell. A first, a 16 ton weighing bell was cast by John Warner and Sons in 1856. Since the Clock Tower was not yet completed, the bell was hung temporarily in the Palace Yard. The bell soon cracked so it was recast in 1858 in the White chapel Bell Foundry as a 13.5 ton bell. Unfortunately, soon after this bell was placed in the belfry in July 1859, it cracked as well. This time, instead of yet again recasting the bell, the crack was repaired and a lighter hammer was used to prevent any more cracks.

The hour bell was probably named after Benjamin Hall, the First Commissioner of Works. Some sources however claim the bell was named after Benjamin Caunt, a British heavyweight boxing champion.

The Clock

The clock was the largest in the world and still the largest in Great-Britain. The clock faces have a diameter of almost 7.5m. The hour hand is 2.7m long and the minute hand is 4.25m long.
The clock is known for its reliability, it has rarely failed during its long life span. Even after the nearby House of Commons was destroyed by bombing during World War II, the clock kept on chiming. The clock's mechanism, designed by Edmund Beckett Denison, has a remarkable accuracy.

The Tower

The tower was constructed between 1843 and 1858 as the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, now better known as the Houses of Parliament. The clock tower - its official name is Saint Stephen's tower - is 96m high. The clock faces are 55m above ground level.

LONDON...

Tate Modern Art Galery

Tate Modern has an excellent collection of modern art, from 1900 until now. It is housed in a former power station. Since its opening in 2000 it has become one of London’s most popular museums.

The galleries of Tate Modern are housed in an enormous brick building that was once the home of the Bankside Power Station. Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, it was built between 1947 and 1963. Its striking tower is 99 meters tall;

At the end of the 1990s the Tate Gallery - now known as Tate Britain - was struggling with a lack of space due to its quickly expanding collection of modern art. So it was decided to split up the collection and search for a new location to house the modern works of art. The power station, which was located at the riverbank of the Thames was chosen as it had been abandoned in 1981 and offered plenty of space. A competition was held to find an architect for the reconversion of the building. A plan by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron was selected out of 148 entries.

 

The museum opened at this location in May 2000 and has become quite a popular tourist attraction thanks to its eclectic collection of modern art. Also, entrance to many of the collections and exhibits at Tate Modern is free, which adds to its popularity.

Tate Modern is set to expand in time for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which are to be held in London. The new, very modern glass pyramid extension will house photography, video, and community exhibits. The architects for the extension, which will be added to the south side of the existing building, will be Herzog and de Meuron.

 

Yiannis Kounellis

                                       Pablo Picasso

                                                                                        "The tree dancers"

LONDON...

Camden Market in North-West London is one of London's most popular weekend tourist attractions, offering fashion and crafts; a mix of people and foods from every corner of the world. The area has been made famous by films, pop icons 'Madness' & Oasis, and historic writers such as George Orwell, Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens.

 

The Camden Market we know today is a long way from the way it was in the 1800s and a short history of this make this clearer. It was in the 1790s that the Earl of Camden began developing the land around what is now Camden High Street. Unlike today the Camden Town of of this period was merely a stop off point en route to Hampstead. In fact it wasn't until 100 years later that the market area became anything more than undeveloped land. The Regent's Canal was built during in the 1870s and this canal now forms the centre piece of the Lock market. What this brought to Camden was commerce.

The lock connected with the main trade routes and as a result saw a blossoming in warehouse and production lines.This prosperity was short lived though as changes in transportation made shipping too expensive. Because of this the buildings and warehouses, which today take the shape of expensive apartments overlooking the canal, closed down and moved on. The area was then left to decay. It wasn't until the 1970s that three men had an idea to transform the area around Camden Lock into an arts and crafts market.

They approached British Waterways and obtained the rights to lease from them some of the properties to realise this idea. As news of Camden travelled so to the market area became more popular and this saw the addition of further market stall areas. The Camden market of today has now less than 4 distinct markets and is complemented by shops with clothes and merchandising from around the world. Camden Market is a shopper’s paradise!

HOW TO BE BRITISH (2)

Politeness

In order to be a popular guest, and to make a good impression on his British hosts, the foreign visitor needs to learn how to apologise. In the street. On the bus. At the hairdressers. Going out and coming in. "Sorry" is one of the most important words in the vocabulary of any true Brit. And it's a word which should be always on the lips of any foreigner. "Sorry" prepares a path, excuses faults, calms nerves and wipes the state clean so that we can all be jolly together and not get upset. Together with "Sorry", the words "Please" and "Thank you " are perhaps the most useful in any foreign visitor's lexicon. "Please", belongs to a family of words that includes pleasant, pleasure and pleasing, which is further proof that it's nice to be polite. "Thank" comes from the Old English 'thonc', which has the same root as the word 'think'. Thus, being polite is the same as being thoughtful!

(from the "How to be British Collection" by Martin Ford and Peter Legon)

HOW TO BE BRITISH (1)

A  True Brit is writing...
If you have been a visitor to our country,  I expect you've realised why we call it Great Britain: our long and glorious history; the unspoilt beauty of our landscape; the rich variety of our weather, not to mention our unrivalled achievements in cricket and football. Then, there are our cherished traditions: afternoon tea at four, roast beef on Sunday, and warm beer until 11pm. And there's us with our old - world courtesy and tolerance. Oh, and our sense of humour. I mustn't forget that. We do like a good laugh!
As for me, well, I'm so many feet and inches tall, and I weigh so many stones, pounds and ounces. My petrol comes in gallons and my milk in pints - from a milkman. I pay for them, of course, in pounds sterling. My home is my castle and "I-Do-It-Myself". I only hope I live to pay off the mortgage on it. My garden is my recreation and a sanctuary to many endangered species, not least of all myself!

(from the "How to be British Collection" by Martin Ford and Peter Legon)
 

Pound Sterling, the British currency

The pound sterling is the currency of the UK. One pound sterling is subdivided into 100 pence, the singular of which is "penny". 

£ is the sign for the pound and  p for the penny. The British pound is ranked as the fourth largest currency in the world after the euro, the US dollar and the Japanese yen. Both coins and banknotes are issued by the Bank of England.

The Bank of England

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The pound sterling has 8 types of coins: 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, 1£ and 2£. The monarch's head is on the obverse side of the coin and parts of the Royal Shield on the reverse.

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The banknote issues are: 5£, 10£, 20£ and 50£. There are also 1£ and 100£ banknotes which are in use only in Scotland (the last also in Northern Ireland)

 HRM Queen Elizabeth's II head on the British banknotes

The "Union Jack"

This is the "Union Jack" the flag of the United Kingdom. Download the black and white version (right click > save image as) and paint it. 

click here to see the flag's history

Find on the internet information about

"the Saltire" (flag of Scotland), 

the "Red Dragon" (flag of Wales) 

the "Ulster Banner" (flag of the Northern Ireland)

and the "St. George Cross" (flag of England)

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Look at the Irish Flag. There are three colours. Green represents the tradition of Ireland. Orange represents the Order of Orange. White represents the truce between them.

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Why does the Greek flag have nine stripes?

The British Isles outline map

 

This outline map can be downloaded and painted.

Tip: Use a school atlas or the maps below!

THE BRITISH ISLES

Strictly speaking, 'Great Britain' is a geographical expression but 'The United Kingdom' is a political expression. Great Britain is in fact the biggest of the group of islands which lie between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately two and a half times the size of Ireland, the second largest. Together they are called the British Isles. The expression originally described the islands themselves, not the political or national divisions within them.

The British Isles today are shared by two separate and independent states. The smaller of these is the Republic of Ireland, with its capital in Dublin. The larger, with London as its capital, is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This long title, (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or UK) is the result of a complicated history.

The island of Great Britain contains three 'nations' which were separate at earlier stages of their history: England, Scotland and Wales. Wales had become part of the English administrative system by the sixteenth century. Scotland was not completely united with England until 1707. The United Kingdom is a name which was introduced in 1801 when Great Britain became united with Ireland. When the Republic of Ireland became independent of London in 1922, the title was changed to its present form.

'Britain' and 'British' have two meanings. They sometimes refer to Great Britain alone, and sometimes to the UK including Northern Ireland. 'England' and 'English' are often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Great Britain.