England’s contribution to both British and world culture is too vast for anything but a cursory survey here. Historically, England was a very homogeneous country and developed coherent traditions, but, especially as the British Empire expanded and the country absorbed peoples from throughout the globe, English culture has been accented with diverse contributions from Afro-Caribbeans, Asians, Muslims, and other immigrant groups. Other parts of the United Kingdom have experienced the same social and cultural diversification, with the result that England is not always distinguishable from Wales and Scotland or even Northern Ireland. The former insularity of English life has been replaced by a cosmopolitan familiarity with all things exotic: fish and chips have given way to Indian, Chinese, and Italian cuisine, guitar-based rock blends with South Asian rap and Afro-Caribbean salsa, and the English language itself abounds in neologisms drawn from nearly every one of the world’s tongues.
- Population:
- (2011) 53,012,456
- National Religion:
- Church of England
- Total Area (Sq Km):
- 130,278
Recent News
Even as England has become ever more diverse culturally, it continues to exert a strong cultural influence on the rest of the world. English music, film, and literature enjoy wide audiences overseas, and the English language has gained ever-increasing currency as the preferred international medium of cultural and economic exchange.
Daily life and social customs
Historically, English daily life and customs were markedly different in urban and rural areas. Indeed, much of English literature and popular culture has explored the tension between town and country and between farm and factory. Today, even though the English are among the world’s most cosmopolitan and well-traveled people, ties to the rural past remain strong. Urbanites, for example, commonly retire to villages and country cottages, and even the smallest urban dwelling is likely to have a garden.
Another divide, though one that is fast disappearing, is the rigid class system that long made it difficult for nonaristocratic individuals to rise to positions of prominence in commerce, government, and education. Significant changes have accompanied the decline of the class system, which also had reinforced distinctions between town and country and between the less affluent north of England and the country’s wealthy south. For example, whereas in decades past English radio was renowned for its “proper” language, the country’s airwaves now carry accents from every corner of the country and its former empire, and the wealthy are likely to enjoy the same elements of popular culture as the less advantaged.
Many holidays in England, such as Christmas, are celebrated throughout the world, though the traditional English Christmas is less a commercial event than an opportunity for singing and feasting. Remembrance Day (November 11) honours British soldiers who died in World War I. Other remembrances are unique to England and are nearly inexplicable to outsiders. For example, Guy Fawkes Night (November 5) commemorates a Roman Catholic conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605, and Saint George’s Day (April 23) honours England’s patron saint—though the holiday is barely celebrated at all in England, in marked contrast to the celebrations in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland for their respective patron saints. Indeed, the lack of official celebration for Saint George contributes to the ambiguity of “Englishness” and whether it can now be distinguished from “Britishness.” The monarch’s official birthday is also observed nationally and commemorated in the summer by a military parade called Trooping the Colour, which has been celebrated since the 18th century.
English cuisine has traditionally been based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and fish, all cooked with the minimum of embellishment and generally served with potatoes and one other vegetable—or, in the case of fish (most commonly cod or haddock) deep-fried in batter and served with deep-fried potato slices (chips). Fish and chips, traditionally wrapped in old newspapers to keep warm on the journey home, has long been one of England’s most popular carryout dishes. By convention, at least for middle-income households, the main family meal of the week was the “Sunday joint,” when a substantial piece of beef, lamb, or pork was roasted in the oven during the morning and served around midday. In the 1950s and ’60s, however, these traditions started to change. Immigrants from India and Hong Kong arrived with their own distinctive cuisine, and Indian and Chinese restaurants became a familiar sight in every part of England. By the 1980s, American-style fast-food restaurants dotted the landscape, and the rapid post-World War II growth of holiday travel to Europe, particularly to France, Spain, Greece, and Italy, exposed the English to new foods, flavours, and ingredients, many of which found their way into a new generation of recipe books that filled the shelves of the typical English kitchen.
Other traditional English dishes include scones, kippers, bangers and mash, pie and mash, bubble and squeak, Blood pudding, the Scotch egg, Yorkshire pudding, shepherd’s pie, steak and kidney pie, the Chelsea bun, Welsh rarebit, the ploughman’s lunch, Cornish clotted cream, and sticky toffee pudding. Strawberries and cream and the Pimm’s Cup are the signature dish and drink, respectively, at England’s annual Wimbledon tennis tournament.