- Anglo-Saxon England
- 18th-century Britain, 1714–1815
- Britain from 1914 to the present
Sports and recreation
The global spread of sports that had their origins in Britain was central to the development of modern sports in the 18th and 19th centuries and is one of the British Empire’s important cultural legacies. The modern game of football (soccer) is generally accepted to have originated in England. The Football Association, the game’s first organization, was founded in England in 1863, and the first football match played between England and Scotland—the oldest rivalry in the sport—was at Glasgow in 1872. English football fans can follow three national divisions and the celebrated premiership, which includes such legendary clubs as Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool FC. Scotland has three national divisions as well and a premiership that features the Celtic and Rangers clubs of Glasgow; Wales and Northern Ireland also have national leagues. The Scottish and English national teams regularly appear in international competitions. In 1966 England hosted and won the World Cup; it was the third host nation to win the championship.
Rugby and cricket have also long enjoyed great popularity in Britain. According to tradition, rugby began in 1823 at Rugby School in England. In 1871 the Rugby Football Union was formed as the English governing body, and the rival Rugby Football League was founded in 1895. England, Scotland, and Wales all have club competitions in both union and league versions of the game. The three also send national teams to the Six Nations Championship and to World Cup tournaments. Cricket’s origins may date to 13th-century England, and county competition in England was formally organized in the 19th century. International matches, known as tests, began in 1877 with a match between England and Australia.
Great Britain has attended every modern Olympic Games, beginning with the first competition in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Britain has hosted the Games three times in London, in 1908, 1948, and 2012. At the 1896 Games weight lifter Launceston Elliot was the first Briton to win a gold medal, and in 1908 figure skater Madge Cave Syers became the first female athlete to win a medal in the Winter Games. British athletes have won hundreds of medals over the years, making especially strong showings in athletics, tennis, rowing, yachting, and figure skating. Several British athletes have put forth memorable performances in track-and-field events, including sprinter Harold Abrahams in the 1920s, middle-distance runners Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, and two-time decathlon gold medalist Daley Thompson in the 1970s and ’80s. At the 2000 Summer Games rower Steve Redgrave accomplished the rare feat of earning gold medals in five consecutive Games. At the 2012 Games in London, athletes representing the United Kingdom claimed 65 medals.
Britain is home to several important international sports competitions. The Open Championship—also known, outside of Britain, as the British Open—is a golf tournament held annually, often at the world-renowned course at St. Andrews in Scotland. The All-England (Wimbledon) Championships is one of the world’s leading tennis competitions. Celebrated horse-racing events include the Royal Ascot, the Derby, and the Grand National steeplechase. The Henley Royal Regatta is the world’s premiere rowing championship.
Although the United Kingdom’s climate often rewards staying indoors, the British are enthusiasts of outdoor leisure activities and are well served by an extensive network of hiking and bicycling paths, national parks, and other amenities. Especially popular are the Lake District, which preserves a scenic area commemorated in many works by English poets; the rugged Scottish Highlands and Inner Hebrides islands; and the mountainous Welsh region of Snowdonia National Park, a magnet for climbers from around the world.
Media and publishing
The communications media—press, publishing, broadcasting, and entertainment—reach audiences ranging from the millions for television, radio, and national newspapers to small minorities for local papers, specialist periodicals, or experimental theatre and film. In addition to their presence in print, most newspapers disseminate information through the Internet, to which access grew rapidly during the late 1990s. By the early 21st century about one-third of all households had personal computers with access to the Internet.
Newspapers
In both sales and reputation the national papers published in London dominate. Within the national newspaper business in the United Kingdom, a distinction has developed between popular papers (often tabloids) with multimillion circulation and quality broadsheet papers with relatively small sales. Generally, British newspapers are not formally tied to specific political parties. However, most display clear political sympathies that are usually determined by their proprietors. The tabloid Daily Mail and the broadsheet The Daily Telegraph have consistently supported the Conservative Party, while the tabloid The Daily Mirror and the broadsheet The Guardian (published in both London and Manchester) have normally supported Labour. The Times of London is one of the world’s oldest newspapers. The Sun—long the United Kingdom’s biggest-selling newspaper, whose popularity since it was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News International company in 1969 has stemmed from a diet of sensational personality-based news stories, show-business gossip, lively sports reporting, and pictures of scantily dressed young women—supported Labour in the early 1970s, switched to the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and switched back again to Labour in the late 1990s only to return to the Conservatives by the early 21st century. Metro, a free paper launched in 1999, now rivals The Sun in terms of circulation. In England there are also several regional dailies and weeklies and national weeklies—some targeting particular ethnic communities.
The Welsh press includes several daily papers (e.g., the Western Mail and the South Wales Echo) as well as a number of weekly English-language, bilingual, or Welsh-language newspapers. Scotland has national daily newspapers based in Edinburgh and Glasgow with wide circulation (e.g., The Scotsman, the Daily Record, and The Herald) and a number of regional weeklies as well. Northern Ireland’s daily papers (e.g., the Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News) are all published in Belfast. There is a large periodical press in the United Kingdom that ranges from such traditional publications as The Economist, The Spectator, and New Statesman to more specialized and, often, more mercurial journals.
Broadcasting
The BBC, which had been established as an independent public corporation in 1927, held a monopoly of both radio and television broadcasting until 1954, when the Independent Television Authority (ITA) was established to provide the facilities for commercial television companies. The ITA’s successor today is the Office of Communications (Ofcom). Created by the Communications Act of 2003, Ofcom is responsible for regulating all commercial radio and television services, including satellite and cable, as well as all wired, wireless, and broadband telecommunications. Commercial television broadcasters include Channel Four and the ITV network. Almost every household receives the terrestrial television channels, and by the early 21st century about one in four households also could receive several dozen additional channels by satellite or cable. The satellite and cable market is dominated by Sky PLC (formerly BSkyB), which is partly owned by Murdoch’s News International. Sky, which serves Austria, Germany, Ireland, and Italy as well as the United Kingdom, also operates a 24-hour news channel and several sports channels.
A new 11-year charter for the BBC was enacted in 2016. Under it the BBC continues to draw its revenue from license fees (on a scale fixed by the government) from persons owning television sets. Its governance, however, shifted from the external BBC Trust and internal BBC Executive to a new “unitary board,” the majority of whose members are appointed by the BBC. The board also includes members nominated by the government whose involvement guarantees that the individual interests of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are represented. Whereas regulation of the BBC was formerly provided by the BBC Trust, that responsibility now falls to Ofcom and its governing board, which also license and regulate commercial television companies, which earn revenue by selling advertising time and (in the case of some satellite and cable companies) subscription and pay-per-view channels. The BBC operates two terrestrial television channels, and Ofcom operates three. On its second television channel, the BBC tends to offer programs of above-average intellectual and cultural interest—competition that the Channel Four commercial channel meets with its own cultural programs. The BBC also provides a 24-hour news service and a channel devoted to live proceedings of Parliament to people able to receive satellite, cable, or digital television services. In addition, BBC Radio operates a comprehensive external service, broadcasting around the world in more than 40 languages, as well as a world service in English 24 hours a day.
Both the BBC and terrestrial commercial channels supply educational programs for schools and for adult studies. The Open University, offering degree courses to people who lack formal academic qualifications, uses educational programs that are broadcast by the BBC; these programs are backed by correspondence courses.
The BBC and Ofcom are public bodies that in the last resort can be controlled by the government, and Parliament can alter the terms of their authority. The government has the statutory power to veto a broadcast, but only rarely does it interfere with the day-to-day management of the BBC or Ofcom. There are more than 30 BBC local radio stations and more than 200 commercial local radio stations serving the United Kingdom.
For a more-detailed discussion of cultural life in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, see the cultural life sections of the articles England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Peter Kellner The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaHistory
This discussion encompasses the history of England and Great Britain. Histories of the other three constituent parts of the United Kingdom can be found in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.