Life in the UK 筆記：75 個最常考重點 | Summary Notes

The five fundamental principles of British life: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, and participation in community life.

Responsibilities of a resident: respect and obey the law, respect the rights of others including their right to their own opinions, treat others with fairness, look after yourself and your family, and look after the area in which you live and the environment.

To become a permanent resident or citizen you must speak and read English and have a good understanding of life in the UK; the test is based on the official handbook.

At the citizenship ceremony new citizens make an oath (or affirmation) of allegiance to the monarch and a pledge of loyalty to the UK.

The United Kingdom = England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales only (no Northern Ireland).

The Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey) and the Isle of Man are Crown dependencies: closely linked to the UK but not part of it, with their own governments.

British overseas territories such as St Helena and the Falkland Islands are linked to the UK but are not part of it.

Capitals: London (England and the UK), Edinburgh (Scotland), Cardiff (Wales), Belfast (Northern Ireland).

The Union Flag combines the crosses of St George (England, red on white), St Andrew (Scotland, white diagonal on blue) and St Patrick (Ireland, red diagonal on white). Wales is not represented; the Welsh flag is a red dragon.

Patron saints' days: St David (Wales) 1 March, St Patrick (Northern Ireland) 17 March, St George (England) 23 April, St Andrew (Scotland) 30 November. Only Scotland and Northern Ireland have theirs as official holidays.

Currency: the pound sterling (£), 100 pence. Notes are £5, £10, £20 and £50. Northern Ireland and Scotland issue their own banknotes, which are valid everywhere in the UK.

The first farmers arrived about 6,000 years ago from south-east Europe. Stonehenge (Wiltshire) is a Stone Age monument; Skara Brae (Orkney) is a well-preserved Stone Age village.

Iron Age Britons lived in hill forts (Maiden Castle, Dorset), spoke Celtic languages and minted the first coins. Julius Caesar's invasions in 55 BC failed; Emperor Claudius conquered Britain in AD 43.

Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, led a revolt against the Romans (her statue stands near Westminster Bridge). Hadrian's Wall was built to keep out the Picts. The Romans left in AD 410.

Anglo-Saxon kingdoms followed; the Sutton Hoo ship burial (Suffolk) shows their wealth. St Augustine spread Christianity in the south, St Columba in Scotland, St Patrick in Ireland.

Vikings from Denmark and Norway raided from AD 789; Alfred the Great defeated them and they settled in the Danelaw (east and north). Kenneth MacAlpin united Scotland under one king.

1066: William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. The Bayeux Tapestry records it; the Domesday Book (1086) recorded who owned what. Norman French shaped English.

1215: King John was forced by his barons to sign Magna Carta, limiting the king's power and establishing that even the king is subject to the law.

Parliament developed into two Houses: the House of Lords (nobility, great landowners, bishops) and the House of Commons (knights and wealthy townspeople). Edward I's 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan annexed Wales.

1314: Robert the Bruce defeated the English at Bannockburn and Scotland stayed independent. The Hundred Years War with France included Henry V's victory at Agincourt (1415).

1348: the Black Death killed about a third of the population of England, which led to labour shortages, higher wages and the decline of the feudal system.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in Middle English; William Caxton printed it on the first English printing press. The English language and common law (judges' precedents) developed in this period.

1455 to 1485: the Wars of the Roses between the House of Lancaster (red rose) and the House of York (white rose) ended at Bosworth Field, where Henry Tudor became Henry VII.

Henry VIII had six wives, broke from the Pope and made himself head of the Church of England (1534), and formally united Wales with England. Remember: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

Edward VI made England Protestant (Book of Common Prayer); Mary I ('Bloody Mary') restored Catholicism and burned Protestants; Elizabeth I re-established the Church of England and defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic, fled to England and was executed by Elizabeth I in 1587. William Shakespeare (born Stratford-upon-Avon) wrote plays and sonnets during Elizabeth's reign.

1603: James VI of Scotland became James I of England (Union of the Crowns). He authorised the King James Bible. 1605: Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament failed, remembered on 5 November.

1642 to 1649: Civil War between Charles I (Cavaliers) and Parliament (Roundheads). Oliver Cromwell led Parliament's army; Charles I was executed in 1649 and England became a republic (Commonwealth) with Cromwell as Lord Protector.

1660: the Restoration of Charles II. His reign saw the Great Plague (1665), the Great Fire of London (1666), the Habeas Corpus Act (1679) and the founding of the Royal Society. Isaac Newton published Principia in 1687.

1688: the Glorious Revolution. Protestant William of Orange and Mary replaced Catholic James II without a fight. The Bill of Rights (1689) confirmed Parliament's power over the monarch. William defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne (1690).

1707: the Act of Union joined England and Scotland as the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1714: George I of Hanover became king; Sir Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister (1721 to 1742).

1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite rising was crushed at Culloden (1746), followed by the Highland Clearances. The Scottish Enlightenment produced Adam Smith (economics) and David Hume (philosophy).

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century: James Watt improved the steam engine, Richard Arkwright ran early factories, canals carried goods, and Britain became the world's first industrial nation.

1807: the slave trade was abolished in the British Empire (William Wilberforce led the campaign). 1833: the Emancipation Act abolished slavery throughout the Empire.

1776: the American colonies declared independence. Napoleonic Wars: Admiral Nelson won Trafalgar (1805, Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square); the Duke of Wellington won Waterloo (1815).

1801: the Act of Union with Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish potato famine (1845 to 1849) killed a million and drove mass emigration.

Queen Victoria reigned 1837 to 1901 (almost 64 years). The Great Exhibition of 1851 was held in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. Florence Nightingale founded modern nursing during the Crimean War (1853 to 1856).

Votes: the Reform Act 1832 widened the franchise; Emmeline Pankhurst led the suffragettes; women over 30 got the vote in 1918 and equal voting rights at 21 in 1928.

The Boer War in South Africa (1899 to 1902). Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book and the poem 'If', won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907.

First World War 1914 to 1918, triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916) the British suffered about 60,000 casualties. It ended at 11am on 11 November 1918.

Ireland: the Easter Rising (1916), then partition in 1922. The Irish Free State became independent; six counties stayed in the UK as Northern Ireland.

Between the wars: the BBC started radio in 1922 and television in 1936; the Great Depression hit shipbuilding and mining. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.

Second World War 1939 to 1945. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940; Dunkirk evacuation (1940); the RAF won the Battle of Britain; the Blitz bombed cities; D-Day was 6 June 1944; VE Day 8 May 1945.

Alan Turing broke German codes and pioneered computing. Frank Whittle invented the jet engine. Britain's atomic and radar work also came from the war years.

1945: Clement Attlee's Labour government created the welfare state (Beveridge Report, 1942) and the NHS (1948, Aneurin Bevan as Health Minister). The Butler Education Act 1944 introduced free secondary education.

1948: the Empire Windrush brought workers from the Caribbean; India, Pakistan and Ceylon became independent in 1947 to 1948. In the 1950s Britain invited workers from the Commonwealth to fill labour shortages.

The Swinging Sixties: the Beatles and the Rolling Stones; laws on abortion and divorce were liberalised; British inventions included Concorde (1969), the hovercraft, and the discovery of DNA's structure (Crick and Watson, 1953).

1973: the UK joined the European Economic Community. Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) was the first woman Prime Minister, 1979 to 1990, the longest-serving of the 20th century; the Falklands War was in 1982.

1997: Tony Blair's Labour government introduced devolution: the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly (now the Senedd) opened in 1999, and the Good Friday Agreement (1998) brought the Northern Ireland Assembly. 2010: Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition.

2016: the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, and it left on 31 January 2020. Queen Elizabeth II reigned 1952 to 2022; King Charles III is the current monarch.

Population: the handbook gives just over 62 million (2010 census figure); the 2021 census counted about 67 million. About 84% live in England. Answer with the handbook figure if a question quotes 2010.

Religion: the UK is historically Christian. The Church of England (Anglican) is the established church; the monarch is its head and the Archbishop of Canterbury its spiritual leader. The Church of Scotland is Presbyterian, led by a Moderator.

Christian festivals: Christmas Day 25 December, Boxing Day 26 December, Easter (March or April) preceded by Lent, which starts on Ash Wednesday after Shrove Tuesday (pancake day). Other festivals: Diwali (Hindus and Sikhs), Eid al-Fitr and Eid ul Adha (Muslims), Hanukkah (Jews), Vaisakhi (Sikhs, 14 April).

Other dates: Valentine's Day 14 February, April Fool's Day 1 April, Halloween 31 October, Bonfire Night 5 November, Remembrance Day 11 November (poppies, two-minute silence at 11am). Hogmanay is New Year's Eve in Scotland.

Sport: the UK hosted the Olympics in 1908, 1948 and 2012 (London). Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament; the Ashes is cricket against Australia; the Six Nations is rugby union; the Grand National is at Aintree; the Open is golf's oldest championship; St Andrews is the home of golf.

Sports people: Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile (1954); Sir Steve Redgrave won rowing gold at five Olympics; Sir Chris Hoy (cycling), Bradley Wiggins (first Briton to win the Tour de France, 2012), Mo Farah (distance running), Jessica Ennis (heptathlon), Andy Murray (tennis), Ellie Simmonds (Paralympic swimming).

Music: the Proms is an eight-week summer season of classical concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, organised by the BBC. Composers: Purcell, Handel (German-born, Water Music), Elgar (Pomp and Circumstance), Vaughan Williams, Britten. Glastonbury is the big festival; the Mercury Prize and Brit Awards are the music prizes.

Theatre and literature: London's West End; the Laurence Olivier Awards; pantomime at Christmas; Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. Writers: Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Agatha Christie, J K Rowling (Harry Potter), and the war poet Wilfred Owen. The Poet Laureate is appointed by the monarch.

Art and architecture: painters Turner, Constable, Hockney; sculptor Henry Moore; the Turner Prize for contemporary art. Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt St Paul's Cathedral after 1666; Robert Adam (Georgian), Inigo Jones; gardener Gertrude Jekyll; modern architect Sir Norman Foster.

Landmarks: Big Ben is the bell in the Elizabeth Tower at the Houses of Parliament; the Eden Project (Cornwall) has giant biomes; Edinburgh Castle; the Giant's Causeway (Northern Ireland); Loch Lomond; the London Eye; Snowdonia; the Tower of London (Crown Jewels); the Lake District (largest national park in England). The National Trust was founded in 1895.

Geography: the Severn is the longest river; Ben Nevis (Scotland) is the highest mountain; Snowdon is the highest in Wales; Lough Neagh (Northern Ireland) is the largest lake; Windermere is the largest lake in England.

Everyday life: you can drive at 17, buy alcohol and vote at 18, and play the National Lottery at 16. The NHS is free at the point of use; you pay council tax to your local authority and need a TV licence to watch live TV. Pubs may sell alcohol from 11am; it is illegal to sell alcohol to under-18s.

The UK is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy with an unwritten constitution. The monarch is head of state, appoints the Prime Minister, opens Parliament each year, and 'reigns but does not rule'. The heir is Prince William.

The House of Commons has 650 MPs, each elected by first past the post in a constituency; a general election must be held at least every 5 years. The Speaker chairs debates and is politically neutral.

The House of Lords is not elected: life peers (appointed for life), some hereditary peers and senior Church of England bishops. It can delay and amend laws but the Commons can overrule it.

The Prime Minister leads the government, lives at 10 Downing Street, and appoints the Cabinet (about 20 senior ministers, for example the Chancellor of the Exchequer for finance, the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary). The largest party not in government forms the Opposition, with a Shadow Cabinet. Prime Minister's Questions is every week.

Devolution: the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has 129 MSPs; the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont has 90 MLAs; the Welsh Parliament (Senedd) in Cardiff has 60 members in the handbook (it expanded to 96 at the May 2026 election, but answer 60 if the question is from the handbook). Defence, foreign affairs, immigration and taxation stay with the UK Parliament.

Voting: you can vote from 18 if you are a UK, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen and on the electoral register. Voting is by secret ballot at a polling station, or by post. Local councils are elected in May; the police are held to account by elected Police and Crime Commissioners.

International bodies: the Commonwealth (56 members, the King is its head, membership is voluntary); the United Nations (the UK is one of five permanent members of the Security Council); NATO; and the Council of Europe, which drew up the European Convention on Human Rights (1950).

Law: criminal law covers offences against society (theft, assault, drugs, carrying a weapon); civil law settles disputes between people (debt, housing, employment, family). The police must protect life and property and act fairly; you can complain about police to an independent body.

Courts: minor criminal cases go to a Magistrates' Court (England, Wales, NI; unpaid magistrates) or Justice of the Peace Court (Scotland); serious cases go to the Crown Court with a jury of 12 (Sheriff Court or High Court in Scotland, jury of 15). Youth Courts deal with ages 10 to 17 (Children's Hearings in Scotland). Small civil claims are under £10,000 in England and Wales (£3,000 in Scotland and NI).

Ages: criminal responsibility starts at 10 (8 in Scotland); jury service is for those aged 18 to 70 on the electoral register; full-time education is compulsory to 16 (with training to 18 in England).

Rights: the Human Rights Act 1998 brings the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. Equal pay for men and women, and protection from discrimination, are guaranteed. Domestic violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation are crimes.

Money and driving: income tax and National Insurance are collected by HMRC; you need a National Insurance number to work. To drive you need a licence (from 17), insurance, an MOT for cars over 3 years old, and vehicle tax. Driving without insurance is a serious offence.

Your role: vote, serve on a jury if called, volunteer, become a school governor or magistrate, give blood, recycle, and take part in local community life. These are the ways the handbook says you can contribute.