The United Kingdom (UK)

In Britain, potato chips are called “crisps,” and what Americans call french fries are called “chips”!

British children play a game called “conkers” using horse chestnut seeds on strings, trying to break their opponent’s conker!

The UK has double-decker buses that are about 4.4 meters tall — almost as tall as a young giraffe!

Most British homes have electric kettles, and they’re so common that power stations prepare for electricity surges during commercial breaks in popular TV shows when millions of people make tea at the same time!

History & Heritage

The Tower of London has been a palace, prison, fortress, and zoo — and it’s still home to the Crown Jewels!

Stonehenge was built over 5,000 years ago, and some of its stones weigh as much as four elephants!

William Shakespeare wrote 39 plays and 154 sonnets, and invented over 1,700 common words we still use today!

The Romans built Hadrian’s Wall across northern England in 122 AD, and it took 6 years to complete!

The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed over 13,000 houses but led to better building regulations and the world’s first fire brigade!

The first postage stamp was created in the UK in 1840 and featured Queen Victoria’s face!

Big Ben is actually the name of the bell inside the famous clock tower, not the tower itself!

The Crown Jewels include 23,578 precious stones, and the Imperial State Crown alone has 2,868 diamonds!

The oldest university in the UK is Oxford, which has been teaching students for over 900 years!

The Magna Carta, signed in 1215, was one of the first documents to give people rights against an absolute monarch!

The UK’s oldest castle still in use is Windsor Castle, which was built in 1070 and is still a royal residence today!

The Black Death in the 14th century caused the population of Britain to drop dramatically, with some areas losing nearly half their people!

The Battle of Hastings in 1066 changed British history forever when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold and became the new king!

The British Empire once covered about 24% of the Earth’s land surface and included countries on every continent!

The world’s first public railway line opened in England in 1825, pulling coal and passengers between Stockton and Darlington!

Modern Life & Technology

The UK invented the World Wide Web in 1989 at CERN, making the internet as we know it possible!

London is one of the most surveilled cities in the world, with an estimated 1 CCTV camera for every 14 people!

The UK has the world’s oldest underground railway system, opened in 1863, and it’s still growing today!

British scientists helped create the world’s first test-tube baby, the world’s first cloned mammal (Dolly the sheep), and the COVID-19 vaccine!

The UK is building the world’s largest offshore wind farm, which will power over 6 million homes!

British engineers designed the Bloodhound LSR, a high-speed vehicle aiming to break the land speed record by reaching over 1,000 miles per hour (1,609 km/h).

The UK has more electric vehicle charging points than petrol stations!

British children start school at age 4 or 5, which is earlier than most other countries in the world!

The UK invented the hovercraft in 1955, a vehicle that floats on a cushion of air!

The UK has the highest number of tornado occurrences per square kilometer in the world!

The UK has over 50 universities in the world’s top 500, making it a global leader in education!

The Shard in London is the tallest building in the UK at 310 meters (1,017 ft feet) — that’s as tall as 70 double-decker buses stacked on top of each other!

About 30 million tourists visit London every year — that’s more than 82,000 people each day!

Fun & Interesting Facts

Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis had their own room in Buckingham Palace with raised beds to avoid drafts!

There’s a law that makes it illegal to handle salmon suspiciously in England and Wales!

The British Museum has over 8 million objects in its collection, and you would need to spend 15 years looking at each item for 1 minute to see them all!

The UK has a town called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch – it’s the longest place name in Europe!

Scotland’s Gleniffer Press published one of the world’s smallest books, a 1mm x 1mm edition of Old King Cole in 1985, which requires a microscope to read!

The UK has villages with funny names like Giggleswick, Scratchy Bottom, and Twatt!

The UK once had tons of red telephone boxes, but now only about 3,000 are left! Some of these iconic boxes have turned into mini libraries or awesome art galleries!

The UK’s money used to be made from special paper, sometimes using old jeans! Today, it’s printed on strong plastic to last longer.

The UK’s Glasgow Looking Glass, first published in 1825, is considered the world’s first comic book!

British people say “cheers” about 50 times a day, and it can mean “thank you,” “goodbye,” or “good health!”

The UK uses special roundabouts called “Magic Roundabouts” that are actually five mini roundabouts arranged in a circle!

The British invented the chocolate bar in 1847, and today the average Brit eats about 7.6 kg of chocolate per year!

There’s a group of ravens that live at the Tower of London, and legend says if they ever leave, the kingdom will fall!

The UK has a official Monster Raving Loony Party that participates in elections with silly campaign promises!

British scientists invented the first electronic programmable computer in 1943, called Colossus!

The London Eye Ferris wheel is so tall that on a clear day, you can see for 40 kilometers (25 miles) in every direction!

The British invented the sandwich when the Earl of Sandwich asked for meat between bread so he could eat while playing cards!

The UK’s police cars are called “Pandas” because they used to be painted black and white!