Key facts

Dates, monarchs, PMs, battles — for cramming.

British monarchs

  • First Tudor monarchHenry VII, following his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485
  • Henry VIII's break with RomeHenry VIII established the Church of England so he could divorce Catherine of Aragon without papal approval
  • Longest-reigning monarch (at time of writing)Queen Victoria, who reigned for almost 64 years from 1837 to 1901
  • Queen Elizabeth IIReigned from 1952 until her death on 8 September 2022; celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 2012
  • Current monarchKing Charles III, who has reigned since 2022
  • Heir apparentWilliam, Prince of Wales; his children are Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis
  • William the ConquerorWilliam, Duke of Normandy, defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and became the first Norman king of England
  • Glorious RevolutionWilliam of Orange became William III in 1688 after English Protestants invited him to replace the Catholic James II; there was no fighting in England

Key Acts of Parliament

  • Magna Carta (1215)Forced upon King John by his nobles; established that even the king is subject to the law and restricted royal power to raise taxes or change laws
  • Habeas Corpus Act (1679)Guaranteed that no one could be held prisoner unlawfully; every prisoner has the right to a court hearing
  • Bill of Rights (1689)Confirmed the rights of Parliament and set limits on the monarch's power following the Glorious Revolution
  • Act of Union (1707)United the kingdoms of England and Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain; Scotland kept its own legal and education systems and Presbyterian Church
  • Reform Act (1832)Greatly increased the number of men eligible to vote and abolished pocket and rotten boroughs, giving more parliamentary seats to towns and cities
  • Emancipation Act (1833)Abolished slavery throughout the British Empire; William Wilberforce was the leading abolitionist and Quakers formed the first anti-slavery groups
  • Education Act (1944)Introduced free secondary education in England and Wales; associated with R A Butler and established the division between primary and secondary schools
  • Human Rights Act (1998)Incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law; government, public bodies and courts must follow its principles

Prime Ministers

  • First Prime MinisterSir Robert Walpole, who served from 1721 to 1742; King George I relied heavily on ministers due to his poor English
  • Clement AttleeLabour PM from 1945 to 1951; established the NHS, nationalised major industries and implemented the Beveridge Report's welfare state plans
  • Margaret ThatcherFirst female PM; Conservative leader from 1979 to 1990 and the longest-serving PM of the 20th century; privatised nationalised industries and reformed trade union law
  • Tony BlairLabour PM from 1997; introduced the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and built on the Northern Ireland peace process, leading to the Good Friday Agreement (1998)
  • Gordon BrownTook over as Labour PM in 2007
  • David CameronLed the first peacetime coalition government since 1974 from May 2010; Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition
  • Keir StarmerLeader of the Labour Party which won the majority in the 2024 general election, forming the current government
  • Winston ChurchillBecame PM in May 1940; refused to surrender to Nazi Germany; voted greatest Briton of all time in 2002; died 1965 and was given a state funeral

Patron saints and national symbols

  • St David's Day1 March; patron saint of Wales
  • St Patrick's Day17 March; patron saint of Northern Ireland
  • St George's Day23 April; patron saint of England
  • St Andrew's Day30 November; patron saint of Scotland
  • Official public holidays for patron saintsOnly Scotland and Northern Ireland have their patron saint's day as an official public holiday
  • The Union FlagCombines the crosses of St George (England), St Andrew (Scotland) and St Patrick (Ireland); the Welsh dragon does not appear because Wales was already united with England when the first Union Flag was created in 1606
  • National Anthem'God Save the King (or Queen)'; played at important national occasions and events attended by the Royal Family

British inventions and discoveries

  • TelevisionDeveloped by Scotsman John Logie Baird in the 1920s; he made the first broadcast between London and Glasgow in 1932
  • RadarDeveloped by Scotsman Sir Robert Watson-Watt; first successful test in 1935
  • Jet engineDeveloped in Britain in the 1930s by Sir Frank Whittle, a Royal Air Force engineer
  • PenicillinDiscovered in 1928 by Scottish doctor Alexander Fleming while researching influenza; further developed by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain; in mass production by the 1940s
  • World Wide WebInvented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee; information was first successfully transferred on 25 December 1990
  • HovercraftInvented by Sir Christopher Cockerell in the 1950s
  • ATM (cashpoint)Invented by James Goodfellow in the 1960s; first put into use by Barclays Bank in Enfield, north London in 1967
  • IVF therapyPioneered in Britain by Sir Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe; the world's first test-tube baby was born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1978
  • MRI scannerCo-invented by British scientist Sir Peter Mansfield; revolutionised diagnostic medicine
  • DNA structureDiscovered in 1953 through work at British universities; Francis Crick, who was British, was among those awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery

Key battles and wars

  • Battle of Hastings (1066)William of Normandy defeated the Saxon king Harold; Harold was killed and William became king; commemorated in the Bayeux Tapestry
  • Battle of Bannockburn (1314)Scottish forces under Robert the Bruce defeated the English; Scotland remained unconquered
  • Battle of Bosworth Field (1485)Ended the Wars of the Roses; Richard III was killed and Henry Tudor became Henry VII, founding the House of Tudor
  • Battle of Trafalgar (1805)Admiral Nelson defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets; Nelson was killed in the battle; commemorated by Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square
  • Battle of Waterloo (1815)The Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon, ending the French Wars
  • Battle of the Somme (1916)British forces suffered approximately 60,000 casualties on the first day alone
  • Dunkirk evacuation (1940)More than 300,000 British and French soldiers were rescued from the beaches around Dunkirk by the Royal Navy and civilian volunteers; gave rise to the phrase 'Dunkirk spirit'
  • Battle of Britain (1940)The RAF defeated the German air force's aerial campaign; the key aircraft were the Spitfire and Hurricane

Parliament and government

  • House of CommonsThe democratically elected chamber; MPs each represent a parliamentary constituency; the PM and almost all cabinet members are MPs
  • House of LordsMembers (peers) are not elected; includes life peers appointed on the PM's advice and some hereditary peers elected by their peers; scrutinises legislation passed by the Commons
  • The SpeakerChairs debates in the House of Commons; is politically neutral; chosen by MPs in a secret ballot
  • General Election frequencyMust be held at least every five years; MPs are elected by first past the post
  • Voting ageSet at 18 in 1969; all UK-born and naturalised adult citizens, Commonwealth citizens and Irish Republic citizens resident in the UK can vote in all public elections
  • Scottish ParliamentEstablished in 1999; sits in Edinburgh; 129 MSPs elected by proportional representation; can legislate on health, education, civil and criminal law and has additional tax-raising powers
  • Welsh AssemblyEstablished in 1999; sits in Cardiff; 60 AMs elected every four years; can legislate in 20 areas including education and health without UK Parliament approval since 2011
  • Northern Ireland AssemblyEstablished following the Good Friday Agreement (1998); 90 MLAs elected by proportional representation; sits at Stormont, Belfast; suspended several times but running successfully since 2007

Notable British sports achievements

  • Roger BannisterFirst person in the world to run a mile in under four minutes, in 1954
  • England football World CupEngland's only international tournament victory was the 1966 FIFA World Cup, hosted in the UK; the team was captained by Bobby Moore
  • Steve RedgraveWon gold medals in rowing at five consecutive Olympic Games
  • Bradley WigginsIn 2012 became the first Briton to win the Tour de France; also won Olympic gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012
  • Mo FarahWon gold medals in both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m at the 2012 Olympics; first Briton to win Olympic gold in the 10,000 m
  • Andy MurrayScottish tennis player who in 2012 won the US Open men's singles — the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1936
  • Tanni Grey-ThompsonWheelchair athlete who won 16 Paralympic medals (11 gold) across five Paralympic Games and won the London Marathon six times
  • UK hosting the OlympicsThe UK has hosted the Olympic Games three times: 1908, 1948 and 2012; the 2012 main site was in Stratford, East London; Britain finished third in the medal table

Welfare state and post-war Britain

  • Beveridge Report (1942)Written by William Beveridge; recommended tackling five 'Giant Evils' — Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness — and provided the basis for the modern welfare state
  • NHS foundedEstablished in 1948 by Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, Minister for Health, under PM Clement Attlee; guaranteed a minimum standard of health care free at the point of use
  • Post-war nationalisationAttlee's government took railways, coal mines and gas, water and electricity into public ownership
  • Independence for colonies (1947)Nine countries including India, Pakistan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) were granted independence; other colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific followed over the next 20 years
  • Post-war immigrationWorkers from Ireland, Europe and the West Indies were encouraged to come to the UK to help rebuild after the Second World War; from the 1950s workers were also recruited from India, Pakistan and later Bangladesh
  • Good Friday Agreement (1998)Peace agreement in Northern Ireland; led to the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly; most paramilitary groups subsequently decommissioned their arms
  • UK joining the EECThe UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973
  • BrexitThe UK left the European Union at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 following the 2016 referendum

UK values and constitutional principles

  • Fundamental principles of British lifeDemocracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, and participation in community life
  • Citizenship pledge'I will give my loyalty to the United Kingdom and respect its rights and freedoms. I will uphold its democratic values. I will observe its laws faithfully and fulfil my duties and obligations as a British citizen.'
  • Freedoms offered by the UKFreedom of belief and religion, freedom of speech, freedom from unfair discrimination, a right to a fair trial, and a right to vote in elections
  • The British constitutionUnwritten — not contained in a single document; key institutions have evolved over hundreds of years
  • The UK's compositionEngland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' refers only to England, Scotland and Wales
  • Crown dependenciesThe Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are closely linked to the UK but not part of it; they have their own governments
  • European Convention on Human RightsBritish diplomats and lawyers helped draft it; the UK was one of the first countries to sign it in 1950; incorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998
  • Constitutional monarchyThe monarch is head of state but does not govern; the monarch appoints the government chosen by the people and has regular meetings with the PM to advise, warn and encourage

Famous British authors and poets

  • William Shakespeare (1564–1616)Playwright and poet born in Stratford-upon-Avon; famous plays include Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream; had a great influence on the English language
  • Geoffrey ChaucerWrote The Canterbury Tales in English around 1400; one of the first books printed by William Caxton, England's first printer
  • Robert Burns (1759–96)Scottish poet known as 'The Bard'; wrote in Scots language and English; best known for Auld Lang Syne, sung at New Year
  • Dylan Thomas (1914–53)Welsh poet and writer; best-known works include the radio play Under Milk Wood and the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
  • Jane Austen (1775–1817)English novelist; works include Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, concerned with marriage and family relationships
  • Charles Dickens (1812–70)English novelist; works include Oliver Twist and Great Expectations; characters such as Scrooge and Mr Micawber have entered everyday speech
  • Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936)Born in India; wrote The Jungle Book and Just So Stories; his poem If is frequently voted among the UK's favourite poems; awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907
  • J K Rowling (1965–)Wrote the Harry Potter series of children's books, which achieved huge international success

Religious festivals and customs

  • Christmas Day25 December; public holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ; people exchange gifts, send cards, decorate trees and eat a traditional meal
  • EasterMarch or April; marks the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays; preceded by 40 days of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday
  • DiwaliOctober or November; five-day Festival of Lights celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs; marks the victory of good over evil; famous celebration held in Leicester
  • Eid al-FitrCelebrates the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting; date changes each year
  • HanukkahNovember or December; eight-day Jewish festival commemorating the struggle for religious freedom; a candle is lit on the menorah each day
  • Bonfire Night5 November; commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Guy Fawkes and a group of Catholics attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament
  • Remembrance Day11 November; commemorates those who died fighting for the UK and its allies; people wear red poppies; a two-minute silence is held at 11:00 am; wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in Whitehall
  • HogmanayNew Year celebrations in Scotland on 31 December; 2 January is also a public holiday in Scotland; for some Scots this is a bigger celebration than Christmas