Art Galleries and other United Kingdom Local Custom Tips

Year 2000 saw a lot of exceptional 'Art Galleries' open to the public. Ok, I suppose I will have to mention the Tate Modern in London (which I haven't been to), but in addition there has been The Lowry in Salford and The New Gallery in Walsall both of which I have been to. The New Gallery at Walsall in the West Midlands is full of Epstein sculptures.

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A feature that not many people have mentioned is radio. The main national broadcaster is the BBC - they have 5 national channels and many local stations. Buy the Radio Times at any newsagent to tell you what's on. Radio 4 is a high quality speech channel, Radio 3 is classical music, Radio 5 Live is a sports and news station, and very roughly Radio 1 is a younger people's (whatever that means!) pop music station and finally Radio 2 is aimed at a slightly older popular (easy listening) music audience. My daughter thinks I'm very old fashioned - she listens to Radio 1 and two local commercial pop stations, BRMB and Radio Wyvern.
There are an increasing number of digital channels available and the price of receivers is falling fast. I have not bought one because our local transmitter does not broadcast any of the television or radio digital signals. I find that I can now receive one of the new digital stations via my TV. This is BBC7. This is rebroadcasting archive programmes of the 1970 to 1990 period - particularly old comedy programmes.
Many of the the BBC programmes are available live on line and are archived for the week following the broadcast and so should be able to be picked up via Internet anywhere in the world.

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Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

In the UK, a 17.5% value-added tax is included in the price of many goods and some services. No VAT is added to children's clothes, books, newspapers or unprepared foods in the supermarkets, bakers, fish shops or take-away foods but it is levied on food eaten on the premises. It can be reclaimed by Non-EU tourists to the UK.

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The first pillar boxes in the UK appeared in 1840. Initially they were a dark green but the present red was quickly adopted. Prior to 1840 letters and mail were paid for on receipt. The present boxes are normally round but these very early one were octagonal, this box is outside Worcester Cathedral.
The photo is of the 1857 fluted Victoriar pillar box from my Malvern page.
It is a very reliable service compared to most parts of the world.

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The United Kingdom government is devided between the national governments for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own Assembly but all send MP's to Westminster. However, England does not have its own Assembly. All MP's can vote on English legislation but English MP's cannot vote in the other Assemblies

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The decimal system of currency in the United Kingdom is still relatively new. It was not until the 1966 that the government announced its decision to adopt decimal currency. The official changeover took place on 15 February 1971 and the British public bade farewell to the romantic £sd coinage. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own bank notes, and the Channel Islands have their own coins as well.

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Voluntary driving tests started in 1934 and became compulsary in the UK on 1.6.1935, as a road safety measure. The minimum age to take the test is 17. When it was first introduced the test was the responsibility of Local Authorities, now it is central government. In 1939 the tests were suspended until the end of World War 2 in 1946.
In 1996 a theory test was introduced, and in 2000 the theory test changed from being a paper test to being a test sitting at a computer. From 2002 this test also began to test hazard perception and in 2003 questions about vehicle maintenence were added
From 2000 the actual test included driving on faster stretches of road, such as dual carriageways, but learner drivers are not allowed to drive on motorways.
"According to the most recent World Health Organization numbers, the rate of fatal traffic accidents in Britain is 5.6 people every 100,000 people, a substantial difference from the United States, where the rate is 15. Measured another way, there are 7.6 fatalities per billion kilometers driven in Britain, compared with 9.4 in the United States, according to figures compiled by the International Road and Traffic Accident Database, a research venture of the European Union. The W.H.O. estimates that traffic injuries cost Britain 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product, versus 2.3 percent in the United States. Test failure rates are remarkably high for would-be drivers in Britain: just 42 percent of test-takers pass (compared with about 61 percent, for example, in New York State)." - New York Times 26.10.05

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