Stones and Kings

2,000 years ago prehistoric people living in England erected a huge stone circle we've come to call Stonehenge. Even now people are not exactly sure why the stones are there. Ancient Romans also did some stone building while they inhabited England. In Londirium (it's called London today) they built a wall around the city, parts of which can still be seen; and in the north, Hadrian's Wall was constructed to keep the Picts in Scotland out of England.

Long after the Romans left, other magnificent structures were being built. Westminster Abbey has been the place where every king and queen of England (except for 2) have been crowned since 1066. The Old London Bridge was finished in 1176 and lasted for 650 years. This is the bridge from the children's song "London Bridge Is Falling Down." In more recent times, a tunnel was built underneath the English Channel between England and France. It's been nicknamed the "Chunnel", and now people can travel between the two countries on high speed trains.

Of the many famous museums in London one of the most unusual is Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Madame Tussaud was a real person who made death masks of people executed during the French Revolution. She came to England where she opened an exhibition of her wax figures. Today the museum creates life-like sculptures of famous people from history, movies, music and television. One of the museum's most popular sections is the Chamber of Horrors.

The British people occupy themselves with a variety of activities including many sports which were first developed in England. English football -what we call soccer - is very popular as is another kind of football called rugby. Cricket is game where a ball is pitched to a player who tries to knock down sticks called wickets. The period of time each team is at bat is called an innings (sort of like an inning in baseball), and a match may go on for several days. The famous Wimbledon tennis match has taken place since 1877, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent present the award to the winners.

If sports aren't to your liking, England has a long tradition of wonderful music. Sixteenth century composers like William Byrd and John Tavener wrote great choral works for church. In 1667 Henry Purcell had his first piece of music published when he was only 8 years old. He later became a great organ player and composed music for the royal family. Benjamin Britten, a 20th century composer, also began writing music when he was a boy. Two of his best known operas, Billy Budd and Paul Bunyan, are based on American stories. If it's concert you like, you can attend one of the world's largest music festivals called the Promenade Concerts. The "Proms" take place at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is tradition that the last concert of the series is a sing-a-long with the audience and the orchestra. This year they've started a competition for young British composers, 12-16 years old, who have a chance to have their work performed at one of the Promenade Concerts!