Leisure: Life in the UK test study notes

Key facts to remember

• An allotment is a piece of land that people rent to grow fruit and vegetables.
• The Chelsea Flower Show is held in London each May.
• Famous gardens: Kew Gardens, Sissinghurst and Hidcote (England); Crathes Castle and Inveraray Castle (Scotland); Bodnant Garden (Wales); Mount Stewart (Northern Ireland).
• National flowers: the rose (England), the thistle (Scotland), the daffodil (Wales) and the shamrock (Northern Ireland).
• Most shops open seven days a week, with shorter hours on Sundays and public holidays.
• Many towns hold markets, with traders' stalls on one or more days each week.
• England: roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, and fish and chips. Scotland: haggis. Wales: Welsh cakes, made with flour, dried fruit and spices. Northern Ireland: the Ulster fry.
• 1896 – the first public film screenings took place in the UK, and cinema quickly became popular.
• Charlie Chaplin became a star of Hollywood silent films, playing a tramp; Alfred Hitchcock began in British films, directing The 39 Steps (1935), before moving to Hollywood.
• During the Second World War, British films such as In Which We Serve helped to boost morale.
• David Lean directed Brief Encounter and Lawrence of Arabia; Ealing Studios made comedies such as Passport to Pimlico and The Ladykillers.
• Ealing Studios claims to be the world's oldest film studio still in continuous use.
• James Bond and Harry Potter are hugely successful film series made largely in the UK; the BAFTAs are the British film awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars.
• Animator Nick Park has won four Oscars, three of them for Wallace and Gromit films.
• British comedy has a satirical tradition, from court jesters and Punch magazine to music hall and TV shows such as Monty Python's Flying Circus.
• 1840s – Punch was launched and became the best-known satirical magazine of its time; Private Eye carries on that tradition today.
• Satirical TV shows such as That Was The Week That Was and Spitting Image poked fun at politicians and public figures.
• 1969 – Monty Python's Flying Circus was first shown, bringing a new style of comedy to television.
• Situation comedies (sitcoms) often find humour in family life and relationships at work, and they remain popular.
• Anyone who watches or records TV as it is broadcast, on any device, needs a TV licence (and, since 2016, anyone using BBC iPlayer); the money pays for the BBC, which shows no adverts.
• One TV licence covers all the TV equipment in a home, unless rooms are rented under separate tenancy agreements. Watching TV without a licence risks being fined as much as £1,000.
• Social networking sites are a popular way to keep in touch with friends and share photos.
• Pub games – pool and darts are the traditional favourites, and quizzes in pubs are popular too.
• You must be 18 to buy alcohol; in England, Wales and Scotland, 16- and 17-year-olds may drink beer, wine or cider with a meal if an adult is with them.
• You must be 18 to enter a betting shop or gambling club. The handbook gives 16 as the minimum age for the National Lottery; it rose to 18 in 2021.
• Dog owners must control their dog and clean up after it in public places; a dog in a public place must wear a collar showing its owner's name and address.