Ceremony of the Keys is the one that takes place every night at the Tower of London and has done so in some form or another since the 14th century. At exactly 9.53pm, the Chief Yeoman Warder, dressed in Tudor Watchcoat, meets the military escort, made up of members of the Tower of London Guard. Together, the Chief Yeoman Warder and the Yeoman Warder 'Watchman' secure the main gates of the Tower. Upon their return down Water Lane, the party is halted by the sentry and challenged to identify themselves:

Sentry: "Halt! Who comes there?"

Chief Warder: "The keys."

Sentry: "Whose keys?"

Chief Warder: "Queen Elizabeth's keys."

Sentry: "Pass Queen Elizabeth's Keys. All is well."

Following this, the party makes its way through the Bloody Tower Archway into the fortress, where they halt at the bottom of the Broadwalk Steps. On the top of the Stairs, under the command of their officer, the Tower Guard present arms and the Chief Warder raises his hat, proclaiming:

Chief Warder: "God preserve Queen Elizabeth."

Sentry: "Amen!"

He then takes the keys to the Queen's House for safekeeping, while the Last Post is sounded.

 

 

 

 

Beefeaters (or Yeomen Warders) are  ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels. Becoming a Yeoman Warder is not easy. A candidate must have at least 22 years of service in the Armed Forces. In addition to length of service, all Yeomen Warders must also have been awarded the ‘Long Service and Good Conduct’ medal during their time in the armed forces.

Brain Drain

Brain drainis a  slang term for a significant emigration of educated or talented individuals. A brain drain can result from turmoil within a nation, from there being better professional opportunities in other countries or from people seeking a better standard of living.

Brain drains cause countries to lose valuable professionals. The term is usually used to describe the departure of doctors, scientists, engineers or financial professionals. When these people leave, their country is harmed in two ways. First, expertise is lost with each emigrant, diminishing the supply of that profession. Second, the country's economy is harmed as each professional represents surplus spending units. Professionals often earn large salaries, so their departure removes significant consumer spending from the country.

Double-decker bus

A double-decker bus is a bus that has two stories or decks. Double-decker buses are used for mass transit in the United Kingdom, an iconic example being the red London bus. Double-decker buses are also used in many other cities around the world.
Early double-deckers put the driver in a separate cab. Passenger access was via an open platform at the rear, and a conductor would collect fares. Modern double-deckers have a main entrance door at the front, and the driver takes fares, thus halving the number of bus workers aboard, but slowing the boarding process. The rear open platform, popular with passengers, was abandoned for safety reasons, as there was a risk of passengers running and jumping into the bus.

Double-deckers are primarily for commuter transport but open-top models are used as sight-seeing buses for tourists. William Gladstone, speaking of London's double-deck horse drawn omnibuses, once observed, «...the best way to see London is from the top of a bus»

Bara birth ("speckled bread") is traditional Welsh tea bread enriched with dried fruit. It is made with raisins, currents and candied peel. It was traditionally eaten on St. David's Day or Christmas, in thick slices spread with butter. The name Bara birth was originally used in North Wales only. In the south the name Teisen dorth was used (teisen means cake and dorth/torth is a loaf).

 

 

 

 

The "Blues"

 

All undergraduates who represent their univirsities (Oxford & Cambridge) in sporting contests are known as Blues. They are described as "having been awarded their Blue" and to signalize the fact they wear blue jackets -  light blue for Cambridge and dark blue for Oxford. Journalists frequently refer to Cambridge crews and teams as "the Light Blues" and Oxford players as "the Dark Blues".

 

 

 

 

Verderers of the New Forest 

Verderers are a body of ten persons appointed to administer the law concerning the New Forest. Five are elected and five are appointed as representatives of the Crown, the Forestry Commission, the Countryside Agency, Hampshire County Council and Defra. The Verderers sit in open court at regular intervals throughout the year and any member of the public may make a 'presentment' to them, raising any issue concerning the forest. Verderers hold the register of brands and they also have complete administrative control of all the stallions on the forest.

 

А Burns Supper / Burns Night is a celebration of life and poetry of Robert Burns, who is known to be the author of many Scots poems. The suppers are normaly held on the poet's birthday, January, 25. They can be formal and informal. Both typically include haggis (a traditional Scottish dish celebrated by Burns in Address to a Haggis), Scotsh whisky and the recitation of Burns's poetry. The celebration occasionally ends with dancing when ladies are present.

 

A

 

Tory is a member of the British Conservative Party.

Bushel

Bushel

A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was equal to 4 pecks or 8 gallons and was used mostly for agricultural products such as wheat. Presently, the volume is usually only nominal, with bushels referring to standard quantities of mass instead. Two pecks make a kenning (obsolete), and four pecks make a bushel.

The bushel is an intermediate value between the pound and ton or tun that was introduced following the Norman Conquest. Norman statutes made the London bushel part of the legal measure of English wine, ale, and grains. The Assize of Bread and Ale credited to Henry III c. 1266 defined this bushel in terms of the wine gallon, while the c. 1300 Assize of Weights and Measures usually credited to Edward I or II defined the London bushel in terms of the larger corn gallon. In either case, the bushel was reckoned to contain 64 pounds of 12 ounces of 20 pence of 32 grains.

These measures were based on the relatively light Tower pound and were rarely used in Scotland, Ireland, or Wales during the Middle Ages. When the Tower system was abolished in the 16th century, the bushel was redefined as 56 avoirdupois pounds.

Mortarboard (Square academic cap)

Mortarboard (Square academic cap)

The square academic cap, graduate cap, cap, or mortarboard (because of its similarity in appearance to the hawk used by bricklayers to hold mortar) or Oxford cap, is an item of academic head dress consisting of a horizontal square board fixed upon a skull-cap, with a tassel attached to the centre. In the UK and the US, it is commonly referred to informally in conjunction with an academic gown worn as a cap and gown. It is also sometimes termed a square, trencher, or corner-cap. The adjective academical is also used.

The cap, together with the gown and (sometimes) a hood, now form the customary uniform of a university graduate, in many parts of the world, following a British model.

The mortarboard is generally believed by unknown scholars to have developed from the biretta, a similar-looking hat worn by Roman Catholic clergy. The biretta itself may have been a development of the Roman pileus quadratus. The Italian biretta is a word derived from berretto, which is derived itself from the Latin birrus and the Greek pyrros, both meaning "red." The cone-shaped red (seldom in black) biretta, related to the ancient Etruscan tutulus and the Roman

 pileus, was used in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to identify humanists, students, artists, and learned and blooming youth in general. 

Ferstly it was  reserved for holders only of master's degrees (the highest qualification in mediæval academia) but was later adopted by bachelors and undergraduates. In the 16th and 17th centuries corner-cap ("catercap" in the Marprelate tracts) was the term used (OED).

Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a "Christmas box", from their bosses or employers. Today, Boxing Day is the bank holiday that generally takes place on 26 December. 

Sporran ['spɔrən] - a small pouch worn around the waist so as to hang in front of the kilt as part of men's Scottish Highland dress.

Butterscotch

    Butterscotch is a type of confectionary basically made with boiling sugar syrup, butter, cream and lemon (recipes do vary). There are several theories on the name and origin of the candy. One is its obvious connection to the country of Scotland. Buttery toffee is sometimes called butterscotch. Another that the word Scotch was derived from the word "Scorch."  The word "Butterscotch" was first recorded in Doncaster, a Yorkshire city in England, by Samuel Parkinson who began making candy in 1817. Butterscotch has long been used as great topping on ice cream sundaes as well as a confectionary ingredient. The Boyer Brothers introduced butterscotch as a coating for their peanut buttercup and created Smoothie Cup.

Toad-in-the-hole

Toad-in-the-hole is a British dish consisting of a Yorkshire pudding batter and cooked sausages. When baked, the batter puffs up around the sausage. The best English sausages to use for this dish are Lincoln or Cumberland sausages. The dish probably dates back to the 18th century. Batter puddings first appeared on the scene as ovens became more prevalent. The best known today is Yorkshire pudding, but there are many variations. The first reference to sausages cooked in a baking tin with batter poured around them appears in The Diary of Joseph Turner (1754-1765). It was basically poor people's food that depended on the quality of the sausages.

Barleycorn - was an Anglo-Saxon unit of length. It was originally the length of an actual barleycorn, but became standardized at what is now 8.5mm.The imperial inch measurement was originally called an ynch which was defined as being equal to three barleycorns. Rather nicely, a quarter of a barleycorn is called a poppyseed. Barleycorns are still used today as the unit of shoe sizes in the UK and the USA. 

Borough BrE /ˈbʌrə/ is a town that has its own government. It also can be a part of a big city that has powers of self-government.When you move from one borough to another, you might notice different tax rates or different parking regulations. In England the word often refers to a town that has a representative in Parliament. Ex.: The London borough of Barnet incorporates some 2,652 streets. Barnet at its widest point is 12.5 miles by 11.7miles in length.Barnet, one of the largest London boroughs, is home to the Hendon Aerodrome - the birthplace of British aviation and now RAF Museum.