Entertainment outside the home: Pubs and clubs Leisure and sports
If you want
to form a correct opinion of the English character, you must not confine your
observations to the metropolis. You must go forth into the country, you must
sojourn in villages and hamlets; you must visit castles, farm-houses, cottages;
you must wander through parks and gardens, along hedges and green lanes and see
the people in all their conditions, and all their habits and humors.
Washington Irving
PUBS AND CLUBS
In England the
national drink is beer, and the 'pub', where Englishmen go to drink it, is a
peculiarly English institution. The word 'pub' itself is an abbreviation of
'public house', which sounds dull and uninspiring; but there is nothing dull
and uninspiring about the associations that the shorter form — pub — arouses in
the English mind.
A bright
introduction to any self-respecting pub is the sign outside it, mounted on a
post or fixed to the wall above the door. On it will be the pub's паше — 'The Pig and Whistle' or 'The Elephant and Castle' —
with a gay painting depicting the name. There is a good deal of folklore behind
the names which pubs bear. A pub near Ambleside is called 'The Drunken Duck'
for a very strange reason. One day the ducks of this hostelry (which was also a
farm) drank some spirit which had leaked from a barrel. Where upon they fell
into a stupor. The good wife, thinking them dead, plucked them, and was about
to cook them when she observed signs of life — one of the plucked birds was
wandering drunkenly round the yard.
Most pubs, besides
beer, sell all kinds of alcohol, from whisky to wine. Many of them also offer
light meals. Normally pubs are divided into at least two separate bars — the
public and the saloon bar, which is more comfortable and slightly more
expensive. 'Bar' also means the counter at which the drinks are served Beer and
cider, a drink made from apples, is always sold in pint or half-pint glasses. A
pint is equivalent to 0.57 litre. Pubs have not 'gone metric' yet.
No alcoholic
drinks may be served to young people under eighteen, and no children under
sixteen are allowed inside the bar.
Most pubs favour
the 'traditional' image — a roaring log fire, old oak beams supporting a low
ceiling, and brass ornaments on the walls. At Donaghadee, Northern Ireland, one
of the authors of this book had an opportunity to see a brass plaque on the
wall inside 'Grace Neill's Bar’. The plaque contained the names of
dignitaries (for instance, Jonathan Swift), who stayed in this seaside resort's
famous bar. Among them was the name of Peter the Great, who supposedly had
visited the place in 1698 when he was in Britain studying shipbuilding. Another
legend of Peter I is associated with another Irish town, Portpatrick. It is said
he stayed there in 'The Blair Arms' and the room he occupied is still called
the Emperor's Room. These touching legends are cherished wholeheartedly both by
the pub owners and the inhabitants of the two corresponding towns. Despite the
fact, that Peter the Great might have never crossed the Irish Sea for a mere
pint of bitter. For there was no large-scale shipbuilding in Ireland that time.
Comfort is
essential, for here people do not drop in for a quick drink and then go. They
tend generally to 'make an evening of it' and stand or sit, glass in hand,
talking to friends or strangers, until closing time, when, with a cry of 'Time,
gentlemen, please!' the landlord ceases to serve further drinks, and the
assembled company gradually disperses into the inhospitable night. This is
usually at half past ten in the evening.
In the bar of
every English pub there is a dart-board, and on most evenings one may find the
game of darts being played. It is a game in which feathered arrows, called
darts, are thrown at a board with numbered divisions on it. Many pubs have a
darts team which plays matches against teams from other pubs. Darts matches are
now so popular that they are shown on TV.
Clubs are another
unchallenged English invention. The point of a club is not who it lets in, but
who it keeps out; and few things can provoke more anger, than the
non-membership of an English club. The club is based on two ancient British
ideas — the segregation of classes, and the segregation of sexes: and they
remain insistent on keeping people out, long after they have stopped wanting to
come in. Viewed from the outside, the clubs have an air of infinite mystery.
What does the
influence of clubs amount to? Like most things in Britain, they are not what
they seem: in the first place, many of them are very unsociable. Clubs can be
firmly divided into those where you are expected to talk to your neighbour and
those where you are not. The big anonymous clubs favoured by the civil service
— 'The Oxford and Cambridge', 'United University', or The Union' — are places
to get away from people, not to meet them. They have book-rests on the
lunch-tables where members can devour cold pie and The Times undisturbed.
After the war the
London clubs, like so many institutions, seemed on the verge of collapse: the
tables were half empty, the entrance fees were high, it was hard to find staffs
to maintain them. But as prosperity returned and expense-accounts mounted, so
clubland came back into its own: businessmen, solicitors, advertising men,
salesmen, all found clubs an ideal field for operation. The Conservative party
has always been bound up with a small group of clubs. The Whitehall
bureaucracies all have clublike ideas of corporate solidarity, and the London
clubs are themselves an intrinsic part of the life of Whitehall.
LEISURE AND
SPORTS
Attitudes
for leisure have been much influenced by the modern love of moving around and
by the ease of travel.
Britain is the
only country in Europe, except Malta, where driving is on the left. There are
2,500 km of motorway (mostly six lanes) and over 2,500 km of dual carriageway
(divided high-way). Since Britain has the highest density of traffic in the
world, traffic jams during rush hours and at holiday times are fairly common.
Britain is also
the only country in the Common Market whose employers are not forced by law to
give their workers paid holidays. However, many employers have written
agreements with their workers giving them three or four weeks' holiday a year —
not counting the eight days of national holiday.
It was the British
who started the fashion for seaside holidays — not surprisingly, since nobody
in Britain lives more than one hundred and twenty kilometers from the sea. The
coast is the most popular objective of English people for their annual holiday.
Few English people rent houses or flats for their holidays, but one of the
traditional ways of spending a summer holiday is in a boarding-house, which may
have a card in its window advertising 'apartments', or 'bed and breakfast'.
Camping holidays
in the proper sense of the word, with tents, are not so developed in England as
on the continent. The summer weather too often can be very unpleasant for
tent-dwellers. On the other hand, caravans have become exceedingly popular.
Some people bring their own caravans, pulling them behind their cars; others
hire caravans, already in position.
There are
holiday camps all round the coast of Great Britain. They are ideal places for
people who do not want the effort of looking for entertainment. Trained staff
look after the children so that the parents can have time off to enjoy
themselves.
There are youth
hostels in different, parts of Britain. It is possible to arrange a walking or
cycling tour, moving from hostel to hostel.
Britain
has a number of preservation societies, large and small, and the most important
is the National Trust, founded in 1895. The purpose of the organization is to
preserve historic buildings and places of natural beauty in Britain. The Trust
owns large areas of beautiful scenery all over Britain. Its property includes
ancient castles, bird sanctuaries (places where people are not allowed to shoot
birds or take eggs from nests), birthplaces and homes of famous people, and
fine examples of the architecture of different periods.
Many of the
districts are declared National Parks. The land is in private ownership but
building is strictly controlled. Owners are encouraged to let visitors walk on
their land.
The English are
great lovers of competitive sports. The game peculiarly associated with England is
cricket. Many other games too are English in origin, but have been adopted with
enthusiasm in other countries, but cricket has been seriously and extensively
adopted only in the Commonwealth countries, particularly in Australia, New
Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies.
First
class professional cricket clubs represent counties and play three-day matches
against each other. Organized amateur cricket is played between club teams,
mainly on Saturday afternoons. As in soccer, there are numerous amateur clubs
and school teams, though the game is making no progress in popularity.
For the
great mass of the British public the eight months of the football season are
more important than the four months of cricket. Football is the most popular
team game in Britain. The British invented it and it has spread to every corner
of the world. There are plenty of amateur association football (or 'soccer')
clubs, but professional football is big business. Every large town has at least
one professional football club. The players are bought and sold between the
clubs, and 'transfer fees' can be equivalent to dozens of thousands of pounds.
There is no
British team. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete separately
in European and World Cup matches. The English and Welsh clubs have together
formed a League with four divisions. The Scottish League has two divisons. The
champions of the English First Divison, and the Scottish Premier Divison
qualify to play in the European Cup competition.
Recently there has
been violent behavior on the part of some football supporters, which has earned
British football a bad reputation both at home and abroad. Suffice it to say
that as a result of violent behavior of the British football hooligans in 1985
alone about one hundred people died, fifty-five at Bradford and thirty-nine at
Brussels.
Rugby football, or
'rugger', is played with an egg-shaped ball, which may be carried and thrown
(but not forward). If a player is carrying the ball he may be 'tackled' and
made to fall down. Each team has fifteen players, who spend much time lying in
the mud or on top of each other and become very dirty.
There are
two forms of Rugby — Rugby Union, which is strictly amateur, and Rugby League,
which is a professional sport. Rugby Union is played throughout the British
Isles. There is an international championship between England, Scotland, Wales,
Ireland and France. Rugby has become the national game of Wales, New Zealand,
South Africa and the Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga.
Rugby got its name
from the English public school, Rugby, where, about a century ago, a boy picked
up a soccer ball and ran with it.
Next to
Association Football, the chief spectator sport in English life is horse
racing. Partly because of the laws, which forbid such activities on Sunday,
most horse racing takes place on working days and during working hours.
One of the
famous horse race meetings is the Grand National, which takes place at Aintree,
near Liverpool, in March or April. It is England's main steeplechase (race over
fences). The course is over seven kilometers and includes thirty jumps, of
which fourteen are jumped twice. It is a dangerous race. Jockeys have been hurt
and horses have been killed. Another important horse race meeting is the Derby,
taking place at Epsom, south of London, in May or June. It is England's leading
flat race (not over fences). A very fashionable race is Ascot, near Windsor, in
June. The Queen always attends.
A popular
sporting event in Great Britain is the Open Golf Championship. The Scots
invented golf, and its headquarters is at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, St
Andrews.
Many
tennis players regard the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, in July, at Wimbledon,
south London, as the most important championship to win. There is great public
interest in the tournament. Many tennis fans queue all night outside the
grounds in order to get tickets for the finals
No less popular is
the Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge universities, on the River Thames in
London at Easter. The course is over seven kilometers. Oxford have won about
sixty times. Cambridge nearly seventy. Henley (Rowing) Regatta takes place at Henley
on the Thames (between London and Oxford). It is an international summer event
and a fashionable occasion. Cowes Week is another, yachting regatta. Cowes is a
small town on the Isle of Wight, opposite Southampton, and a world-famous
yachting centre.
When English
people use the word 'hunting' they usually mean foxhunting, a sport, which is
popular among a small but important minority. There are 'closed seasons', when
it is unlawful to shoot or hunt game and certain other animals. These seasons
vary, according to the animals. There is no law about hunting foxes, but there
is a foxhunting season — from November to March. In the Scottish Highlands deer
are hunted on foot, with a gun. This is called 'deer stalking'. Many of the
male hunters wear 'pink' (that is, red coats). On the whole hunting is a sport
for the rich.
However,
the most popular country sport is fishing, and there are more than 4 million
anglers in Britain. Many fish for salmon and trout particularly in the rivers
and lochs of Scotland, but in England and Wales the most widely practiced form
of fishing is for coarse fish such as pike, perch, carp, roach, dace, tench,
chub and bream. Angling clubs affiliate to the National Federation of Anglers
and many clubs organize angling competitions. Freshwater fishing usually has to
be paid for most coarse fishing is let to angling clubs by private owners,
while trout and salmon fishermen either rent a stretch or river, join a club,
or pay for the right to fish by the day, week or month. Coastal and deep sea
fishing are free to all (apart from salmon and sea trout fishing which is by
license only).
Britain was the
first home of many of the modern world's most popular sports. The British
cannot claim, today, that they have, as a nation, surpassing skill in any form
of sport when they engage in international competition. But they care strongly
about the 'sporting spirit', the capacity to play with respect for the rules
and the opponents, to win with modesty and to lose with good temper.
РЕФЕРАТ
Entertainment
outside the home:
Pubs
and clubs
Leisure
and sports
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