The culture of the United Kingdom is influenced by the histories of its constituent nations, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the individual diverse cultures of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the impact of the British Empire. The culture of the United Kingdom may also be referred to as British culture. Although British culture is a distinct entity, the individual cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse. These four cultures overlap to varying degrees. British literature is particularly esteemed. The modern novel was developed in Britain, and playwrights, poets, and authors are among its most prominent cultural figures. Britain has also made notable contributions to theatre, literature, music, mainstream and independent cinema, art, architecture and television. The UK is also the home of the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church in Wales, the state church and mother church of the Anglican Communion, the third-largest Christian denomination. Britain contains some of the world's oldest universities, has made many contributions to philosophy, science, technology and medicine, and is the birthplace of many prominent scientists and inventions. The Industrial Revolution began in the UK and had a profound effect on socio-economic and cultural conditions around the world.

British culture has been influenced by historical and modern immigration, the historical invasions of Great Britain, and the British Empire. As a result of the British Empire, significant British influence can be observed in the language, law, culture and institutions of its former colonies, most of which are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. A subset of these states form the Anglosphere, and are among Britain's closest allies.Swaine, Jon (13 January 2009) Barack Obama presidency will strengthen special relationship, says Gordon Brown The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 March 2010.E. J. Kirchner and J. Sperling, Global Security Governance: Competing Perceptions of Security in the 21st Century (London: Taylor & Francis, 2007), p. 100. British colonies and dominions influenced British culture in turn, particularly British cuisine.

Sport is central to British culture, with cricket, football, boxing, tennis, and rugby modernizing in Britain. The UK has been described as a "cultural superpower","The cultural superpower: British cultural projection abroad" . Journal of the British Politics Society, Norway. Volume 6. No. 1. Winter 2011. and London has been described as a world cultural capital. A global opinion poll for the BBC saw the UK ranked the third most positively viewed nation in the world (behind Germany and Canada) in 2013 and 2014.

Music is a vibrant sector of British culture with musicians like the Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Elton John and many more. Dubbed the "British Invasion", its music reached many countries like the United States and those in Europe in the 1960s. Today, they influence a large part of music in general and also media and entertainment in the United Kingdom.

History

Throughout its history, the culture of Great Britain has primarily consisted of the separate native traditions of England, Scotland and Wales. With regard to cultural influences, prior to the expansion of the British Empire, the island had been most notably influenced by French culture (via the Normans), Scandinavian culture (via the Vikings) and Italian culture (via the Romans).

The arrival of Celtic and Germanic tribes influenced Britain's early development. The Celtic peoples introduced unique languages, traditions, and social structures. Subsequently, the migrations of Germanic tribes, such as the Anglo-Saxons, further influenced Britain's cultural landscape. The ancient Roman occupation of Britain, lasting almost 400 years, also impacted the linguistic and cultural identity of Great Britain.

Following the expansion of the British Empire, England, Scotland and Wales absorbed different peoples from around the world, and, post-World War II, Britain developed a more diverse cultural landscape through higher levels of immigration. Furthermore, following the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and EU enlargement in 2004 and 2007, the UK experienced a significant rise in immigration from Eastern Europe. Today, the UK has a sizable immigrant population, and encompasses the cultures of British people from various backgrounds, with South Asian, Continental European, African and Caribbean descent being most prevalent.

Language

First spoken in early medieval England, the English language is the de facto official language of the UK, and is spoken monolingually by an estimated 95% of the British population.BBC – Languages – United Kingdom BBC Seven other languages are recognised by the British Government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages – Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Irish, Ulster Scots, and British Sign Language.

In Wales, all pupils at state schools must either be taught through the medium of Welsh or study it as an additional language until age 16, and the Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages should be treated equally in the public sector, so far as is reasonable and practicable. Irish and Ulster Scots enjoy limited use alongside English in Northern Ireland, mainly in publicly commissioned translations. The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act, passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2005, recognised Gaelic as an official language of Scotland and required the creation of a national plan for Gaelic to provide strategic direction for the development of the Gaelic language. The Cornish language is a revived language that became extinct as a first language in Cornwall in the late 18th century.

Regional accents Dialects and regional accents vary heavily amongst the four countries of the United Kingdom, as well as within the countries themselves. This is partially the result of the long history of immigration to the UK, for example Northern English dialects contain many words with Old Norse roots. Scottish English, Welsh English, and Hiberno-Irish are varieties of English distinct from both English English and the native languages of those countries. Received Pronunciation is the Standard English accent in England and Wales, while in Scotland Scottish Standard English is a distinct dialect. Although these accents have a high social prestige, since the 1960s a greater permissiveness toward regional English varieties has taken hold in education.

The great variety of British accents is often noted, with nearby regions often having highly distinct dialects and accents, for example there are large differences between Scouse and Mancunian despite Liverpool and Manchester being only 35 miles (56 km) apart. Dialectal English is often found in literature, for example Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights contains Yorkshire dialect.

Arts

Literature

The United Kingdom inherited the literary traditions of England, Scotland and Wales. These include Arthurian literature and its Welsh origins, Norse-influenced Old English literature, the works of English authors Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare, and Scots works such as John Barbour's The Brus.

Augustan Age The early 18th century period of British literature is known as the Augustan Age and included the development of the novel. Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722) are often seen as the first English novels. Alongside these works, poetry also flourished, with notable examples such as The Rape of the Lock (1712) by Alexander Pope, a mock-heroic poem that satirized the social mores of the time.Sherburn, G., Eed. Correspondence of Alexander Pope, Oxford University Press, 1956, I, 201. However, the development of the novel took place in a wider literary context that included the rise of prose satires – which reached a high point with Gulliver's Travels (1729) by Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift, and earlier foreign works like the Spanish Don Quixote. Other novels by Jonathan Swift include A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), and A Modest Proposal (1729). With the publishing of these books, he gained literary fame and formed lifelong friendships with Alexander Pope, John Gay, and John Arbuthnot, who, with Swift, created the Martinus Scriblerus Club in 1713. Other novels made at this time are: Tom Jones (1749), by Henry Fielding; Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1748), by Samuel Richardson; Laurence Sterne – The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759–1767). Pamela is hailed as one of the first true novels in English literature while Clarissa is regarded as Richardson's magnum opus and one of the greatest novels in the English language. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is an experimental novel.

The Augustan period saw Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language. Published in 1755, it was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later. Each word defined in detail, with descriptions of their various uses and numerous literary quotes as illustrations. This was the first dictionary of its kind, containing 40,000 words and nearly 114,000 quotes packed together with Johnson's personal touch.Lynch, Jack (2003). "Samuel Johnson's Dictionary". p. 1.Advertisement in Derby Mercury 4 April 1755, page 4 'This day is published a Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson' It became an influential work of English lexicography. Dr Johnson's House identifies a consortium of London publishers as having commissioned Johnson to write the dictionary. The consortium included Robert Dodsley, Andrew Millar and Charles Hitch, and contracted Johnson for 1,500 guineas (£1,575), equivalent to about £ in . Johnson took seven years to complete the work, despite claiming he could finish it in three. Johnson's Dictionary was warmly received. Lord Macaulay described it in 1856 as "the first dictionary which could be read with pleasure". Johnson's innovations helped establish his dictionary as the first widely recognised standard English dictionary.

Richard Steele, another famous author known for comedies and pamphlets during the Augustan Period, began his literary career with "The Christian Hero" (1701), a moral pamphlet that was criticized due to his personal lifestyle, followed by the successful comedy The Funeral later that year. In 1703, he wrote The Lying Lover, an early sentimental comedy that failed on stage. In 1705, he collaborated with Joseph Addison on The Tender Husband and contributed the prologue to John Vanbrugh's The Mistake. Steele's major breakthrough came in 1709 with the creation of The Tatler, a tri-weekly periodical in which he wrote the majority of the essays under the pseudonym Isaac Bickerstaff, aiming to expose societal vices and promote simplicity. Despite its success, The Tatler was shut down in 1711 due to political pressure, prompting Steele and Addison to co-found The Spectator in 1711 and The Guardian in 1713, solidifying Steele's role as a leading figure in early British journalism.

Romantic Period