Gaelic : The Celtic language spoken or understood by about 80,000 people in the Highlands and western coastal regions of Scotland,(gaelge nA Alban), and in an Irish form, by many people in Ireland (gaelge).

gallon : a measure of capacity for liquids equal to 4 quarts or 8 pints (= 4.546 litres)

GCSE : General Certificate of Secondary Education : the school-leaving examination that was introduced in 1988.

God Save the Queen : The title of the British anthem. In the reign of a king the word 'Queen' obviously changes to 'King'. It is not known who wrote the anthem, but it may have been established in its present form some time in the 18^th century.

grammar school : A state or independent fee-paying secondary school taking pupils aged 11 to 18. Grammar schools provide an academic education and prepare student for higher education. Only 3 percent of pupils in Britain are at grammar schools. Compare comprehensive school and public school.

Great Britain : The largest island of the British Isles and consisting of England, Wales and Scotland. It does not include Northern Ireland. Compare with United Kingdom.

(click on the map to have another map - but when you're finished come back)

Great Fire of London : A fire that destroyed more than half the city of London, including St Paul's Cathedral, in 1666.

Great Train Robbery : The name used for the robbery of a mail train in Buckinghamshire in 1963. The train was travelling from Scotland to London and over £ 2 million in bank notes were stolen from it.

greyhound racing : A popular type of gambling sport in which bets are placed on tall, slender, fast-moving hunting dogs (greyhounds) racing round a track after a mechanical hare.

Hadrian's Wall : An ancient wall, built by the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2^nd century AD to defend the northern border of England against attacks from Celtic tribes. The wall, about 120-km long, crossed England from the river Tyne in the east to the Solway Firth in the west.

Hastings (the battle of H~) : A famous battle in English history, in which William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold in 1066, thus beginning the Norman Conquest of Britain.

Heathrow : Britain's largest international airport, west of London, and linked with the capital by the Underground. It was opened in 1946.

Henry VIII : The king of England (1491-1547) who rejected the belief that the Pope was head of the Church and had himself declared the supreme head of the Church of England. Today he is more popularly remembered for his six wives. He divorced two of them, one died at childbirth, two were beheaded, and the last one outlived him. See the Act of Supremacy.

see also

Her Majesty : The title used when referring to the queen, in full, 'Her Majesty the Queen'.

Holmes, Sherlock : The most famous detective in the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930).

Horse Guards : A cavalry regiment of the Army which attends the sovereign and carries out special functions in London.

House of Commons : The lower house of the British parliament. Its main purpose is to make the laws of the land by passing various Acts, as well as discuss current political issues. The House sits for five days each week. Each 'sitting' starts in the afternoon and may go on throughout the night. The House sits for about 175 days in the year. At its head is the Speaker.

House of Lords : The upper house of the British parliament, consisting over 1,000 non-elected members : Lords Spiritual (bishops in the Church of England) and Lords Temporal (peers). Its work is to examine and revise bills from the Commons, discuss important matters that the Commons cannot find time to debate. It also acts in a legal capacity as a final court of appeal. The House usually sits for five days each week, 150 days a year, and has an average attendance of about 200 peers.

Hyde Park : London's best-known public park, extending to an area of 360 acres (250 hectares). It includes Speakers' Corner and Rotten Row, and has become a centre for massed meetings and demonstrations. It was open in 1635.

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