Glimpses of Britain (1976)

[Music] becoming wiser i tell you is [Music] dear friends may i declare the traditional session of the international friendship club open friday is the day of the english section and judging by all this they're going to have something very interesting today i hope so on the agenda talking great britain and admission new members we are lucky to have ivan petrovich fiorder for the speaker today i believe everybody knows him he has just returned from history of great britain so he has a lot to tell and show us today please evan petrovich thank you well to begin with i suggest an informal talk it'll be better for practice so any questions or comments are invited let's view some slides first i've got a question may i uh what's the difference between great britain and england let's begin with a mapping you see the british isles consist of two large islands great britain and ireland and about five thousand smaller ones great britain includes england scotland and wales great britain and northern ireland or ulster as it's known for the united kingdom the greater part of england is lowlands on the other hand scotland and wales are mainly mountainous areas and all this you could see during your trip not quite i'll tell you the truth actually our group traveled for about two weeks but i spent about two months in the library i did quite a lot of reading on the subject books about england ireland scotland books on history geography economics and politics did everything come in useful certainly that's a helpful hint to all of you read as much as possible it will come in useful sometime and now about great britain please we had our first glimpse of britain at heathrow airport today heathrow is one of the largest airports in the world it's served by nearly 70 airlines planes arrive and depart every two minutes [Music] and airline buses run at frequent intervals is he through far from london no the journey from heathrow to london takes about 30 minutes by bus that is if you don't get caught in a traffic jam london the capital of one of the most highly industrialized capitalist countries of the world the seat of the government the home of millions of working people and an ancient city [Music] the center of british cultural life famous for its historical sites and tourist attractions [Music] and what places did you visit i'm coming to it besides london we went to preston liverpool sheffield coventry newcastle we also went to scotland and what impressed you most if you mean landscape the answer is scotland but i'll show you scotland later let's start with preston are you ready preston is not a very large town but it's developing fast today in preston we visited the british lane and motors works 55 000 workers are employed here they produce cars and buses and lorries 95 of all the cars that run on the roads of britain are made by british leyland motors the firm exports into a hundred countries especially popular are leyland double deckers [Music] now preston is in lancashire which is a traditionally textile region but today it's a fast developing area for the aircraft and car industry now it's also one of the chief areas for chemicals electrical engineering and electronics [Music] what other cities are there in lancashire well there's liverpool in the first place liverpool you know is the largest city of the region it's britain's chief port of export the greatest center for processing imported fruit stuffs and raw materials after liverpool we traveled through the famous black country the region for metallurgy and heavy industry the old coal mining area [Music] [Applause] and then we went to coventry coventry is also an important center of the aircraft and car industry in world war ii it was badly damaged by the fascist bombs now it's been completely reconstructed the center of the midlands is birmingham an old manufacturing town [Music] and after that we visited sheffield in yorkshire which is famous for its steel absolutely right in sheffield they produce all kinds of wares knives and forks all kinds of machinery even aircraft and missiles but the traditional industry in yorkshire is woolen textiles including knitted goods agriculture in great britain is mainly where the lowlands are sheep are a part of an english landscape the traditional british animal for breeding is sheep but mind you the main stock of wool comes from australia and new zealand dairy farming is widely practiced too [Music] i understand the quality of the produce is high isn't it yes both in industry and agriculture embassies is laid on quality as england can't compete in mass production it's the only way for the country to survive [Music] we also went to newcastle a large industrial center in the northeast of england it ranks second in the country after the glasgow docks and shipbuilding yards the working class of great britain workers like these can be seen in the east end of london in the factories of manchester newcastle is one of britain's main ports of import non-ferrous metals and oils are imported here and still what impressed you most i may sound trivial but i liked london most of all so here is my home movie [Music] we arrived in london on a sunday morning ah the traditional london fog i wouldn't call it traditional true the weather is changeable in england but it doesn't always rain as some of us may think the rainy and foggy season is late autumn and winter a boat trip on the river thames is a favorite of all visitors to london [Music] the discovery captain scott's polar research ship he sailed in it to the south pole saint paul's cathedral a masterpiece designed by christopher wren that dominates london the towers of london is one of the most popular tourist attractions medieval fortress with armories and historical relics it's a museum now isn't it yes 900 years of history are behind its gates the beef eaters who guard the tower still wear tudor uniforms the tower bridge is a tall structure its two halves can go up and down and allow sea going ships to enter the pool of london [Music] sunday in england is something special shops are closed no heavy traffic no theaters no professional football in marked contrast to the situation in most european countries nelson's column the lions and fountains in trafalgar square [Music] feeding the pigeons you know in trafalgar square is a favorite pastime of many londoners [Music] the trafalgar square is also a traditional place for meetings and demonstrations then it doesn't look quite so peaceful and these policemen also look different [Music] piccadilly circus is known as the heart of london's west end did you go to the national gallery entity certainly but what i want to show you is paintings by other artists [Music] a street exhibition yes such artists working on the pavements can still be found in the central streets of london beautiful london parks are full of people on sundays according to statistics there are seven square meters of green area for each londoner on average their lungs of london yes that's how they're called and the parks are beautiful they've been planned to look as natural as nature itself walking in the london parks you have the feeling that you're far far away in the country by the way it was a perfect place to observe how londoners live the way they relax and now i'm going to take you to the london zoo this film section please hurry up [Music] the london zoo covers 36 acres and contains a collection of some six thousand animals the zoological society of london runs it as well as a country zoo at whip snake young visitors always enjoy making friends with the animals meet johnny parrot and bobby the elephant [Music] and now let's go on to more serious problems [Music] sunday morning is the time for marketing there are a few popular markets in london petticoat lane in the east end of london is not only a market but a kind of entertainment so this is the famous speaker's corner in hyde park where speakers can talk to the people about all sorts of things yes politics religion and all that don't you think it's hypocritical on the part of the authorities they permit free speech at speaker's corner in hyde park but they arrest those who demonstrate their disagreement with government policy everybody knows what's happening in ulster today [Music] hey [Music] buckingham palace the queen's official residence in london [Music] windsor palace like the tower of london this imposing castle was built by william the conqueror it's used as the queen's residence at weekends and in spring it houses a large collection of paintings the queen is at the head of the state but she is constitutional what does it mean the queen is constitutional well you see great britain is a monarchy but the queen's powers are limited by parliament the prime minister is usually the leader of the party that has a majority in the house of commons the party which obtains the majority of seats in the house is called the government and the second main group the opposition so in fact they have a two-party system the british parliament consists of two houses the house of commons in the house of lords the commons chamber the government party is on the right of the speaker's chair the opposition on the left the speaker's chair the piers chamber according to tradition the queen attends the opening ceremony and makes a speech when parliament is in session the light on the clock tower is on the city in fact is the oldest part of london here is the stock exchange a witness to many financial storms and crises the bank of england whitehall a street of government offices fleet street the center of british journalism not only london papers are published here but papers of all other parts of the country many new houses are being built today but they don't solve the housing problem of the poor the royal festival hall a multi-storied garage the post office tower the highest building in great britain today a new market one of the shopping areas the exotic fruit are imported from other countries so when the dockers are out on strike the londoners are left without bananas and lemons so many things on display but can everyone afford to buy them ah that's a good question at harrods one can see a dress displayed in the shop window costing 450 pounds there's always a shop nearby that personal touch of an old city