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180-697: The rock shelf around the Minquiers has a larger surface area than Jersey itself, but at high tide only a few of the main heads remain above water. The largest of these is Maîtresse, which is about 50 m (55 yd) long and 20 m (22 yd) wide and has about ten stone cottages in various states of repair. These are the most southerly buildings in the British Isles ; but they have no permanent inhabitants; though fishermen, vraic (seaweed used for fertilizer) collectors, yachtsmen, kayakers, and even radio amateurs make summer landfall. The etymology of

360-740: A Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur , and later that year the British government appointed her a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). She was delighted by the former honour, and amused by the latter—which she remembered Waugh had called an "insult" and turned down. At the end of 1972 she entered the Nuffield Clinic in London, where she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma ,

540-535: A hysterectomy . After convalescence, at loose ends, she began working as an assistant at the Heywood Hill bookshop in Curzon Street . The shop became the centre of Mitford's daily activities and was a favoured meeting place for London's literati. In September 1942, she met Gaston Palewski , a French colonel attached to General Charles de Gaulle 's London staff. She found him fascinating, and he became

720-513: A British island' and Κεφ. γʹ Ἀλβουίωνος νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις , Albouíōnos nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis , 'Ch. 3, position of Albion, a British island'. In Arabic geography and cartography in the medieval Islamic world , the British Isles are known as Jazāʾir Barṭāniya or Jazāʾir Barṭīniya . Arabic geographies, including the Kitāb az-Zīj of al-Battānī , mention

900-736: A Catholic king pushing for religious tolerance in opposition to a Protestant parliament in England. The king's army was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne and at the militarily crucial Battle of Aughrim in Ireland. Resistance held out, eventually forcing the guarantee of religious tolerance in the Treaty of Limerick . However, the terms were never honoured and a new monarchy was installed. The Kingdoms of England and Scotland were unified in 1707 creating

1080-468: A Cold Climate present an entirely authentic picture of country house life in England between the wars, and will long be consulted by historians of the period. In these later novels Zoë Heller of the Daily Telegraph hears in the prose, behind a new level of care and artfulness, "the unmistakeable Mitford trill, in whose light, bright cadences an entire hard-to-shock and easy-to-bore view of life

1260-497: A Scottish house-party which develops chaotically. The book made little impact when it was published in March 1931, and she immediately began work on another, Christmas Pudding , illustrated by her close friend Mark Ogilvie-Grant . Like the earlier novel, the plot centres on a clash between the " Bright Young People " and the older generation. Hamish Erskine is clearly identifiable in the character of "Bobby Bobbin", and John Betjeman

1440-594: A cancer of the blood. She lived for another six months, unable to look after herself and in almost constant pain, struggling to keep her spirits up. She wrote to her friend James Lees-Milne : "It's very curious, dying, and would have many a drôle amusing & charming side were it not for the pain". She died on 30 June 1973 at her home in the rue d'Artois and was cremated in Versailles, after which her ashes were taken to Swinbrook for burial alongside her sister Unity. "For months, Nancy had sat giggling helplessly before

1620-527: A combined population of almost 72 million, and include two sovereign states , the Republic of Ireland (which covers roughly five-sixths of Ireland), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . The Channel Islands , off the north coast of France , are normally taken to be part of the British Isles, even though geographically they do not form part of the archipelago . Under

1800-536: A comedy about spying. It was published by Hamish Hamilton in May 1940, while there was little public appetite for lighthearted war satire, and the book was a commercial failure. In April 1940, Mitford suffered her second miscarriage. Shortly afterward, Rodd, who had been commissioned into the Welsh Guards , departed overseas. Alone in London, Mitford moved to the family's Rutland Gate house where she remained during

1980-521: A complex geology that records a huge and varied span of Earth's history. Of particular note was the Caledonian orogeny during the Ordovician and early Silurian periods, when the craton Baltica collided with the terrane Avalonia to form the mountains and hills in northern Britain and Ireland. Baltica formed roughly the north-western half of Ireland and Scotland. Further collisions caused

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2160-477: A cottage at Strand-on-the-Green on the western edges of London. Mitford's initial delight in the marriage was soon tempered by financial worries, Rodd's fecklessness and her dislike of his family. In 1934, Mitford began her third novel, Wigs on the Green , a satire on Sir Oswald Mosley's fascist "Blackshirt" movement. Mitford herself had briefly flirted with Mosley's New Party in 1931, although her enthusiasm

2340-542: A fraud? Do U-people really talk this way?" Similar questions were raised in the Times Literary Supplement ' s review, in relation to Mitford's fictional output as a whole: "Would she have been a better novelist if she had 'tried harder', gone in further, dropped the pose of amateurishness, cut the charm, looked beyond the worlds that she knew and, more importantly, loved?" The gift for vivid characterisation, which Mitford developed in her fiction,

2520-848: A hectic social life, the hub of which was the British Embassy under the regime of the ambassador, Duff Cooper , and his socialite wife, Lady Diana Cooper . Eventually Mitford found a comfortable apartment, with a maid, at No. 7 rue Monsieur on the Left Bank , close to Palewski's residence. Settled there in comfort, she established a pattern to her life that she mostly followed for the next 20 years, her precise timetable being determined by Palewski's varying availability. Her socialising, entertaining and working were interspersed with regular short visits to family and friends in England and summers generally spent in Venice. In 1948, Mitford completed

2700-512: A house in Versailles. Mitford moved to No. 4 rue d'Artois, Versailles, in January 1967. The modest house had a half-acre (0.2 hectare) garden, which soon became one of her chief delights. In 1968 she began work on her final book, a biography of Frederick the Great . While confined at home in March 1969 after a series of illnesses she learned from a newspaper announcement that Palewski had married

2880-411: A job, as business manager of The Lady magazine. David had little interest in reading and knew nothing of business; thus, according to Nancy Mitford's biographer Selina Hastings , "a less congenial post ... could hardly have been imagined". He remained in this position for 10 years. The couple's first child, a daughter, was born on 28 November 1904; they had intended to call her Ruby, but after she

3060-469: A joke, but many took it seriously, and Mitford was considered an authority on manners and breeding. Her later years were bittersweet, as the success of her biographical studies of Madame de Pompadour , Voltaire and King Louis XIV contrasted with the ultimate failure of her relationship with Palewski. From the late 1960s onward, her health deteriorated, and she endured several years of painful illness before her death in 1973. The Mitford family dates from

3240-704: A journalist: nevertheless, her articles were popular, particularly those she contributed on Paris life to The Sunday Times . Thompson describes this series as "a more sophisticated version of A Year in Provence , bringing France to the English in just the way that they most like it". Thompson adds that although Mitford was always a competent writer, it is in her letters, with their freedom of expression and flights of fancy, that her true character emerges. Many have been published within collections; they are, according to The Independent ' s reviewer: "a delight, full of

3420-411: A lasting friendship. Although she was now of age, her father maintained an aggressive hostility towards most of her male friends, particularly since, as Hastings remarks, these tended towards the frivolous, the aesthetic and the effeminate. Among them was Hamish St Clair Erskine , the second son of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn , an Oxford undergraduate four years Nancy's junior. He was, according to Hastings,

3600-542: A lavishly illustrated " coffee table " book. When it was published in August 1966, among the many tributes to the book was that of President de Gaulle, who recommended it to every member of his cabinet. By this time, Mitford's relationship with Palewski had become dormant, and she recognised that the best days would never return. Under pressure from her landlords to leave her rue Monsieur apartment—they had raised her rent "exorbitantly"— she decided to leave Paris and buy herself

3780-459: A means of augmenting the meagre allowance provided by her father, Mitford began writing, encouraged by Waugh. Her first efforts, anonymous contributions to gossip columns in society magazines, led to occasional signed articles, and in 1930 The Lady engaged her to write a regular column. That winter, she embarked on a full-length novel, Highland Fling , in which various characters—mostly identifiable among her friends, acquaintances and family—attend

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3960-406: A mild climate and varied soils, giving rise to a diverse pattern of vegetation. Animal and plant life is similar to that of the north-western European mainland . There are however, fewer numbers of species, with Ireland having even less. All native flora and fauna in Ireland is made up of species that migrated primarily from Great Britain. The only window when this could have occurred was prior to

4140-569: A new novel, a sequel to The Pursuit of Love that she called Love in a Cold Climate , with the same country house ambience as the earlier book and many of the same characters. The novel's reception was even warmer than that of its predecessor. Waugh was one of the few critics to qualify his praise; he thought that the descriptions were good but the conversations poor. In 1950 she translated and adapted André Roussin 's play La petite hutte ('The Little Hut'), in preparation for its successful West End début in August, The Times ' s critic noted

4320-472: A novel in the early 1930s, since many of her friends were doing the same thing. What is surprising, Thompson adds, is the ease with which she found a publisher for this first book. Perhaps, says Thompson, her publishers Thornton Butterworth "liked the idea of this pretty, well-connected girl who wrote in the style du jour ". Mitford was later embarrassed by her prewar novels; Rachel Cooke , writing on their reissue in 2011, believes she had no reason to be: "There

4500-731: A number of unusual arrangements between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. For example, citizens of Northern Ireland are entitled to the choice of Irish or British citizenship or both, and the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom consult on matters not devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive . The Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland also meet as

4680-544: A problem until the 17th century. By the 18th century, most of Britain's forests were consumed for shipbuilding or manufacturing charcoal and the nation was forced to import lumber from Scandinavia, North America, and the Baltic. Most forest land in Ireland is maintained by state forestation programmes. Almost all land outside urban areas is farmland. However, relatively large areas of forest remain in east and north Scotland and in southeast England. Oak, elm, ash and beech are amongst

4860-517: A similar nature. Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements, particularly along the east coast of Ireland, the west coast of modern-day Scotland and the Isle of Man. Though the Vikings were eventually neutralised in Ireland, their influence remained in the cities of Dublin , Cork , Limerick , Waterford and Wexford . England, however, was slowly conquered around

5040-535: A single political unit, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining as Crown Dependencies . The expansion of the British Empire and migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in the dispersal of some of the islands' population and culture throughout the world, and rapid depopulation of Ireland in the second half of

5220-505: A sister, Pamela , was born; the nanny's apparent change of loyalty in favour of the new arrival was a further source of outrage to Mitford, and throughout their childhood and into young adulthood she continued to vent her displeasure on her sister. In January 1909 a brother, Tom was born, and in June 1910 another sister, Diana , followed. That summer, to relieve the pressure on what was becoming an overcrowded nursery, Nancy Mitford attended

5400-561: A totally different person as if I had come out of a coal mine into daylight ... Diana Cooper is being too angelic. I am captivated completely by her beauty and charm ... Oh my passion for the French!" Nancy Mitford, writing to her mother after deciding to live permanently in France. During her first 18 months in Paris, Mitford lived in several short-term lodgings while she enjoyed

5580-420: A visit to the ophthalmic surgeon Patrick Trevor-Roper , who gave her new spectacles: "It is heavenly to be able to read for a long time on end & now I see how handicapped I was when doing Voltaire". She then returned to writing fiction, with Don't Tell Alfred , in which she revived Fanny Wincham, the narrator of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate , and placed her in a Paris setting as wife of

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5760-402: A writer before publishing her first novel in 1931. This early effort and the three that followed it created little stir. Her two semi-autobiographical post-war novels, The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949), established her reputation. Mitford's marriage to Peter Rodd (1933) proved unsatisfactory to both, and they divorced in 1957 after a lengthy separation. During

5940-556: Is Loch Lomond at 27.5 square miles (71 km ), and Loch Ness (by volume) whilst Loch Morar is the deepest freshwater body in the British Isles, with a maximum depth of 310 m (1,017 ft). There are a number of major rivers within the British Isles. The longest is the Shannon in Ireland at 224 mi (360 km). The river Severn at 220 mi (354 km) is the longest in Great Britain. The climate of

6120-400: Is a special kind of energy here, and its engine is the admirable and irresistible commitment of a writer who would rather die than be boring". Critics generally place the postwar novels in a different league from the earlier efforts; Cooke describes The Pursuit of Love as "an immaculate novel that soars many miles above what came before". In Acton's view it and its companion volume Love in

6300-682: Is a team chosen from each national team and undertakes tours of the Southern Hemisphere rugby-playing nations every four years. Ireland plays as a united team, represented by players from both Northern Ireland and the Republic. These national rugby teams play each other each year for the Triple Crown as part of the Six Nations Championship . Also, since 2001, the professional club teams of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and South Africa compete against each other in

6480-570: Is also true for birds and insects. Notable exceptions include the Kerry slug and certain species of woodlouse native to Ireland but not Great Britain. Domestic animals include the Connemara pony, Shetland pony, English Mastiff, Irish wolfhound and many varieties of cattle and sheep. England has a generally high population density, with almost 80% of the total population of the islands. Elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland, high density of population

6660-673: Is an accepted version of this page The British Isles are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe , consisting of the islands of Great Britain , Ireland , the Isle of Man , the Inner and Outer Hebrides , the Northern Isles ( Orkney and Shetland ), and over six thousand smaller islands. They have a total area of 315,159 km (121,684 sq mi) and

6840-493: Is less than convincing. Similar mixed comments greeted Mitford's final novel, Don't Tell Alfred , Waugh again hailing it as her best, "clamouring for a sequel". In this judgement he was largely alone; other critics perceived in the anecdotal framework of the book an uncertainty as to what it was about. An American reviewer wondered what parts were to be taken seriously: "What exactly goes on? ... Can you always tell an Etonian, even when he goes beat? Is all modern architecture

7020-788: Is limited to areas around a few large cities. The largest urban area by far is the Greater London Built-up Area with 9 million inhabitants. Other major population centres include the Greater Manchester Built-up Area (2.4 million), West Midlands conurbation (2.4 million) and West Yorkshire Urban Area (1.6 million) in England, Greater Glasgow (1.2 million) in Scotland and Greater Dublin Area (1.9 million) in Ireland. The population of England rose rapidly during

7200-471: Is made manifest". At times a more serious undertone, contrasting with the "bright, brittle, essentially ephemeral" nature of her early works, becomes evident; Olivia Laing in the Guardian , discerns "a faint and beguiling pessimism about love's pursuit and its consequences" beneath the light superficiality. The Blessing has provoked a more divided response. Waugh's judgement was that those who criticised

7380-430: Is married to a libidinous French marquis. Harold Acton deems it her most accomplished novel, "permeated with her joyous love of France". This time Waugh (to whom the book was dedicated) had no criticism; he found the book "admirable, deliciously funny, consistent and complete, by far the best of your writings". Mitford then began her first serious non-fiction work, a biography of Madame de Pompadour . The general view of

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7560-436: Is the basis for the supporting role of Bobby's tutor. The thinly disguised caricatures pervading the book shocked Lady Redesdale, who thought it could not possibly be published under Mitford's own name. The affair between Erskine and Mitford continued intermittently. While she often despaired of the relationship, she refused other offers of marriage, saying that she would "never marry anyone except Hamish." In 1932 her plight

7740-614: The Allies in the war. The Romillys had by this time departed for America, but the others either hoped for an Anglo-German détente or, as with Unity, were openly pro-Nazi. Unity was in Munich when war was declared. In despair, she attempted suicide by shooting herself in the head. She survived, and was sent home through neutral Switzerland. Mosley and Diana, who had married secretly in 1936, were detained under Defence Regulation 18B . Nancy, in full antifascist mode, had described her sister to

7920-593: The Boer War of 1899–1902 and was severely wounded. In 1903 he became engaged to Sydney Bowles, the elder daughter of Thomas Gibson Bowles , known as "Tap", a journalist, editor and magazine proprietor whose publications included Vanity Fair and The Lady . The couple were married on 16 February 1904, after which they rented a house in Graham Street in West London. Bowles provided his son-in-law with

8100-721: The European beaver has been reintroduced in parts of Scotland. Wild boar have also been reintroduced to parts of southern England, following escapes from boar farms and illegal releases. Many rivers contain otters and grey and common seals are numerous on coasts. There are about 250 bird species regularly recorded in Great Britain, and another 350 that occur with varying degrees of rarity. The most numerous species are wren , robin , house sparrow , woodpigeon , chaffinch and blackbird . Farmland birds are declining in number, except for those kept for game such as pheasant , red-legged partridge , and red grouse . Fish are abundant in

8280-515: The Franco-Prussian War had provided dispatches which Acton describes as "extremely graphic and amusing". Mitford's fiction, based on upper-class family life and mores , belongs to the genre of the comedy of manners . Her protagonists—typically, intelligent women surrounded by eccentric characters determined to find life amusing—are broadly autobiographical. It is unsurprising, says Thompson, that Mitford should first attempt to write

8460-596: The Indo-European family . The Insular Celtic languages of the Goidelic sub-group ( Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic ) and the Brittonic sub-group ( Cornish , Welsh and Breton , spoken in north-western France ) are the only remaining Celtic languages —the last of their continental relations were extinct before the 7th century. The Norman languages of Guernésiais , Jèrriais and Sercquiais spoken in

8640-540: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) for friendly discussions to decide to which country the Minquiers and Ecrehos belonged. The French fished in the waters, but Jersey exercised various administrative rights. The ICJ considered the historical evidence, and in its judgment of 17 November 1953 awarded the islands to Jersey (as represented by the United Kingdom). In 1998, some French 'invaded'

8820-582: The Kingdom of Great Britain . Following an attempted republican revolution in Ireland in 1798 , the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were unified in 1801 , creating the United Kingdom . The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining outside of the United Kingdom, but with their ultimate good governance being the responsibility of the British Crown (effectively the British government). Although

9000-655: The Late Middle Ages , Great Britain was separated into the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland, while control in Ireland fluxed between Gaelic kingdoms , Hiberno-Norman lords and the English-dominated Lordship of Ireland , soon restricted only to The Pale . The 1603 Union of the Crowns , Acts of Union 1707 and Acts of Union 1800 aimed to consolidate Great Britain and Ireland into

9180-582: The London Blitz . The main house had been requisitioned to provide a refuge for Jewish families evacuated from the bombed areas of the East End. Mitford spent much of her time looking after those families: "so hard-working, clean and grateful". A brief affair with a Free French officer, André Roy, resulted in a third pregnancy. Mitford again miscarried, with complications that led, in November 1941, to

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9360-658: The Norman era , when Sir John de Mitford held the Castle of Mitford in Northumberland . A later Sir John held several important public offices during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and the family maintained a tradition of public service for many generations. In the 18th century William Mitford was a leading classical historian, responsible for the definitive history of ancient Greece. His great-grandson (Algernon) Bertram Mitford , born in 1837 and known as "Bertie",

9540-667: The North/South Ministerial Council to develop policies common across the island of Ireland. These arrangements were made following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement . Another body established under the Good Friday Agreement, the British–Irish Council, is made up of all of the states and territories of the British Isles. The British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly ( Irish : Tionól Pharlaiminteach na Breataine agus na hÉireann ) predates

9720-710: The Northern Ireland Assembly , the States of Jersey , the States of Guernsey and the High Court of Tynwald (Isle of Man). The Council does not have executive powers but meets biannually to discuss issues of mutual importance. Similarly, the Parliamentary Assembly has no legislative powers but investigates and collects witness evidence from the public on matters of mutual concern to its members. Reports on its findings are presented to

9900-590: The Quaternary Period , the most recent being the Devensian . As this ended, the central Irish Sea was deglaciated and the English Channel flooded, with sea levels rising to current levels some 8,000 years ago, leaving the British Isles in their current form. There are about 136 permanently inhabited islands in the group, the largest two being Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain is to

10080-407: The Ramsar convention . In 933 AD, the Duchy of Normandy annexed the islets, along with the other Channel Islands and the Cotentin Peninsula . After William, Duke of Normandy conquered England in 1066, the islands remained united to the Duchy until Philip Augustus conquered mainland Normandy in 1204. In 1259 Henry III did homage to the French king for the Channel Islands. Edward III , in

10260-444: The Republican side in the Spanish Civil War . The young couple were traced to Bilbao , and Nancy was despatched to bring them home but failed to persuade them, and Jessica and Esmond were married in May 1937. Through the winter of 1937–1938, Mitford's main literary task was editing the letters of her cousins the Stanleys of Alderley , with whom she was connected through her great-grandmother Blanche Airlie. Her preoccupation with

10440-430: The Second World War . A French fishing boat, skippered by Lucian Marie, approached the island of Minquiers and anchored nearby. A fully armed German soldier approached and asked for help saying "We've been forgotten by the British, perhaps no one on Jersey told them we were here, I want you to take us over to England, we want to surrender". This was on 23 May 1945, three weeks after the war in Europe ended . In July 1970,

10620-438: The Tusker Tunnel between the ports of Rosslare and Fishguard proposed by The Institute of Engineers of Ireland in 2004. A rail tunnel was proposed in 1997 on a different route, between Dublin and Holyhead , by British engineering firm Symonds. Either tunnel, at 50 mi (80 km), would be by far the longest in the world, and would cost an estimated £15 billion or €20 billion. A proposal in 2007, estimated

10800-432: The United Rugby Championship . The Ryder Cup in golf was originally played between a United States team and a team representing Great Britain and Ireland. From 1979 onwards, this was expanded to include the whole of Europe. London Heathrow Airport is Europe's busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic, and the Dublin-London route is the busiest air route in Europe collectively, the busiest route out of Heathrow and

10980-411: The Variscan orogeny in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, forming the hills of Munster , south-west England, and southern Wales. Over the last 500 million years the land that forms the islands has drifted north-west from around 30°S, crossing the equator around 370 million years ago to reach its present northern latitude. The islands have been shaped by numerous glaciations during

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11160-424: The "P" of Pretannia to the "B" of Britannia by the Romans occurred during the time of Julius Caesar. Greco-Egyptian Claudius Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania ) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania ) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD). According to Philip Freeman in 2001, Ptolemy "is the only ancient writer to use

11340-536: The "habit of speech at once colloquial and unexpected which instantly declares itself the creation of Miss Mitford." The play ran for 1,261 performances, and provided Mitford with a steady £300 per month in royalties. The same year The Sunday Times asked her to contribute a regular column, which she did for four years. The busy period in her writing life continued in 1951 with her third postwar novel, The Blessing , another semi-autobiographical romance this time set in Paris, in which an aristocratic young Englishwoman

11520-401: The 1360 Treaty of Brétigny , waived his claims to the crown of France and to Normandy, but reserved various other territories to England, including the Channel Islands. By 1911, the 1911 Britannica recorded that Maîtresse Île "affords a landing and shelter for fishermen." During World War Two , a small company of Wehrmacht soldiers on the Minquiers were among the last to surrender in

11700-411: The 1890s and otherwise devoted himself to books, writings and travel. In 1902, he was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Redesdale, a re-creation of a title that had previously been held in the family but had lapsed in 1886. Nancy Mitford's father, David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford , was Bertie Mitford's second son, born on 13 March 1878. After several years as a tea planter in Ceylon he fought in

11880-417: The 19th and 20th centuries, whereas the populations of Scotland and Wales showed little increase during the 20th century; the population of Scotland has remained unchanged since 1951. Ireland for most of its history had much the same population density as Great Britain (about one-third of the total population). However, since the Great Irish Famine , the population of Ireland has fallen to less than one-tenth of

12060-437: The 19th century. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty (1919–1922), with six counties remaining in the UK as Northern Ireland. As a term, "British Isles" is a geographical name and not a political unit. In Ireland, the term is controversial , and there are objections to its usage. The Government of Ireland does not officially recognise

12240-413: The 5th century, and eventually they dominated the bulk of what is now England. Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements and political change, particularly in England. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 and the later Angevin partial conquest of Ireland from 1169 led to the imposition of a new Norman ruling elite across much of Britain and parts of Ireland. By

12420-674: The Brettanic Isles as Brettanoi ". Strabo used Βρεττανική ( Brettanike ), and Marcian of Heraclea , in his Periplus maris exteri , used αἱ Πρεττανικαί νῆσοι ( the Prettanic Isles ) to refer to the islands. According to A. L. F. Rivet and Colin Smith in 1979 "the earliest instance of the name which is textually known to us" is in The Histories of Polybius , who referred to them as: αἱ Βρεταννικαί νήσοι , romanized :  hai Bretannikai nēsoi , lit.   'the Brettanic Islands' or 'the British Isles'. According to Rivet and Smith, this name encompassed "Britain with Ireland". According to Thomas O'Loughlin in 2018,

12600-414: The British Intelligence agency MI5 as "a ruthless and shrewd egotist, a devoted fascist and admirer of Hitler [who] sincerely desires the downfall of England and democracy in general". During the " Phoney War " of 1939–1940, Nancy was briefly an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) driver, and later worked shifts at a first-aid post in Paddington . She drew on those experiences in her fourth novel, Pigeon Pie ,

12780-442: The British Isles is mild, moist and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. It is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of north-west Europe. The North Atlantic Drift ("Gulf Stream"), which flows from the Gulf of Mexico, brings with it significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 °C (20 °F) above

12960-458: The British Isles as twelve islands. John Skelton 's English translation of Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica , written in the middle 1480s, mentions the British Isles as the yles of Bretayne . Thomas Twyne 's English translation of Dionysius Periegetes 's Orbis descriptio , published in 1572, mentions the British Isles as the Iles of Britannia . The earliest citation of

13140-434: The British Isles was "a concept already present in the minds of those living in continental Europe since at least the 2nd–cent. CE". Historians today, though not in absolute agreement, largely agree that these Greek and Latin names were probably drawn from native Celtic-language names for the archipelago. Along these lines, the inhabitants of the islands were called the Πρεττανοί ( Priteni or Pretani ). The shift from

13320-502: The British Isles were repeatedly submerged beneath an ice sheet which extended into the middle of the North Sea, with a larger ice sheet that covered a significant proportion of Scandinavia on the opposite side. Around 1.9 million years ago these two ice sheets frequently merged, essentially creating a land bridge between Scandinavia and northern Great Britain. Further south, there was a direct land bridge, now known as Doggerland , which

13500-451: The British Isles, the most prominent of which is association football. While this is organised separately in different national associations, leagues and national teams, even within the UK, it is a common passion in all parts of the islands. Rugby union is also widely enjoyed across the islands with four national teams from England , Ireland , Scotland and Wales . The British and Irish Lions

13680-475: The British Isles: Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . Ireland, sometimes called the Republic of Ireland, governs five-sixths of the island of Ireland, with the remainder of the island forming Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually shortened to simply "the United Kingdom", which governs

13860-575: The British ambassador. Several characters familiar from the earlier novels appear in minor roles. The book, published in October 1960, was popular with the public, but received indifferent reviews. Some of Mitford's friends disliked it, and she decided she would write no more fiction. In August 1962 Palewski was appointed a minister in Georges Pompidou 's government, and returned to Paris. This did not mean more regular or frequent meetings, and

14040-465: The British sense of citizenship proposed to end this arrangement, arguing that "the right to vote is one of the hallmarks of the political status of citizens; it is not a means of expressing closeness between countries". In addition, some civil bodies are organised throughout the islands as a whole—for example, the Samaritans , which is deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on

14220-662: The British–Irish Council and was established in 1990. Originally it comprised 25 members of the Oireachtas , the Irish parliament, and 25 members of the parliament of the United Kingdom , with the purpose of building mutual understanding between members of both legislatures. Since then the role and scope of the body has been expanded to include representatives from the Scottish Parliament , the Senedd (Welsh Parliament),

14400-504: The British–Irish Council's work. The United Kingdom and Ireland have separate media, although British television, newspapers and magazines are widely available in Ireland, giving people in Ireland a high level of familiarity with the culture of the United Kingdom. Irish newspapers are also available in the UK, and Irish state and private television are widely available in Northern Ireland. Certain reality TV shows have embraced

14580-420: The Channel Islands are similar to French, a language also spoken there. A cant , called Shelta , is spoken by Irish Travellers , often to conceal meaning from those outside the group. However, English, including Scots , is the dominant language, with few monoglots remaining in the other languages of the region. The Norn language of Orkney and Shetland became extinct around 1880. 2.5 million years ago

14760-625: The Channel Islands to this day. A century later, the marriage of the future Henry II of England to Eleanor of Aquitaine created the Angevin Empire , partially under the French Crown . At the invitation of Diarmait Mac Murchada , a provincial king, and under the authority of Pope Adrian IV (the only Englishman to be elected pope), the Angevins invaded Ireland in 1169. Though initially intended to be kept as an independent kingdom,

14940-597: The Crown dependencies, any resident can vote in general elections, but in Jersey and the Isle of Man only British citizens can run for office. These pre-date European Union law, and in both jurisdictions go further than what was required by European Union law (EU citizens may only vote in local elections in both states and European elections in Ireland). In 2008, a UK Ministry of Justice report investigating how to strengthen

15120-462: The Crown of Ireland also. The subsequent 17th century was one of political upheaval, religious division and war. English colonialism in Ireland of the 16th century was extended by large-scale Scottish and English colonies in Ulster . Religious division heightened, and the king of England came into conflict with parliament over his tolerance towards Catholicism. The resulting English Civil War or War of

15300-537: The Duchesse de Sagan, a rich divorcée. Mitford had long accepted that Palewski would never marry her. Nevertheless, she was deeply hurt by the news, although she affected a typical nonchalance. Shortly after, she entered hospital for the removal of a tumour. After the operation she continued to suffer pain, although she was able to continue working on her book. In October 1969 she undertook a tour of East Germany, to visit former royal palaces and battlefields. She finished

15480-600: The Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom. During the February 2008 meeting of the British–Irish Council, it was agreed to set up a standing secretariat that would serve as a permanent 'civil service' for the Council. Leading on from developments in the British–Irish Council, the chair of the British–Irish Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Niall Blaney , has suggested that the body should shadow

15660-556: The Hiberni and Picts. In time, Anglo-Saxon demands on the British became so great that they came to culturally dominate the bulk of southern Great Britain, though recent genetic evidence suggests Britons still formed the bulk of the population. This dominance created what is now England and left culturally British enclaves only in the north of what is now England , in Cornwall and what is now known as Wales. Ireland had been unaffected by

15840-784: The King of England from being vassal of the King of France . In 1534, King Henry VIII, at first having been a strong defender of Roman Catholicism in the face of the Reformation, separated from the Roman Church after failing to secure a divorce from the Pope. His response was to place the King of England as "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England ", thereby removing the authority of

16020-492: The Kingdoms of England and Scotland . Power in Ireland fluxed between Gaelic kingdoms , Hiberno-Norman lords and the English-dominated Lordship of Ireland . A similar situation existed in the Principality of Wales , which was slowly being annexed into the Kingdom of England by a series of laws. During the course of the 15th century, the Crown of England would assert a claim to the Crown of France, thereby also releasing

16200-409: The London social scene in the inter-war period . She wrote several novels about upper-class life in England and France, and is considered a sharp and often provocative wit. She also has a reputation as a writer of popular historical biographies. Mitford enjoyed a privileged childhood as the eldest daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, later 2nd Baron Redesdale . Educated privately, she had no training as

16380-566: The Minquiers on behalf of the 'King of Patagonia ' in 'retaliation' for the British occupation of the Falkland Islands . The Union Jack was restored the next day. The Minquiers are mentioned at length by Victor Hugo in his novel Toilers of the Sea . He mentions how treacherous they are, and says that their combined area is bigger than mainland Jersey itself. Hugo lived in both Guernsey and Jersey at various points in his life, and so

16560-555: The Pope from the affairs of the English Church. Ireland, which had been held by the King of England as Lord of Ireland, but which strictly speaking had been a feudal possession of the Pope since the Norman invasion was declared a separate kingdom in personal union with England. Scotland meanwhile had remained an independent Kingdom. In 1603, that changed when the King of Scotland inherited the Crown of England , and consequently

16740-515: The Roman Empire as far as the British Isles" (Greek: μέχρι τῶν Βρεττανικῶν νήσων , romanized:  mékhri tôn Brettanikôn nḗsōn ), and remarks on the region "about the British Isles" ( τὸ περὶ τὰς Βρεττανικὰς νήσους , tò perì tàs Brettanikàs nḗsous ). According to Philip Freeman in 2001, "it seems reasonable, especially at this early point in classical knowledge of the Irish, for Diodorus or his sources to think of all inhabitants of

16920-625: The Romans except, significantly, for being Christianised —traditionally by the Romano-Briton, Saint Patrick. As Europe, including Britain, descended into turmoil following the collapse of Roman civilisation, an era known as the Dark Ages, Ireland entered a golden age and responded with missions (first to Great Britain and then to the continent), the founding of monasteries and universities. These were later joined by Anglo-Saxon missions of

17100-547: The Second World War she formed a liaison with a Free French officer, Gaston Palewski , who was the love of her life. After the war, Mitford settled in France and lived there until her death, maintaining contact with her many English friends through letters and regular visits. During the 1950s, Mitford developed the concept of "U" (upper) and "non-U" language , whereby social origins and standing were identified by words used in everyday speech. She had intended this as

17280-463: The Three Kingdoms led to a revolutionary republic in England. Ireland, largely Catholic, was mainly loyal to the king, but by military conquest was subsumed into the new republic. Following defeat to the parliament's army, large scale land distributions from loyalist Irish nobility to English commoners in the service of the parliamentary army created a new Ascendancy class which obliterated

17460-618: The UK Interpretation Act 1978, the Channel Islands are clarified as forming part of the British Islands , not to be confused with the British Isles. The oldest rocks are 2.7 billion years old and are found in Ireland, Wales and the north-west of Scotland. During the Silurian period, the north-western regions collided with the south-east, which had been part of a separate continental landmass. The topography of

17640-602: The UK as a whole. Ireland, the United Kingdom and the three Crown dependencies are all parliamentary democracies , with their own separate parliaments. All parts of the United Kingdom return Members of Parliament (MPs) to parliament in London . In addition to this, voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland return members to a devolved parliament in Edinburgh and in Cardiff and an assembly in Belfast . Governance in

17820-442: The UK or Ireland. The Mercury Music Prize is handed out every year to the best album from a British or Irish musician or group. Many globally popular sports had their modern rules codified in the British Isles, including golf, association football , cricket , rugby , snooker and darts, as well as many minor sports such as croquet , bowls , pitch and putt , water polo and handball . A number of sports are popular throughout

18000-511: The affair with Mitford continued at arm's length. In April 1963 Mitford was in England for the wedding of her cousin Angus Ogilvy to Princess Alexandra . A month later she was back for the funeral of her mother, Lady Redesdale, who died on 25 May. Mitford's friends were dying, too, "in middle age", she informed her long-time friend Violet Hammersley. The premature deaths included that of Evelyn Waugh, who died on 10 April 1966. Mitford saw

18180-406: The article in a short book, Noblesse Oblige . The book also included an abbreviated version of Ross's original article, and contributions from Waugh, Betjeman, Peter Fleming and Christopher Sykes , It was a tremendous success; as Lovell records, "'U and Non-U' was the buzz phrase of the day ... Nancy's comments made her the arbiter of good manners for several generations". Thompson notes

18360-408: The basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise sectarian or political divisions. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity that operates a lifeboat service, is also organised throughout the islands as a whole, covering the waters of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. The Northern Ireland peace process has led to

18540-526: The beginning of her entry into Society . That was followed in June 1923 by her presentation at Court, a formal introduction to King George V at Buckingham Palace , after which she was officially "out" and could attend the balls and parties that constituted the London Season . She spent much of the next few years in a round of social events, making new friends and mixing with the " Bright Young People " of 1920s London. Nancy declared that "we hardly saw

18720-525: The book and, in September, went to Paris. Ostensibly, that was to establish a French branch of Heywood Hill, but in reality, she wished to be close to Palewski, who was now a member of de Gaulle's postwar provisional government. She was back in London in December 1945 for the publication of The Pursuit of Love which was, Hastings records, "an instant and phenomenal success ... the perfect antidote to

18900-408: The book were "lazy brutes ... [who] ... can't bear to see a writer grow up". More recently, Philip Hensher and others have argued that although the novel is immensely enjoyable and that Mitford's "marvellous voice" is undiminished, she is on less sure ground with her "Frenchness" than with the English country house ambience, and her picture of France as the embodiment of everything civilised

19080-458: The book, but in April 1970 was back in hospital for further tests, which did not lead to either a diagnosis or effective treatment. Frederick the Great was published later in 1970 to a muted reception. Mitford's remaining years were dominated by her illness, although for a time she enjoyed visits from her sisters and friends, and working in her garden. In April 1972 the French government made her

19260-578: The colonies of North America that would become the United States of America were lost by the start of the 19th century, the British Empire expanded rapidly elsewhere. A century later, it would cover one-third of the globe. Poverty in the United Kingdom remained desperate, however, and industrialisation in England led to terrible conditions for the working classes. Mass migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in

19440-476: The cost of building a bridge from County Antrim in Northern Ireland to Galloway in Scotland at £3.5bn (€5bn). British-Irish Isles, the (geography) see British Isles Nancy Mitford Nancy Freeman-Mitford CBE (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973) was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters , she was regarded as one of the " bright young things " on

19620-577: The couple led separate lives. Mitford's visit to France in late 1945 had revived her longing to be there, and in April 1946, having given up working in the shop the previous month, she left London to make her permanent home in Paris and never lived in England again. She was a prolific letter writer and kept contact with her large cohort of friends by a voluminous correspondence. According to Hastings, she developed many of her friendships far further on paper than she could have done through normal social intercourse. "I am so completely happy here ... I feel

19800-448: The critics when the book was published in March 1954 was that it was "marvelous entertainment, if hardly to be taken as history". The historian AJP Taylor likened Mitford's evocation of 18th-century Versailles to "Alconleigh", the fictitious country house that formed the background to her recent best-selling novels, a comparison that she found offensive. In 1954 Alan Ross , a University of Birmingham professor of linguistics, devised

19980-483: The daughter of a London banker. In a final letter after their parting, Mitford wrote to him: "I thought in your soul you loved me & that in the end we should have children & look back on life together when we are old". Within a month of Erskine's departure, Mitford announced her engagement to Peter Rodd , the second son of Sir Rennell Rodd , a diplomat and politician who was ennobled that year as Baron Rennell. According to Mitford's friend Harold Acton , Rodd

20160-524: The disease". Having rejected the political extremes within her family, Nancy Mitford was a moderate socialist , but some of her works, such as her introductions to the Stanley letter collections, and her "U–non-U" essay of 1955, are staunch defences of the aristocratic traditions and values that she grew up with. The outbreak of war in September 1939 divided the Mitford family. Nancy and Rodd supported

20340-480: The distribution of the islands' population and culture throughout the world and a rapid de-population of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty (1919–1922), with the six counties that formed Northern Ireland remaining as an autonomous region of the UK. There are two sovereign states in

20520-547: The drawing-room fire, her curiously triangular green eyes flashing with amusement while her thin pen flew along the lines of a child's exercise book. Sometimes she read bits aloud to us". Jessica Mitford describes the genesis of Highland Fling . Mitford had no training as a writer or journalist; her style, particularly in the pre-war novels, is chatty and informal, much as in her letters. She may have inherited some of her natural wit and sharpness of expression from her maternal grandfather Thomas Bowles, who in his youth during

20700-478: The earliest evidence of human activity on the island of Ireland dates from 12,500 years ago. At the time of the Roman Empire, about two thousand years ago, various tribes, which spoke Celtic dialects of the Insular Celtic group, were inhabiting the islands. The Romans expanded their civilisation to control southern Great Britain but were impeded in advancing any further, building Hadrian's Wall to mark

20880-602: The east and covers 83,700 sq mi (217,000 km ). Ireland is to the west and covers 32,590 sq mi (84,400 km ). The largest of the other islands are to be found in the Hebrides , Orkney and Shetland to the north, Anglesey and the Isle of Man between Great Britain and Ireland, and the Channel Islands near the coast of France. The most densely populated island is Portsea Island , which has an area of 9.5 sq mi (25 km ) but has

21060-477: The failure of the Irish High King to ensure the terms of the Treaty of Windsor led Henry II, as King of England, to rule as effective monarch under the title of Lord of Ireland . This title was granted to his younger son, but when Henry's heir unexpectedly died, the title of King of England and Lord of Ireland became entwined in one person. By the Late Middle Ages , Great Britain was separated into

21240-430: The former French Prime Minister Félix Gaillard , who served in that office from 1957 until 1958, disappeared during a yachting journey; his body was found in the sea off Les Minquiers some days after his disappearance. In August 2018, one of the twenty buildings on the islands was sold to private individuals using a Jersey company. Only five sales have been recorded in 50 years. In 1950, Britain and France went to

21420-480: The future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , and Nellie, who married Bertram Romilly. Both Hozier and Blanche were promiscuous, and it is generally accepted by historians and family members that Hozier was not Clemmie's father although he was registered as such. Blanche told her friend Lady Londonderry, shortly before Clemmie's birth, that the father of the expected child was her own brother-in-law, Bertie Mitford. Most historians believe that other candidates for

21600-545: The global average for the islands' latitudes. Most Atlantic depressions pass to the north of the islands; combined with the general westerly circulation and interactions with the landmass, this imposes a general east–west variation in climate. There are four distinct climate patterns: south-east, with cold winters, warm and dry summers; south-west, having mild and very wet winters, warm and wet summers; north-west, generally wet with mild winters and cool summers; and north-east with cold winters, cool summers. The islands enjoy

21780-519: The global average for the latitude. This led to a landscape that was long dominated by temperate rainforest, although human activity has since cleared the vast majority of forest cover . The region was re-inhabited after the last glacial period of Quaternary glaciation , by 12,000 BC, when Great Britain was still part of a peninsula of the European continent . Ireland may have been connected to Great Britain by way of an ice bridge before 14,000 BC, and

21960-413: The highest point on the islands at 1,345 m (4,413 ft). Other mountainous areas include Wales and parts of Ireland, although only seven peaks in these areas reach above 1,000 m (3,281 ft). Lakes on the islands are generally not large, although Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is an exception, covering 150 square miles (390 km ). The largest freshwater body in Great Britain (by area)

22140-629: The house and grounds, and were taught together in the schoolroom. This was a source of frustration for Nancy, whose lively intelligence required greater stimulus. She spent many hours reading in the Batsford House library where, according to Hastings, the foundations of her intellectual life were laid. The Redesdale estates were extensive, but uneconomical. At the end of the war Redesdale decided to sell Batsford Park and move his increasing family (a fifth daughter, Jessica , had been born in September 1917) to less extravagant accommodation. The house

22320-562: The irony that the U and Non-U labels, perhaps Mitford's best-known legacy, were not her own but were borrowed for the purpose of a "tease". In October 1957 Palewski was appointed as France's ambassador to Italy. Mitford's meetings with him, which had become increasingly rare because of his many political and social commitments, were now reduced to a single visit a year, supplemented with occasional letters. Mitford mainly concealed her true feelings on this separation, although one acquaintance noted her increasingly "savage" teasing of friends, which

22500-665: The island of Ireland. This area required formal recognition in 1997 during the course of negotiations for the Amsterdam Treaty of the European Union, and (together with the Crown dependencies) is now known as the Common Travel Area . As such, Ireland is not part of the Schengen Area , which allows passport-free travel between most EU member states, and is the only member state with an opt-out from

22680-442: The islands is modest in scale by global standards. Ben Nevis , the highest mountain, rises to only 1,345 metres (4,413 ft), and Lough Neagh , which is notably larger than other lakes in the island group, covers 390 square kilometres (151 sq mi). The climate is temperate marine, with cool winters and warm summers. The North Atlantic drift brings significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 °C (20 °F) above

22860-457: The kindness and humour concealed behind his hostile public image, and said after his death: "What nobody ever remembers about Evelyn is everything with him was jokes. Everything". Thompson calls their relationship "one of the great literary friendships of the twentieth century". Amidst these personal upheavals Mitford continued writing. In 1964 she began work on The Sun King , a biography of King Louis XIV . Her publishers decided to issue it as

23040-457: The least suitable partner of all, "the most shimmering and narcissistic of all the beautiful butterflies"—and the one most likely to offend Lord Redesdale. The pair met in 1928 and became unofficially engaged, despite his homosexuality (of which Nancy may not have been aware). Against a backdrop of hostility from family and friends—Waugh advised her to "dress better and catch a better man" —the engagement endured sporadically for several years. As

23220-478: The light of day, except at dawn". In 1926 Asthall Manor was finally sold. While the new house at Swinbrook was made ready, the female members of the family were sent for three months to Paris, a period which, says Hastings, began Nancy's "lifelong love affair" with France. Among Nancy's new London friends was Evelyn Gardner who, Nancy informed her brother Tom, was engaged "to a man called Evelyn Waugh who writes, I believe, very well". She and Waugh later developed

23400-401: The long war years of hardship and austerity, providing the undernourished public with its favourite ingredients: love, childhood and the English upper classes". The book sold 200,000 copies within a year of publication, and firmly established Mitford as a best-selling author. At the end of the war, Rodd returned home, but the marriage was essentially over. Although remaining on friendly terms,

23580-469: The love affair between Voltaire and the Marquise du Châtelet . She considered it her first truly grown-up work, and her best. Published in 1957, it sold well, was taken seriously by the critics and was warmly praised by Mitford's friends. Its writing had been hampered by painful headaches arising from her apparently failing eyesight and worries that she might be going blind. The problem was resolved after

23760-405: The love of her life though her feelings were never fully reciprocated. He was an inspiration for much of her future writing. For the sake of Mitford's reputation, the affair was pursued with discretion before Palewski left for Algeria in May 1943. Thereafter, the relationship was conducted mainly by letters and occasional phone calls since Palewski was only intermittently in England before the end of

23940-450: The melting of the ice bridge between the two islands 14,000 years ago approaching the end of the last ice age. As with most of Europe, prehistoric Britain and Ireland were covered with forest and swamp. Clearing began around 6000 BC and accelerated in medieval times. Despite this, Britain retained its primeval forests longer than most of Europe due to a small population and later development of trade and industry, and wood shortages were not

24120-664: The most common trees in England. In Scotland, pine and birch are most common. Natural forests in Ireland are mainly oak, ash, wych elm , birch and pine. Beech and lime , though not native to Ireland, are also common there. Farmland hosts a variety of semi-natural vegetation of grasses and flowering plants. Woods, hedgerows , mountain slopes and marshes host heather , wild grasses, gorse and bracken . Many larger animals, such as wolves, bears and European elk are today extinct. However, some species such as red deer are protected. Other small mammals, such as rabbits , foxes , badgers , hares , hedgehogs , and stoats , are very common and

24300-513: The most entertaining introduction to the subject in the English language. Mitford's informal style was remarked on by the literary critic Cyril Connolly , who wrote that her facility for transforming unpromising source material into readable form was a skill that any professional historian might envy. The historian Antonia Fraser considered Mitford an important contributor to the "remorseless process by which historical and biographical sales have soared since 1950". Mitford did not regard herself as

24480-533: The name "Little Britain" for Ireland, though in doing so he is well within the tradition of earlier authors who pair a smaller Ireland with a larger Britain as the two Brettanic Isles". In the second book of Ptolemy's Geography ( c.  150 AD ), the second and third chapters are respectively titled in Greek: Κεφ. βʹ Ἰουερνίας νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις , romanized:  Iouernías nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis , lit.   'Ch. 2, position of Hibernia,

24660-587: The name is disputed, and could either come from the Breton language minihi meaning a sanctuary, or from minkier meaning a seller of fish. Thousands of years ago, around the time of the last glacial period , when sea level was lower, the Channel Islands were high ground on the plain connecting the European Continent and southern England. The most significant islands in the group are: Others include: The Minquiers are designated protected under

24840-553: The nearby Francis Holland School . The few months she spent there represented almost the whole of her formal schooling; in the autumn the family moved to a larger house in Victoria Road , Kensington , after which Nancy was educated at home by successive governesses . Summers were spent at the family's cottage near High Wycombe , in Buckinghamshire , or with the children's Redesdale grandparents at Batsford Park. In

25020-464: The norm is by majority rule; however, Northern Ireland uses a system of power sharing whereby unionists and nationalists share executive posts proportionately and where the assent of both groups is required for the Northern Ireland Assembly to make certain decisions. (In the context of Northern Ireland, unionists are those who want Northern Ireland to remain a part of the United Kingdom and nationalists are those who want Northern Ireland to join with

25200-464: The northern frontier of their empire in 122 AD. At that time, Ireland was populated by a people known as Hiberni, the northern third or so of Great Britain by a people known as Picts and the southern two thirds by Britons. Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century AD . Initially, their arrival seems to have been at the invitation of the Britons as mercenaries to repulse incursions by

25380-694: The obligation to join the Schengen Zone. Reciprocal arrangements allow British and Irish citizens specific voting rights in the two states. In Ireland, British citizens can vote in General and local elections, but not in European Parliament elections, constitutional referendums or presidential elections (for which there is no comparable franchise in the United Kingdom). In the United Kingdom, Irish and Commonwealth citizens can vote in every election for which British citizens are eligible. In

25560-479: The paternity are more likely. Bertie Mitford's marriage produced five sons and four daughters. His career in government service ended in 1886 when, after the death of a cousin, he inherited a considerable fortune. A condition of the inheritance was that he adopt the surname "Freeman-Mitford". He rebuilt Batsford House in Gloucestershire , the family's country seat , served briefly as a Unionist MP in

25740-565: The phrase Brytish Iles in the Oxford English Dictionary is in a work by John Dee dated 1577. Other names used to describe the islands include the Anglo-Celtic Isles , Atlantic archipelago (a term coined by the historian J. G. A. Pocock in 1975 ), British-Irish Isles , Britain and Ireland , UK and Ireland , and British Isles and Ireland . Owing to political and national associations with

25920-460: The population of the British Isles. The famine caused a century-long population decline, drastically reduced the Irish population and permanently altered the demographic make-up of the British Isles. On a global scale, this disaster led to the creation of an Irish diaspora that numbers fifteen times the current population of the island. The linguistic heritage of the British Isles is rich, with twelve languages from six groups across four branches of

26100-424: The project, nine or ten hours a day, she informed her friend Robert Byron , further damaged her relationship with Rodd, who resented the time thus spent. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1938, she discovered that she was pregnant. She hoped for a girl: "2 Peter Rodds in 1 house is unthinkable", but in September, she miscarried. Early in 1939, Rodd left for southern France to work with the relief organisations assisting

26280-469: The remainder of the archipelago with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The Isle of Man and the two Bailiwicks of the Channel Islands, Jersey and Guernsey , are known as the Crown Dependencies . They exercise constitutional rights of self-government and judicial independence; responsibility for international representation rests largely with the UK (in consultation with

26460-447: The remnants of Old English (Hiberno-Norman) and Gaelic Irish nobility in Ireland. The new ruling class was Protestant and English, whilst the populace was largely Catholic and Irish. This theme would influence Irish politics for centuries to come. When the monarchy was restored in England, the king found it politically impossible to restore the lands of former landowners in Ireland. The " Glorious Revolution " of 1688 repeated similar themes:

26640-631: The respective governments); and responsibility for defence is reserved by the UK. The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent parts : England, Scotland and Wales, forming Great Britain, and Northern Ireland in the northeast of the island of Ireland. Of these, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved governments, meaning that each has its own parliament or assembly and is self-governing with respect to certain matters set down by law. For judicial purposes, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England and Wales (the latter being one entity) form separate legal jurisdictions, with there being no single law for

26820-585: The rest of Ireland.) The British monarch is the head of state of the United Kingdom, while in the Republic of Ireland the head of state is the President of Ireland . Ireland is the only part of the isles that is a member state of the European Union (EU). The UK was a member between 1 January 1973 and 31 January 2020, but the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands were not. Since the partition of Ireland , an informal free-travel area has existed across

27000-668: The rivers and lakes, in particular salmon, trout, perch and pike . Sea fish include dogfish , cod, sole , pollock and bass, as well as mussels, crab and oysters along the coast. There are more than 21,000 species of insects. Few species of reptiles or amphibians are found in Great Britain or Ireland. Only three snakes are native to Great Britain: the adder , the barred grass snake and the smooth snake ; none are native to Ireland. In general, Great Britain has slightly more variation and native wildlife, with weasels, polecats , wildcats, most shrews , moles , water voles , roe deer and common toads also being absent from Ireland. This pattern

27180-516: The second-busiest international air route in the world. The English Channel and the southern North Sea are the busiest seaways in the world. The Channel Tunnel , opened in 1994, links Great Britain to France and is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world. The idea of building a tunnel under the Irish Sea has been raised since 1895, when it was first investigated. Several potential Irish Sea tunnel projects have been proposed, most recently

27360-430: The sparks of an abrasive and entertaining wit, refreshingly free from politeness". (Publisher details are for first publication only) Mitford was a prolific writer of articles, reviews, essays and prefaces, some of which were published in two collections: The Water Beetle (Hamish Hamilton, 1962) and A Talent to Annoy (Hamish Hamilton, 1986). Her translation of Madame Lafayette's romantic novel La Princesse de Clèves

27540-480: The term, and its embassy in London discourages its use. "Britain and Ireland" is used as an alternative description, and "Atlantic Archipelago" has also seen limited use in academia. In official documents created jointly by Ireland and the United Kingdom, such as the Good Friday Agreement , the term "these islands" is used. The earliest known references to the islands as a group appeared in

27720-428: The terms "U" and "Non-U" to differentiate the speech patterns of the social classes in England. "U" indicated upper-class usage, and "Non-U" the conventions of the lower strata of society. His article, in a learned Finnish journal and with an illustrative glossary, used The Pursuit of Love to exemplify upper-class speech patterns. In a spirit of mischief, Mitford incorporated the U and Non-U thesis into an article she

27900-537: The third highest population behind Great Britain and Ireland. The islands are at relatively low altitudes, with central Ireland and southern Great Britain particularly low-lying: the lowest point in the islands is the North Slob in County Wexford , Ireland, with an elevation of −3.0 metres (−9.8 ft). The Scottish Highlands in the northern part of Great Britain are mountainous, with Ben Nevis being

28080-424: The thousands of Spanish refugees who had fled from General Franco 's armies in the final stages of the civil war. In May, Mitford joined him and spent several weeks there as a relief worker. She was much affected by what she saw: "I have never cried so much in all my life". The experience hardened her antifascism to the extent that she wrote: "I would join hands with the devil himself to stop any further extension of

28260-576: The turn of the first millennium AD, and eventually became a feudal possession of Denmark . The relations between the descendants of Vikings in England and counterparts in Normandy , in northern France, lay at the heart of a series of events that led to the Norman conquest of England in 1066 . The remnants of the Duchy of Normandy , which conquered England, remain associated to the English Crown as

28440-522: The war. The failure of Pigeon Pie had cooled Mitford's desire to write, but in 1944, with Waugh's encouragement, she began planning a new novel. In March 1945, she was given three months' leave from the shop to write it. The Pursuit of Love is a heavily autobiographical romantic comedy in which many of her family and acquaintances appear in thin disguises. Despite the distraction of learning that her brother Tom had died fighting in Burma, she finished

28620-524: The whole of the islands, for example The X Factor , seasons 3, 4 and 7 of which featured auditions in Dublin and were open to Irish voters, whilst the show previously known as Britain's Next Top Model became Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model in 2011. A few cultural events are organised for the island group as a whole. For example, the Costa Book Awards are awarded to authors resident in

28800-530: The winter of 1913–14 David and Sydney visited Canada, prospecting for gold on a claim that David had purchased in Swastika, Ontario . It was here that their fifth child was conceived, a daughter born in London on 8 August 1914 and christened Unity . On the outbreak of the First World War on 4 August 1914, David re-joined his regiment and was soon in France. In May 1915, Clement, David's older brother,

28980-426: The word British , the Government of Ireland does not use the term British Isles and in documents drawn up jointly between the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is referred to simply as "these islands". British Isles is the most widely accepted term for the archipelago. The British Isles lie at the juncture of several regions with past episodes of tectonic mountain building. These orogenic belts form

29160-657: The writings of seafarers from the ancient Greek colony of Massalia . The original records have been lost; however, later writings, e.g. Avienius 's Ora maritima , that quoted from the Massaliote Periplus (6th century BC) and from Pytheas 's On the Ocean (around 325–320 BC) have survived. In the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus has Prettanikē nēsos , "the British Island", and Prettanoi , "the Britons", describes Julius Caesar as having "advanced

29340-404: Was "a young man of boundless promise ... he had abundant qualifications for success in any profession he deigned to choose". Other biographers describe him as irresponsible, unfaithful, a bore and unable to hold down a regular job, and as the model for Waugh's unscrupulous, amoral character Basil Seal from Black Mischief . They were married on 4 December 1933, after which they settled into

29520-493: Was a diplomat and traveller who held minor office in Disraeli's second ministry, from 1874 to 1880 . In 1874 he married Clementina, the second daughter of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie , a union that linked the Mitfords to some of Britain's most prominent aristocratic families. Blanche Ogilvy, Clementina's elder sister, became the wife of Sir Henry Montague Hozier , a soldier turned businessman. Their four children included daughters Clementine ("Clemmie"), who in 1908 married

29700-456: Was allowed a year's boarding at Hatherop Castle, an informal private establishment for young ladies of good family. Laura Thompson, in her biography of Nancy, describes Hatherop as not so much a school, "more a chaste foretaste of debutante life". Here Nancy learned French and other subjects, played organised games and joined a Girl Guide troop. It was her first extended experience of life away from home, and she enjoyed it. The following year she

29880-407: Was allowed to accompany four other girls on a cultural trip to Paris, Florence and Venice; her letters home are full of expressions of wonder at the sights and treasures: "I had no idea I was so fond of pictures ... if only I had a room of my own I would make it a regular picture gallery". Nancy's eighteenth birthday in November 1922 was the occasion for a grand " coming-out " ball, which marked

30060-483: Was also, according to the later reflections of her nephew Alexander Mosley : "a highly-honed weapon to keep a lot of highly competitive, bright, energetic sisters in order. She used it ... as a form of self protection". Not all her interactions with her siblings were hostile; for their amusement she edited and produced a magazine, The Boiler , to which she contributed entertainingly gruesome murder stories. In 1921, after years of pleading for proper schooling, Nancy

30240-503: Was born they changed their minds and named her Nancy. Responsibility for Nancy Mitford's day-to-day upbringing was delegated to her nanny and nursemaid, within the framework of Sydney's short-lived belief that children should never be corrected or be spoken to in anger. Before this experiment was discontinued, the young Nancy Mitford had become self-centred and uncontrollable; Hastings writes that her first years were "characterised by roaring, red-faced rages". Just before her third birthday,

30420-405: Was familiar with local lore. The British-French dispute over Les Minquiers is a plot element in Nancy Mitford 's novel Don't Tell Alfred , as an occasional cause for dispute between the 'two old ladies' - France and Britain. The Minquiers feature in the seafaring adventure novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare , by Hammond Innes , and its 1959 film adaptation . British Isles This

30600-405: Was gradually submerged as sea levels rose. However, the Irish Sea was formed before Doggerland was completely covered in water, with Ireland becoming an island roughly 6,000 years before Great Britain did. The first evidence of human activity on the islands dates from 840,000 or 950,000 years ago, based in flint tools found near Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast of Great Britain. In contrast,

30780-405: Was killed while serving with the 10th Royal Hussars , which made David heir to the Redesdale title and lands. On 17 August 1916 Bertie Mitford died; David, still serving at the front, became the 2nd Baron Redesdale. Sydney quickly took possession of Batsford House, much of which had been shut up for many years, and occupied the portion of it that she could afford to heat. The children had the run of

30960-433: Was later to portray in her semi-autobiographical novels. Growing up proved a difficult process for Nancy. Unable to form a relationship with Pamela, the sister nearest to her in age, she was bored and irritated by her younger siblings, and vented her feelings by teasing and tormenting them. Although there was undoubtedly cruelty in her taunting—the other children, led by Tom, formed a "Leag (sic) against Nancy" —her teasing

31140-462: Was not inhabited until after 8000 BC. Great Britain became an island by 7000 BC with the flooding of Doggerland . The Gaels (Ireland), Picts (northern Great Britain) and Britons (southern Great Britain), all speaking Insular Celtic languages , inhabited the islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Much of Brittonic-occupied Britain was conquered by the Roman Empire from AD 43. The first Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in

31320-460: Was outraged by her depiction in the book as the ridiculous "Eugenia Malmains", was never fully healed. By 1936, Nancy Mitford's marriage was largely a sham. Rodd was engaged in an affair with the wife of a friend, a situation that continued into the new year, when the Mitford family was further shaken by the 19-year-old Jessica's elopement with her cousin Esmond Romilly . A rebellious ex- Wellington schoolboy and avowed Communist, Romilly fought on

31500-585: Was overshadowed by a family scandal involving her younger sister Diana, who had married Bryan Guinness in 1928 and was the mother of two young sons. In 1932 Diana deserted her husband to become the mistress of Sir Oswald Mosley , the leader of the British Union of Fascists , himself married with three children. Almost alone of her family, Mitford offered her sister support, regularly visiting her and keeping her up to date with family news and social gossip. Her own love affair with Erskine came to an abrupt end when, in June 1933, he informed her that he intended to marry

31680-446: Was perhaps a safety valve: "If she would only tell one she is unhappy one would do what one could to comfort her". In March 1958 Mitford's father, Lord Redesdale, died. After the cremation, she informed her sister Jessica, "the ashes were done up in the sort of parcel he used to bring back from London, rich thick brown paper & incredibly neat knots". Meanwhile Mitford had completed her latest book, Voltaire in Love , an account of

31860-483: Was short-lived, and she soon became a vociferous opponent of the British Union of Fascists and of fascism. When the novel was published in 1935, its book cover illustrated by Bip Pares , it made little critical impact and seriously offended members of her own family, particularly her sisters Diana and Unity, both of whom were supporters of Mosley's movement and devotees of the German dictator Adolf Hitler . Diana eventually forgave Nancy, but Nancy's rift with Unity, who

32040-423: Was sold early in 1919, together with much of its contents—including, to Nancy's great dismay, a large part of its library. The new family home was Asthall Manor , a Jacobean mansion near Swinbrook in Oxfordshire. This was intended as a short-term measure while a new house was built on land nearby. The family stayed in Asthall Manor for seven years, and it became the basis of many of the family scenes which Nancy

32220-555: Was used to full effect in her four biographical works. In the first of these, Madame de Pompadour , she followed Waugh's advice not to write for experts but to fashion "a popular life like Strachey's Queen Victoria ", with "plenty of period prettiness". This remained her yardstick in her subsequent biographical writings. Her own description of Voltaire in Love is "a Kinsey report of his romps with Mme de Châtelet and her romps with Saint-Lambert and his romps with Mme de Boufflers ... I could go on for pages". Acton thought The Sun King

32400-464: Was writing for Encounter on the English aristocracy. Although the aspect formed only a small section of Mitford's article, when it was published in September 1955 it caused a major stir. Few recognised the tongue-in-cheek aspect. Mitford received hundreds of letters from worried readers desperate to know if they were snobs or merely "common". The level of anxious or amused interest was sustained to such an extent that in 1956 Hamish Hamilton reproduced

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