http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Cultural icons

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones using enclosed reeds. The term is equally correct in the singular or plural, although pipers most commonly talk of "pipes" and "the bagpipe".

Skirl is a term used by pipers to describe an unintended shrill sound made by the chanter, and is usually produced when the chanter reed is too easy and thus the chanter is overblown. Sometimes the term is also somewhat mistakenly used to describe the general sound produced by a bagpipe.

The history of the bagpipe is very unclear. However, it seems likely they were first invented in pre-Christian times. Nero is generally accepted to have been a player; there are Greek depictions of pipers, and the Roman legions are thought to have marched to bagpipes. The idea of taking a leather bag and combining it with a chanter and inflation device seems to have originated with various ethnic groups in the Roman empire. In the modern era the use of bagpipes has become a common tradition for military funerals and memorials in the anglophone world, and they are often used at the funerals of high-ranking civilian public officials as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Big Ben

Big Ben is the colloquial name of the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London and an informal name for the Great Bell of Westminster, part of the Great Clock of Westminster. The clock tower is located at the northwestern end of the building, the home of the Houses of Parliament, and contains the famous striking clock and bell.

"Big Ben" is the most commonly used name for the Clock Tower, which is itself also known as St. Stephen's Tower . That name may have come from St. Stephen's Hall , the western wing of the Palace of Westminster, which is the entrance used by visitors wishing to view the proceedings of the Houses of Parliament, and British subjects wishing to lobby their MPs. However, it is more accurate to call the bell "Big Ben". One theory says that the bell was given that name after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Works. Another theory suggests that at the time anything which was heaviest of its kind was called "Big Ben" after the then-famous prizefighter Benjamin Caunt, making it a natural name for the bell. Big Ben is commonly taken to be the name of the clock tower itself, but this is incorrect - the tower is simply known as The Clock Tower . Sometimes, the tower is referred to as St. Stephen's Tower , but this title is not used by staff of the Palace of Westminster.

The face of the Great Clock of Westminster. The 5 foot 4 inch person (1.63 m) has been inserted into the picture at correct scale. The hour hand is 9 feet (2.7 m) long and the minute hand is 14 feet (4.3 m) long The clock in the tower was once the biggest in the world. One of the specifications of the clock was that it has to strike the first blow for each hour with an accuracy of one second. The mechanism of the clock was completed in 1854, but the tower was not yet ready by then. The name Big Ben was first applied to a 16 ton hour bell, cast in 1856. Again, the tower was not finished yet, and the bell was mounted in the New Palace Yard. The bell cracked, and its metal was used to recast the 13,800 kg bell in use today. Along with four quarter bells, it was mounted in the tower in 1858. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons

Bowler hat

The bowler hat is a hard felt hat originally created for an English James Coke in 1850. It was designed to be hard to protect the head but evolved with its popularity in both England and the USA. As it peaked in popularity towards the end of the 19th century, offered a midway between the formality of the top hat associated with the upper classes and the casual nature of soft felt hats worn by the lower middle classes.

It was the traditional headwear of London city 'gents' and has become something of a British cultural icon. However British men stopped wearing hats as a matter of course in the 1960s, and most young British people in the 21st century have never seen a bowler hat worn as part of normal dress. It was traditionally also worn by members of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland during their 12th July annual parades, though usage has declined. In the United States, this hat is also known as a derby hat .

Famous uses

• Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the slapstick comedy duo Laurel and Hardy of the 1920s and 30s. • Charlie Chaplin, another comedian from the early 1900s. • Benito Mussolini, fascist Italian dictator. • Alex Delarge A Clockwork Orange . • The paintings of Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte. • In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the only description of costume is that all four major characters wear them. • John Steed, of Avengers fame wears this hat. • Clarinetist Acker Bilk wears this hat also. • In the 1986 film Pretty in Pink , Duckie wears this style. • Big Smoke in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Yeomen Warders

The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, but in practice they act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction in their own right.

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Britannia

Britannia , the British national personification. Britannia was originally the Latin name that the Roman Empire gave to the island of Great Britain, and has become a national personification of Britain.

Roman period

At the height of Roman Britain, the Empire included much of Britannia (first invaded by Julius Caesar in 55 BC), up to Hadrian's Wall, which is close to today's border between England and Scotland. To the Romans northern Britain was known as Caledonia. Half of what is now known as Scotland was occupied by the Romans by the end of the Roman reign, kept in place by the Picts to the north of The Antonine Wall for over 400 years.

There was no Britannia in Celtic mythology, and the land of Britain was not personified by any early known Latin poet. The Emperor Claudius paid a visit while Britain was being pacified and was honoured with the agnomen Britannicus as if he were the conqueror, but Britannia remained a place, not a female personification of the land, until she appeared on coins issued under Hadrian, which introduced a female figure labelled BRITANNIA. Typical of the Romans, Britannia was soon personified as a goddess. Early portraits of the goddess depict Britannia as a beautiful young woman, wearing the helmet of a Centurion, and wrapped in a white toga with her right breast exposed. She is usually shown seated on a rock, holding a spear, and with a spiked shield propped beside her. Sometimes she holds a standard and leans on the shield. On another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves: Britain at the edge of the known world. Similar coin types were also issued under Antoninus Pius.

Britannia with the British lion and Uncle Sam with the American Bald Eagle on a post-World War I poster Britannia remained the Latin name for Great Britain, but after the fall of the Roman Empire it had lost most symbolic meaning until the rise of British influence and later, the British Empire, which at the height of its power ruled a quarter of the world's people and a fifth of the world's landmass. Since the 1990s a new term, Cool Britannia , has been used to express today's modern Britain. The phrase refers to the fashionable London, Glasgow, Cardiff and Manchester scenes, with a new generation of pop groups and style magazines, successful young fashion designers, and a surge of new restaurants and hotels. Cool Britannia represents today's Britain as a fashionable place to be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Cricket

Cricket is a team sport played between two groups of eleven players each. It originated in its modern form in England, and is popular mainly in the countries of the Commonwealth. The length of the game — a game can last six or more hours a day, for up to five days (and occasionally more) — the numerous intervals for lunch and tea, and the rich terminology are notable aspects which can confuse those not familiar with the sport. For its fans, the sport and the intense rivalries between the top cricketing nations provide passionate entertainment that has occasionally given rise to diplomatic outrage, especially the infamous Bodyline series played between England and Australia.

Cricket is a bat and ball sport. The objective of the game is to score more runs (points) than the opposing team. A match is divided into innings , during which one team bats while the other team bowls and fields . In each innings, the bowling team tries to limit the runs scored by the batting team and to get the opposition players out , an event which is described as 'taking a wicket'. The batting team keeps two batsmen on the field. Each player bats until he is out, and then is replaced and does not bat again in that innings. Once ten of the eleven players of the batting team have been dismissed (i.e., ten wickets have been taken) the team is said to be 'All Out' and their innings comes to an end. A team's innings may also be declared closed by the batting team's captain. Matches may be played over one or two innings – that is, one or two turns at bat for each team, so that a "two innings match" contains four innings in total. For most one innings matches such as one-day matches, each team's innings is limited to a set number of overs . An over is a set of six legal (fair) deliveries or balls . This type of match is often called limited-overs cricket.

Fish and chips

Fish and chips is deep-fried fish in batter with deep-fried potatoes, and a popular take-away food. Fish and chips is the national dish of the United Kingdom. For decades it was the dominant (if not the only) take-away food in the United Kingdom. The fried potatoes are called chips in British and international usage; and while American English calls them french fries , the combination is still called "fish and chips". (Potato chips, an American innovation, are a different potato- derived food, and are known as crisps in the United Kingdom.) The traditional way is to fry in beef fat, though some chips shops use vegetable oil, which imparts a different taste to the dish, but is acceptable to vegetarians. Some maintain that the best types of potatoes to use for chips are 'Lincolnshire Whites' or 'Maris Piper'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons During World War II, fish and chips were one of the few foods that were not rationed in the UK. The most common fish used for fish and chips in England is cod, but many kinds of fish are used, especially other white fish, such as pollock or haddock; plaice, skate; and rock salmon (dogfish). In northern England and Scotland haddock is the most popular choice. In the UK, fish and chips are usually served with free salt and vinegar.

Football

Association football , more commonly known as soccer , is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players, and is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the worldMany of the modern games have their origins in England, but — since ancient times — many peoples around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball. Throughout the history of mankind the urge to kick at stones and other objects must have inevitably led to many early activities involving kicking and running with a ball. Football-like games undoubtedly predate recorded history in all parts of the world and the earliest forms of football can only be guessed at. Numerous attempts have been made throughout history to ban football, particularly in its most rowdy and disruptive forms. King Edward II was so troubled by the unruliness of football in London that on April 13, 1314 he issued a proclamation banning it. It read "Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils may arise which God forbid; we command and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future." Between 1324 and 1667, football was banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws.

• In the United Kingdom , and in most other English-speaking countries, "football" usually refers to Association football. Rugby union is often referred to as "rugby" . • In the United States , "football" refers to American football. Association football, which is hugely popular by way of participation despite lacking commercial success, is called "soccer", and rugby football, which is less popular still, is usually called "rug

Haggis

A traditional Scottish dish. It is a weighty sausage, and is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" which is mashed swede (rutabaga) and mashed potatoes - Scots generally refer to Swedish turnips as 'turnips' rather than 'swedes', hence "neeps". Although there are many recipes, some of which use deer offal, it is normally made with the following ingredients: sheep's heart, liver, and lungs (or "lights"), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for several hours. In this it somewhat resembles other stuffed intestines, otherwise known as sausages, of which it is among the largest types. There are also meat-free recipes specifically for vegetarians which taste very similar to the meat-based recipes. In some ways, the northeastern U.S. dish scrapple resembles haggis, however haggis differs in the following ways: it uses sheep offal instead of pig offal and oatmeal instead of cornmeal (maize); it is a sausage rather than a meat loaf; and it is boiled instead of being baked. As a result, the appearance and the flavour vary significantly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Haggis is traditionally served with the Burns supper on January 25th, when Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, is commemorated. He wrote the poem Address to a Haggis , which starts "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race! Aboon them a' ye tak your place...." During Burns' lifetime haggis was a popular dish for the poor, since it made use of parts of a sheep that would otherwise have been wasted. Haggis is widely available in supermarkets in Scotland all the year round, and the cheaper brands are normally packed in artificial casings, rather than stomachs, just as the cheaper brands of sausages are no longer stuffed into animal intestines. Some supermarket haggis is largely made from pig's, rather than sheep's, offal. In addition, practically all Scottish fish and chips shops will sell their customers a haggis supper. This consists of a small single portion haggis dipped in batter and deep fried with chips; it provides a hot, filling, high-energy meal for a cold winter's day. There are also fast-food shops that sell haggis burgers, with a patty of fried haggis on a bun.

Haggis is an amusing subject for many people. Those who ask a Scotsman for information about it will rarely get a straight answer. A common "answer" to the question "What is a haggis?" often goes along the following lines. "A haggis is a small four-legged Scottish Highland creature, which has the limbs on one side shorter than the other side. This means that it is well adapted to run around the hills at a steady altitude, without either ascending or descending. However a haggis can easily be caught by running around the hill in the opposite direction." (see wild haggis) Surprisingly the humorous myth is believed by many tourists, thus they are shocked - and possibly disappointed - to hear the truth.

John Bull

World War I recruiting poster John Bull is a national personification of Britain . Bull is usually portrayed as a stout man in a tailcoat with breeches and a Union Jack waistcoat. He also wears a low topper on his head and is often accompanied by a bulldog.

The cartoon image of stolid stocky conservative and well-meaning John Bull, dressed like an English country squire, sometimes explicitly contrasted with the conventionalized scrawny, French revolutionary sans-culottes Jacobin, was developed from about 1790 by British satirical artists James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and George Cruikshank. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Kilt

The kilt is seen as an item of traditional Scottish Highland dress, although the origin of that tradition is more recent than is commonly believed. It was only with the Romantic Revival of the 19th century that the kilt became irreversibly associated with Highlanders, largely because of non-Highlanders reinterpreting their traditions. Today most Scotsmen see kilts as formal dress. They are often worn at weddings or other formal occasions, while there are still a few people who wear them daily. Kilts are also used for parades by groups like the Scouts, and in many places kilts are seen in force at Highland games and Pipe band championships as well as being used for Scottish country dances and ceilidhs. The British Army and armies of other Commonwealth nations still continue to have kilts as dress uniform, though they are no longer used in combat. The Garment's name comes from the Scots word kilt meaning to tuck up the clothes around the body. The Scots word derives from the Old Norse "kjilt", which means "pleated", from Viking settlers who wore a similar, non- tartan pleated garment.

Although the kilt was largely forgotten in the Scottish Highlands, during those years it became fashionable for Scottish romantics to wear kilts as a form of protest against the ban. This was an age that romanticized "primitive" peoples, which is what Highlanders were viewed as. Most Lowlanders had viewed Highlanders with fear before 1745, but many identified with them after their power was broken. The kilt, along with other features of Gaelic culture, had become identified with Jacobitism, and now that this had ceased to be a real danger it was viewed with romantic nostalgia. Once the ban was lifted in 1782, Highland landowners set up Highland Societies with aims including "Improvements" (which others would call the Highland clearances) and promoting "the general use of the ancient Highland dress". The Celtic Society of Edinburgh, chaired by Walter Scott, encouraged lowlanders to join this antiquarian enthusiasm. Kilts have become normal wear for formal occasions, for example being hired for weddings in much the same way as top hat and tails are in England or tuxedos across the pond, and the kilt is being worn by anyone regardless of nationality or descent. Although a white tie style exists, the more common style of formal Highland regalia is seen in Black tie.

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Kilts have increasingly become more common around the world for casual wear. It's not uncommon at all to see kilts making an appearance at Irish pubs, and it is becoming somewhat less rare to see them in the workplace. Casual use of the kilt can be dressed down with black boots, white socks rolled down to the top of the boot, perhaps with a black tee shirt. Or it can be a little more dressed up with woolen kilt hose, a button up shirt, sweater, and perhaps even a sport jacket.

A bagpiper in military uniform, complete with hair sporran. As a kilt has no pockets, it is worn with a pouch called a sporran. Originally this was a soft deer skin pouch, but with the development of military uniforms elaborate hard leather sporrans came into use, often with decorative silver tops and white hair facings with large tassels. A decorative silver kilt pin adds weight to the loose bottom corner of the kilt.

Marmite

A brand of savoury spread made from a by-product of the beer brewing process, the yeast extract Marmite is a popular UK sandwich and toast spread similar to Australia's Vegemite and Switzerland's Cenovis.

Marmite is a rich source of the vitamin B complex; vitamin B12 is not naturally found in yeast extract, but is added to Marmite during manufacture. Advertised variously as "The Growing Up Spread" and "My Mate, Marmite", Marmite tends to be an acquired taste, with no middle ground. It is the food item most commonly missed and imported by British expatriates in other countries. People tend to love it or hate it, and this was used as a major advertising campaign for the company. Two websites have been set up where either camp are invited to leave their comments: I love Marmite (http://www.ilovemarmite.com/ ) and I hate Marmite (http://www.ihatemarmite.com/ ).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Pub A public house, usually known as a pub, is a drinking establishment found mainly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries influenced by British culture. A pub which offers lodging may be called an inn or hostelry. In Australia, pubs often bear the name of "Hotel", even though most of them no longer offer lodging.

Pubs are social places for the sale and consumption of mainly alcoholic beverages, and most public houses offer a wide range of beers, wines, spirits and alcopops. Beer served in a pub can range from pressurised "keg" beer, to "cask-conditioned" real ale beer brewed in the time-honoured fashion. The beer lends most pubs a pleasant, memorable aroma. Often the windows of the pub are of smoked or frosted glass so that the clientele are obscured from the street. Colloquialisms for the public house include boozer , the local and rub-a-dub-dub (see Cockney Rhyming Slang

Pubs in British popular culture

All the major soap operas on British television feature a pub as their focal point, with their 'pub' becoming a household name. The Rovers Return is the world famous pub on Coronation Street , the top British 'soap' broadcast on ITV. The Queen Vic (short for the Queen Victoria ) is the pub on EastEnders , the major 'soap' on BBC1, while The Bull in The Archers and the Woolpack on Emmerdale are also central meeting points. The sets of each of the three major television soap operas have been visited by royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II. The centrepiece of each visit was a trip into the Rovers , the Vic or the Woolpack to be offered a drink.

Robin Hood

Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero, an outlaw who, in modern versions of the legend, stole from the rich to give to the poor (some would say from the tax collector to refund the taxpayer). Although most noted for his material egalitarianism, in the stories he also pursues other types of equality and justice.

His romantic attachment to Maid Marian (or "Marion") (originally known as Mathilda) is also a product of this later period and probably has something to do with the French pastoral play of about 1280, the Jeu de Robin et Marion. Aside from the names there is no recognizable Robin Hood connection to the play. The folkloric Robin Hood was deprived of his lands by the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham and became an outlaw. The Sheriff does indeed appear in the early ballads (Robin kills and beheads him), but there is nothing as specific as this allegation. Robin's other enemies include the rich abbots of the Catholic Church and a bounty hunter named Guy of Gisbourne. Robin kills and beheads him as well. The early ballads contain nothing about giving to the poor, although Robin does make a large loan to an unfortunate knight. In the ballads, the original "Merry Men" (though not called that) included: Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet (or Scathlock), Much the Miller's Son, and Little John — who was called "little" because he wasn't. Alan-a-Dale is a later invention in Robin Hood plays. In modern versions of the legend, Robin Hood is said to have taken up residence in the verdant Sherwood Forest in the county of Nottinghamshire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Songs, plays, games, and, later, novels, musicals, films, and TV series have developed Robin Hood and company according to the needs of their times, and the mythos has been subject to extensive ideological manipulation. Maid Marian, for instance, something of a warrior maiden in early Victorian novels was reduced in demeanour to passivity during the period of the women's suffrage movement. As the media power of the modern feminist movement gathered momentum, Marian reacquired an altogether more active role. Robin Hood himself has been transformed from an "outlaw for venyson" with an occasional element of generosity with no particularly notable skill in archery - and no suggestion of political animosity - in the original tales, to the contemporary reading, where he is depicted more as a medieval Che Guevara who is a deadly accurate master archer leading a small rebel force fighting a guerrilla war against Prince John and the Sheriff on behalf of the oppressed and King Richard I.

Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood

Robin Hood in the 1973 Disney movie, the most famous animated version of the legend.

Routemaster

The AEC Routemaster is a model of double-decker bus that was designed in 1954 and introduced in London on 8 February 1956. Production examples, at first to the 27'6" length then permitted, were placed in service from 1959 to replace trolleybuses, this process being completed in May 1962.

Subsequent Routemasters, the last 500 of which were 30'-long RML types, began the process of replacing the previous generation of RT-type AEC Regent buses and their similar Leyland Titan RTL and RTW counterparts. The last Routemaster, RML 2760, was put into service in March 1968. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons The design has proved very popular with Londoners and tourists alike. Its two main advantages are the open platform at the rear, and the presence of a conductor to collect fares, required by the isolated driver's cab.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th century, created by British author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle. He is famous for his prowess at using logic and careful observation to solve cases.

Sherlock Holmes describes himself as a "consulting detective", which means that he is brought into cases that have proven too difficult for other investigators; we are told that he is often able to solve a problem without leaving home (although this aspect is somewhat lost in the stories themselves, which focus on the more interesting cases which often do require him to do actual legwork). He specializes in solving unusual cases using his extraordinary powers of observation and "deduction" which he often likes to demonstrate to new clients by noting his educated guesses as to their personal details and recent activities (see below).

It is a popular myth that Sherlock Holmes gave rise to the entire genre of murder mystery fiction; in reality, the detective genre was alive before Holmes, if not one which followed a logical progression to the solution. Many fictional detectives have imitated Holmes' logical methods and followed in his footsteps, in many different ways. Some of the more popular fictional detectives to continue Holmes' legacy include Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Perry Mason, Columbo, Dick Tracy, and even the comic book superhero Batman. Modern variants might be the NBC TV series Law and Order: Criminal Intent and the USA Network's show Monk . Monk even replicates the Holmesian style of "quiet analysis", during which no one speaks to the character while he works. Also, Monk has an older brother, who, like Holmes, is a bit more able but less interested in crime. Sherlock Holmes was played by Commander Data (Brent Spiner) on two episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Tea

Tea is a caffeine-containing beverage, an infusion made by steeping the dried leaves or buds of the shrub Camellia sinensis in hot water for a few minutes. In addition, tea may also include other herbs, spices, or fruit flavours. The expression "herbal tea" or simply "tea" is frequently used for any fruit or herb infusion, even if it does not contain Camellia sinensis (such as "rosehip tea" or "chamomile tea").

Tea may have played a part in the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. This revolution occurred in the middle to late 18th century in the area around Manchester and Liverpool in England, when the population exceeded a critical number. Usually, the lack of drinking water and insanitary conditions caused by very large cities produced a natural limit to the population for any conurbation. The antiseptic properties of large-scale tea drinking may have brought the sewerage conditions within controllable limits. Together with access to channelled water, this allowed the area to exceed previous population limits, and provide the necessary interworking between trades that sparked the revolution.

The high demand for tea in Britain caused a huge trade deficit with China. The British set up tea plantations in colonial India to provide their own supply. They also tried to balance the trade deficit by selling opium to the Chinese, which later led to the First Opium War in 1838–1842. The Boston Tea Party was an act of uprising in which Boston residents destroyed crates of British tea in 1773, in protest against the tax on tea. Prior to the Boston Tea Party, residents of Britain's North American 13 colonies drank far more tea than coffee. In Britain, coffee was more popular. After the protests against the various taxes, Americans stopped drinking tea as an act of patriotism. Similarly, Britons slowed their consumption of coffee. These days, contradicting tea economies do exist. Tea farmers in the Republic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China often enjoy better incomes compared to farmers in black tea producing countries.

Tommy Atkins

Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy ) is a term for a common soldier in the British Army that is particularly associated with World War I. German soldiers would call out to Tommy across no man's land if they wished to speak to a British soldier. French and Commonwealth troops would also call British soldiers "Tommies". Tommy Atkins has been used as a generic name for a common soldier for many years. The precise origin is the subject of some debate, but it is known to have been used as early as 1743. A letter sent from Jamaica about a mutiny amongst the troops says "except for those from N. America (mostly Irish Papists) ye Marines and Tommy Atkins behaved splendidly" . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons

Union Jack

The Union Flag or Union Jack is the flag most commonly associated with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and was also used throughout the former British Empire. It retains an official or semi-official status in many Commonwealth Realms. It is commonly referred to as the Union Jack , but Union Flag is actually the correct form as it only becomes a Jack when flown from a ship's jack mast. The current design of the Union Flag or Jack dates from the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801 with the formation of the United Kingdom.