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New Zealand cricket teamFor more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal.
The New Zealand cricket team, also known as the Black Caps, played their first Test in 1930 vs England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth Test nation. It took the team until 1956 to win a Test, against the West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland. They played their first ODI in the 1972 1973 season vs Pakistan in Christchurch.
The current captain is Stephen Fleming, who follows in the footsteps of former greats such as John R. Reid, Geoff Howarth and Martin Crowe. Stephen Fleming is the Black Caps' most successful captain, having led New Zealand to 25 Test victories (to August 2005), more than double that of any other captain.
The New Zealand cricket team became known as the Black Caps in January 1998, after its sponsor at the time, Clear Communications, held a competition to choose a name for the team.
Current Test record (August 2005)
| Played | 324 |
| Won | 59 |
| Lost | 128 |
| Drawn | 137 |
First Test series wins
Away
Home
First Test match wins
Away
Home
All rounders
New Zealand is the only Test playing country to have two players who have achieved the allrounder’s double of 3000 Test runs and 200 Test wickets. The current (2004) list is :
Victories
The Black Caps won the ICC Knock-Out Trophy vs India Nairobi Gymkhana Club Nairobi Kenya 2000.
They won the 2004 NatWest Series Trophy held in England.
Highest Test innings total
Away
- 630-6 declared vs India Mohali 2003-2004 season
Home
- 671-4 vs Sri Lanka Basin Reserve Wellington 1990-1991 season
Lowest Test Innings total
Away
- 47 vs England Lord's London 1958 season
Home
- 26 vs England Auckland 1954-1955 season
Highest individual Test innings
Away
- 274 not out Stephen Fleming vs Sri Lanka Colombo 2003 season
Home
- 299 Martin Crowe vs Sri Lanka Basin Reserve Wellington 1990-1991 season
Highest Wicket Stands
§ The highest wicket stands for all Test nations.
Largest Test Victory Margins
| Margin | vs | Venue | Year |
|---|
| Innings and 294 runs | Zimbabwe | Harare | 2005-2006 |
| Innings and 185 runs | Pakistan | Hamilton | 2000-2001 |
| Innings and 132 runs | England | Christchurch | 1983-1984 |
| Innings and 105 runs | West Indies | Wellington | 1999-2000 |
| Innings and 99 runs | Pakistan | Auckland | 1984-1985 |
| Innings and 74 runs | Bangladesh | Wellington | 2001-2002 |
| Innings and 61 runs | Sri Lanka | Colombo | 1983-1984 |
| Innings and 52 runs | Bangladesh | Hamilton | 2001-2002 |
World Records
- Richard Hadlee, one of New Zealand's best all-rounders took the world record for most Test wickets (374) vs India Bangalore 1988. He lost the record to Kapil Dev. Hadlee was the first bowler to reach 400 Test wickets vs India Christchurch 1990
- Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe hold the highest ever 3rd-wicket partnership in Tests which at the time was the highest partnership for any wicket. [http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/TESTS/PARTNERSHIPS/PARTNERSHIP_RECORDS_TESTS.html].
- Brian Hastings and Richard Collinge together scored 151 runs for the highest ever 10th-wicket partnership against Pakistan in 1973. [http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/TESTS/PARTNERSHIPS/PARTNERSHIP_RECORDS_TESTS.html]. This
- Highest ever ODI run chase when New Zealand scored 332/8 off 49.0 overs to beat Australia's 331/7 at Christchurch on 10 December 2005. [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/ODIS/TEAM/ODI_HIGH_TEAM_TOTALS_SECOND.html]
- Nathan Astle scored Test cricket's fastest ever double century versus England Christchurch 2002 [http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/TESTS/BATTING/FASTEST_TEST_100S_50S.html]. He scored 200 off 153 balls with the second hundred coming off just 39 deliveries. He was eventually out for 222 — the dreaded double Nelson. He knocked the first hundred off 114 balls. Astle smashed the previous record by 59 balls. (Previously held by Adam Gilchrist Australia vs South Africa Johannesburg 2002).
- Geoff Allott holds the record for the longest time taken to score a duck [http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/TESTS/BATTING/SLOW_BATTING.html]. South Africa Auckland 1999. He faced 77 balls in 101 minutes for his zero score.
- Danny Morrison held another "unwanted" record for the most ducks in Test cricket — (24). He lost the record to Courtney Walsh.
- Chris Cairns and his father Lance Cairns are one of the two father-son combination to each claim 100 Test wickets, the Pollocks being the other.
- Chris Cairns holds the record for the most Test sixes [http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/TESTS/BATTING/TRIVIA/BAT_MOST_SIXES_CAREER.html]. He passed Viv Richards record of 84 (vs England Lords London 2004) and currently (2005) has hit 87.
- Chris Harris is the only New Zealand cricketer to have taken 200 wickets in ODI's. (vs England Lords London 2004). He is only the second player in ODI's to complete the 4000 run / 200 wicket double. (The other is Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya).
- The New Zealand team holds the dubious honour of the record for the most consecutive Test series played without a win - 30 series between 1929-30 and 1969-70 (40 years), comfortably ahead of Bangladesh on 16 series. [http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/STATS/TESTS/RESULTS/CONSECUTIVES/CONSECUTIVE_TEST_SERIES_WITHOUT_WIN.html]
Notable
- New Zealand dismissed Zimbabwe (Harare 2005) twice in the same day for totals of 59 and 99. Zimbabwe became only the second team (after India Manchester 1952) to be dismissed twice in the same day. The whole Test was completed inside two days.
- Daniel Vettori scored NZ's fastest Test century. (vs Zimbabwe Harare 2005). Vettori needed only 82 balls to reach the 100 mark.
- In the same match, he became the third NZ cricketer (after Richard Hadlee and Chris Cairns) to take more than 200 Test wickets.
- Lou Vincent holds the record for the highest one-day cricket innings by a New Zealander of 172 (vs Zimbabwe Bulawayo 2005). The previous best was Glenn Turner 171 not out (vs East Africa Birmingham 1975). Vincent and captain Stephen Fleming broke the New Zealand one-day opening partnership record against all countries. Their total of 204 beat Fleming and Nathan Astle's 193 (vs Pakistan Dunedin 2000-2001). The team total of 397 was just one run short of the record one-day total of 398 (Sri Lanka vs Kenya Kandy 1996).
New Zealand Cricket Captains
See: New Zealand national cricket captains
Black Caps players in Wikipedia
See :Category:New Zealand cricketers
External links
- [http://www.nzcricket.co.nz/ New Zealand cricket]
- [http://www.beigebrigade.co.nz/ Beige Brigade Official Website]
- [http://aus.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/NATIONAL/NZ/ Cricinfo New Zealand]
- [http://users.bigpond.net.au/blackcaps/ A somewhat wacky site - Fun with the Black Caps]
- [http://www.cricketbase.com/stumpslive/?MIval=home Cricket database]
See also
- Test cricket records
Category:National cricket teams
Category:Cricket in New Zealand
Portal:Cricket
Category:Cricket
Cricket
Test cricketTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. It is regarded by many players and fans as the ultimate test of playing ability (as compared to One-day International cricket). The name "Test" is thought to arise from the idea that the matches are a "test of strength" between the sides involved. It seems to have been used first to described an English team that toured Australia in 1861/62, although these matches are not considered Test matches today.
Test matches are played between national representative teams which have Test status, as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Test matches are a subset of first-class cricket, the form of cricket played over several days and officially declared as First Class by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. As of 2005, ten national teams have been given Test status, the latest to be given Test status being Bangladesh in 2000.
In 1970, a series of five "Test matches" was played in England between England and a Rest of the World XI. Although initially given Test status, this was later withdrawn and the principle that official Test matches can only be between national sides was entrenched. Similarly, a series of "Test matches" played in Australia between Australia and a World XI in 1971/72 are not considered to have Test status, nor are the Supertests organised by Kerry Packer as part of his World Series Cricket enterprise and played between Australia and Rest of the World teams from 1977 to 1979. However, the ICC has ruled that the six-day Super Series match that took place in October 2005 between Australia and a World XI was an official Test match. Some prominent cricket statisticians, such as Bill Frindall, have decided to ignore this ruling, leading to the possibility of two competing sets of cricket statistics.
Note: Most of the information here pertains to men's cricket. Test matches are also played in women's cricket. Unless explicitly mentioned, most Test matches or Test cricket referred to is in regards to men's cricket.
History
See main articles: History of cricket; History of Test cricket (to 1883); History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889); History of Test cricket (1890 to 1900)
Test cricket playing nations
There are currently ten Test-playing nations. Test status is conferred upon a country by the International Cricket Council. Countries that do not have Test status can only officially play a shortened version of cricket. The nations are listed below with the date of each nation's Test debut shown in brackets:
# Australia (15th March, 1877)
# England (15th March, 1877)
# South Africa (12th March, 1889) (Note: Banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1991 due to their policy of apartheid)
# West Indies (23rd June, 1928)
# New Zealand (10th January, 1930)
# India (25th June, 1932) (Note: pre-1947 India included Pakistan and Bangladesh. See History of India.)
# Pakistan (16th October, 1952) (Note: pre-1971 Pakistan included Bangladesh. See History of Pakistan)
# Sri Lanka (17th February, 1982)
# Zimbabwe (18th October, 1992)
# Bangladesh (10th November, 2000)
Zimbabwe's Test matches were temporarily suspended from June 10, 2004, to 6 January, 2005, although they retained their status as a Test-playing nation. See the Zimbabwean cricket team article for more details. In 2003, the ICC announced its intention to confer Test status upon Kenya in the near future.
Conduct of the game
Test cricket is played between two teams over five days, with three two-hour sessions per day. (Sessions are usually interspersed with a 40-minute break for lunch and 20-minute break for afternoon tea.) Each team has eleven players.
Before play starts on the first day, a coin is tossed. The team winning the toss chooses whether to bat first or to bowl first. In the following, the team batting first is termed "team A" and its opponents "team B".
- Team A bats until either ten batsmen are dismissed (team A is "all out"), or its captain chooses to stop batting (called a "declaration"). This batting period is called an "innings". There is no limit to the length of an innings provided there remain at least two batsmen who have not been dismissed (when ten are dismissed, the eleventh cannot continue by himself) and the five days have not elapsed.
- After team A's first innings the teams swap roles, with team B batting its first innings, and team A bowling and fielding.
- If team B is dismissed with a score 200 runs or more behind team A, team A chooses whether to "invite" team B to bat again for its second innings (called "enforcing the follow-on"), or to bat itself to gain a bigger lead. (If the whole first day of play is abandoned without a single ball being bowled, whether because of rain or otherwise, the follow-on requirement is reduced to 150 runs.)
If the follow-on is enforced:
- Team B bats its second innings.
- If team B's total score from both innings is less than team A's first innings score, team A wins the match.
- If this is not the case, team A must bat its second innings to attempt to score more than team B's total. If it succeeds in the remaining time, team A wins. If it is dismissed before this occurs, team B wins (though this is very unusual - teams that enforce the follow-on very rarely lose. This has happened only three times in the entire history of Test cricket and each time the losing team has been Australia; the most recent one being the India-Australia series in India in 2001.).
- If time runs out before any of the above occurs, the match is called a draw.
If, after each team's first innings, the follow-on is not enforced or cannot be enforced:
- Team A bats its second innings. If time runs out before the innings is completed, the match is a draw.
- If team A's total score for its two innings is less than team B's score from its first innings, team B is the winner. Otherwise, team B must bat a second innings.
- If team B's total score over two innings is more than team A's, team B wins the match.
- If team B is dismissed before reaching team A's total, team A wins the match.
- If neither occurs before the scheduled end of the match, it is a draw.
Finally, if both teams are dismissed twice with the same combined totals, the game is a tie (as distinct from a draw, as described above). With the comparatively high scores in cricket, only two ties have occurred over the entire history of over 1,700 Test matches. Both matches are regarded as amongst the most exciting ever played.
The decision for the winner of the toss to bat or bowl first is based on an assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each team and the conditions of the wicket. Most of the time pitches tend to become hard to bat on as the game nears its conclusion, and players bat more poorly after the fatigue of four solid days of cricket, so teams usually prefer to bat first. However, sometimes the conditions at the very beginning of the match particularly suit fast bowling, so if either team has particularly strong set of pace bowlers, the winning team may choose to bowl first (either to take advantage of their own attack or to disallow the opposition the use of a "green" wicket whose erratic bounce will help seam bowling).
The rationale for declaring an innings closed prematurely may be confusing for cricketing neophytes, but it is often a sound tactic. Remember that to win a game, the losing side must be given the opportunity to complete two innings - if they do not do so, no matter how many runs they may be behind, the game is a draw. Therefore, a team with a large lead will declare to give themselves time to bowl at the opposition and take all their wickets.
Competitions
Test cricket's competition structure has evolved somewhat idiosyncratically due to the long match duration, cricket's status as one of the earliest professional spectator sports, and the wide geographical distribution of the teams.
Until recently, Test series between international teams were organised between the two national cricket organisations. Umpires were provided by the home team, and, at most, perpetual trophies (of which the Ashes is most famous) were traded between teams when series were won or lost.
However, with the entry of more countries into Test cricket competition, and a wish by the ICC to maintain public interest in Tests (which was flagging in many countries with the introduction of one-day cricket), a new system was added to Test match competition. A rotation system that sees all ten Test teams playing each other over a five-year cycle, and an official ranking system (with a trophy held by the highest-ranked team) were introduced. It was hoped by the ICC that the new ranking system would help maintain interest in Test cricket in nations where one-day cricket is more popular. However, the rankings' idiosyncratic and complicated rules lead to few fans being able to understand the system. This, in turn, has led to general disregard for the ratings among many fans.
In the new system, umpires are provided by the ICC. An "elite panel" of eleven umpires has been established, and the panel is supplemented by an additional "International Panel" that includes three umpires named by each Test-playing country. The elite umpires officiate almost all Test matches; the International Panel is only employed when the cricketing calendar is filled with activity, or for one-day internationals (ODIs).
See also
- ICC Test Championship
- List of Test matches
- List of Test cricket grounds
- List of Test cricket records
- List of cricketers
External links
- [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/141605.html Origin of the name "Test"] from Cricinfo
Category:Test cricket
Category:Forms of cricket
Category:Cricket terminology
1930
1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday.
Events
January-February
- January 6 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip is completed (Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City).
- February 18 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto
- February 18 - Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane.
March
- March 2 - Mohandas Gandhi informs British viceroy of India that civil disobedience would begin nine days later
- March 5 - Danish painter Einar Wegener goes through a sexual reassignment surgery and takes the name Lili Elbe
- March 6 - first frozen foods of Clarence Birdseye go on sale in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
- March 12 - Mohandas Gandhi sets off to a 200-mile protest march towards the sea with 78 followers to protest the British monopoly on salt - more will join them during the Salt March that ends in April 5
- March 28 - Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara
- March 29 - Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler
- March 31 - The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next forty years
April-May
- April 5 - In an act of civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt.
- April 6 - Hostess Twinkies are invented.
- April 21 - Fire in Ohio State Penitentiary near Columbus kills 320
- April 22 - The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
- April 28 - The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas.
- May 4/May 5 - Mohandas Gandhi is arrested again
- May 15 - Aboard a Boeing tri-motor, Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess (the flight was from Oakland, California to Chicago, Illinois).
- May 17 - French Prime Minister André Tardieu decides to withdraw the remaining French troops from the Rheinland. They depart by June 30
- May 20 - Sergei Eisenstein arrives in New York City
- May 24 - Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Australia becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
- May 30 - Sergei Eisenstein arrives in Hollywood to work for Paramount Pictures - they part ways by October
June-August
- June 9 - Chicago Tribune journalist Alfred Lingle is shot in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Newspapers promise $55,000 reward for information. Liddle is later found to have had contacts to organized crime
- June 17 - U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law.
- June 17 - Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans mass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
- June 21 - One-year conscription comes into force in France
- July 7 - Lapua Movement marches in Helsinki, Finland
- July 7 - Building of the Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam) is started.
- July 13 - The first soccer World Cup starts: Lucien Laurent scores the first goal, for France against Mexico
- July 26 - Charles Creighton and James Hargis of Missouri begin their return journey to Los Angeles - driving 11 555 km using only a reverse gear. The trip lasts the next 42 days
- July 30 - Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in the first soccer World Cup Final
- July 31 - The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time.
- August 7 - Richard Bedford Bennett becomes Canada's eleventh prime minister.
- August 9 - Betty Boop premiers in the animated film Dizzy Dishes.
- August 12 - Turkish troops move into Persia to fight Kurdish insurgents
- August 27 - Military junta takes over in Peru
September-December
- September 6 - Josef Felix Urileu makes a successful military coup in Argentina
- September 8 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.
- September 12 - Wilfred Rhodes end his 1110-game first-class career by taking 5 for 95 for H.D.G. Leveson Gower's XI against the Australians.
- September 14 - National socialists win 107 seats in German parliament - 18.3% of all the votes makes them second largest party
- September 16 - overthrow of Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina.
- October 5 - British Airship R101 crashed in France en-route to India on its maiden voyage.
- October 24 - Brazil - Revolution of 1930 by Getúlio Dornelles Vargas
- November 1 - William Joseph Dess is born in New Castle, PA to Joseph and Mary Dess.
- November 2 - Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.
- November 25 - An earthquake in the Izu Peninsula of Japan kills 223 people and destroys 650 buildings
- December 2 - Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
- December 19 - Merap volcano erupts - 1300 dead
- December 24 - In London, Harry Grindell Matthews demonstrates his devide to project pictures to the clouds
- December 28 - Mohandas Gandhi leaves for Britain for negotiations
Unknown dates
- British White Paper demands restrictions on Jewish immigration into Palestine
- Rafael Leónidas Trujillo takes over in the Dominican Republic
- The Federal Bureau of Narcotics replaces the Narcotics Division of the Prohibition Unit.
- Walther Bothe and H. Becker discover the neutron.
- Abkhazia and Georgia, autonomous republics of the Soviet Union, are merged.
- The University of Queensland starts the pitch drop experiment.
- Jake paralysis outbreak occurs in United States.
Births
January-February
- January 2 - Julius LaRosa, American singer
- January 20 - Buzz Aldrin, American pilot and astronaut
- January 23 - Derek Walcott, West Indian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 26 - John Straffen, British serial killer
- January 29 - Bobby Bland, American singer
- January 30 - Gene Hackman, American actor
- February 27 - Peter Stone, American writer (d. 2003)
- February 28 - Leon Neil Cooper, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
March
- March 3 - Heiner Geißler, German politician
- March 6 - Allison Hayes, American actress (d. 1977)
- March 6 - Lorin Maazel, French-born conductor
- March 7 - Antony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon
- March 10 - Claude Bolling, French jazz pianist and composer
- March 15 - Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 17 - James Irwin, astronaut (d. 1991)
- March 19 - Ornette Coleman, American musician
- March 22 - Pat Robertson, American televangelist
- March 22 - Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist
- March 24 - David Dacko, first President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)
- March 24 - Steve McQueen, American actor, film director, and producer (d. 1980)
- March 25 - John Keel, American author
- March 26 - Sandra Day O'Connor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
- March 27 - David Janssen, American actor (d. 1980)
- March 28 - Jerome Isaac Friedman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 30 - John Astin, American actor
- March 30 - Rolf Harris, Australian-born entertainer
- March 30 - Peter Marshall, American game show host
April
- April 3 - Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany
- April 8 - Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, Duke of Parma, French-born fascist
- April 10 - Pertti "Spede" Olavi Pasanen, Finnish television personality (d. 2001)
- April 11 - Anton LaVey, American religious leader (d. 1997)
- April 15 - Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland
- April 16 - Herbie Mann, American jazz flutist (d. 2003)
- April 21 - Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (d. 1989)
- April 25 - Paul Mazursky, American director and writer
- April 29 - Jean Rochefort, French actor
May-August
- May 4 - Roberta Peters, American soprano
- May 8 - Heather Harper, Irish soprano
- May 9 - Joan Sims, English actress (d. 2001)
- May 10 - Pat Summerall, American football player and broadcaster
- May 15 - Jasper Johns, American painter
- May 19 - Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright (d. 1965)
- May 21 - Malcolm Fraser, twenty-second Prime Minister of Australia
- May 22 - John Barth, American writer
- May 22 - Harvey Milk, American politician and civil rights activist (d. 1978)
- May 31 - Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, and producer
- June 2 - Charles Conrad, astronaut (d. 1999)
- June 8 - Robert Aumann, German-born mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
- June 9 - Monique Serf, French musician (d. 1997)
- June 12 - Jim Nabors, American actor, musician, and comedian
- June 17 - Brian Statham, English cricketer (d. 2000)
- June 22 - Yuri Artyukhin, cosmonaut (d. 1998)
- June 27 - Ross Perot, American billionaire and politician
- July 2 - Carlos Menem, President of Argentina
- July 3 - Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
- July 4 - George Steinbrenner, baseball team owner
- July 11 - Harold Bloom, American literary critic
- July 15 - Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French literary critic (d. 2004)
- July 25 - Maureen Forrester, Canadian contralto
- July 25 - Murray Chapple, New Zealand cricket captains (d. 1985)
- August 1 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist
- August 5 - Neil Armstrong, astronaut
- August 12 - George Soros, Hungarian-born businessman
- August 17 - Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
- August 21 - Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (d. 2002)
- August 25 - Sir Sean Connery, Scottish actor
- August 30 - Warren Buffett, American investor
September-December
- September 3 - Cherry Wilder, New Zealand author (d. 2002)
- September 7 - King Baudouin I of Belgium (d. 1993)
- September 25 - Shel Silverstein, American author, poet, and humorist (d. 1999)
- September 26 - Fritz Wunderlich, German tenor (d. 1966)
- September 30 - Ray Charles, American singer and musician (d. 2004)
- October 1 - Sir Richard Harris, Irish actor (d. 2002)
- October 5 - Anne Haddy, Australian actress (d. 1999)
- October 5 - Pavel Popovich, cosmonaut
- October 5 - Reinhard Selten, German economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 6 - Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (d. 2000)
- October 8 - Tōru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (d. 1996)
- October 10 - Yves Chauvin, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 10 - Harold Pinter, English playwright, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 11 - Sam Johnson, American politician
- October 17 - Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (d. 2003)
- October 28 - Bernie Ecclestone, English auto racing tycoon
- October 30 - Timothy Findley, Canadian author (d. 2002)
- November 14 - Edward White, astronaut (d. 1967)
- November 16 - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian writer
- November 24 - Bob Friend, baseball player
- December 1 - Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (d. 2002)
- December 2 - Gary Becker, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- December 6 - Daniel Lisulo, Prime Minister of Zambia
England
:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology).
England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea.
England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.
History
Main article: History of England
England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network.
The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent.
Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas.
The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899).
The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley.
Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.
Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)
Richard II]
Richard II]
In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day.
While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time.
England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market.
The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present)
For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.
Politics
Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England
Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights.
All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question.
Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England.
The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal.
Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support.
Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model.
Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.
Subdivisions
Main article: Subdivisions of England
Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds.
These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors.
The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England.
The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government.
London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city.
Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England
Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever
Geography
Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England
Geography of England
England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap.
Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use.
The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it.
The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel.
The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours)
The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]
Major rivers
Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon
Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom
Major Conurbations
:See main article: List of towns in England
The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census)
#Greater London (8,278,251)
#West Midlands (2,284,093)
#Greater Manchester (2,244,931)
#Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465)
#Tyneside (879,996)
#Liverpool (816,216)
#Nottingham (666,358)
#Sheffield (640,720)
#Bristol (551,066)
#Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181)
#Portsmouth (442,252)
#Leicester (441,213)
#Bournemouth/Poole (383,713)
#Reading (369,804)
#Teesside (365,323)
Economy
Main article: Economy of England
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England
England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands.
This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees).
The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.
English identity
The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one.
A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism.
One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase.
Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.
Culture
Union Flag
Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
- Sir Thomas Browne
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- John Milton
- William Shakespeare
- Jane Austen
- Mary Shelley
- Charles Dickens
- Thomas Hardy
- George Orwell
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- C. S. Lewis
- Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
- English school of painting
- Music of England
Languages
Music of England.]]
As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived.
Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words.
The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales).
The only non-Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish Border.
Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters.
Different languages from around the world, especially from the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances.
Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany.
Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.
Nomenclature
The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries.
There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country.
The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
- "England" (Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian)
- "Engeland" (Dutch)
- "Inglismaa" (Estonian)
- "Angleterre" (French)
- "Inghilterra" (Italian)
- "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
- "Anglia" (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
- "Anglija" (Russian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Ukrainian)
- "Engleska" (Croatian, Serbian)
- "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek)
- "Englanti" (Finnish)
The Celtic names are quite different:
- "Bro-Saoz" (Breton)
- "Pow Sows" (Cornish)
- "Sasana" (Irish)
- "Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)
- "Lloegr" (Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
- "Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic)
Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which arrived at about the same time as the Angles.
See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England.
"England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct and commonly also use "England" when "Britain" would be correct.
Alternative names include:
- the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
- "Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white ( | | |
