This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Jonathan Knott

Former British ambassador to Hungary, Budapest

Part of UK in Hungary

27th March 2015 Budapest, Hungary

Celebrating three great English exports in 2015

In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the Magna Carta was sealed and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament.

Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one but two copies are on display in a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.

One of the four surviving 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts was burnt in the Ashburnham House fire of 1731. - www.bl.uk
One of the four surviving 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts was burnt in the Ashburnham House fire of 1731. – www.bl.uk

Embodied in the Rule of Law in over 100 countries, the Magna Carta established for the first time that everyone, even the king, had to obey the law.

The document inspired early American settlers, with its principles echoed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights; it has been used to argue for freedom of the press; and for extending the vote to ordinary people and to women.

It is also the foundation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Written after the atrocities of World War II, this declaration states that people around the world are protected by fundamental human rights, regardless of their citizenship, race, gender or beliefs. Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that the Declaration may well become ‘the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere’.

Events are taking place around the UK to celebrate the anniversary of the Great Seal being placed on the document at Runnymede, in southern England, in June 1215.

The UK’s stable and prosperous democracy is among the legacies of the Magna Carta.

Over the centuries, England has developed rich traditions that include the pageantry of the State Opening of the Houses of Parliament, the Queen’s Speech, and the lively debate of Prime Minister’s Questions.

The second great English export has to be a sport – but which one? Sports that can trace their origins to England include cricket, rugby and football.

Rugby draws its name from Rugby in Warwickshire, where schoolboy William Webb Ellis picked up a ball and ran with it in 1823.

This year, the Rugby World Cup comes to England. Twenty teams from six continents will compete to lift the William Webb Ellis Cup on 31 October in Twickenham, the home of English rugby.

Rugby World Cup 2015
Rugby World Cup 2015

And it was at the Freemasons’ Tavern in London where the rules of association football were first standardised.

Representatives of football clubs and schools met in the Covent Garden pub, and over the course of six meetings in autumn and winter 1863 they codified a definitive set of rules.  From these humble beginnings, football spread across the globe and is now the most popular sport in the world.

England cannot claim to have invented athletics, despite the unforgettable 2012 London Olympics, but it was an Englishman, Roger Bannister, who first broke the Four Minute Mile at a running track in Oxford in 1954.

The third great English export has to be the English language, which is now spoken by many times more people than the 53 million who live in England itself.

It is the language in which Shakespeare wrote, and The Beatles sang, and the number one language on the world wide web, which was itself invented by English computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Photo: languageandthecity
Photo: languageandthecity

English language and English literature are now taught to hundreds of millions of school children around the world.

St George’s Day falls on 23 April, and is the day that England celebrates its patron saint.

To mark the occasion, and for all of those who are studying or have studied English literature, we have produced a quiz about England’s poets, looking at their international links and the landscapes that inspired them.

Did you know, for instance, that three of our greatest poets all died on St George’s Day?  This is why we commemorate not only William Shakespeare but also the poets Rupert Brooke and William Wordsworth on 23 April.

Enjoy the quiz, and I hope you’ll be inspired.

1 comment on “Celebrating three great English exports in 2015

  1. Really in this day and age football spread across the globe and is now the most popular sport in the world. the whole credit of this sport goes to you. it’s a memorable day………

Comments are closed.

About Jonathan Knott

Jonathan Knott was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Hungary in March 2011 and arrived in Budapest in February 2012 to take up his post. He left this post on April…

Jonathan Knott was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to
Hungary in March 2011 and arrived in Budapest in February 2012 to take
up his post. He left this post on April 2015.
He has previously held a variety of diplomatic posts at home and
abroad, several with a particular focus on commercial and corporate
finance issues. Jonathan has served in a number of positions in the
British Diplomatic Service since joining in 1988:
Before his appointment was Deputy Head of Mission and Director for Trade and Investment in South Korea from 2008 to 2011.Between 2005 and 2008 he held the post of Deputy Finance Director in the FCO.From 2000 to 2005 he served as First Secretary (Trade, Corporate Affairs and Finance Negotiator) in UKDel OECD Paris.From 1996 to 2000 he was First Secretary (Head of Political/Economic/Aid Section) in Mexico.From 1995 to 1996 he worked in the FCO as Deputy European Correspondent at the EU Directorate.Between 1991 and 1995 he served as Third later Second Secretary (Political / Press and Public Affairs) in Havana.From 1990 to 1991 he was Desk Officer in the FCO’s First Gulf War Emergency Unit.Between 1988 and 1990 he worked as Desk Officer in the FCO in the Anti Drugs Cooperation Department.
Jonathan holds an MA in law from Oxford University, and he is a
member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He speaks
English, French, Spanish and Hungarian. He is married to Angela Susan
Knott and has one daughter and two sons.

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