New residents' guide to Britain covers all aspects of daily life – and serves up some surprises!

LONDON, GREATER LONDON, UK, July 5, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new information website, Britainexplained.com, has revealed some of the stranger aspects of Britain, from the deadliest animal to the surprising rules on burial.

Written and created by former journalist Susanna Booth over the course of five years, Britainexplained.com is a free resource for people who need simple answers to their questions about daily life in Britain, including practical information, culture and customs. It is particularly aimed at people who have moved from abroad or those without family or friends to help. Written in jargon-free English, it also has a WCAG2.1AA rating for digital accessibility.

Among the cultural and statistical elements are some weird, little-known facts including: -

1. It’s not spiders or snakes we need to worry about in Britain because the deadliest animal is… the cow. An average of five people a year are killed by cows. Second deadliest is the dog, as dogs kill about three people per year. In terms of overall danger however, dogs come top – over 7,000 people went to hospital because of dog attacks in 2017.

2. New cities aren’t chosen by size – instead they are chosen by the Queen in special competitions according to character and identity. There are some really large towns (like Reading, population 260,000) that are not cities. There are also some really tiny places that have made the grade, like St Asaph in Wales, population 3,000.

3. Britain has about 25 earthquakes a year that are strong enough to be felt (albeit usually very weakly). One of the biggest earthquakes in recent years was near Swansea in south Wales in 2018. It measured 4.6 on the Richter scale.

4. Part of the Lake District gets more rain than the Amazon rainforest: about three metres of rain per year on average. However, the eastern and central part of Britain is actually quite dry. This area only gets about 60cm every year, which is similar to Rome, Italy.

5. It might be fashionable to have a pig as a pet, but you can’t take it for a walk without official approval of the route you are going to take. Interestingly, the government rules are particularly strict if the walk will be past a fast food restaurant.

6. Britain is a relatively small island, yet has rocks from nearly every geological age including chalk, sandstone, limestone, granite and slate. This means that in a journey from the Scottish Highlands to the white cliffs of Dover, you will see the landscapes and village housing styles change completely, several times.

7. The most popular sporting activities over the past year were running, fitness classes and cycling. But once corona restrictions lift there are many other possibilities, including cheese rolling, bog snorkelling and even worm charming.

8. Did King Arthur exist? One thing is for sure – if he did, he didn’t live in a castle. King Arthur was supposed to have ruled in the sixth century, but stone castles didn’t arrive in Britain until after the Norman invasion in 1066.

9. It is theoretically legal to choose your own garden as a burial spot. This is because the main rule is having permission from the landowner. If this sounds tempting, you should check with Environmental Health first. And bear in mind that it might be more difficult for your family to sell the property.

10. Nowhere in Britain is more than six miles from the nearest road. In fact, Britain’s network of small roads measures more than 215,000 miles (over eight times the circumference of the Earth). It’s no wonder that local councils struggle to keep them maintained.

Find more interesting facts and practical tips at Britainexplained.com

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Note: Imagery and original sources for facts and information featured on britainexplained.com are available upon request.

Susannna Booth
Britainexplained.com
+44 7944 655347
hello@britainexplained.com
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