26 Facts About Great Britain

1. Great Britain is only 35 km from France and is linked by a tunnel under the English Channel.

2. In 1985, Great Britain agreed that Hong Kong would revert to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

3. Great Britain finally entered what had become the European Community in Jan, 1973.

4. Great Britain had undertaken to help Greece and Turkey resist Communist subversion, but the financial burden proved too great, and the task was assumed by the United States.

5. Great Britain had begun to rearm in 1936 and, after Munich, instituted conscription.

6. The League of Nations, in which Great Britain was a leader, declined rapidly by failing to take decisive action, and British prestige fell further because of a policy of nonintervention in the Spanish civil war.

7. Great Britain emerged from the War of the Austrian Succession and from the Seven Years War as the possessor of the world's greatest empire.

8. Great Britain has abundant supplies of coal, oil, and natural gas.

9. Great Britain is one of the world's leading industrialized nations.

10. Great Britain claimed an acrimonious victory over Greece on Thursday night, to maintain their hopes of winning a promotion play-off at the end of the week.

11. Great Britain were more diplomatic in their response, knowing that they still have something to play for with their tie against Hungary.

12. Great Britain set up a winner-takes-all Fed Cup clash with Hungary on Friday, but their victory against Greece was dogged by controversial line calls.

13. Great Britain have played outside the Fed Cup's top two tiers since 1993 but are bidding to reach the World Group II play-offs for a third successive year.

14. Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain.

15. Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe.

16. Great Britain had to dig deep as they twice came from behind to earn a draw in their Women's Champions Trophy opener against hosts China.

17. Great Britain have named a squad including six Olympic champions for next month's UCI Track Cycling World Cup in London.

18. Great Britain have scooped 12 taekwondo gold medals at the Commonwealth Championships in Edinburgh.

19. Great Britain have not played a Test since 2007, while it would be the first full Lions tour since 1996.

20. Great Britain set to face Tonga in New Zealand in first Test for 12 years.

21. Great Britain has in recent days, displayed a remarkable degree of unity.

22. The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban.

23. In the Late Bronze Age, Great Britain was part of a culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age, held together by maritime trading, which included Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal.

24. Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate.

25. The term "Great Britain" is often used to include the whole of England, Scotland and Wales including their component adjoining islands; and is occasionally but contentiously applied to the UK as a whole in some contexts.

26. Great Britain is a large island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe.