Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 103

Fig. 2.15

Underneath the Millennium BridgeMillennium Bridge Foto: Anero

Our very last question about British history (and the very last one here about Anglo-American geography and history) sounds suspiciously similar to one we had before about American history and is already a bit dated. The millennium isn’t as new as it was a few years ago. One famous new monument to the millennium, the Millennium DomeMillennium Dome see O2 Dome near Greenwich in LondonLondon, designed by the famous architect Richard RogersRogers, Richard, failed to attract visitors to its museum cum exhibition area cum theme park and was renamed the O2 DomeO2 Dome and now houses an indoor arena. Some point to the Millennium Dome as a symbol of a failed LabourLabour Party’s achievement. The more successful WalesWales Millennium CentreMillennium Centre in CardiffCardiff was finished a little late (2004 to 2009) ( 5). Other less controversial and still enduring testimonies to the millennium in Britain are the Millennium BridgeMillennium Bridge in London (one of several bridges with the same name throughout the country). And what is now known as the London EyeLondon Eye was originally called the Millennium WheelMillennium Wheel see London Eye and is still the tallest ferris wheel in Europe. Remember the confusion about what exactly is a “city” in Britain and the competition to gain this status ( 1)? Three places gained this highly desirable status in 2000 and thus became known as Millennium CitiesMillennium Cities. Nicely enough they span the country geographically from BrightonBrighton and Hove (one city) on the south coast to WolverhamptonWolverhampton in the West MidlandsWest Midlands all the way up to the Scottish Highland city of InvernessInverness. The UK Millennium Commission was begun in the 90s to fund buildings, projects, and celebrations [77]not only in EnglandEngland but in ScotlandScotland and Wales too. Wales has its Millennium Stadium in addition to its Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Perhaps the central question for the UK in the 21^st century in the context of devolutiondevolution ( 5) will be how much longer Britain’s official name as the United KingdomUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will remain valid. Even though the Scottish independence referendum resulted in a comfortable majority voting for remaining part of the UK in 2014, Scotland could change its mind in future especially if the UK decides to withdraw from the EU.

After looking at Britain and AmericaAmerica from a spatial and a temporal angle, we now need to examine those issues of American and British life that can seem strange to foreigners, sometimes especially to Germans, and this time we’ll deal with these issues not spatially or temporally but rather alphabetically (from A for Abortionabortion to W for Welfare State).

As with our geography appetizers, two review tasks:

Exercises

1 Create a timeline with all the people mentioned in American history and underline the presidents.

2 Create some royal family trees, one for each dynasty.