Unit 6: Maritime history

In England no town is more than 170 kilometres from the sea. So it's no suprise that Britain has very important history of ships and the sea.
The British Navy was the biggest navy in the world at one time. Now it's smaller , but many other ships are still used for importing and exporting goods and for talking people on business or holiday.
In Liverpool there is a great museum of maritime history . It's got several ships in the docks outside.
Between 1830 and 1930 more than nine million people from all over Europe from the cort of Liverpool to start a new life in America or Australia.
One of the most famous shipping companies is Cunard . It's got the world's biggest cruise ship, The Queen Mary 2, which crosses the Atlantic.

Horror histories

People like to be scared . They love reading horror stories and watching horror movies. Some of most famous horror stories were written by Brtish writters. The first was published by Mary Shellly in 1818- Franskentien. Many films have featured Franskentien over the years.
One of them put two great horror characters together when Frankenstien met Count Dracula.Dracula contra Fransketien was made by Spanish director Jesus Franco in 1970 .
Bram Stoker got the idea for Dracula while he was siting in Hightate Cemetry in North London. Sunlight fell on a crack in the lid of a tomb. Count Dracula the vampire was created. The bedroom window was wide open and moonlight was shining into the room . Mina was on the balcony an a dark shape was learning over her.

The law

The most famous police station in Britain is New Scotland Yard in London , but here are police stations all over the country. The 've all got blue light outside to show they are police stations.
We vsited a new police station in Lewisham , an area in south- east London . This is the custody room of the police station. A suspected criminal is being charget with a crime. He must hand over everithing he 's carrying or has got in his pockets.
Next day he went to court . Here three magistrates listen to evidence from the police and witness.
As well as the cells we saw earlier, the police station in Lewisham has got stables for police horses.Police officers go out on horses every day, but lots of police horses are needed when there are large crowds, at football matches or demostrations for example.
The evidence that the police collect from a crime scene is analysed in laboratories like this. The people who work here are called forensic scientists. They can examine and analyse material from the crime scene to find out exactly what happened .Fingerprints are good today of identifying