UK? No

1870, although the German borders weren't the same as they were in 1918, 1945 or today.

I read about a man from Alsace, who had fought for the French twice and the Germans once. He was threatened with a court martial for treason.

Can Ireland be counted as a "home team" if it is a team from all Ireland? It's still British as in part of the British Isles but not part of the UK, so it wouldn't be right to refer to it as one of the UK countries, as the OP seems to be suggesting.

German unification (not counting after the pulling down of the Berlin Wall) was relatively late too, wasn't it? Nineteenth century, Bismarck and all that. Has someone already mentioned that? I expect I'm not keeping up very well here at the back.

But this was the BBC! The BBC is supposed to be British, not English.

In 1858, they were: the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, the Papal states, Tuscany, Venetia, Modena, Parma, Sardinia and Lombardy. The country now known as Italy was even more fragmented before then.

Thought about this and don't think I would mind if Welsh news channels announced this as for Wales and the other home countries,ditto Scotland, so English news should be allowed England.

I did attempt to reply in my last post- it also included history, genetics, ethnicity and origins, history of different regions, and so much more.

But what were the two separate countries which are now Italy caked, culture and language alone doesn't make a country ,

daphne you beat me to it! Sicilians and Calabrese still use dialects which are totally different to Italian- and that Northern Italians just couldn't comprehend. In fact the whole of the South, including Sicily, was 'Sicily- then the centre was ther papal States, and the North a whole array of small countries, including Tuscany, and Sardinia in the NE, including the island of, Lombardia and Tyrol, etc.

As you say, much more than language- different ethnic groups and history altogether- but not separated by an obvious dividing barrier like Offa's Dike or Adrian's wall.

Have you ever read the Cadfael mysteries, ab, by Ellis Peters? Great stories based in and around medieval Shrewsbury. Some of the stories extend into Wales and Cadfael himself is Welsh, as the name suggests.

@granjura

And don't mention Sicily!

England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales are four countries so far more than culture and language. What were the two sets rate countries of Italy called before they become one country ?

Many Italians still do not accept unification, and want the North (rich and well educated !) and the South (poor and speaking weird dialects !) ... to be separated again. Don't ask a Milanese to be assimilated to a Napolitan- or else)...

The point being that many European countries which seem to be 'one' were in fact until not so long ago, just a diverse in culture and languages as Wales, Scotland, England and NI.

exactly - my mother was the guest of the Queen in 1931, both in Zagreb and Bled.

Yugoslavia was a 'cobbled together country' after 1918 and became the Kingdom of Yogoslavia in 1929.

Wales was united with the English crown in the 13th century by Edward I, long before Henry Tudor seized the crown of England and Wales through some dodgy ancestral claims.

Oh yes- and my part of Switzerland was still Prussian until 1848. And Alsace belonged to Germany, and Savoie was Swiss- and Yugoslavia was one country, and so on.

Germany too!

Ah yes Tricia- and they have several, well at least 2, players who play for English teams, Inler for Leicester, and another for Arsenal. I am not a footie fan- really- although the fairy story of the Foxes this year did grab my attention... My physiotherapist if off training with the Swiss team- as he is their official physio- so we often talked about Leicester during our rehab sessions recently. I'll support the English team and the Swiss one, oh and the French, and the Irish - ah well, may the best team win.

Yes, modern France is made up of very different and distinct regions, with different languages, cultures, and history- until quite recently. Even more so for Italy, which is a very recent concept.

Children were actually referred to as war orphans at the end of the war, which loosely meant that either both parents had been killed or more likely just one, their father. There were a lot of us as there were war widows, so it was no big deal. My stepfather would have to have adopted me to become my legal parent, which for personal reasons was decided against.

To be an orphan one has to have survived the death of both parents , my maternal grandmother died when my mother was two days old, she became an orphan age seven when her father died ,

The definition normally accepted, and on the internet, is that you have no living parents.

No ab, I have a good knowledge of British history including the Tudors,studying it at length both at school to A'level (I passed) and since for pleasure. I think you'll find dj that the loss of of one or both parents does render you to orphan status regardless of a step parent. Wonderful though my stepfather was, legally he was not my parent,that person was dead.

Granjura, France and France are both four countries? I did know

I did Jalima. Not concerned just feel strongly that the four countries in the UK are given the same acknowledgement
. As for
The Tudors, never give it a thought though I accept it's the only knowledge niggly has of the history , and niggly I don't hate, never have,