Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle-class roots. The term Cockney is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, or, traditionally, born within earshot of Bow Bells.
The church of St Mary-le-Bow
A costume associated with Cockneys is that of the pearly King or Queen, worn by London costermongers who sew thousands of pearl buttons onto their clothing in elaborate and creative patterns.
English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, whose speakers, called Anglophones, originated in early medieval England. The namesake of the language is the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain.
The opening of Beowulf, an Old English epic poem handwritten in half-uncial script between 975 AD and 1025 AD: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... ("Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings...")
The University of Oxford in Oxford, the world's oldest English-speaking university and world's second-oldest university, founded in 1096
The University of Cambridge in Cambridge, the world's second-oldest English-speaking university and world's third-oldest university, founded in 1209
