Destination: Isle of Man
LBC's Rick Kelsey toured the Isle of Man to discover its secrets. Listen to his tour below.
The Isle of Man, almost equidistant from Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, is one of the most beautiful spots in Britain, a mountainous, cliff-fringed island just thirty-three miles by thirteen, into which are shoehorned austere moorlands and wooded glens, sandy beaches, fine castles, beguiling narrow-gauge railways and scores of standing stones and Celtic crosses. It takes some effort to reach, and the weather is hardly reliable, factors that have seen tourist numbers fall since its Victorian heyday, when the island developed as rapidly as the other northwestern coastal resorts. This means, though, that the Isle of Man has been spared the worst excesses of the British tourist trade: there's peace and quiet in abundance, walks around the unspoilt hundred-mile coastline, rural villages straight out of a 1950s' picture-book, steam trains and cream teas – a yesteryear ensemble if ever there was one.
St Patrick is said to have come to the island in the fifth century AD bringing Christianity, though it was the arrival of the Vikings in the eleventh century which changed the face of the Isle of Man. They reigned as Kings of Mann – the name derived from that of the island's ancient sea-god, Manannan Mac Lir (Son of the Sea). The Scots wrested power from the Norsemen in 1275, the beginning of an ultimately unsuccessful 130-year struggle with the English for control of the island. The distinct identity of the island remained intact, however, and many true Manx inhabitants insist that the Isle of Man is not part of England, nor even of the UK. Indeed, although a Crown dependency, the island has its own government, Tynwald, arguably the world's oldest democratic parliament, which has run continuously since 979 AD. To further complicate matters, the island has its own sterling currency (worth the same as the mainland currency), its own laws (though they generally follow Westminster's), an independent postal service, and a Gaelic-based language which is taught in schools and seen on dual-language road signs. The island, of course, also produces its own tailless version of the domestic cat, as well as famously good kippers and queenies (scallops).
As well as the wonderful landscapes, the island's main tourist draw is the TT (Tourist Trophy) motorcycle races (held in the two weeks after the late-May bank holiday), a frenzy of speed and burning rubber that's shattered the island's peace annually since 1907. Tourism aside, in recent times the real money-spinner has been the offshore finance industry, exploiting the island's low income tax and absence of capital gains tax and death duties. The island also plays a major role in the development of e-banking and e-commerce, as well as providing incentives for the filming of an increasing number of movies.
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