Short answers, pulled from the story.
No, the Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea and has never been part of the United Kingdom. Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann, while the UK handles the island's defence and external affairs.
The Isle of Man has no capital gains tax, wealth tax, or inheritance tax, a top income tax rate of 22 percent, and a standard corporation tax rate of zero percent. Its absence of public registries of corporate ownership has attracted wealthy individuals and, as described in the Paradise Papers, extensive illegal activity including money laundering.
In 1881, the Isle of Man parliament, Tynwald, became the first national legislative body in the world to give women the right to vote in a general election. This early measure excluded married women.
The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, known as the TT, is a motorcycle road racing event that began in 1907 and runs in late May and early June. In 2023, racer Peter Hickman lapped the 37.73-mile course at an average of 136.35 miles per hour.
Manx is a Goidelic Celtic language that developed from Archaic Irish and is closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The last native speaker died in 1974, but in the 2011 census roughly 1,800 residents said they could read, write, and speak it, and it now has a growing number of young speakers.
The Manx cat is a breed native to the Isle of Man, noted for a genetic mutation that shortens its tail, from a stumpy to a tailless rumpy. The island once ran a government breeding centre to continue the breed, and the cat has appeared on its coins and stamps.
Tynwald is claimed to have existed continuously since 979 or earlier, which would make it the oldest continuously governing body in the world, though evidence supports a much later date. It consists of the House of Keys and the Legislative Council, which meet together as Tynwald Court.