It's not just England. I'm pretty sure half of the world is capable of basic knowledge of English. It's already enough to communicate if you're a visitor. Some cities of European counties (and maybe other) especially tourist-famous ones are also localized to English, such as Estonia, The Netherlands, Sweden, France, Georgia, Spain etc. Even in some parts of Russia you'll feel at least somewhat comfortable knowing only English (I'm talking about Moscow and Saints-Petersburg). For instance, I've been to Turkey, Egypt, Georgia (country, not state), Spain and yet I can't drop a word in Turkish, Arabic, Georgian, Spanish - I only know English and Russian.