How does a water faucet/tap work? The ones with both hot and cold water in 1 tap (looking at you, England).
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A mixer tap have two valves in it, one for hot and one for cold water which end up in the same pipe going to the tap. You either adjust each separately or there are mechanics within the tap to allow you to set the mixture and flow rate instead. There are various ways this can be done mechanically. There are also mixer taps with a small ceramic/bimetallic element which will change shape depending on temperature and this can be used to adjust the mixture. You then set the temperature and let the tap adjust the mixture to be just right. These are common in showers and bathtubs.
For England specifically the mixer tap have only recently been legal. There are a few explanations of why, either through early adoption of plumbing in London and sanitary regulations coming later or in order to lower cost of constructing building after the blitz. However hot water in England have not had the same requirements for cleanliness as most other parts of the world. So not only was hot water not drinkable but you could not even mix hot and cold water at any point due to the risk of bacteria being carried into the cold water system infecting it. Therefore you could not have a mixer tap and needed two taps, one for hot and one for cold. The water could then be mixed in the sink or washbowl so you could wash yourself with it. And even though mixer taps are now allowed, at least where the plumbing have been upgraded to modern standards, people are still used to adjusting each valve separately like the old taps. This is slowly changing though and more modern installations comes with the mechanics for setting the mixture and flow rate independently. It is even not that unheard of to find temperature controlled showers either.
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