oh, and winston churchill was our mp for a while

the New Forest is drying out nicely

(that is the most unusual thing on this thread to date)

Sheffield is built on seven hills – like Rome.

Home to the oldest football team (Sheffield FC) and the team that has been at their current ground the longest (Hallam FC).

Is the largest city in Europe with no airport.

Has parts of the Peak District National Park within its boundaries.

and, if near where you live counts..
The Arbroath Smokie is the finest food in the world, undisputable FACT

I used to live in Manchester.

World’s first industrial city, its growth was a major influence on Karl Marx.

Peterloo massacre was more dramatic and important than the battle of Cable St (sorry RB), but most people outside Manchester have never heard of it.

First real computer built at Manchester University.

Rutherford split the atom at Manchester University.

Oh and the Mersey flows through Manchester (in the south of the city). At no point does it flow through Liverpool (just past it).

DO NOT drink Cheltenham spa water, it may be why the town exists, but just don’t do it, it isn’t worth it!

Reading is a ****hole

Most cities in the UK have their industrial centres in the ‘East End’ and the nicer part of town in the ‘West End’. This is because the prevailing winds blow from West to East and so the rich don’t have to smell the foul odours of the underclasses.

Sheffield is home to the largest listed building in Europe.

Since Manchester claimed a couple of physics-related facts, how about this:

On my way to the pub (the Welly) I pass: the house where Paul Dirac was born. He’s less well-known than Einstein, but as brilliant.
Then a school which Indira Gandhi attended.
Then the house where Cary Grant was born.

Oh and the Mersey flows through Manchester (in the south of the city). At no point does it flow through Liverpool (just past it).

Now, I’m a proud Manc and love a bit of Scouse baiting, but that’s a bit tenous. Liverpool is built ON the banks of the Mersey. And it doesn’t flow through Manchester, it flows through Stockport (and past various other suburbian towns)

Moses – you’re a Brizzle boy then?

The Plimsoll line was named after a Bristolian
The phrase “Cash on the nail” was allegedly started by merchants doing deals on pillars in Corn Street
Bristol started “trip-hop”
Bristol has been named Britain’s most sustainable city
Lots of bikes are nicked in Bristol

twinklydave – Member
Preston is all the better for me being in it

it also had the first UK KFC outlet and has achieved little since

You’re correct, the one on Fishergate was the first in the UK – there’s a plaque on the wall to commemorate.
And yes, the Preston Bypass became the M6 motorway – my wife’s father built it.
And Preston’s bus station was the largest in Europe when it was built.

Also, the village of Walton-le-Dale is the home of the world’s first lightening conductor.

Slightly further afield, the town of Oldham is the birthplace of the tubular bandage.

And yes, the Preston Bypass became the M6 motorway – my wife’s father built it.

On his own? Blimey.

Lichfield…

…was where the last person was burned at the stake in England.

…was the birthplace of Dr Samuel Johnson, who wrote the first dictionary in 1755.

…has the only 3 spired Cathedral in the country…

Oh, & I live here.

And some bearded singlespeeder called postierich also.

Rochdale – Home of the Co-operative Movement, and also a Town Hall that Hitler didn’t want bombing.

It was originally called Waterloo.
Scared people from Portsmouth used to hide there during WWII bombings.

And it doesn’t flow through Manchester

Northenden and Wythenshawe are both in the Mcr city boundary and south of the Mersey.

i live in oxenhope (near hedben bridge) on a farm an all the rivers form jus below my house and i suround by trails!!!!!!!!!! 😛

Sunny Dunny (Dunbar) is reputed to be the sunniest town in Scotland

lots o’ people here speak funny like, like it’s not even english or sumthin.

I thought the Mersey did flow through Manchester until last week, when I ended up cycling to Stockport instead.

Rotherham (where I’m originally from) used to be South Yorkshire’s main town as it was the only place the River Don was fordable with a horse and carriage. You can now cross it easily in Rotherham on shopping trolley stepping stones.

I can do a coast-to-coast by bike across the entire length of my country in oooh, around 10 minutes 🙂

“Oh, and I believe the word ‘crap’ originated in the East End”

Not true.
On the contrary – it appears to be quite true that Rudeboy believes it.

Manchester produces more decent bands per head of population than anywhere else on Earth, probably. And it has so much to answer for.

Swafega was invented in Belper, and is still made there.

Northenden and Wythenshawe are both in the Mcr city boundary and south of the Mersey.

Hmm, okay. I suppose it’s (tenously and pedantically) correct then.

Cardiff is Europe’s youngest capital. It also has more Welsh speakers than anywhere else in Wales but you’d never know it walking around the streets.

Did you know that the Welsh pound coin is the only one that has the words around the edge written in the native language?

The world’s first passenger rail journey was between Shildon (via Darlington) and nearby Stockton-on-Tees on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. It’s not called the Shildon and Stockton railway, because Darlington paid for it.

Darlington has a sculpture of a steaming locomotive emerging from a tunnel, made from 185,000 “Accrington Nori” bricks.

The first editor of the newspaper based in Darlington died on the Titanic.

Vic Reeves was brought up in Darlington. He was at school with my mam.

Leigh, where I live, is the largest town in the Uk with no railway station.
Which may explain why so many of the locals are inbred petrolhead tossers.

Also, the writer James Hilton, one of only 17 people from Leigh who could read, invented the phrase ‘Shangri-La’.

Northenden and Wythenshawe are both in the Mcr city boundary and south of the Mersey.

Hmm, okay. I suppose it’s (tenously and pedantically) correct then.
But historically,they were in Cheshire, and Manchester was in Lancashire, as the Mersey was the border between the two counties.

Stockport is great becasue it’s has a mainline railway, a bus station, several motorways in easy striking distance (including one skirting the city centre) and an airport very close by, meaning that it’s a shithole that’s really easy to leave

Preston also has the UK’s tallest parochial church spire – St. Walburgs.

And Fred Dibnah’s ladders are still lashed to it – he did some work on it some years ago and left them there. Then he died and nobody else has the balls to climb up there to get them down!

Butch Cassidy’s dad was from Preston.

Preston Police force invented the Panda car – they bought 3 blue and 3 white morris minors in 1963 and swapped all the doors round!

Preston North End still hold the record for the highest ever score in English football. They beat Hyde 26-0 in the FA cup.

The Dodge family (of Dodge Motors and Dodge City fame) came from Offerton in Stockport. Dodge Hall is just off Holiday Lane which is one of the local routes 🙂

meaning that it’s a shithole that’s really easy to leave

Unless you choose to use the A6…

We have the widest working high street in Europe.. Apparently! 😕

Not sure its that obvious, but it is quite wide!

The Dodge family (of Dodge Motors and Dodge City fame) came from Offerton in Stockport.

Now that is an A1, top-notch, great fact!

I suppose, after Offerton, Dodge City must have seemed quite tame 😉

Pilkingtons Removals started from Dickens Lane in Poynton.

Chorlton and the Wheelies. Nuff said.

Another for Lichfield is that it has a postman called Rich…. 🙂