Tell me some surprising but obvious FACT about the place you live in

More Dickens-related facts: Frederick Dickens – Charles Dickens’ beloved scapegrace brother is buried in the West Cemetery in Darlington.

L**ds is the largest town in England to have no interesting facts about it whatsoever.

The University of Cambridge was established well before Henry VIII was born, although he did alter their focus.

Where I live has a 1940’s War Weekend every year and it grinds the town to a halt. All thanks to a poxy steam railway. 👿

The Wrigleys family were from Saddleworth, one of their sons went to America to make his fortune and made Wrigleys chewing gum.

Along with Nuclear Submarines, Wrigleys is now one of Plymouth’s most famous products. When the wind blows the right way my local cheeky trails smell of juicy fruit.

Also Plymouth was the location of quite surely the most boring and depressing stage ever of the TDF: to celebrate the new cross channel ferry link with Roscoff via Brittany Ferries (originally set up by a conglomerate of Breton farmers as a means of getting there wares over here), they shipped the whole ‘caravan’ over here in 1974 and went up and down the newly-finished A38 Plympton bypass three times. Yes, a straight (and at the plymouth end there is nearly a cat 1 climb: woo!) three lane dual carriageway up and down for a bit. I am so proud to live here.

Far better though is Newnham park being here too, and that back in the day Tinker Juarez could be seen ‘loosening up’ riding past my house (2 miles away!) before races.

AndyP – you saying Saddleworth’s not in Yorkshire… oooh! fighting talk! [:-D]
I most certainly am. Have at ye
(dusts off Wars of the Roses reenactment gear ready to give another yorkie a good kicking) 😉

Who says ‘Hampster’?

Proof, if ever it was needed, that 8.76 out of 10 facts are made up on the spot.

8.76 out of 10 people do. The correct 8.76 out of 10, natch.

Essex. It’s sh*t. ’tis a fact 🙂

Thornton, birthplace of the Brontes. To cycle out to the moor I have to go through Egypt, the Walls of Jericho, Jerusalem and Moscow

Blackpool has more hotel beds than Portugal.

Back in 1879, Blackpool holidaymakers stood in awe of EIGHT arc lamps, an experimental display described as artificial sunshine. The first street lighting in the whole world.

Coronation Street weddings are held at the church in Prestwich, next door to the Church Inn, where the great Hit the North plot was hatched.

St.Ives whilst it does not have as many facts as nearby Cambridge, is the home of the rhyme

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
Each wife had seven sacks
Each sack had seven cats
Each cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

It also has a chapel on the bridge with purple neon lights inside but is generally a bit average.

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives

seven knives, you fool.

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives

seven knives, you fool.

And how do you propose these knives carry seven sacks?

Michigan is the Hockey capital of the USA,
Home to 1/3 of the worlds fresh water,
You are never more than 5 miles from a lake or large body of water,
Has more coastline than the rest of the country,
And today I saw sunshine, rain, hail, and snow all in the same day…

Julianwilson my home town produces most of the nuclear submarines for our navy and emlyn Hughes was born there too

Swindon is the birthplace of both the Railways and the National Health Service.

And how do you propose these knives carry seven sacks?
racks. Knife racks. Magnetic ones.

The Mill below our house was Charles Dickens’ inspiration for Oliver Twist

MrNutt – Member

Swindon is the birthplace of both the Railways and the National Health Service.

swindon is a shit hole

Swindon is the birthplace of both the Railways and the National Health Service.

says who?

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

Sheffield FC is in Dronfield

I like where I live; an hour by bike to the Peaks, lots of local good stuff, 24 minutes to Manchester, and the chippies are the bestest in the world. In fact, some claim that the worlds first chippy was here…

These used to be built where I live.

racks. Knife racks. Magnetic ones.

I’m lost here, is this your own version. 😀

Joe none of the colleges at Cambridge are as old as the university, hence the Ipswich fact(?) Good old Wolesey got as far as building a gate and then quite lost his way!

To have been a rival to Oxbridge but for his downfall

It’s one of only 5 Chartist settlements built as a new model village for the oppressed working classes in 1847.

Idea was great, just did”t work though
every house had 3 or 4 acres to be self sufficient plus school house, meeting house store & chapel.

But people moving out from the northern working cities who won the lottery for each house just could’nt take it

Shame really could have been great modern utopia

Sandwich my point was that the uni was founded, and some of the colleges (Peterhouse 1281 I think) before Henry VIII was born so he couldn’t really have unfounded it. I did my 3yrs there, albeit at an ex-ladies college!

Most of these were made in my hometown…

also this famous boat was made here,despite the sea being about 30 miles away…..

That’s what happens when I rely on local dodgy folklore. 😳
While we’re on a Dickens theme The Great White Horse Hotel was mentioned in the Pickwick Papers after he stayed there. It’s a Starbucks now 😡

Wells once had 3 railway stations. But since 1963 it’s had none.
The cathedral astronomical clock is amazing: Click

Derby’s Bold Lane multi-storey car park was once voted one of the top 10 most secure places in the world, alongside Fort Knox, Air Force One and Area 51!

As recently as the 1970s the district of where coolhandluke lives had one of the highest proportions of derelict land, mainly in the form of slag heaps left over from coal mining

Nice!

BBC says Swindon birthplace of NHS

and also, there are the “seven wonders of Swindon”

which are:

1: The Tower of Brunel

Originally known as the David Murray John Building, this 88 storey collosus is not only the highest building in Wessex but it also has a very reasonably priced cafeteria. For more information, click HERE

2: The Hanging Baskets of Babbington

Surely one of Swindon’s finest areas of horticultural calm, the famous hanging baskets of Babbington draw in excess of 70,000 visitors a year. For more details, click HERE

3: The Double Helix of Carfax

Not only the first stressed spiral concrete construction in the world, but also the inspiration for Frank Lloyd Wright’s clearly inferior Guggenheim museum in New York. To learn more, click HERE

4: The Lighthouse on Alexandra Road

Constructed during the Great Global Warming Scare of 1832, this famous Swindon landmark is unique for being the only lighthouse in the world invisible from any navigable waterway. More details, click HERE

5: The Statue of Vavoom at the Bus Station

Just one of eight bronze colossi that once lined the procession route to the 1980 Swindon World Fair, the statue of local celebrity Lola Vavoom has to be seen to be believed. To learn more, click HERE

6: The Cathedral of St Zvlkx (site of)

Despite the fact that nothing whatsoever remains above ground, the medieval cathedral that once graced this site was an equal to Chartres or York. On-site tours available. For details, click HERE

7: The Elgin Llamas

One of the more visible members of Swindon’s spectacular urban wildlife, the demand from Peru for their immediate return is hotly contested by the City Council. For more details, click HERE

the uni was founded, and some of the colleges (Peterhouse 1281 I think) before Henry VIII was born so he couldn’t really have unfounded it.

The one I went to (Tit Hall) was founded nearly 150 years before he was born!

LOL at the swear filter getting that one (without even the right number of letters!)

Preston North End had the first black player in English football – a goal keeper in the 1890s.

The man that owns the company that makes those inflatable bananas (as well as kiss-me-quick hats) lives just outside Preston. Coincidence? I hope so.

Derby had the first factory in the world (Silk Mill), only statue of ‘Bonnie’ Prince Charlie in the world (this is as far south as he got)
Advanced Passenger Train was designed here.
Cricket is paid at The Racecourse and until recently football at the Baseball Ground.

Richmond Upon Thames has the only view in England protected by an act of Parliament, 1902 as it happens.

The last formal duel ever fought in California took place in Fairfax in 1861. The town is named for an English landowner named Lord Charles Snowden Fairfax, on whose property the duel took place. In the exchange, Daniel Showalter killed Charles Piercy at a party where the insult had apparently taken place during lunch and satisfaction was reached before tea time.

PNE footy pitch used to be astro turf and the football museum is based there. Also I’ve met sir Tom Finney. The chap who played R2D2 in star wars lives less than two miles from me. I can see St wallburgs church from my house, an the spire is the second tallest in europe. The M6 does by pass the city. Most likey for the best. Preston isn’t in the “LP” guide book to great britain. The KFC was the first in the UK. Prestons bus station is on the list of buildings you must see before you die. Preston is the newest city in the Uk. The Uni has 30,000 students making in the 6th biggest in the uk.