1. Which North East town changed hands between Scotland and England 13 times but has been permanently part of England since 1482?
2. What was the name of the famed Newcastle-born admiral who was second in command to Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar? His prominent statue stands near the mouth of the Tyne.
3. What is the name of the 200 feet long Teesdale Waterfall situated at the eastern end of Cow Green Reservoir?
4. Which London football club takes its name from Henry Percy, the thirteenth century Northumbrian battle hero, who was the son of the Earl of Northumberland?
5. The Dog Leap Stairs on Newcastle Quayside are mentioned in which song by Dire Straits?
6. In which North East town would you find the Percy Tenantry Column, otherwise known as the ‘Farmers’ Folly’?
7. Ad Caprae Caput meaning ‘head of the goat’ was the name the Venerable Bede used for which North East town?
8. William Wouldhave and Henry Greathead of South Shields were noted for the invention of what?
9. Which North East village with its notable castle was named from a Northumbrian queen called Bebba?
10. What was the name of the Newcastle merchant’s daughter who eloped with the future Lord Chancellor, John Scott, after escaping from the upper window of a Newcastle Quayside house using a ladder in November 1772.
11. What 320 million year old fossilised feature can be found in a churchyard at Stanhope in Weardale?
12. In historic times criminals who sought protection of sanctuary at Durham Cathedral for 37 days were then escorted to which North East port before they were banished abroad forever?
13. What was the name of the trade union leader (1864-1935) who was head of England’s first all Labour County Council that assembled at Durham? His name was later adopted as the name of a North East town.
14. Where did the Allendale miner known as ‘Jack the Blaster’ reside from around 1782.
15. Which glam-rock singer was born in Washington in 1945?
16. Which famous poet was married at Seaham in 1815?
17. Which South Tynedale town has a name that derives from the meaning ‘high fork’ probably from a junction of the river and a neighbouring burn?
18. In North East dialect what is a booler?
19. Din Guaire (or Din Guayroi) was the Celtic name for which North East castle site and is sometimes associated with the legendary Joyous Guard, the reputed castle of Sir Lancelot, the Arthurian knight?
20. Who were the two North East mayors respectively known as ‘Newcastle’s Dick Whittington’ and ‘Durham’s Dick Whittington’?
21. Which pretty North East village was a popular place of retirement for Darlington residents, has a Jacobean hall and an historic church that reputedly stands on the site of a Northumbrian chieftain called Ida or Eda?
22. What place was known to the Romans as Concangis and to the Anglo-Saxons as Conecaster?
23. Which Northumbrian saint links Hexham Abbey and Ripon Cathedral?
24. In the 13th century which town was described as “So populous and of such commercial importance that it might rightly be called another Alexandria, whose riches were the sea and the water its walls”?
25. Which North East song begins with the words “As aa cam’ thro’ Sandgate, Thro’ Sandgate, thro’ Sandgate, As aa cam’ thro’ Sandgate’ Aa heard a lassie sing”?
26. Which well-known North East drink is sometimes known as ‘Dog’?
27. What was the first lighthouse in the world to be purposely built to be powered by electricity and the first to use alternating current?
28. By what name is the George V bridge in Newcastle better known?
29. In historic times what North East town was often labelled as being ‘in the dirt’ from the poor state of its roads?
30. What battle took place near Durham City in 1346 in which the Scottish king, David II was captured?
31. Built in 1796 by Roland Burdon of Castle Eden, which bridge was then the biggest single-span bridge in the world?
32. What disease was discovered by this Longbenton-born physician and scientist in 1855 and takes its name from his surname?
33. Which bishop began the building of Durham Cathedral commenced in 1093?
34. Who officially opened the present Redheugh Bridge in Newcastle in May 1983?
35. Who wrote the lengthy, much acclaimed North-East themed poem ‘Briggflats‘ in 1966?
36. The verses of which peculiar nonsense poem that appeared in Lewis Carroll’s Alice through the Looking Glass were written at Croft on Tees near Darlington and at Whitburn near Sunderland and appear to be inspired by which North East worm legends?
37. What was the name of the TV entertainer and magician born in 1938 who hailed from South Bank on Teesside?
38. The residents of which North East town are known as ‘Sand Dancers’?
39. Where would you find these strange creatures (above) and in which city did they originate?
40. What was the surname of the Bernard (or Barnard) from which the Durham town and castle of Barnard Castle takes its name?
Answers below
ANSWERS
- Berwick on Tweed.
- Cuthbert Collingwood.
- Cauldron Snout.
- Tottenham Hotspur named from Harry Hotspur.
- Down to the Waterline.
- Alnwick.
- Gateshead.
- Lifeboat.
- Bamburgh.
- Bessie Surtees.
- A tree stump.
- Hartlepool.
- Peter Lee whose name was adopted for the town of Peterlee.
- The cliff at Marsden near South Shields where we now find the Marsden Grotto.
- Bryan Ferry, lead singer with Roxy Music.
- Lord Byron.
- Haltwhistle.
- An iron hoop used and stick used as a children’s toy.
- Bamburgh.
- Roger Thornton (Newcastle); Sir John Duck (Durham).
- Gainford.
- Chester-le-Street.
- St Wilfrid.
- Berwick on Tweed.
- The Keel Row.
- Newcastle Brown Ale.
- Souter Lighthouse near South Shields.
- The Tyne Bridge.
- Darlington.
- Neville’s Cross.
- The original Wearmouth bridge at Sunderland.
- Thomas Addison: Addison’s Disease.
- William St Carileph (or St Calais) a Bishop of Durham.
- Diana, Princess of Wales.
- Basil Bunting.
- The Jabberwock apparently inspired by the Lambton Worm and Sockburn Worm legends.
- Paul Daniels.
- South Shields.
- Wallington Hall in Northumberland, they are originally from London.
- Balliol.