Introducing the Great Round England quiz
English votes on English issues! Home Rule for Sheffield and Manchester! But what do the English need to know about their country to have a say? Matthew Engel, author of a new book on England, believes students should know about Matlock before they go to Machu Picchu. Here's his test paper on the 39 counties (before the hapless 1974 reorganisation) Answers below
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Your support makes all the difference.1 Where is Ware, home of the Great Bed?
2 Where is the Cerne Abbas Giant, owner of Britain's most impressive erection?
3 In which county is the Rhubarb Triangle?
4 Which is the only county with two completely separate mainland coastlines?
5 Where would you find buses named after Charles II and Anita Roddick?
6 In which county is Sedgefield, Tony Blair's constituency throughout his 23 years in parliament?
7 Which county has an airport associated with a Campari advert?
8 Which tiny county has the UK's largest man-made lake?
9 In which county is there a cross supposed to mark the centre of England?
10 Which county has Britain's biggest port?
11 In which county does Wayne Rooney live?
12 In which county is Chiddingstone, believed to have the oldest shop in the country?
13 Trafalgar Square has Nelson's column, but which county has the statue of the Duke of Wellington that once stood at Hyde Park Corner?
14 In which county are the Dukes of Devonshire actually based?
15 Which is the only county without a direct train service to London (though it is due to be restored next month)?
16 Which one county can claim 16 of the 92 football clubs in the top four divisions?
17 In which county is Cliveden, the Astor family home?
18 The fox is the emblem of which county?
19 Which county did Australian cricket teams traditionally face at the start of their English tours?
20 If you are a (human) "badger" you run your sheep in a forest in which county?
21 Its cabmen were famous thanks to frequent appearances in the Daily Express Beachcomber column.
22 St Piran is the patron saint of tin miners, and is celebrated in which county?
23 Where is the village of Laxton, where medieval open field strip farming is still practised?
24 Which county expired in 1965, foreshadowing the 1974 changes to county borders?
25 Which county has a grassed-over naked woman as a tourist attraction?
26 In which county is the highest place in England?
27 In which county was the Battle of the Beanfield in 1985?
28 Which county had nine out of a total of 51 "thankful villages"?
29 In which county did Alderman Roberts, Margaret Thatcher's father, have his corner shop (now a chiropractic clinic)?
30 Which is the only county with Royal status?
31 Alan Partridge did the graveyard shift at a radio station in which county?
32 In which county did the council offer people terraced houses for £1 in 2012, if they were willing to do them up?
33 In which county is the research and development headquarters of AstraZeneca?
34 In which county is the SAS based?
35 In which county would you find the shoemaker R.E. Tricker Ltd, established in 1829 and now run by a fifth generation family member?
36 Which county has a seaside resort where no pubs were allowed until the millennium?
37 In which county would you find St George's Hill, well known for its vast houses, golf club and tennis club?
38 In which county is a door between two colleges called the Needle's Eye?
39 In which county is the original of Uncle Monty's Cottage?
40 Final question: Which is the most beautiful English county?
Answers
1. Hertfordshire 2. Dorset 3. Yorkshire 4. Devon 5. Sussex (Brighton) 6. Durham 7. Bedfordshire (Luton) 8. Rutland 9. Warwickshire (Meriden) 10. Suffolk (Felixstowe) 11. Cheshire 12. Kent 13. Hampshire (Aldershot) 14. Derbyshire 15. Shropshire 16. Lancashire 17. Buckinghamshire 18. Leicestershire 19. Worcestershire 20. Gloucestershire (Forest of Dean) 21. Huntingdonshire 22. Cornwall 23. Nottinghamshire 24. Middlesex 25. Northumberland 26. Cumberland (Scafell Pike) 27. Wiltshire (near Stonehenge) 28. Somerset (the tiny number of places that sent their young men off to war in 1914 and got them all back again) 29. Lincolnshire 30. Berkshire 31. Norfolk (Norwich) 32. Staffordshire 33. Cambridgeshire 34. Herefordshire 35. Northamptonshire 36. Essex (Frinton) 37. Surrey 38. Oxfordshire (Oxford) 39. Westmorland 40. Whichever one you choose
How did you do?
31-40 Brilliant. Consider yourself a county champion.
21-30 Pretty good, but a little light reading on the lost glories of Middlesex or Westmorland might help.
11-20 You really ought to stay home more, holidaywise. Think about Matlock Illuminations for your next autumn break.
0-10 Which country did you say you lived in? You sure about that?
Matthew Engel is the author of Engel's 'England: Thirty-nine counties, one capital and one man' (Profile books, £20)
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