Major Highways of Britain: The A5 Quiz

Answer: Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford was a hugely important builder of bridges, roads and canals from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. He was also responsible for the construction of the Ellesmere, Shrewsbury, Caledonian and other canals, the Saint Katharine Docks close to Tower Bridge in London, and about 32 churches in Scotland. He was elected the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

The scheme to develop what was eventually to become the A5 road was the first major civilian state-funded road building project in Britain since Roman times. While much of the work in England involved joining up pre-existing turnpikes, the work in Wales involved much more sophisticated cutting- and bridge-building and tunneling.

Answer: Speakers' Corner

Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech, open-air public speaking, debate and discussion have all been allowed for many years. There are similar facilities in many places, but the Hyde Park Corner location is by far the most famous. Speakers at Speakers' Corner can talk on any subject they like as long as the police consider their speeches lawful. Contrary to popular belief speakers are not immune to the law, but in practice the police will intervene only when somebody complains to them.

Speakers' Corner was the scene of rioting in protest over the Sunday Trading Bill in 1855, and the Reform League demonstrated there in 1866 and 1867. Speaking at the Corner was finally officially sanctioned by Act of Parliament in 1872.

All the incorrect answer options are places also in Hyde Park.

Answer: Watling Street

The road is Watling Street, which continues on north-westwards after arriving in London from Dover. It was one of the major highways of early England, and it formed the south-west border of the Danelaw which was set up by the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrun in the late 9th century. It's also said to form the boundary between West and North London. It's thought that the battle in 61AD in which the Roman general Suetonius defeated Boudicca took place somewhere in the west Midlands on Watling Street, but nobody knows exactly where.

The three incorrect options are the three other major highways from pre-Roman Britain.

Answer: Making films and TV programmes

Elstree and the adjacent village of Borehamwood have been important locations for the film-making industry since the Neptune Film Company opened the first studios there in 1914. A number of studios were built there subsequently, and film-making flourished until the mid-1980s. Since then BBC TV has taken over a number of the locations.

The list of films made there is astonishing - to mention just a few: "The Dam Busters", "Moby Dick", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Where Eagles Dare", "Star Wars", "The Shining" and the "Indiana Jones" films. TV programmes made there by the BBC include "The Prisoner", "The Avengers", "Eastenders", "Top of the Pops", "'Allo 'Allo!", "Grange Hill" and "Holby City".

Answer: A pope

It is thought that Nicholas Breakspear, who was probably born in or around St Albans in about 1100, received some limited early education at St Albans School before completing his studies in Arles in France. He went on to become Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159), and is the only Englishman to have been pope.

He was responsible for the Papal Bull "Laudabiliter" of 1155, giving Ireland as a hereditary possession to the sovereign of England. This was countered in 1555 by Pope Paul IV's Bull, "Ilius, per quem Reges regnant", giving the crown of Ireland to Philip II of Spain and Mary I of England. In many ways these competing documents set the scene for many of the troubles of Ireland.

Answer: Woburn Abbey

Woburn Abbey was founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1145, but the religious community was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538. In 1547, the estate became the seat of the Russell family, the Dukes of Bedford. In 1630, the 4th Earl of Bedford built a manor house on the site, and then the architects Henry Flitcroft and John Sanderson rebuilt the property between 1747 and 1761.

However, by the late 1940s the house was half-demolished and half-derelict, due to dry rot and neglect. Then, following the death of the 13th duke in 1953, the 14th duke was required to pay about £12 million in death duties. Rather than giving family house and estate to the National Trust he opened the abbey to the public, which soon paid the death duty bill. Since then the estate has had various attractions added, such as the Safari Park in 1970.

Answer: The Open University

The Open University was set up by Prime Minister Harold Wilson's Labour government in the late 1960s. Wilson was a forceful advocate for the scheme, emphasising the contribution it would make to British society. Planning commenced in 1965, driven by the Education Minister Jennie Lee, and the new University opened in 1969. It's now the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students, who use a wide variety of methods for learning: written and audio materials, the internet and TV programmes on DVD, although sadly the use of TV broadcasts ceased in 2006. It's all based at Walton Hall in Milton Keynes, although many tutors work throughout the British Isles.

I had the immense pleasure of working as a tutor at OU Summer Schools for many years - they were totally exhausting but great fun! I was always impressed by the high levels of enthusiasm and motivation shown by the students.

Looking at the incorrect answer option, the Milton Keynes Open Prison and the British Ecological Institute don't actually exist; the Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) does exist but it's in the USA.

Answer: Watford Gap

Watford Gap is named after the small village of Watford in Northamptonshire, and gives its name to the Watford Gap motorway services on the M1. These were one of the first in the UK, and have consistently maintained a reputation for low quality ever since. Surprisingly, in the mid- and late-1960s Watford Gap services became a regular stop-off place in the early hours of the morning for groups playing gigs in far-away places - the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Pink Floyd and many other top bands used to stop for a meal on their way home.

Watford Gap is also often referred to as the dividing line that separates the north and south England. There is some evidence of a linguistic divide in the area, for example long and short "a" sounds.

Looking at the incorrect answer options, all three places are the sites of motorway services on the M6. Tebay is privately owned and is frequently rated as the best in the UK, and as it's only a few miles from where I live we regularly visit the excellent farm shop there!

Answer: Sir Robert Peel

Sir Robert Peel (1788 - 1850), was a Conservative politician who served twice as home secretary in the 1820s and twice as prime minister in the 1830s and 1840s. His major achievement in his first post was the setting-up in 1829 of the Metropolitan Police Service, which replaced the various ad-hoc policing agencies like the Bow Street Runners and the Marine Police Force. The Met initially employed about 900 constables, who became known as "Bobbies" or "Peelers" after Peel's names - in fact in Northern Ireland the police are still referred to as "Peelers". The model and principles of policing as set out by Peel rapidly gained ground in other UK cities and eventually spread to may other countries in the world.

His two terms of office as prime minister started with the publication in 1834 of the "Tamworth Manifesto", a document setting out the principles upon which the modern Conservative Party is based. Historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote: "Peel was in the first rank of 19th-century statesmen. He carried Catholic Emancipation; he repealed the Corn Laws; he created the modern Conservative Party on the ruins of the old Toryism.". He died at the age of 62 after suffering severe injuries from being thrown by his horse.

Answer: River Severn

The River Severn runs through the Ironbridge Gorge in this area, exposing easily-mined and industrially useful deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and fire clay that formed the basis of early industry in the mid-1700s. However the river banks are steep and unstable, so a bridge was needed to connect the two sides of the river. The Iron Bridge was the result, a single-span bridge made of cast iron - a wonderful advertisement for the products of the region.

The bridge, the village of Ironbridge and the Ironbridge Gorge make up the UNESCO Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. The whole surrounding area is full of museums and sites related to early industrialisation, such as Coakbrookdale, Coalport and Blists Hill - it's well worth a visit.

Answer: The remains of a Roman city

Near the end of the Watling Street, Viroconium Cornoviorum occupied a key tactical frontier position lying on the River Severn. First built in about 55CE, at its peak it's thought to have been the fourth-largest Roman settlement in Britain with more than 15,000 inhabitants.

Like many Roman towns it declined in the late 5th century, but surprisingly Viroconium saw a major upturn in its circumstances between about 530 and 570. During this period about 33 carefully planned and well-constructed large buildings were erected; the reasons for this rebuild are unknown. However the site was probably abandoned in the second half of the 7th century.

It's a large site, the largest in the UK that I've yet to visit. There are substantial ruins of the baths, including a very large archway, and there's also a modern-day reconstruction of a Roman villa.

A note on the name Wroxeter for quizzers who don't live in the UK: towns whose names end in "caster", "cester", "chester" or "xeter" were almost certainly founded during the Roman occupation of Britain.

Answer: King Henry IV and Henry Percy (Hotspur)

The Battle of Shrewsbury took place on the 21st July 1403, between the army of King Henry IV and a rebel army led by Henry Percy (known popularly as "Harry Hotspur"), the Earl of Northumberland.

The conflict arose when the king reneged on promises of land and money made to the Percy family in return for the latter's support in deposing the previous king, Richard II. Percy marched south to rendezvous with his uncle, Thomas Percy, the Earl of Worcester. Meanwhile the king was marching north to assist the Percys in fighting the Scots. On hearing the news of the rebellion, the king turned abruptly west to march to Shrewsbury, arriving before the Percys could capture the town.

The two armies camped near to each other in a pea field about three miles north of the town. The morning of the 21st was spent on negotiations, but these broke down and fighting ensued. Both sides had many longbow archers, and the battle commenced with a barrage of arrows. The right wing of the king's army fled, but the left wing managed to resist a charge by the rebels in which Henry Percy was killed. This eventually led to a cessation of hostilities with the king emerging as the winner. His retribution included the execution of Thomas Percy.

All the incorrect answer options are battles that occurred in the Middle Ages:

King Richard III and Henry Tudor at Bosworth in 1485, King Henry III and Simon de Montfort at Evesham in 1265, and King Henry VII and Lambert Simnel at Stoke in 1487.

Henry Percy is portrayed in Shakespeare's play "Henry IV, Part 1". He is represented as being the same age as his rival, Prince Hal (the future King Henry V), by whom he is killed in the battle. Actually he was 23 years older than Prince Hal, who was only 16 years old at the time.

One of England's major football clubs, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., was originally named Hotspur Football Club after Hotspur, who lived in the region and whose descendants owned land near the club's first ground in the Tottenham Marshes in north London. Hotspur was also famed for his enjoyment of cockfighting, hence the club's badge symbol of a fighting cock standing upon a football.

Answer: Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin took up the offer of the post of naturalist on the voyage of HMS Beagle around the world, and the rest is history!

The incorrect answer options are all scientists who supported Darwin during the great debate following the publication of "On the Origin of Species".

Answer: Offa's Dyke

The feature is Offa's Dyke, a large earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales for over 80 miles. It's named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from 757 until 796; he is believed to have ordered its construction, possibly to delineate the border between Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys.

Looking at the incorrect answer options, Hadrian's Wall is the famous second-century wall (122 AD) running across northern England, while the less sophisticated Antonine Wall (142 AD) runs across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland. The Car Dyke is a ditch that runs through the counties of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and is the remains of a Roman canal. It's about 57 miles long, and it's the longest artificial waterway constructed by the Romans in Britain as well as being longer than any known on continental Europe.

Answer: 243 miles

From London to Holyhead is a drive of about five-and-a-half hours. The fastest train from London Paddington to Holyhead takes about three and three-quarter hours (a direct service so no change of train is required).