The Fair Town of Strabane Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tyrone

Strabane is one of the most westerly towns in Northern Ireland. It is situated about 85 miles from Belfast. At the 2011 census, it had a population of about 17,000. Historically known as a market town, Strabane began an economic downturn when Ireland was partitioned in 1921. For decades after that it was noted for high levels of unemployment.

The town was the scene of numerous bomb attacks and murders during years of terrorist violence.

Answer: Cecil Frances Alexander

Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander (April 1818-October 1895), familiarly known as "Fanny", was the wife of a Church of Ireland clergyman who was to become Bishop of Londonderry. Their home was on the outskirts of Strabane. Mrs Alexander is credited with bringing a breath of fresh air to the previously stuffy Anglican hymnbook. "The purple-headed mountain, the river running by" describe scenes she saw from her home.

Answer: Mourne

The River Mourne divides the town into two areas, the main commercial area being on the north bank. The Mourne meets the River Finn just a short distance from Strabane and after their confluence the waterway is known as the River Foyle. The Foyle, Finn and Mourne are all renowned breeding grounds for salmon.

Answer: American Declaration of Independence

John Dunlap was born in Stabane in 1747 and died in Philadelphia, USA in 1812. A story of questionable provenance is that he received an apprenticeship at Gray's Printers in Strabane. Certainly by the age of ten he was an apprentice to his uncle's print works in Philadelphia. In 1771 he published a weekly newspaper the Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser. He fought with Washington's forces at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. In July 1776, when the words of the declaration were agreed, Dunlap printed the first published versions.

The town of Strabane plays up to the links with Dunlap, and Gray's Printers have been preserved in the location and style they would have had in Dunlap's days. The house in which Dunlap was born has long been demolished, but a blue plaque has been erected on a stone overlooking the River Mourne at Upper Main Street.

Answer: Brian O'Nolan

We will use the name Flann O'Brien (5 October 1911 to 1 April 1966). He was born in Strabane and studied at university in Dublin before becoming a writer and newspaper columnist. Some of his finest writing appeared in columns in the "Irish Times". He was noted also for some rather surreal novels, including "The Third Policeman" and "At Swim Two Birds". He has been compared favourably such Irish literary luminaries as James Joyce. All this brings me to his play "The Brother" and its most famous poem, "The Workman's Friend":

"When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night -
A pint of plain is your only man

"When money's tight and hard to get
And your horse has also ran,
When all you have is a heap of debt -
A pint of plain is your only man...."

Best recited with a frothy pint of the black stuff in hand. Sláinte!

Answer: Paul Brady

Trisha Yearwood and Curtis Steigers also covered songs written or co-written by Paul Brady.

Brady was born in Strabane in 1947 and quickly became a central member of the traditional Irish music scene. Before going solo, he sang with Andy Irvine and later with Tommy Peoples and Matt Molloy. "Life Is What You Make it" is one of his best known songs.

In the liner notes of his 1985 box set "Biograph', Dylan said: "..people get too famous too fast these days and it destroys them. Some guys got it down- Leonard Cohen, Paul Brady, Lou Reed, secret heroes,- John Prine, David Allen Coe, Tom Waits. I listen more to that kind of stuff than whatever is popular at the moment. They're not just witch-doctoring up the planet, they don't set up barriers..."

Answer: People

Let me stress at the outset I am not talking about (literal) slavery! For many years in the 19th century, Ireland was noted for its 'Hiring Fairs' and Strabane had one of the biggest in the north-west. At a time when there were many big families, small farms and not a lot of money, many young people - children really - were taken by their parents to the Hiring Fair in Strabane.

Many of them came from a huge catchment in rural County Donegal. The idea was that they would be taken on as workers or servants.

Many found satisfactory lives, but it is probably true to say that others were poorly treated. While living in Strabane, some years ago I met a man, then a pensioner, who had been hired as a child to be a servant to two spinster sisters.

He was one of the lucky ones. He was treated fairly and inherited property and money from them. Strabane was a busy market town for the large agricultural hinterland and more normal animal fairs also took place.

Answer: Sir Guy Carleton

Carleton, later 1st Baron Dorchester, was born in Strabane in 1774. He was commander in chief of the British forces in North America in the early 1780s. He was Governor General of British North America from 1785 to 1795.

Answer: Flood

I remember that night well. After more than three days of constant rain, the river that runs through the town was swollen and the flood defences gave way. The town centre was inundated, initially to a depth of several feet. No one was killed or even seriously injured, but many who had been standing about in the streets in the early hours of a Thursday were sent running for their lives. Houses and shops were flooded and ground floor possessions destroyed.

Many people, especially pensioners, were taken from their homes by boats provided by the local canoe club, assisted by residents, soldiers and police officers. One woman who lived above a public house refused to leave, but did get essential supplies - for her dog! - delivered by boat. Unfortunately many people did not have insurance and sustained severe financial losses.

Answer: William Burke

Burke was born in Urney, about three miles from Strabane, in 1792 and was hanged in Edinburgh for murder in 1829. He and his partner William Haire, who was also from the north of Ireland, are thought to have murdered at least 16 people. They did it for money. They picked their victims at random in order to sell the corpses on for medical research. Their reign of serial-killing lasted for about ten months in 1828.

The way they killed their victims, smothering and compressing the chest, led to the creation of the word "burking".

Morris 'Big Ger' Cafferty was the main 'baddie' in the "Rebus" novels written by Ian Rankin and set in Edinburgh. Willie Sneddon and Jonny Cohen were criminal gang leaders in the "Lennox" books by Crag Russell, which were set in Glasgow.