The Town Where I Was Born Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bradford, West Yorkshire, England

Bradford, formerly famed for its woollen industry, is now quite rightly lauded for the excellence of its Asian food, and has gained the nickname 'The Curry Capital of Britain'. It began welcoming immigrants from the Asian subcontinent as far back as the 15th Century, but many came during the Industrial Revolution to work in the mills and factories.

The Industrial Revolution has left its mark on the city and many of its landmark buildings hark back to the era. Both the City Hall and the Wool Exchange are fabulous examples of Bradford's Victorian architecture. Although William Blake was probably thinking of buildings in London when he mentions "dark satanic mills" in his poem "And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time", the Hubert Parry-penned musical version, "Jerusalem", conjures up visions of Bradford and its environs' textile industry when played by a Yorkshire brass band.

Because it has such a long history of welcoming visitors from all over the world, Bradford has been proclaimed as a City of Sanctuary where various community organisations are committed to welcoming those seeking sanctuary.
Question supplied by Waitakere.

Answer: Sydney

The first census taken in Sydney was in 1788. The colony consisted of "7 horses, 29 sheep, 74 swine, 6 rabbits, 7 cattle and a European population of 1,030". This population was broken up as follows: Convicts and their children - 548 men, 188 women and 17 children. Others - 219 men, 34 women and 24 children.

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales (NSW) and is now the largest city in Australia with the 2011 census revealing that the population has risen from 1,030 in 1788 to a massive 4.3 million.

The area of Sydney surrounding Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson) is quite hilly, densely populated and has magnificent views including the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The greater metropolitan area of Sydney sprawls west to the Blue Mountains and along the northern and southern coastlines. Sydney is surrounded by beautiful National Parks and rivers, not to mention the many surfing beaches - like the world-famous Bondi Beach.

Sydney is now a multi-cultural city with many world-class restaurants, galleries and museums and is a very popular tourist destination.

Some of the more famous people born in Sydney are actors Hugh Jackman, Rose Byrne, Toni Collette, Julian McMahon, Rod Taylor; directors Peter Weir, Baz Luhrmann, and Bruce Beresford; Super model Elle Macpherson; writer James Clavell; swimming champion Ian Thorpe.
Question supplied by wenray.

Answer: Rock Ferry

Rock Ferry was the family seat of the Minshull family in the 17th century whose grounds covered most of what is now Rock Ferry. The area of Rock Ferry known as Rock Park consists of Victorian villas built from local sandstone between 1837 and 1850. Welsh singer Duffy named her 2008 album "Rockferry", where her grandmother came from.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, USA, in 1804. From 1821 to 1824 Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, USA, with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future U. S. President Franklin Pierce. He was a friend of Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Herman Melville dedicated "Moby Dick" to him. In 1853 Hawthorne and his family arrived in Liverpool where he served as the U. S. Consul and lived in a house in Rock Park, Rock Ferry. He died in 1864 and was buried in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Among many who mourned for him were Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell and former US President Franklin Pierce.
Question supplied by shipyardbernie.

Answer: Eswatini

Eswatini, (formerly the Kingdom of Swaziland) is a landlocked country in southern Africa, and it has two capitals: Lobamba is the legislative and royal capital, whereas Mbabane is the administrative capital. It borders South Africa and Mozambique. Most of its population is ethnically Swazi, and the two official languages are Swati and English.

Although Eswatini is a relatively small country in terms of land area (6,704 sq miles), it offers quite a range of landscape from the mountainous west of the country, to the plains of the east. The highest peak is Emlembe mountain, which sits on the border with South Africa in the north west.

According to 2011 statistics, it had the lowest life expectancy in the world (less than 32 years), a figure so low due to widespread HIV infection amongst the population. In the same year, the HDI (human development index) ranked Swaziland in 140th position.

I was born in the small rural town of Hlatikulu in 1972 whilst my British parents were living there thanks to a British government initiative to send skilled professionals to help impoverished former colonies. My father worked there as a doctor, and actually delivered me. My family moved back to the UK the following year, but have nothing but fond memories of the country with its dramatic landscape, warm-hearted yet proud people, and colourful traditions.

The red herrings: Suriname was originally a British colony, but was later colonised by The Netherlands. It gained independence in 1975. Sri Lanka was colonised by the Portuguese, The Netherlands and Great Britain. It gained self-rule in 1948, then became a republic in 1972. Sweden was a huge European power in the 17th and 18th centuries, and has had its own overseas colonies
Question supplied by thula2.

Answer: Ashford, Kent

According to the Independent newspaper in 2006 "the proud title of Garden of England has slipped from the grasp of Kent after more than 400 years, according to a survey which condemns the county as overrun with railways, traffic jams and chavs"!

Cade turns up in Shakespeare's "Henry VI, Part 2", along with Dick the butcher, who is also from Ashford. Dick's most famous line is "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers".

Ashford, County Wicklow is a village in the Mid-East Region of Ireland. Ashford, North Devon, is a tiny village that had a population of 273 according to the 2001 census. Ashford, Alabama is a town in Houston County, USA.
Question submitted by madsue.

Answer: Porto

Porto is in Portugal, the second largest city in the country behind the capital city, Lisbon. The city is most famous for its fortified wine, known as 'port', made exclusively in the Douro valley, in Porto.

The climate in Porto is a Mediterranean one, not very cold and not very hot. In the Summer the average maximum temperatures reach 23ºC and in the Winter 6ºC.

As in most Portuguese cities, football is the most important sport. FC Porto is one of the "Big Three" teams in Portugal, and a major club in Europe and in the world. FC Porto's home ground is Estádio do Dragão (Dragon Stadium). Jorge Nuno de Lima Pinto da Costa, the club president, oversaw the most titles in the history of football over 50 titles in 30 years of presidency.

Coimbra is known as the Portuguese capital of education since the first university in the country was established there in 1290. It's the biggest town in the central zone of Portugal, and the founder of Coimbra was the first king of Portugal: Afonso I.

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago, as is the Azores. Madeira is located on top of the African Plate in the Atlantic Ocean. It has enjoyed political autonomy since 1974. In 2010, Madeira suffered massive floods and mudslides due to extreme weather.

Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal. It's located in the southern/central zone of the country. In the 15th century, the boats which discovered the maritime way to India departed from Belém, in Lisbon. It was in Lisbon, in the 19th century, that Fado was created. Fado is the most widely known Portuguese music style, and nobody sings Fado as well as the Portuguese do. Amália Rodrigues is generally considered the best Portuguese singer of any music style. Her voice is peaceful, full of power and you can find love in it.
Question supplied by gm2xc.

Answer: Danbury, Connecticut, USA

One of my long gone relatives - Zadoc Benedict - started a small hat shop in the Great Plain area of Danbury and it evolved into numerous hat factories and shops, the Mallory factory and Lee Hat factories being among the largest and well known (more relatives). By around the turn of the century (1900s) when Danbury was producing well-over 20% of America's hats, just about everyone in the town worked with hats. Both of my grandfathers were hatters, and one briefly owned a hat shop. People around here wore hats well into the 1970s - I mean good hats, not baseball caps. By then the rivers around here were very polluted - I remember them literally changing colors and catching fire daily - thankfully the environmental movement caught on, and things got cleaned up, and though it will never be the same, at least it looks like water.

Avant-garde composer Charles Ives, born in Danbury in 1874, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1947 for "Symphony No. 3, S. 3 (K. 1A3), The Camp Meeting". I have tried to like his stuff but it's too dissonant for my taste. However, his "Fourth of July", 3rd movement from the "A Symphony: New England Holidays" is interesting. It captures the atmosphere of Danbury on a sweltering hot summer's day from early dawn, building up to the sights and sounds of a parade coming down Main Street and fading away - then the day continuing on.

Of the other choices, both Denton and Stockport are famed for their hat production, but are in the north-west of England. Danbury in Brazoria County, Texas, is a tiny city not noted for its hatting industry.
Question supplied by catwrangle.

Answer: Wandsworth

The house where I first lived, in Balham, was a mid-sized semi-detached house. The area has gone through a 'gentrification' since I left (they had to get rid of the riff-raff first).

Wandsworth borders the boroughs of Richmond to the west, and Lambeth to the east. Southwark is to the east of Lambeth.

Wandsworth prison is one of the largest in the UK, and even Europe.

The Ram Brewery stopped brewing in the borough in 2006 when operations were shifted elsewhere.
Question supplied by jimwhoisfat.

Answer: Reading, Pennsylvania, USA

"The Pagoda", finished in 1908, was supposed to be part of a classy resort, but plans fell through and all that was left was the pagoda, which was given to the city. It sits on Mount Penn overlooking Reading and now houses a gift shop and cafe.

John Updike was born in Reading in 1932. He set his most famous work, a cycle of novels revolving around the character Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom, in the fictional town he called Brewer, which was largely based on Reading.

The Reading music festival grew out of the National Jazz and Blues Festival, and was first held in Reading, Berkshire, England, in 1971.
Question supplied by rebelyank.

Answer: Knotty Ash

My full name is Kenneth Arthur Dodd OBE, I was born in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, UK, in 1927. I am recognizable by my frizzy hair, buck teeth, tickling stick and my Diddymen. My comedy is in the style of the music hall and I am famous for overrunning my allotted time on stage. I have had my own TV shows and in the 1960s I was as well known in the UK as my fellow Liverpudlians the Beatles.

Liverpool is in the north west of England and stands on the banks of the river Mersey. It has a skyline as recognizable as New York's because it has been a major port since the 18th century, and maybe in the 20th century four lads in a band had something to do with it. Districts of the city do have some strange sounding names but Knotty Ash, Fazakerley, Everton and Anfield do exist. The name Knotty Ash is derived from an old gnarled ash tree in the area. Ken Dodd planted a new tree close to the site of the original in 2004. The fictitious Diddyland where the Diddymen live and work in the Jam Buttie mines is in the centre of Knotty Ash and has the highest sunshine rate in the world. Knotty Ash is where a mysterious and still unsolved crime called the Tiki murder took place in 1961.
Question supplied by shipyardbernie.