Blue Plaques: We're Not Just Londoners Quiz

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

Kipling was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1865 and was sent to England at the age of five, with his three-year-old sister. They lived as boarders with Captain and Mrs Holloway at Lorne Lodge, Campbell Road, Southsea, Portsmouth for six years, and it is this house which bears the Blue Plaque. Kipling was extremely unhappy during his time there, which he described in his autobiography as a mixture of cruelty and neglect and 'calculated torture'.

He did go on to say that it might have formed the basis of his ability to create stories since he learned to tell lies to avoid punishment. Kipling received the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first writer in the English language to be awarded the honour. Among his works are the 'Just So Stories' and 'The Jungle Book'.

Answer: White Star

Thomas Ismay was apprenticed at the age of sixteen to Imrie and Tomlinson, a Liverpool based firm of shipbrokers. He purchased the name, flag and goodwill of the White Star Line in 1868, as the original company had gone into bankruptcy. He established the agreement with Harland and Wolff in Belfast that they should build all of the ships for the White Star Line.

The most famous ship belonging to the line was 'Titanic', which was ordered in 1908 and sank in 1912. By this time Thomas Ismay had died (in 1899) and management of the White Star Line had passed to his son, J. Bruce Ismay, who controversially survived the 'Titanic' sinking.

Answer: Sugar

Tate began his working life at the age of thirteen as an apprentice to a grocer in Liverpool. After serving for seven years, he was able to set up in business himself and the property in Birkenhead was his first shop (between 1851 and 1861). Having acquired the patent for making sugar cubes, Tate's fortune grew rapidly.

He was a philanthropist and made generous and regular charitable contributions. The Tate art galleries in London, Liverpool and St. Ives in Cornwall all bear his name in recognition of his generosity in donating both money and works of art.

Answer: Jutland

Although all these battles took place during the World War I, only Jutland was fought at sea and thus was a naval battle (sorry for the bad clue). The Battle of Jutland took place in 1916 in the waters near the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. It was the only major sea battle of the war and was inconclusive with neither Britain nor Germany being able to claim a decisive victory. Jellicoe was in overall command of the British Grand Fleet and has been criticised for not pressing home the advantage initially gained.

He was appointed as First Sea Lord in November 1916, but lost the position at the end of 1917, with his pessimistic and negative views leading to the loss of his role. He was created an Earl in 1925, becoming the 1st Earl Jellicoe.

Answer: George Cadbury

The Cadbury company was founded by John Cadbury, father of George and Richard, who were the sons who took over the business. Richard is also commemorated with a Blue Plaque on his home at 17 Wheeley's Road, Edgaston, Birmingham. The Cadbury family were Quakers, and their interest in chocolate was originally prompted by their wish to provide an alternative drink to alcohol.

The Cadbury brothers acquired a site in south Birmingham where they built a factory and housing for their workers. This became known as Bourneville and both the factory and housing still exist. Among Cadbury's products are the chocolate bar named 'Dairy Milk'. Fry and Rowntree were also founders of chocolate companies, and Quakers, in Bristol and York respectively. John Mackintosh was a confectioner in Halifax, Yorkshire.

Answer: R J Mitchell

Reginald Joseph Mitchell was born in 1895 in Staffordshire and moved to Southampton in 1917 to become an aircraft designer for the Supermarine Aviation Company. He was responsible for the design of over twenty aircraft, including several flying boats and racing aircraft to compete in the Schneider Trophy competitions. Mitchell is mainly remembered for the design work on the Spitfire, which played a major role in the Battle of Britain. Sadly, he died from cancer in 1937 at the age of only forty-two. Southampton also boasts a Blue Plaque on 38 Chessel Avenue, Bitterne to mark the fact that Roy Chadwick lived there from 1922 until 1929.

He was the designer of the Lancaster and Vulcan bombers, built by Avro, so the designers of two of the most important World War II aircraft both lived in Southampton at the same time, although only briefly.

The other people named are all well known aircraft designers.

Answer: Dulce et Decorum Est

Wilfred Owen was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, but his family moved to Birkenhead in 1897 following the death of his grandfather, which forced them to leave the property in which they had been living. He served as a Second Lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment during World War I and met Siegfried Sassoon when both of them were being treated for 'shell shock' in Edinburgh. Sassoon encouraged Owen's poetry writing, and Owen went on to produce some of the most powerful poems to come out of the war. He was killed just one week before the end of the war. Among his poems are 'Strange Meeting', 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and 'Futility' as well as 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. 'The Soldier' was written by Rupert Brooke and 'How to Die' by Siegfried Sassoon. Julian Grenfell wrote 'Into Battle'.

Answer: Frank Hornby

The plaque is on The Hollies, 32 Station Road, Maghull, Liverpool which is where Frank Hornby lived. He was responsible for inventing the construction toy which he called 'Mechanics Made Easy' but which was renamed and registered using the trade mark Meccano. Meccano Ltd was set up in 1908 and and has continued in existence ever since. Hornby also invented model railways, originally as part of the Meccano operation but later manufactured by a separate company bearing his name.

He also began the production of die-cast miniature vehicles which were called Dinky Toys. Philip Ullmann set up Mettoy, who produced the Corgi range of die-cast vehicles, and James Galt founded the toy company bearing his name. Hans Beck was German, and the inventor behind Playmobil.

Answer: Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers was born in Southsea in 1925 and came to public attention in The Goon Show on BBC radio. He was particularly good at adopting different accents, and his Goon Show characters included Major Bloodnok and Bluebottle. Sellers began his film career in British made comedies, including 'The Ladykillers'(1955) and 'I'm All Right Jack' (1959).

He then moved into Hollywood films, with 'Dr. Strangelove' (1964) in which he played several roles. He is probably best remembered for his role of Inspector Clouseau in several of the 'Pink Panther' movies. Dudley Moore died in 2002 and has not been dead for the required twenty years to qualify for a plaque and Rowan Atkinson is still alive. Hancock was born in Birmingham.

Answer: John Lennon

The house is called 'Mendips' and is where John Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi from the age of five until mid 1963. It was bought by John's widow, Yoko Ono, who donated it to the National Trust. The property has now been returned to a 1950s style and was opened to the public in 2003. Among John's many compositions was 'Imagine', lines from which appear at Liverpool's airport which has been named in his honour. Before qualifying for an English Heritage Blue Plaque, the person honoured must have been dead for twenty years so George Harrison, who died in 2001, cannot qualify till 2021 at the earliest.

Although Billy Fury died in 1983 the hospital where he was born has been demolished, so there is no Blue Plaque for him although there is a statue of him by the Albert Dock in Liverpool. Michael Holliday was probably not considered to be famous enough for the scheme.