Answers to Local History Quiz

Answers to Local History Quiz

1.  The first Great North Run was staged on 28 June 1981, when 12,000 runners participated. By 2003, the number of participants had risen to 47,000. The 2011 event saw an announced field of 54,000. The number of finishers was 35,777 in 2007, the largest half marathon and the 13th largest running race that year.
2.  Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner CBE (born 2 October 1951), known professionally by his stage name Sting, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist, actor, and philanthropist. He was the principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for the new wave rock band The Police from 1977 to 1983, before launching a solo career.
3.  Designed by Robert Stephenson and built between 1847 and 1849, it was the first major example of a wrought iron tied arch or bow-string girder bridge. It is a simple engineering solution to a difficult problem at the time it was built; the spanning of 1,337 feet (408 m) of river valley, including 512 feet (156 m) across water. The High Level Bridge has six river spans of 125 feet (38 m) length, sitting on masonry piers 46 by 16 feet (14.0 by 4.9 m) up to 131 feet (40 m) height. There are also four land spans on each side, of 36 feet 3 inches (11.05 m). The two-way single carriageway road (since reduced to a single one-way carriageway) and pedestrian walkways occupy the lower deck of the spans, 85 feet (26 m) above the high-water mark, and the railway is on the upper deck 112 feet (34 m) above the high-water mark. The total weight of the structure is 5,000 long tons (5,100 t).^[2]
4.  Jack Charlton together with brother Bobby spearheaded England's successful World Cup win in 1966 over West Germany. His uncle was the great Jackie Milburn. 
5. The North Shields Quay was once the biggest kipper producer in the UK, but the fall in herring stocks has reduced the trade to a single smokery. A number of traditional smokehouses still exist but have been converted to other uses.
6. The Blaydon Race is a 5.7 mile athletics race from Newcastle upon Tyne to Blaydon, in England, that is steeped in local tradition. It takes place on June 9th every year starting on Collingwood Street in Newcastle, heading west along Scotswood Road and finishing in Blaydon.
7. The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The Bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson,[1] who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, and was built by Dorman Long and Co. of Middlesbrough.[2] The bridge was officially opened on 10 October 1928 by King George V and has since become a defining symbol of Tyneside. It is ranked as the tenth tallest structure in the city. Vale House Lansdowne Gardens, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE2 1HF is the tallest building 262 ft 28 floors  built in 1968.
8. Ellen Cicely Wilkinson PC (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. As the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, she became a national figure when, in 1936, she figured prominently in the Jarrow March of the town's unemployed to London, to petition for the right to work. Although unsuccessful at the time, the march provided an iconic image for the 1930s, and helped to form post-Second World War attitudes to unemployment and social justice.
9. Basil Hume OSB OM (2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was British bishop. He was a monk and priest of the English Benedictine monastery of Ampleforth Abbey and its abbot for 13 years until his appointment as Archbishop of Westminster in 1976. His elevation to a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church followed during the same year.[1] From 1979 Hume served also as President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He held these appointments until his death from cancer in 1999. His final resting place is at Westminster Cathedral in the Chapel of St Gregory and St Augustine.[2]
10. Charles Avison (/ˈeɪvɨsən/; 16 February 1709 (baptised) died – 9 or 10 May 1770) was an English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church[1] in Newcastle and at St. Nicholas's Church (later Newcastle Cathedral). He is most known for his 12 Concerti Grossi after Scarlatti and his Essay on Musical Expression, the first music criticism published in English.  Charles Avison is buried in St. Andrew’s, Newgate Street, Newcastle.
11. The Lit and Phil Society was founded early in 1793 as a 'conversation club', with an annual subscription of one guinea. It now costs you £115.
12. The station was designed by John Dobson for two companies: the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) and the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR). The station was constructed in collaboration with Robert Stephenson who was responsible for the High Level Bridge, between 1845 and 1850. The opening ceremony, attended by Queen Victoria, took place on 29 August 1850. The building has a neoclassical styled frontage, and its trainshed has a distinctive roof with three curved, arched spans — the first example of its kind, which set the 'house style' for the NER's subsequent main stations, culminating in the last major British example half a century later, the rebuilt and enlarged Hull Paragon in 1904. A porte-cochère, designed by Thomas Prosser, was added to the station entrance in 1863,[10] and the trainshed was extended southwards in the 1890s with a new span designed by William Bell.
13. Thomas Daniel Smith (11 May 1915 – 27 July 1993) was a British politician who was Leader of Newcastle City Council from 1960 to 1965. He was a prominent figure in the Labour Party in North East England, such that he was nicknamed 'Mr Newcastle' (although his opponents called him the "Mouth of the Tyne"). Smith sought to clear Newcastle of slum housing and put a great deal of effort into regeneration plans, such that the city was nicknamed (at his suggestion) "The Brasilia of the North". He also pumped money into local arts institutions. Ironically, many residents of Newcastle felt his 'regeneration' plans 'to clear Newcastle of slum housing' in fact created a West End now dismissed as being an impoverished area.[citation needed] Smith's name is usually spoken in negative terms regarding the destruction of historic and aesthetically pleasing buildings which were replaced with a concrete jungle, although many of these developments – such as Eldon Square Shopping Centre and John Dobson's Royal Arcade – actually took place after he left office. While leading the redevelopment of his city, Smith formed business links with architect John Poulson which led to his trial for accepting bribes in April 1974, at which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years' imprisonment.
14. Lord Grey. When the Tory government was ousted later in 1830, Earl Grey, a Whig, became Prime Minister and pledged to carry out parliamentary reform. The Whig Party was pro-reform and though two reform bills failed to be carried in Parliament, the third was successful and received Royal Assent in 1832. The Bill was passed due to Lord Grey's plan to persuade King William IV to consider using his constitutional powers to create additional Whig peers in the House of Lords to guarantee the Bill's passage. On hearing of this plan, Tory peers abstained from voting, thus allowing the Bill to be passed but avoiding the creation of more Whig peers.