Think of a British city that isn't London

[PatrickLondon]

@SanVito

Fun facts about Britain’s often obscure practices. We actually have pretty strict definitions about what constitutes are city, rather than a town. It either needs…

1. A cathedral, or
2. To be granted city status by the Queen. Since 2000, this has been done through a competition on special occasions (eg the millennium celebrations). Brighton & Hove (two towns sandwiched together) applied for and were granted city status at that time, Bath actually took the decision that they did not want to be designated as a city, so chose not to apply. I have no idea what the benefit is either way, beyond calling your town a ‘city’.

Your ceremonial head for the year gets to be called “Lord Mayor” instead of just plain old “Mayor”. Cue fancy new regalia (if you can get away with it).

[BobLibDem]

Liverpool, because of the Beatles.

[MrAtoz]

@Sangahyando

There are the real villages of Ottery St. Mary and Venn Ottery, on the River Otter, in East Devon. I get the impression that O. St. C. in the Potter books, where the Weasleys live, is west of London, but not so far west as Devon.

For a second there, I thought you were going to tell me that Ottery St. Catchpole itself was real. That would have turned my whole world upside down!

[QUOTE=Mudshark]
Torquay, because of Agatha Christie. Then Liverpool.
[/QUOTE]

Or Torquay, because of Fawlty Towers.

[WOOKINPANUB]

Manchester, because of the Smiths and a couple of exes.

[Jackmannii]

Crawley.

I stayed there on my first night visiting England, in the hotel once frequented by John Haigh, the Acid Bath Murderer (although not at the same time).

[casdave]

Leeds

[bump]

@Telperion

Oxford. Because Lewis.

I think of Oxford, because that’s where I spent the summer of my study abroad in graduate school.

If I can’t think of that, I usually think of Aberdeen, Bath or Edinburgh, because outside of London and Oxford, they’re where I spent the most time.

[Miss_Mapp]

Lancaster, because I lived there – actually, at the university about mile away – for a year and a half.

[Enright3]

@Prof.Pepperwinkle

Brighton. I read a book to my grandson last year, and a lot of the action took place in Brighton.

Yep, Brighton is what I thought of too. Except in my case, I have no idea why that’s the city that popped in my head; other than the Stray Cats song Rumble In Brighton.

I love that song!

[eenerms]

Oxford
Bath

[Ludovic]

Manchester for me.

@Telperion

Oxford. Because Lewis.

Which one?

[JerrySTL]

@Telperion

Oxford. Because Lewis.

And Morse. And Endeavour.

Plus the fact that I lived not too far from Oxford for 4.5 years.

[oft_wears_hats]

Luton. Then Cheddar.

[Telperion]

@Ludovic

Which one?

The DI.

[CT_Damsel]

Liverpool

[Pai325]

Amazingly, Birmingham, although my second-favorite city is York, and my ancestors came from Manchester.

Why in the world did I think Birmingham?

[pulykamell]

I thought of Manchester and Birmingham simultaneously, but the only reason I thought of the latter was because I lived in nearby Wolverhampton for a few months about twenty years ago. Before I moved there, I never even knew of its existence, despite it being the second largest UK city (and despite being a Smiths fan–I guess I never paid much attention to the lyrics “Panic on the streets of London/panic on the streets of Birmingham.”)

[bibliophage]

I can’t say what made me think of it, but Birmingham was my first thought.

[madsircool]

Leigh and its late great RMI/Genesis footie club.

[Isilder]

Newcastle, because they have a fantastic Bridge the likes of which haven’t been built since. (Two others were built… And then they developed wires to make commonly “suspension” (suspension from tower) larger … The Through arch bridge is technically a deck suspended from the arch, the arch would otherwise have no reason to exist.)