Ignorance fought.
Sure. I’ve learned of that after the fact, but when I moved there in college, I had no idea. And my peers seemed equally clueless. For whatever reason, Manchester was better known–perhaps for the “Madchester” scene, but more likely for the popularity of Oasis at the time. These days, I think the popularity of Manchester United aids to the name recognition. I would guess that if you ask an American to name a UK soccer team, if they even know of one, it’d be Man U.
Good point. These questions about the first thing that comes to mind are interesting from a psychological perspective as they tend to identify what is most salient or relevant to a person as opposed to the extent of their knowledge. Many Americans (including myself) can name ten British cities, but we have to dredge our brains to do so.
Durham. Where my grandfather was born and grew up.
Fareham because I just dropped off a prescription for my glasses there this morning, and Eastleigh, because I have to go there (or to Portsmouth or Romsey or Basingstoke) for further adminstrative bollix on my citizenship application.
I’m in Winchester several times a week.
My thought upon seeing the title and before opening the thread was Manchester, followed almost immediately by Liverpool.
I actually know more British cities than I thought. Other than Oxford & Manchester, Newcastle (that’s a city, right?).
Birmingham. I live near Birmingham, Michigan.
Nottingham, because of Periodic Videos.
Truro, just because it’s Cornwall’s only city and had a famous steam locomotive named after it. I don’t have any particular connection with Cornwall but I’ve been there numerous times over the years - though never in fact to Truro itself.
York
Inverness, because the Loch Ness Monster, heh.
Hogsmeade (just kidding)
(The others I keep thinking of are all counties)
Scunthorpe
Greenwich
Talkie, or Torkie, or Toukie, I could never fully understand it. Its wherever “Faulty Towers” was located.
Torquay
And, again, Torquay is not a city, just a very respectable sized town.
I thought first of Birmingham. No clue why, it’s the first name that popped in my mind. I now just read that it’s the second largest British city, but I didn’t know that.
Not mentioned so far in this thread is a seaport at the southern end of England, it is also my last name. I have been able to trace my ancestry back to that area and have a trail that goes back as far as the late 1200’s. I have visited 2 towns in the US with the same name and visited a town in New Zealand with the same name too.
Greenwich is a borough of London.
Dover? 