Suffolk beach huts

Suffolk stately home: Kentwell Hall

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Suffolk: Interesting Facts

Suffolk: Literary Facts

• Ipswich was where Enid Blyton trained as a Kindergarten teacher.



• David Copperfield was "born" in north Suffolk.



• The finding of the Mildenhall treasure inspired Roald Dahl to write a novel.



• It is said that 'Little Boy Blue' and 'Humpty Dumpty' nursery rhymes were based on the life of Cardinal Wolsey from Ipswich.



• Robert Louis Stephenson is said to have thought of the idea for "Treasure Island" whilst visiting his uncle at Cockfield.



• Sir Henry Rider Haggard, who wrote 'King Solomon's Mines', was educated in Ipswich.



• Daniel Defoe - author of "Robinson Crusoe" - once said that Suffolk butter was "the best in England".

Suffolk: Historical Facts

• Mrs Wallis Simpson was divorced in Ipswich before marrying Edward VIII.



• Henry I gave the Honour of Eye to the future King Stephen.



• Sir Francis Drake sailed in a Woodbridge-built ship.



• Two Suffolk places - the Shotley peninsula and Trimley St Mary - claim to have the last recorded outbreak of bubonic plague.



• John Gosnold III, MP for Ipswich, had to advise on the legality of Lady Jane Grey's succession.



• King Harold of 1066 fame was Earl of East Anglia.



• Ian Smith, who later became Prime Minister of Rhodesia, once flew from RAF Martlesham.



• Cardinal Wolsey - he who was charged with arranging the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon - was the son of an Ipswich butcher.

Suffolk: Work and Industry Facts

• The Ipswich based company Ransomes and Rapier built the first railway in China.



• The British Sugar distribution plant at Bury St Edmunds is its largest in the country.



• The inhabitants of Trimley St Mary and Trimley St Martin were called treacle miners because of the coprolite that was dug there.



• HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship, was designed by Thomas Slade, who is buried in Ipswich.

Suffolk: Arts and Entertainment

• John Simpson, the BBC foreign correspondent, spent much of his childhood in Ipswich and Dunwich.



• Southwold was used to film an episode of both "Grange Hill" and also "Kavanagh QC".



• Bill Nighy, who starred in films such as "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" and "Love Actually", lives near Aldeburgh.



• When a young Cary Grant ran away to join an acrobatic troupe, his father found him in Ipswich.



• Scenes for "The Chief" were filmed throughout Suffolk.



• Libby Purves, who lives in Suffolk, was the youngest presenter of the "Today" programme and the first person to broadcast live from Beijing.



• June Brown, (Dot Cotton in 'EastEnders') was educated in Ipswich.

Suffolk: Architectural Facts

• Parts of the organ of Nayland church come from Canterbury Cathedral.



• When it opened in 1942, the Ipswich Wet Dock was the largest area of enclosed water of its kind in England.

Suffolk: Sporting Facts

• In 1989, Ipswich FC signed Sergei Baltacha - the first Russian player signed to play in the English football league.



• Oswald Gayford of Hadleigh, Suffolk, set a world record for long distance flying in 1927, 1933 and 1938.



• In 1997, Dean Gould of Felixstowe was awarded The Guinness World Record for the fastest winkle picker.
  
  
• Former England captain, Mick Mills, once played for Ipswich FC; Alf Ramsey and Bobbie Robson both once managed Ipswich FC.

Suffolk: Other Facts

• Suffolk means land of the Southern People.



• On a clear day, it is said that 30 churches are visible fromt he top of St Andrew's church, Weybread.



• Suffolk and Cheshire have the highest densities of ponds in the UK.



• There are more pigs than people in Suffolk.



• The oft repeated phrase, "Silly Suffolk", is actually a corruption of Selig Suffolk meaning "holy Suffolk".



• The 1000 ft high Mendlesham mast was the tallest TV mast in Europe at the time of construction.

This website page is created and maintained by Unique Websites, a Suffolk website designer. Unique Websites are based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and design attractive affordable websites for customers in Suffolk, Norfolk and the UK. See Suffolk web design for more details.