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Many of the buildings in Aberdeen are made of locally-mined grey granite, giving it the nickname Granite City. This granite is known to glisten in sunshine giving rise to which other nickname for the city?

The Silver City. Aberdeen granite glitters because of the presence of mica in the rock. Mica is a silicate which is thought to take its name from the Latin "micare", meaning "to glitter". Much of the granite mined here, such as that used in London's Waterloo Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge, comes from Rubislaw Quarry, the largest man-made hole in Europe.

The earliest known record of which sport has been traced back to a version of it recorded on the River Dee in 1863?

Water Polo. Clubs of gentlemen swimmers would challenge each other to chilly games of aquatic football involving teams having to carry an inflated pig's bladder to their respective bank of the River Dee. Underwater fights were common, with many players dragged out half-drowned, at least until the first official rules were drawn up in London in 1870.

Who was probably the most famous pupil of Aberdeen Grammar School and has a statue outside the school?

Lord Byron. The statue kindly doesn't make the poet Byron's famous club-foot obvious and is, of course, made of granite on a granite plinth. After Aberdeen, Byron went to Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he kept a bear (because the rules forbade him to keep a dog in his lodgings). Politician Robin Cook and writer Eric Linklater were also later pupils at Aberdeen Grammar.

Aberdeen is the first city to have won which title for the tenth time?

Britain in Bloom. No other city had come close to winning Britain in Bloom's city category ten times, when Aberdeen won its tenth title in 2006 (its first was back in 1965). It won the Scotland leg of the national horticultural competition so often it was asked to stand down in order to give other cities a chance. Aberdeen's forty-plus public parks and gardens include six city parks, the largest being the 180 hectare Hazlehead Park.

Thanks to nearby offshore oil-rigs, Aberdeen has what has long been claimed to be the world's second largest what?

Heliport. Aberdeen heliport carries over 300,000 people a year to the various rigs making it one of the world's busiest. The foreign nationals involved in the industry give the city a cosmopolitan air.

September 1885, first round of the Scottish Cup: Aberdonian soccer side Bon Accord lost to Arbroath by 36-0, a record for a senior side. What was their excuse?

They were really a cricket team. Bon Accord were really Orion Cricket Club who had been invited by mistake instead of Orion, a football team. They renamed themselves after Aberdeen's motto (which means "good agreement" and was used as a password by Robert the Bruce) and played on with some of Arbroath's goals being disallowed to keep the score "reasonable". Coincidentally, on the same day, another match between Dundee Harp and Aberdeen Rovers ended 35-0. Both scores would have been even higher if goals had nets back then and the balls hadn't taken so long to retrieve between shots.

Aberdonian dialect is known as Doric. If such a speaker asked "Gie's a bosie?" they would be expect to get a _____ .

hug. Bosie is thought to derive from the word "bosom". Aberdeen has been called the Furry Boots City because the first part of their enquiry "whereabouts are you from?" can sound like "Fur a-boots".

Which Aberdonian building claims to be the second largest granite building in the world?

Marischal College. The largest is the Escorial Palace in Madrid. Appropriately for its appearance, Marischal College chapel was once home to Franciscan monks or Greyfriars. The Salvation Army Citadel was built on the site of Aberdeen Castle, one of the three buildings seen on the Aberdeen coat of arms. In 1784, St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen, consecrated the USA's first Episcopal bishop.

What is an Aberdeen roll?

A fatty bread roll. Also known as a buttery or rowie, an Aberdeen roll is an unhealthily fatty salty bread, not unlike a croissant which is often toasted and eaten with jam and/or butter and not just in Aberdeen but throughout north-east Scotland. Their high fat content meant they lasted longer on long fishing journeys, fishing being the city's main industry before the discovery of North Sea oil.

Which of the following Aberdonians worked on a fishing boat and shelled crabs in a fish factory before becoming famous?

Annie Lennox. According to her website, the Eurythmics singer also worked as a waitress, cook, barmaid, babysitter, taught flute, sold second-hand clothes and worked in Mothercare before achieving her "sweet dreams". The percussionist Evelyn Glennie, footballer Denis Law and golfer Paul Lawrie were also born in Aberdeen. In case you hadn't noticed, the title of this quiz is a pun on Aberdeen Angus, the hornless black cattle, originally bred in Aberdeenshire and the neighbouring county of Angus, famed for their beef. In the US they tend now just to be called Angus.