Special Sub-Topic: Day Trip To Bangor Click Here To Play: Day Trip To Bangor

From 1886 to 1905, Bangor was officially the only city in Wales.

True. Bangor, in the county of Gwynedd, North Wales, has been a city since time immemorial. When St Asaph and St David's were stripped of city status in 1886, Bangor became the only Welsh city until Cardiff, which had grown on the back of the coal industry, was made a city in 1905. Since then it has been joined by Swansea in 1969, St David's (reinstated as the UK's smallest city) in 1994 and Newport in 2002.

Bangor takes its name from a Welsh word meaning what?

Wattle fence. Bangor was the site of a monastery founded by the Celtic Saint Deiniol in the 6th century. The word for a wattle fence surrounding monastic lands became the word for the grounds within and ultimately, the city that developed on the site. Bangor Cathedral is on the site of the original monastery. Bangor in Northern Ireland was a daughter foundation of the one in Wales. The abbey in this Irish Bangor gave its name to a hymn which, in 1791, inspired Reverend Seth Noble to give the name Bangor to what became a major city and lumber port in Maine, USA.

What is the height above sea level of the dubiously named Bangor Mountain which, from November to March, casts a shadow over the city's High Street?

384 ft. The so-called mountain is a hilly outcrop whose grassy slope is largely covered by the St Deiniol's Golf Club. It acts as a watershed for the River Adda, which has been culverted under the city. Incidentally, the High Street claims to be the longest in Wales.

Which of the following singers was born in Bangor?

Duffy. (Amie Ann) Duffy sprang to fame in 2008 with her debut album "Rockferry" including the hit songs "Mercy" and "Warwick Avenue". Another singer born in Bangor was Aled Jones, best known as the choir boy who had a hit with "Walking in the Air" before presenting the BBC's "Songs of Praise". Bryn Terfel was born in Pant Glas, also in Gwynedd, and in 2000, he founded the Faenol Music Festival at the Vaynol Estate near Bangor. Roger Whittaker was born in Kenya but studied marine biology at Bangor University before finding fame with songs such as "Durham Town". Charlotte Church was born in Cardiff.

Which of the following ends at Bangor?

North Wales Path. The North Wales Path is a footpath that runs 60 miles between Bangor and Prestatyn. Bangor lies on all of the other three, but they all continue past the city, over the Menai Strait and past the island of Anglesey to Holyhead on Holy Island (sometimes also called Holyhead Island).

Bangor City Football Club's finest moment was in 1962 when they beat which Italian side?

Napoli. Bangor City FC had won the Welsh Cup so could enter the European Cup Winners Cup. When they met Italy Cup winners Napoli at their Farrar Road Stadium they expected to be duly thrashed but, to everyone's surprise, Napoli lost 2-0. Bangor lost their next match 3-1 and today, would have progressed due to an away goals rule. As it was, they played again at Highbury and lost 2-1. Bangor RFC has produced such great rugby players as Robbie McBryde and Dewi Bebb.

After the 1801 Act of Union joined Great Britain and Ireland, Bangor grew as an important stop on the journey from London to Dublin. Which engineer's Menai Suspension Bridge, completed in 1826, cut the journey time between those cities by nine hours?

Thomas Telford. Telford's bridge had to be high enough to allow 100 ft ships to pass beneath it and still looks impressive today. It crosses the 176 metre wide strait from a point near Bangor to a village in Anglesey that has been renamed Menai Bridge. The bridge carries the A5 road, making this the only English A road that joins three islands (Britain, Anglesey and Holy Island). The Menai Strait is also crossed by Robert Stephenson's 1850 Britannia Tubular Bridge, noted for its lions at either end which sadly, cannot be seen from the road itself.

In 1967, the Beatles first met spiritual leader Maharishi Yogi and learnt that their manager Brian Epstein had died while they were at Bangor University. Then and up until 1995, how was this university officially known?

The University College of North Wales. Bangor University is officially part of the larger University of Wales. While the 2001 census showed the population of Bangor to be 13,725, this does not include the 14,000 or so students who come from around the world to attend the University. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is credited with introducing the ideas of transcendental meditation to the world. The Beatles met the Maharishi when they attended his lecture at Bangor University. This was when the world's media descended on Bangor to talk to the Beatles because their manager Brian Epstein had just died from a drug overdose at his home in London.

In the 1790s, Port Penrhyn was built just east of Bangor to transport produce from Penrhyn Quarry, which still claims to be the world's largest quarry of what?

Slate. The main pit at Penrhyn is a mile long and 1,200 ft deep. In its heyday in the 1860s the quarry was producing 100,000 tons of slate a year. Slate has been mined at Penrhyn since the 15th century but, until the Penrhyn Railway to Port Penrhyn, the slate was largely used locally. Penrhyn Quarry is owned by Alfred McAlpine plc and still produces slate, but on a smaller scale since competition arose from roof tiles.

In 1980, British folk band Fiddler's Dram had a UK top three hit with "Day Trip to Bangor (Didn't We Have a Lovely Time)". It was inspired by a trip to which Welsh resort whose name didn't fit the tune so well?

Rhyl. This catchy tune has been parodied by Jasper Carrott as "Day Trip to Blackpool" and has been covered in Swedish as "Näktergalens ö". Anyway, I hope you had a lovely time and if you are from Bangor, sorry I didn't have the space to mention Garth Pier, Bangor's many National Eisteddfods, the Theatr Gwynedd (unfortunately closed in 2008) or any other reason to look back in Bangor. Hwyl! [Cheers!]