Sons of Stoke-on-Trent Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stanley Matthews

Born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000) played football for his home town club, Stoke City FC, from 1932-1947 and 1961-1965. In between these two stints, he played for Blackpool FC, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1953. When he finally hung his boots up in 1965, he was fifty years old, the oldest man ever to be playing top-flight football.

As well as being the first recipient of the European Footballer of the Year Award, he was also the first recipient of the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year Award and was the first footballer to be knighted for services to sport.

Answer: R J Mitchell

Born in Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent, Reginald Mitchell (1895-1937) was a talented and far-sighted aeronautical engineer who was the Technical Director of the Supermarine Aviation Works. Although best known for the Spitfire, he first came to prominence as the designer of the series of Supermarine racing floatplanes that won the Schneider Trophy outright between 1927-1931.

He designed 24 aircraft in all, including such worthy designs as the Southampton flying boat and Walrus amphibian. This last design played a vital role in Air Sea Rescue work throughout World War Two.

Answer: Robbie Williams

Born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent in 1974, Robbie Williams relocated to California. He has won fifteen BRIT Awards, six ECHO Awards and sold more than 55 million albums and 17 million singles worldwide. He is a passionate supporter of Port Vale FC, his home town football club, of which he is a significant shareholder.

Answer: Freddie Jones

Born in Stoke in 1927, Freddie Jones started out as a laboratory technician for a ceramics company before switching to a full-time acting career in his late 20s. He is the father of actor Toby Jones and director Rupert Jones.

Answer: Nick Hancock

Nick Hancock was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1962. He started out as a PE teacher before switching to a career in entertainment - an interest that he pursued while at Cambridge University in the early 1980s, where he was a member and then President of the Cambridge Footlights. Nick is almost as famous for his passionate support of Stoke City FC, and has an extensive collection of memorabilia connected with the club.

Answer: Arnold Bennett

Born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) started out as a solicitor's clerk before switching to a career in journalism after winning a literary competition in 1889. His literary output was prodigious, with some 32 novels and short story anthologies published between 1898-1931.

He also wrote a script for a film, 'Piccadilly' (1928), which was the subject of restoration and re-release in 2004. Some of his works have been adapted as films and for television, notably a 1952 film version of 'The Card', starring Alec Guiness, and the long-running 1970s TV drama 'Clayhanger', based on his trilogy of novels about the family of that name.

Answer: Josiah Wedgwood

Born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) was a key figure of the English Industrial Revolution. Pottery, which before Wedgwood was essentially a cottage industry, was transformed with his industrialization technology that he developed through his Ivy Works in Burslem - the first pottery factory in the world.

His strict notions of quality control ensured that Wedgwood's products became known for high standards and craftsmanship, even though they were mass-produced. His Etruria Works factory remained operational for nearly 200 years. Wedgwood was also a keen scientist, being elected to the Royal Society in 1783, and was a prominent abolitionist within the anti-slavery movement.

He was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin.

Answer: Neil Morrissey

Born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1962, Neil Morrissey has become established as a stage and television actor. He is most well-known for his roles as Rocky in the TV comedy drama 'Boon' and as Tony in the TV comedy series 'Men Behaving Badly'. He was the voice behind 'Bob the Builder'.

Answer: John Wain

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, John Wain (1925-1994) wrote a number of novels in which the hero struggles against the restrictions and conventions of the class-ridden mores of British society. He was identified as a member of 'The Movement' a group of anti-romantic, postwar British writers that included Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin.

Other novels by Wain include 'Strike the Father Dead' and 'Young Shoulders', winner of the Whitbread Prize in 1982.

Answer: Ian Kilmister

Born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent in 1945, Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister played guitar for various bands in the late 1960s before coming to prominence as the bass guitarist of the space rock band 'Hawkwind' between 1971-1975. He started his own group 'Motorhead' which, although it peaked in the early 1980s, still releases albums and performs today (2008), and is recognised as one of the most influential bands in the heavy metal genre. Lemmy has become a cult figure in his own right, with his distinctive appearance, gravelly voice and 'bad boy' image.