Herefordshire Happiness Trivia Quiz

Answer: Red with a white face

The Hereford's distinctive colour scheme can be seen in over fifty countries which is impressive as the first Herefords weren't exported until 1817 when some pioneering cows were sold to a ranch in Kentucky USA. Herefords are quite a docile breed which allows for easier handling and they are traditionally bred as beef cattle, with their meat rivalling that of the famous Angus breed, well known for the 'marbling' or intramuscular fat of their meat.

Answer: Newcastle United

Of the choices, only Newcastle were a division one side in 1972, with Sunderland being in the second division and both Aston Villa and Blackburn languishing in the third division. In the FA Cup of that year, Hereford needed a replay in both the first and second rounds to see off Kings Lynn and Northampton Town respectively, before they were drawn against the might of Newcastle in the third round. Amazingly, little Hereford held Newcastle to a draw at Newcastle's ground, meaning yet another replay, this time at Hereford and if what happened in the first game was unexpected, the replay was out of this world. Newcastle eventually took the lead in the 82nd minute and only three minutes later Hereford equalised, with the scores staying level up to the 90th minute, meaning the match went to extra time.

In the 103rd minute, substitute Ricky George fired a blistering shot into the net and Hereford held on for the remaining 17 minutes for a historic victory. Incredibly, Hereford's fourth round match against West Ham United also went to a replay, but this time they lost 3-1.

The cup was lifted on 6th May by Billy Bremner as Leeds United beat Arsenal 1-0 in the final.

Answer: Frank Oz

Oz was born Frank Oznowicz in Hereford in 1944 to parents who had moved to England after fighting the Nazis with the Dutch Brigades. When Oz was six months old, the family moved to Belgium where they lived until moving to Montana USA in 1951, when Oz was five years old.

As well as the characters mentioned in the question, Oz has also worked Cookie Monster, Grover and Bert on the TV show "Sesame Street" and had a small role acting in 1980 movie, "The Blues Brothers". He may be one of America's best known puppeteers, but he will always be a son of Hereford.

Answer: Cider

Over 500 million litres of cider are sold in UK each year and Bulmer's produce 65% of that amount. Not bad for a company that started with a loan of £1,760 from father to son although by 2003, the company was bought for £278 million by Scottish & Newcastle breweries.
If visiting Hereford, I recommend a visit to the Museum of Cider, which offers a fascinating look into the history of this art as well as several tastings.

Answer: Wye

The Wye flows a distance of 134 miles (215 kilometres) from its source on Plynlimon in the Cambrian mountains in Wales, before entering the Severn estuary south of Chepstow. Other towns on the Wye include Hay-on-Wye, famed for its annual literary festival and Ross-on-Wye, site of one of the largest annual rowing club regattas in UK.

Answer: Bare knuckle boxing

Spring was indeed a bare knuckle boxer, in the days before the Marquis of Queensberry wrote the rule book for the sport in 1867, mandating the use of gloves. When reigning English heavyweight champion Tom Cribb retired in 1821, he gave his title to Spring, who defended his new title by offering to fight anyone in England.

He had to wait until 1823 before he found an opponent, Bill Neat, who he beat in 37 minutes. His next defence of the title was against Jack Langan, a fight that lasted 77 rounds before Spring was victorious.

He fought and beat Langan a second time before retiring from the sport to run a pub, the Castle Inn at Holborn in London.

Answer: All The Young Dudes

"Honaloochie Boogie" (1973) only managed to reach number 12 in UK charts, but the other three tracks were all top ten records, with "All The Young Dudes" getting to number three in 1972. This track was written by David Bowie, who was a fan of the band but learned that they were about to split up due to a lack of success, and so donated the song in the hope they would have a hit.

The classic Mott line up included guitarist Mick Ralphs who would later form Bad Company with Paul Rodgers from Free and vocalist Ian Hunter who, in 2019, is still regarded as one of rock music's finest vocalists.

Answer: Grand National

Mon Mome was a French horse, trained in Herefordshire, who brought pride to the county when he won at odds of 100/1 in 2009, but Sprig was Herefordshire born and bred. Sprig's owner, Richard Partridge had long dreamed of training a Grand National winner and believed he had a chance with Sprig. Unfortunately Partridge was called up to serve in WWI, but before he left for the front line, made his family promise that they would continue with the training. Captain Partridge was killed in action in 1918 and his mother vowed to make his dream come true, which she did in 1927, when Sprig, on his third attempt, won at odds of 8/1.

Answer: Catherine Cookson

Cookson suffered four miscarriages, all late in the pregnancy and was also diagnosed with a rare vascular disease, all of which contributed to her mental breakdown. On leaving St Mary's Psychiatric Hospital, she took up writing as a form of therapy to help counter her depression and soon had a best seller on her hands, "Kate Hannigan", in 1950.

By the time of her death, aged 91 in 1998, she had sold an amazing 123 million books and for 17 years between 1985 and 2002 was the most borrowed author from UK public libraries.

Answer: A Welshman

This urban myth has been around for many years and is believed to have its origins in the fact that Hereford was often subject to raids by the Welsh in the medieval period, coupled with the fact that the Unlawful Games Act 1541 made longbow practice compulsory. Needless to say, it is not true, but just to be certain, we'll close with this quote from the UK Law Commission: "It is illegal to shoot a Welsh person regardless of the day, location or choice of weaponry".