British Cities Trivia Quiz

London is the capital city of England and of the whole of the United Kingdom, which is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, at least in 2024. Scotland, in particular, would like to be a separate country again.

London is in the southeast of England on the River Thames. The Romans called it Londinium when they settled here and it was their capital too.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and is in the south of the country on the River Taff. It is the largest city in Wales and is where the Welsh Parliament meets. Cardiff grew much bigger in the nineteenth century when coal mining was a major industry in south Wales. Cardiff was the main port from which coal was exported.

Because of the name of the river, 'Taffy' is often used as a nickname for Welsh people no matter where they live in the country.

Liverpool is in the northwest of England and situated on the River Mersey which flows into the Irish Sea. It has ferry links to the Isle of Man and both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Liverpool has produced many famous musical groups including one of the most famous of all in The Beatles. People from the city are known as 'Liverpudlians' or 'Scousers' after the name of a stew named lobscouse.

Belfast is the major city in Northern Ireland with only Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland, being bigger on the island of Ireland as a whole. Belfast is where the ill-fated ship the Titanic was built in the early part of the twentieth century and the city has a museum dedicated to the history of the ship..

Belfast is a port city with links to the Irish Sea via the River Lagan and Belfast Lough.

There are a few places called Bangor in Wales, but only one of them is a city. Bangor is in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales and is the oldest city in Wales. It is situated on the coast on the Menai Strait, the body of water which separates mainland Wales from the island of Anglesey.

Although Bangor is relatively small for a city, it has that status due to its long established cathedral, on a site dating from the sixth century. The present cathedral is rather more recent than that.

Aberdeen is the most northern city on the map and is Scotland's biggest city after Glasgow and Edinburgh. Its nickname is the 'Granite City' although it is also called the 'Oil City' as it is the centre of the UK's oil production in the North Sea.

The name comes from Aberdeen's location at the mouth of the River Don. As in Wales, 'aber' means 'mouth of' and Don has been corrupted to 'deen'.

Bristol is in the southwest of England with the River Avon being the main river for the city. The famous Clifton Suspension Bridge crosses over this river which joins up with the River Severn at the Severn estuary. This gives access to the Atlantic Ocean via the Bristol Channel, meaning that Bristol can be described as a port even though it does not lie on the coast.

Cities on the west coast of Britain, such as Bristol and Liverpool, were used as bases for exploring the New Worlds of the Americas on the other side of the Atlantic.

The capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh is situated on the Firth of Forth on the eastern coast of the country. It is where the Scottish Parliament meets. Its nickname is 'Auld Reekie' which is said to have come about from the smoky streets which formed smog.

Edinburgh has a volcano, called Arthur's Seat, but it hasn't erupted for 340 million years and is considered to be extinct.

Newcastle is on the River Tyne, as the name rather gives away, and is the most populated city in the northeast of England. The Romans liked the area and called it Pons Aelius. The famous Hadrian's Wall has its eastern end very near to Newcastle.

People from the city and its surrounding areas are nicknamed 'Geordies'.

Birmingham is called Britain's second city as it is the largest city in the UK after London. It is situated in the West Midlands and is the only city on the map which doesn't border the sea. People from here are known as 'Brummies'.

Birmingham grew in importance during the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During this time, manufacturing became more important than farming and many people moved to cities like Birmingham to work in factories.