8 April: Worcestershire

The Worcestershire Flag was registered with the Flag Institute on 8 April 2013 as the winning entry of a BBC Hereford & Worcester competition. The designer is Elaine Truby. It was first flown in a ceremony at Worcester Cathedral on that day. The flag features three black Pears – a symbol said to have been used by Worcestershire units at the Battle of Agincourt. 10 things you might not know about Worcestershire:

1. The county borders Herefordshire to the west, Shropshire to the north-west, Staffordshire to the north, West Midlands to the north and north-east, Warwickshire to the east and Gloucestershire to the south. It has two major rivers, the Severn and the Avon.
2. The English Civil War began and ended in Worcestershire. The first battle was fought at Powick Bridge in 1642, and the last at Worcester in 1651.
3. One of the things the county is famous for is its sauce. Worcestershire Sauce is spicy condiment for savoury dishes. It was invented by two chemists, John Wheeler Lea and William Henry Perrins, in Worcester in the early 1800s.
4. More Asparagus is grown in Worcestershire than anywhere else in the UK.
5. William Shakespeare and Ann Hathaway were married at the Bishops Court in Worcester rather than in Stratford upon Avon, because the marriage was quite scandalous at the time and they wanted to avoid the wagging tongues at home. He was 18, which at that time meant he was still a minor, she was 8 years older than him and pregnant.
6. It’s said that the county was the inspiration for the Shire, the place where the Hobbits live in Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins' house "Bag End" is said to have been named after Tolkien’s Aunt Jane’s Worcestershire farm. Tolkien wrote of Worcestershire, "Any corner of that county (however fair or squalid) is in an indefinable way 'home' to me, as no other part of the world is."
7. Shrek the Third was set in Worcestershire, too, partly because director Chris Miller thought there was a lot of comic potential in the tendency of Americans to pronounce it wrong. And because he liked the sauce.
8. Berrow’s Worcester Journal, first published in 1753 is thought to be the world’s oldest newspaper.
9. Composer Edward Elgar and Sir Rowland Hill, inventor of the Postage stamp, were both born in Worcestershire. Elgar’s father, William, had a music shop in Worcester and Hill’s father ran a school. Rowland was a teacher at the school when he was 12.
10. In the Middle Ages, the county's economy was based on the wool trade. In the 19th century, Worcester was a centre for the manufacture of Gloves; the town of Kidderminster was a centre for carpet manufacture, while Redditch specialised in the manufacture of Needles, springs and hooks. Droitwich Spa was situated on large deposits of Salt, so became a centre of salt production in Roman times.

Character Birthday

Dominic “Machine Gun” Pozzi, a gangster from New York. His weapon of choice is, as you may well have guessed already, a machine gun.