Northerners: The bestselling history of the North of England

Product Information

It would appear that the notion of a cheap night out isn’t an option in the south, not that we’d spend our weekend down there anyway. Bath doesn't have an 'r' in it you know." – Will, Hull Do you want a cup of dinner with your tea lol The north's exact military strength has not yet been revealed. According to a semi-canon source from 2005, the north can perhaps raise forty-five thousand soldiers, [52] although it takes a long time for armies to be gathered from such a large region. [42] [53] According to George R.R. Martin, the north's military strength is about equal to that of the Vale of Arryn, and Dorne. [53] During Aegon's Conquest, King Torrhen Stark raised an army of thirty thousand men. [54] Nearly twenty thousand can be raised on short notice [13] near the start of autumn, [55] while thousands more might be raised from more distant houses, such as the mountain clans, if more time is allowed. [17] Guest right is treasured in the north. [4] Northmen have long memories, and a lord who does not seek his rightful vengeance threatens to have his own men turn on him. [28] A northern custom is that when someone is condemned to death, he who passes that sentence should swing the sword. [29] [1] People always love to tell me how grim the north is. Sorry, have you seen the lakes?" – Rachel, Preston

Yep, this is the classic, my friends always ask me why I'm putting gravy on my chips. They also have no idea what scraps are." – Abbie, Newcastle How can you be warm? It's freezing! Robb Stark, King in the North and King of the Trident, intends to march north from the riverlands to expel the ironborn. [81] However, he is betrayed and murdered at the Twins by his bannermen, Lords Walder Frey and Roose Bolton, [82] who have their forces slaughter most of the northmen in the south. [83] In return for his services to House Baratheon of King's Landing, Roose is named the new Warden of the North for the Iron Throne. [84]The north is strongly affected during the long winters, with thousands of people killed and famine a common occurrence due to poor harvests before winter or the inability to raise crops during the longer winters that last for years on end. Some greater lords maintain greenhouses at their castles, such as the glass gardens of Winterfell. [23] King Stannis Baratheon sails from Dragonstone to the Wall to aid the Night's Watch in defeating the wildling army of Mance Rayder, King-beyond-the-Wall, in the battle beneath the Wall. [51] A Feast for Crows What sets the book apart is the scale and geographical focus. Groom does an excellent job of bouncing around topics, and his skills really flourish in later chapters. When diving into a very particular aspect of the north's history, such as migration, leisure or even sheep farming, Groom's broad historical brush strokes pay off dividends. He gets to leap across centuries and pull together different parts of northern history which a narrower focus wouldn't allow. It makes for a fun read and is perfect for anybody wanting a neat overview of the region. It also embraces the scenery of the north, and Groom's accounts of Liverpool, the Pennines, Northumbria and Manchester are all very evocative. I just love pies and southerners don't get it." – Richard, Manchester Why do you love gravy so much?

What is perhaps more surprising is how English people feel about each other. One might have expected that devolution would have strengthened a sense of Englishness at the same time that it weakened Britishness. But when we looked at shared values within England, we found an even larger gulf between northerners and southerners than we did between English and Scots. A century ago the Skagosi unsuccessfully rebelled against the Starks, costing the lives of Lord Barthogan Stark and hundreds of his supporters. [16] Robert's Rebellion You’ve got not only the Scottish first minister but you’ve got the regional mayors saying they are not consulted and listened to … you’ve got no mechanism, no forum for coordinating the regions and nations, and I think that the public are fed up.Brian Groom's writing is fine, but he does this thing where he'll mention something really interesting then spend maybe two sentences on it, when I know from prior knowledge and further research that he could have spent some time with it and it would have been an interesting read. Sometimes he was literally just listing events and people. Yeah, I now have a list of things to read more about, but I kind of would have liked to read about them here. I just think this book is too small to try to cover so much history of such a large portion of the country. The Starks led the north to war during Aegon's Conquest. After the Field of Fire, however, King Torrhen Stark knelt to Aegon the Conqueror rather than face his dragons. The north was included in the Seven Kingdoms and owed allegiance to the Iron Throne of House Targaryen. The Stark Kings in the North became the Lords of Winterfell and Wardens of the North. Some northmen who refused to bend the knee fled into exile in Essos and formed the Company of the Rose. [64] Southerners, on the other hand, sometimes refer to people from the North as “northern monkeys,” which means they think northerners are uncultured. As well as poking fun at one another for their accents and slang,they quibble about who is the friendliest. According to research carried out by Cambridge University, people from Yorkshire are the most helpful when asked for directions and Scots are the friendliest. It also found Londoners to be the least friendly.

One thing that proper annoys me is when some people think Birmingham, and other places near that, are northern." – Richard, Manchester There is no denying that people who live in the North of the UK have very different characteristics from those living in the South, which leads to intense rivalry between the two.

Assuming all southerners are posh

Posh, southern boys love to tell me how brilliant Margaret Thatcher was for the UK…" – Naomi, Cheshire There's the seasonal annoyance, every autumn and winter, where people ask if the wind and rain 'remind me of home'. Or, if being further south at uni is 'practically a holiday' for me compared to the barren wasteland a huge 70 miles north where I come from." – John, Sunderland During the Dawn Age, Westeros was inhabited by children of the forest and by giants. [57] Maester Kennet has found evidence that giants who lived in what is now the north buried their dead. [57] During harsh winters, many farmers and younger northmen seek refuge in the winter town or at the castles of lords. [40] [41] To preserve resources for the younger generations, many older northmen leave their home to hunt during winter, with most not surviving until spring. [41] Men who are old, childless, homeless, or younger sons also traditionally joined winter armies which marched for adventure and plunder with no expectation of survival. [29]