Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is also the most populous city of North East England. Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius and the settlement later took the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose.
Geordie is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitutes a Geordie. The term is used and has been historically used to refer to the people of the North East. A Geordie can also specifically be a native of Tyneside and the surrounding areas. Not everyone from the North East of England identifies as a Geordie.
Pitmatic is a group of traditional Northern English dialects spoken in rural areas of the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield in England.
Mackem, Makem or Mak'em is a nickname for residents of and people from Sunderland, a city in North East England. It is also a name for the local dialect and accent ; and for a fan, of whatever origin, of Sunderland A.F.C. It has been used by the people of Sunderland to describe themselves since the 1980s, prior to which it was mainly used in Tyneside as a disparaging exonym. Prior to the 1980s, the people of Sunderland were known as Geordies, in common with people from Tyneside. An alternative name for a Mackem is a Wearsider.
"Blaydon Races" is a Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by Geordie Ridley, in a style deriving from music hall. It is frequently sung by supporters of Newcastle United Football Club, Newcastle Falcons rugby club, and Durham County Cricket Club.
The English language in Northern England has been shaped by the region's history of settlement and migration, and today encompasses a group of related dialects known as Northern England English. The strongest influence on the modern varieties of the English language spoken in Northern England is the Northumbrian dialect of Middle English, but also contact with Old Norse during the Viking Age, with Irish English following the Great Famine and particularly in Lancashire and the south of Yorkshire, with Midlands dialects since the Industrial Revolution, have produced new and distinctive styles of speech. Some "Northern" traits can be found further south than others: only conservative Northumbrian dialects retain the pre-Great Vowel Shift pronunciation of words such as town, but all northern accents lack the FOOT–STRUT split, and this trait extends a significant distance into the Midlands.
The Blaydon Race is a 5.9 miles (9.5 km) athletics race from Newcastle upon Tyne to Blaydon, in England, that is steeped in local tradition. It takes place on 9 June every year and starts off with the singing of the "Blaydon Races" -- with the words as the basis for the race.
Esther McCracken was a British actress and playwright.
Northumbrian dialect or Northumbrian English is any of several English language varieties spoken in the traditional English region of Northumbria, which includes most of the North East England government region. The traditional Northumbrian dialect is a moribund older form of the dialect spoken in the area which is closely related to Scots and Cumbrian and shares with them a common origin in Northumbrian Old English.
James Cosgrove was a Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, born concert hall singer and humourist/comedian whose career spanned the 19th and 20th centuries.
"Cushie Butterfield" is a famous Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by Geordie Ridley, in the style of the music hall popular in the day. It is regarded by many as the second unofficial anthem of Tyneside after Blaydon Races.
Rowland "Rowley" Harrison (1841–1897) was a Tyneside poet and singer/songwriter, from Gateshead in County Durham. Possibly his best known work is "Geordy Black", an example of Geordie dialect.
Eric Boswell was an English composer of popular songs and folk music, most famous for writing the children's Christmas song "Little Donkey".
John Gair Robson was an English schoolmaster, musician and songwriter. Many of his 40-plus songs are in Geordie dialect. His most famous song must be "Whereivvor ye gan ye’re sure te find a Geordie".
John W Chater was a prominent 19th-century Tyneside publisher, printer and bookseller, with premises in the centre of Newcastle
Bishopric Garland or Durham Minstrel, Edited and published by Joseph Ritson, is a revised and corrected edition of a book on County Durham music, published in 1792.
Norman Turnbull was born in Tyneside and lived for a good part of his life in Gosforth, Newcastle with his four west Highland terriers peter, John, phylis and brown teeth.
In modern contexts Northumbria usually refers to the region of England between the Tees and Tweed, including the historic counties of Northumberland and Durham, but may also be taken to be synonymous with North East England. The area corresponds to the rump lands of the historical Kingdom of Northumbria, which later developed into the late medieval county of Northumberland or Comitatus Northumbriae, whose original southern boundary was the River Tees. A representative provincial flag of Northumbria is registered for the area.
