X-Nico

64 unusual facts about Bristol


1575 in poetry

August 14 – Robert Hayman (died 1629) poet, colonist and Proprietary Governor of Bristol's Hope colony in Newfoundland; his book, 'Qvodlibets ("What you will"), published in 1628, was the first book of English poetry written in what would become Canada.

1628 in poetry

Robert Hayman, Qvodlibets ("What you will"), the first book of English poetry written in what would become Canada, written by the Proprietary Governor of Bristol's Hope colony in Newfoundland

17 King Street, Bristol

17 King Street is a historic building situated on King Street in Bristol, England.

Aggi Crew

The Aggi Crew were a criminal drug gang based in the St Pauls district of Bristol.

Agnes Miegel

Between 1902 and 1904 she worked as an assistant teacher in a girls' boarding school in Bristol, England.

Aikaterini Gegisian

Kalfayan Galleries, Athens; Pentalogy, Omikron Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus; Diego Garcia, Centre of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki and Picture This Atelier Space, Bristol; Falling in Place, Elefsina Cultural Center, Greece.

Alexander Catcott

These were housed in the Old Library on King Street and were one of the first public displays of fossils in the country.

Alo Creevey

Alo lives on a farm in the outskirts of Bristol with his domineering mother, Catherine, hen-pecked father, Owen, and their incoherent farmhand, Dewi, who disapprove of his lifestyle.

Andrew Hilton

The company, Show of Strength Theatre Company, found the Hen & Chicken pub in the south of the city, in Bedminster, and inaugurated winter seasons there that were to last for six years and attract national attention.

Arthur Richards, 1st Baron Milverton

In 1947 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Milverton, of Lagos and of Clifton in the City of Bristol.

Auction rate security

Some of the higher-profile firms taking writedowns include Bristol-Myers Squibb, 3M and US Airways.

Avon House, Bristol

The former Avon House is an 18-storey building, one of the tallest structures in central Bristol, England.

Betsy Mix Cowles

She was born in Bristol, Connecticut, the eighth child of Giles Hooker Cowles and Sally White Cowles.

Big World Small World

Big World Small World is an album by the Bristol-based group Smith & Mighty, released on !K7 Records in 2000.

Bristol Arena

Once elected mayor, architect George Ferguson launched a competition to find the best design for a 12,000 seat arena that would be "the most environmentally-friendly venue of its kind" and pledged that the project would be up and running within four years.

As of late 2013, Bristol's two largest music venues were Colston Hall and the O2 Academy, which hold 2,000 people each.

Bristol-Burney seaplanes

The Bristol-Burney seaplanes were a pair of experimental seaplanes produced by a collaboration between Lt. Dennistoun Burney and the Bristol and Colonial Aeroplane Company during 1912-14.

Bristol, Ohio

It lies along State Route 93 at its intersection with Marietta Road and Township Road 223.

Bristol, Pennsylvania

John F. Cordisco, former State Representative and Bucks County Democratic Committee Chairman.

Bristol, Washington

Bristol is located on State Route 10 between Cle Elum and Thorp in Kittitas County, Washington, United States.

Bristol's Hope, Newfoundland and Labrador

Robert Hayman was the colony's only Proprietary Governor as this colony only existed until about 1631 before being abandoned.

Castlemead

The building is a short walk from Castle Park and the River Avon, Broadmead Shopping Centre and the pubs and bars of Baldwin and Corn Streets, and is not far from the Centre.

Charles Page Eden

Born in or near Bristol, he was third son of Thomas Eden, curate of St. George's, Bristol, who died when Charles was an infant, leaving a widow and young family in poverty.

Church of St John the Baptist, Bristol

The Church of St John the Baptist, Bristol is a former Church of England parish church at the lower end of Broad Street Bristol, England.

Connecticut Route 229

Just south of the Bristol town line, Route 229 shifts to Middle Street and the road becomes four lanes wide.

Curry goat

In Britain, the carnivals in St Pauls, Bristol and Notting Hill, London and other Caribbean cultural events will usually have curry goat available as well as other regional foods.

Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls

The origins of the club go back to the late 1980s, in St Pauls and Baptist Mills School in Easton.

Elizabeth Casson

Elizabeth Casson (14 April 1881 – 17 December 1954) was the first female doctor to graduate from the University of Bristol.

Freddie McClair

Nonetheless this disgusts Freddie and a disgraced Effy leaves Bristol with Cook.

Frederick Bernard Lacey

In 2006 he was appointed to be a federal monitor in an investigation of Bristol-Myers Squibb, centering on the distribution of the drug Plavix.

Hartcliffe

Part of the site is now the Imperial Park shopping centre while the listed headquarters building is being converted into the Lakeshore flats.

Holly Springs, North Carolina

Bristol-Myers Squibb expressed interest in county-owned land along N.C. 55 Bypass at the future interchange of Interstate 540.

Howard Ryshpan

As of 2012, he was reported living in the city of Bristol, Quebec.

HP Memory spot chip

The research to design and build the chip was done in Hewlett-Packard's laboratory in Bristol.

James Paty the Elder

He is thought to have been the architect of Bristol's Old Library on King Street.

James Paty the Younger

James was a partner or collaborator with Thomas in building developments around Park Street and Clifton.

Joanna Fox Waddill

Joanna Fox was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania, to James C. Fox and his wife Catherine Bessonett.

John Cruger

He had sent his older sons overseas to run parts of the business; Tileman to the West Indies, and Henry to Bristol in England, while he kept John at home to take charge in New York.

John Yeamans

Baptised on 28 February 1611 in Bristol, England, Sir John Yeamans was a younger son of John Yeamans, a brewer of Redcliffe, Bristol who died about 1645, and his wife Blanche Germain.

Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales

In England the fathers have three missions in the Diocese of Clifton.

Nashoba Brook Pencil Factory Site

John Thoreau's brother-in-law, Charles Dunbar, discovered a deposit of graphite in Bristol, New Hampshire, in 1821.

Old Market

Old Market, Bristol, a Conservation Area around Old Market Street in Bristol

Pero's Bridge

The bridge is named after Pero, also known as Pero Jones, who lived from around 1753 to 1798, arriving in Bristol probably from the Caribbean Island of Nevis in 1783, as the slave of the merchant John Pinney (1740–1818) at 5 Great George Street.

Photo Hunt

Megatouch games are developed by Merit Entertainment in Bristol, Pennsylvania.

Portbury

She founded the 'Whiteladies' convent of St. Mary Magdalene - 'Maudlin' - hence giving Bristol two of its street names.

Redland RDF Application Framework

Redland is a set of free software libraries written in C that provide support for the Resource Description Framework (RDF), created by Dave Beckett (a former resident of Redland, Bristol).

Richard Towgood

Having taken orders about 1615, he preached in the neighbourhood of Oxford, till he was appointed master of the grammar school in College Green, Bristol.

Sack Friary, Bristol

Sack Friary, Bristol was a friary in Bristol, England.

Selwyn Hughes

He worked for some time as a miner in the Welsh coal mining industry, but left his job to study Theology in Bristol when he became convinced that he was being called by God to work as a Christian minister.

South Bristol

It is also a name by which southerly parts of the English city of Bristol is known.

Spike Island

Spike Island, Bristol, an area of the English port city of Bristol, adjoining the city centre

Sport in Bristol

Bristol Handball Club are the sole club and are based at The City Academy Bristol, though they play their "home" games at the Princess Royal Sports Complex in Wellington, Somerset due to lack of facilities in Bristol.

St. Paul's Community Sports Academy is a Sports Centre in St Pauls.

South Bristol Sports Centre, a sports centre in Knowle in the south of the city.

St Paul's Church, Bristol

St Paul's Church gives its name to the surrounding St Paul's area of Bristol.

Stag and Hounds Public House

The Stag and Hounds Public House is on Old Market Street, Old Market, Bristol.

Stephanie McKay

McKay went on to play the WOMAD, Bristol and the Jazz Cafe in England and her music received international acclaim and rotation on MTV.

Temwa

Temwa dates back to 2003 when it was founded by two Bristol girls, Jo Hook and Sophie Elson.

Tobacco Factory Theatre

The Tobacco Factory Theatre is located on the first floor of the Tobacco Factory building on the corner of North Street and Raleigh Road, Southville in Bristol, England.

Trinity Theological College

Trinity College, Bristol, a theological college affiliated to the Church of England, located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol.

William Husband

At the invitation of T. E. Blackwell, C.E., he went to Clifton to assist in some works in the Bristol docks, when he planned a bridge for the Cumberland basin.

William J. Ciancaglini

After two semesters at La Salle, Ciancaglini discontinued his college education and earned an associate's degree in electronic technology from Pennco Technical Institute in Bristol, PA.

WXCT

The 990 frequency signed on in 1969 as WNTY, a daytime-only station that targeted Southington and nearby Bristol.

York, Maine

In 1638, settlers changed the name to Bristol after Bristol, England, from which they had immigrated.


Andy Gresh

While in college, Gresh interned for various sports radio stations including WFAN in New York City and ESPN Radio in Bristol.

Anne Marie Anderson

Following graduation from Hofstra, Anderson relocated to Bristol, CT and worked as a production assistant, assignment editor and associate producer on ESPN staples such as SportsCenter, NFL Gameday and Outside the Lines.

Banksia paludosa

The species was grown at Kew, Cambridge Botanic Gardens, Woburn Abbey, Loddiges nursery in Hackney, John Miller's nursery in Bristol and George Hibbert's garden at Clapham Common.

Barry Rogerson

In the course of his episcopal ministry in Bristol, Rogerson ordained the first 32 female priests in the Church of England on 12 March 1994 at his cathedral.

Bill Mather

For two years he shared a studio in Bristol with Peter Lord and David Sproxton of Aardman Animations and later directed the "Archie the skeleton" commercials for Scotch Videotape and Tina Turner's "Limo-Land - Never in Your Wildest Dreams"; both multi-award winning films for Aardman.

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

Former students from around the world gathered in Bristol for his funeral at which the eulogy was delivered by former student Stephanie Cole.

Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

The springs at Bath, in Bristol Township, were popular among wealthy Philadelphians for a while, but lost popularity to the ones in Saratoga, New York.

Bristol Type 603

The third series of 603, introduced in 1982 and continuing until 1994, saw Bristol adopt for the first time the names of the famous Bristol Aeroplane Company models for its cars.

Cabot, Bristol

Spike Island is the narrow strip of land between the Floating Harbour to the north and the tidal New Cut of the River Avon to the south, from the dock entrance to the west to Bathurst Basin in the east.

Catherine B. Gulley

The first to be shown at the Academy in 1908 was titled, "Finishing touches" and the final in 1962 was painted when she was living at Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol.

Charles Underwood

Charles Underwood (1791 – 5 March 1883, Clifton, Bristol) was a builder in Cheltenham who moved to Bristol, where he became a neo-classical architect.

Clinical governance

Clinical governance became important in health care after the Bristol heart scandal in 1995, during which anaesthetist Dr Stephen Bolsin exposed the high mortality rate for paediatric cardiac surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Crescent Porter Hale

1909 also saw publication of the first novel written about Bristol Bay, The Silver Horde by Rex Beach, and Cress Hale was assumed to be its inspiration.

David Rodgers

Rooks and Geoff Merrick formed the regular central defensive pairing for the 1971–72 season when Bristol City started strongly before finishing in 8th place.

Dudley Tredger

His other notable fencing achievements include: British Champion, 2013, final 8 at Luxembourg A Grade, 1st Bristol Open 2001, 1st Sussex Open 2001, 3rd Welsh Open 2002 and best young fencer on two occasions during his schooling at Hazelwick School.

Fir Hill Manor

In 1994, it was the subject of a BBC Bristol documentary, which tells the story of former Newquay policeman Derek Fowkes as he searches for absentee landlord, John Paget Figg-Hoblyn.

Flights

Joe Newcombe, Adam Cann and Joel Pearce come from Thornbury, a market town in South Gloucestershire approximately 12 miles (19 km) north of Bristol.

Florence Barrett

Lady Barrett was born in Henbury in Gloucestershire now part of Bristol, and she was the fourth child of merchant Benjamin Perry.

Flounders' Folly

There are also no known records of his having ships or interests in Liverpool or Bristol, as he was a man hailing from the north-east of England, near Stockton-on-Tees.

George McCoy

George McCoy has appeared on television several times, including three episodes of The Big Questions on 20th January 2008 in Leeds, 24th May 2009 in Bristol and 1st April 2012 in Bury as well as the Welsh Panorama programme 'Week In - Week Out' which focussed on adult services in Cardiff.

Hannah More

Born in 1745 at Fishponds in the parish of Stapleton, near Bristol, Hannah More was the fourth of five daughters of Jacob More, a schoolmaster originally from Harleston, Norfolk.

Harry Nicholas

Born in Bristol, Nicholas worked for the Port of Bristol Authority until 1936, when he took a full-time post in the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU).

Horace Bristol

Bristol was born and raised in Whittier, California, and attended the Art Center of Los Angeles, originally majoring in architecture.

Hôtel Le Bristol Paris

On April 4, 1975, Josephine Baker celebrated 50 years in show business with a lavish party thrown at Le Bristol; guests included Sophia Loren, Mick Jagger and even Princess Grace of Monaco.

Isaac Wilkinson

Isaac became a foundryman in Bristol with involvement in the south Wales Dowlais Ironworks and Cyfarthfa Ironworks, and starting the Plymouth Ironworks with John Guest.

Ivan Aničin

Ivan Aničin, (born 25 March 1944 in Bor, Serbia, Yugoslavia) is Yugoslav and Serbian nuclear physicist, particle physicist, astrophysicist, and cosmologist, university Full Professor and Distinguished (teaching/research) Professor of scientific institutes in Belgrade (Serbia), Bristol (United Kingdom), Grenoble (France), and Munich (Germany).

Jimmy Benefield

James Patrick Benefield (born 6 May 1983 in Bristol) is an English footballer who plays for Montegnée in Belgium.

John Bickersteth

Educated at Rugby School and Christ Church, Oxford, he was ordained in 1951 and began his career with a Curacy at St Matthew Moorfield's Bristol.

Kevin Figes

Other highlights were playing with John Critchinson, the big bands of Dave Stapleton and Andy Hague and performing a great new piece by Keith Tippett in the Colston Hall, Bristol.

Lakeville, Massachusetts

On the state level, Lakeville is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of two districts, the Ninth and Twelfth Bristol Districts.

Llywelyn ap Dafydd

A force of cavalry and infantry were deployed to escort Llywelyn and Owain out of Gwynedd via Acton Burnell in Shropshire to Bristol before the end of July 1283.

Luke Eves

Eves signed for Newcastle from Bristol towards the end of the 2009/10 season, with the signing being announced the day after Bristol lost to Exeter in the Championship final.

Norman Hargreaves-Mawdsley

Hargreaves-Mawdsley was born in Bristol in 1921, where he attended Clifton College prior to matriculating at Oriel College, Oxford in 1940, where he read Classics and Modern History.

North Attleborough, Massachusetts

North Attleborough is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by Elizabeth "Betty" Poirier (R-North Attleborough), since 1999, as part of the Fourteenth Bristol district, which also includes sections of Attleboro and Mansfield.

Operational Requirement F.155

The AW.169 and Fairey's Delta III design were considered to be the best two contenders taking into account the design of the aircraft, the development risks, the capabilities of the design teams and the manufacturers' workloads - Bristol had not been invited to tender because of the importance of the Bristol 188 high speed research plane they were working on.

Rebecca Pantaney

She was chosen to be one of the torchbearers for the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay, carrying the torch across the Clifton Suspension Bridge into Bristol.

Richard Savage

Savage went to Swansea, but he resented bitterly the conditions imposed by his patrons, and removed to Bristol, where he was imprisoned for debt.

Rob Paternostro

Whilst recovering from injury in 1999, Paternostro worked at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut putting together highlight packages for SportsCenter and NBA Tonight.

Robert Yeamans

Prince Rupert was to bring four thousand horse and two thousand foot to Durdham Down, and the royalists in Bristol, who were estimated at two thousand, were to seize the Frome-gate and admit Rupert's forces.

Roger Wingate

Educated at Clifton College, Bristol and the University of London, he took over the Chairmanship of Chesterfield Properties PLC in the mid 1960s.

St Philip's Marsh

Owned by Network Rail under depot code PM, it is leased to train operator First Great Western, and has been used since their introduction for the maintenance of InterCity 125 trains operating between London Paddington, Bristol and South Wales.

Stroudwater Navigation

There was a dip in the carriage of merchandise in 1810, when the Kennet and Avon Canal opened and provided a more convenient route from Bristol to London, but it picked up again after 1819, when the North Wilts Canal opened, providing a link from Latton to Abingdon via Swindon and the Wilts and Berks Canal, which was easier than using the Thames.

Walter Bartley Wilson

He was born in St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, the son of Thomas Wilson, a brushmaker, and Sarah Hathaway, a teacher.

WCYB

WCYB (AM), call sign used from 1946 to 1969 by WZAP AM radio station licensed to Bristol, Virginia, United States