Did You Know No? 1 (fascinating facts

displaying the Union Jack is such a wonderfully proud experience. My main sports were tennis and track; there were some very serious athletes out there, in all the events. I had trained all year for the Euros, so getting covid was particularly poor timing, but we all like a challenge .

Newcastle has a very successful and incredibly friendly and supportive Transplant team but we liver transplantees are very under represented. If anyone fancies having a go, whether it's running, cycling, archery, swimming, darts, golf etc , then Just Do It! You never know, in two years time you may also be writing to say that you are representing GB&NI in the up and coming World Games! Andrea

DID YOU KNOW No 1? Sounds better when spoken by Michael Caine. (you have to be a certain age to understand this)

That all American States have an ofcial:a) Nickname, in some cases they may have more than one and some are rather unusual. Wyoming is known as the Equality or Cowboy State, while Connecticut is the Land of Steady Habits? b) Motto, again each State may have more than one. The motto of Kansas is, “to the stars through difculties” while West Virginia has the quirky, “mountaineers are always free” c) State tree, these reect the dominant or most well known in the State. In Maryland it is the White Oak and in Indiana the Tulip tree. d) State bird, memorable ones are the Road Runner for New Mexico and the Blue Hen Chicken in Delaware. e) State ower, the Forget-Me-Not for Alaska and the Violet for Rhode Island. f) State Capital, for those of you who are regular viewers of “Pointless” these come up on a regular basis with many pointless results. Here are two of the lesser known ones, North Dakota – Bismarck and Kentucky – Frankfort.

Surprisingly, in terms of owers something similar occurs with with English counties. In 2002 an organisation called Plantlife ran a campaign to assign a specic ower to a county or metropolitan area in the UK and the Isle of Man. Here are some of the examples: County Durham – Spring Gentian Cumbria – Grass of Parnassus Northumberland – Bloody Crane's-bill Tyne and Wear – Monkeyower Yorkshire – Harebell And not a lot of people know that! (ANON)