Do you know English geography?

Contestants on The Chase the other day thought Tasmania was off the coast of Western Australia, when asked which state was nearest.
They were told it was Australia otherwise perhaps they might have thought it was off the coast of Africa!

I was lucky enough to go to a very good grammar school so my geography is not bad. It amazes me today how young people don't seem to know where anwhere is. Is it still actually taught?

I failed GCE Geography many years ago, in spite of a very well-written account of the coastline of Switzerland!!! Could never understand why I didn't pass...

???

When I was teaching, one of the answers in a geography test said,

"The east coast is wetter than the west coast, because it's nearer the sea."

Just about sums it up.

MiniMoon

I used to know all the county towns of England, but I'm not sure I could name them all now.
I had to laugh at that map though.

I thought my geography was reasonably good but I must have drifted off to sleep last night wondering which is the county town of Kent. Could I remember?
No, it's not Tunbridge Wells!

As my name suggests I am a quiz addict. I can’t believe how ignorant TV quiz contestants, especially the celebrities, are of UK and world geography. Recently a celeb was asked to locate the Mona Lisa on a map said “it’s in Paris” and proceeded to put Paris in Scandinavia!
We are at serious risk of becoming like most Americans who have no knowledge of the outside world.

My Dad worked on the railways and we were always moving house. In chronological order, I've lived in the following places:
Liverpool (it was Lancashire then, not Merseyside)
London
Bury (Lancashire)
Romiley (Cheshire)
Sutton Coldfield (Warwickshire)
Great Crosby (back to Liverpool)
Cardiff (Glamorgan)
Derby (obvious!)
St Helens (Lancs)
Morpeth (Northumberland)
Whaley Bridge (Derbyshire)
Morpeth again.

I'd be ashamed if I couldn't place them on a map. I'm reasonably good at counties but, not surprisingly, better at the northern ones!

My geography is appalling. I also have no sense of direction. My DH is the opposite.

When we moved south from Scotland my then 9 year old daughter argued with her teacher who had said that London was the capital of the UK. My girl said no, that London was the capital of England, Edinburgh was the capital of Scotland. She survived.

Originally raised in S London I say bath, rhymes with 'Darth (as in vader) or hearth as in fireplace.

This thread is bringing back memories.
I also used to associate places with football teams, but this was through the weekly football pools my mum used to do. Although I had never been to Scotland I became familiar with those names too. Now I am wondering if Queen of the South is a place name or a football tea... I'm off to google right now.
The Summer was more tricky to learn with the Aussie team names.
On another note...
Anyone else need to see the map on paper to familiarise yourself with the geography of where you're going?
Something is missing with online maps because the map constantly turns itself around as you go forward.
It's like you are always going north.

Blinko

I can remember those jig saw puzzles made up of all the counties in England, showing the county towns too. Good for learning elementary geography. I've never forgotten it, even though some counties are now subsumed into others - Rutland and Huntingdonshire spring to mind.

Rutland was so small it kept on getting lost !

Some while back a friend rang me and said that there was going to be a programme about York on the tv. As I used to live there I turned it on, only to be told by the (northern) presenter that York was on the coast! I hit the off button!

- with reference to ‘Barth’

So how, may I enquire, should one pronounce ‘coo-king apples’? ‘Cucking apples’?

Rubbish. Remember at school when choosing subjects for exams I dropped geography for general science. Although the day they put a mouse in front of me to dissect I thought I was going to faint and wished I had kept geography.

Got talking in Canada to a couple of Texans who were trying to remember the name of the 'pretty little place with hills & water' they saw on their visit to England the previous year. I suggested the Lake District, Peak district? No, (finger snap), it was Switzerland.

The Australians are correct then! How come I never knew that

Callistemon there is a Wales in England - it’s just down the road from us in South Yorkshire!

At school we learned early on where all the counties and their county towns were, could name all the major rivers and ports, where various industries were centred, mountain ranges and hills. I still have a geography textbook from my days at junior school. My GS is apparently good at geography at school but he hasn’t a clue where anywhere is if he hasn’t either been to a football match or had a holiday there!

At school we used to have to fill in blank maps of the whole of the UK. My GC would be mystified. I'm disturbed to see that Liverpool has vanished. Perhaps it's now in mid-Atlantic.

I was on a ship with some Americans who asked me if Australia was next to Germany! I should have said, yes, they shortened it to Austria.

That's far too difficult!

my darling partner used to go to sleep naming all the states of america. i remember the dear privilege of first hearing the whispered, alabama, alaska, arizona...