Cheers Yorkie. There are only 4 counties in England which have neither a city or a motorway in them, which are they ?
Rutland, Suffolk, Dorset and Northumberland? I think the Isle of Wight has neither too - but am not sure about its county status.
I think we need a definition of county. e.g. is Huntingdonshire still a county. It is part of Cambridgeshire administratively. To me Isle of Wight is not a county (i.e. part of Hampshire) . but maybe it is a county. Nothumberland county includes Newcastle in my book. Call me old-fashioned ! ( call me what you like - pedantic even) Anyway, to save wasting anybodys time, my guesses are Dorset IOW Rutland, Suffolk.
According to some sources,the Isle of Wight was part of Hampshire until 1890 when it became a county in its own right. I am not so sure about that as I send a card there, which has a Portsmouth postcode. If I added the county surely it would have to be Hants, unless Portsmouth has been moved while I wasn't looking.
not so much old fashioned as ancient! I thought you were nearer my age... older than Hackney, younger than Frenchie!!
Perhaps it's like a historic county? I live in the historic county of Banffshire, which takes in parts of both Moray and Aberdeenshire. Our postcode is an Aberdeenshire code, but, strangely, official mail often comes addressed as Banffshire. As long as it gets here I suppose... Moving on - a bit of Australiana. When and why did Australia deploy elite troops against Norway?
Tampa affair From Wikipedia, ABC news report by Margot O'Neill on the Tampa affair and its political context, October 2001. In late August 2001, the Howard Government of Australia refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, carrying 433 rescued refugees (predominantly Hazaras of Afghanistan from a distressed fishing vessel in international waters) and 5 crew, to enter Australian waters.[1][2] This triggered an Australian political controversy in the lead-up to the 2001 federal election, and a diplomatic dispute between Australia and Norway. When the Tampa entered Australian waters, the Prime Minister ordered the ship be boarded by Australian special forces. This brought censure from the government of Norway, which said the Australian government failed to meet its obligations to distressed mariners under international law at the United Nations.[3] Within a few days, the government introduced the Border Protection Bill[4] into the House of Representatives, saying it would confirm Australian sovereignty to "determine who will enter and reside in Australia". The government introduced the "Pacific Solution", whereby the asylum seekers were taken to Nauru where their refugee status was considered, rather than in Australia.
