Nottingham, that jewel of the East Midlands, has joined the growing rank of cities where O2 4G now available. So we thought this might be a great time to brush up on our Nottingham knowledge – here are some facts about our latest 4G debutant:

1.  Nottingham’s name comes from a man called Snot – seriously. Snot, an Anglo-Saxon chief, gave his name to a group of settlements built after 600AD – Snotingham is literally ‘the town of Snot’s people’. Now, it’s the town of lots of people and more suits the name Nottingham.

2.  One of Nottingham’s many claims to fame is its connection to Robin Hood, bowman extraordinaire. Robin’s captured the public’s imagination for hundreds of years and has been played in the media by a huge range of actors. Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Keith Chegwin, Sean Connery and even John Cleese have all played a version of Robin. Not forgetting Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse, of course…

3.  There really was a Sheriff of Nottingham and there still is. The position’s ceremonial now and does not appear to require Councillor Ian Malcolm to ride angrily around a forest like his movie predecessors. Which is nice.

4.  Nottingham loves its sport and plays home to a huge range of sports teams like Nottingham Forest, Notts County, Nottingham Panthers, Beeston Hockey Club and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. It’s also spawned a huge range of sports stars like David Pleat, Torvill and Dean, Stuart Broad and Carl Froch.

5.  Another theory about Nottingham’s name is that it came from a famous meat dish – similar to a Cornish pasty – produced in the area called a ‘knot in ham’. OK, we made that up. But it’s definitely a fact that Nottingham is now part of our 4G network, meaning proud Merry Men (and women) of Nottingham can now browse, watch and play on their phones a heck of a lot faster than before.

6.  Nottingham’s also got its fair share of musicians – Jake Bugg was born there, as was Bruce Dickinson off of Iron Maiden, Chris Urbanowicz off of Editors and Deep Purple’s drummer, Ian Paice.

7.  The Boot family, who created a fairly famous chain of pharmacies you’ve almost certainly heard of and probably own an Advantage Card from, hail from Nottinghamshire.

8.  In fact, Nottingham’s not short a famous person or ten. Matthew Horne and Su Pollard are from Nottingham. Seen Skins? Joe Dempsie, aka Chris Miles, was born also here. As was Jessica Linley, Miss England 2010.

9.  Although you may not have heard of famous Nottingham resident Frederick Gibson Garton, you’ve got him to thank for HP sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm – feeling hungry now.

Got a fact about Nottingham? Know something you want to share with the world about any of our 4G cities? Or are you descended from the ancient line of Little John and can trace your ancestry back in a provable and interesting way? Let us know in the comments. In the meantime, we’re off to go have a bacon sarnie. Cheers Nottingham.

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