Things you didn't know about... Lincoln

Spirits get to the bottom of things in Lincoln
Lincoln's infamous Bottom Pincher is a mischievous spirit said to haunt the city's Castle Hill Club. The derrière-obsessed poltergeist targets unsuspecting visitors to Lincoln.

Lincoln gave us binary code
Lincoln is the birthplace of George Boole (1815-1864), the inventor of Boolean algebra—the foundation of binary code and modern computer science.

Lincoln Cathedral towers above the competition
Revered Victorian aesthete and writer John Ruskin described Lincoln Cathedral as "out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles". From 1300 to 1549, Lincoln Cathedral was England's tallest building.

Lincoln landscapes last forever
A former Lincoln resident, the acclaimed landscape painter Peter De Wint (1784-1849), set many of his masterful watercolours in Lincolnshire.

The Da Vinci Code led to Lincoln
Director Ron Howard filmed part of The Da Vinci Code (2006) in Lincoln Cathedral.

Heard the one about the Lincoln imp?
Legend has it that 14th-century Lincoln was host to two malevolent imps sent by Satan to wreak havoc on Earth. These imps caused mayhem at Lincoln Cathedral, smashing chairs and upending the Bishop. An avenging angel apparently saved the day, chasing one imp off and turning the other to stone, where he can still be seen among the cathedral's architecture. Lincoln City FC are still known as "the Imps".

Lincoln is a tale of two cities
Lincoln is uniquely located astride a gap in the Lincoln Cliff limestone escarpment that divides the city into its Uphill and Downhill areas. Since Norman times, the military and religious elite occupied Uphill while the peasants resided Downhill. Lincoln's Uphill properties remain the city's most expensive.

Lincoln is a high flier...
Lincoln City FC's fans are famed for singing the theme to The Dambusters at matches, inspired by the World War II bomber squadron formed at nearby RAF Scampton. The RAF's gravity-defying Red Arrows display team are still based at Scampton Airfield.

...and seeks other high fliers
In February 2008 the RSPB fitted a camera at the very top of Lincoln Cathedral with the aim of capturing images of a pair of peregrine falcons, which had nested there the previous year.