Things you didn't know about... Middlesex

The county that is still affectionately remembered

Middlesex is one of the 39 old "historic counties" of Britain (and the second smallest). By the 1960s, however, Middlesex had been rejigged into the Greater London boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon, Houslow and Richmond upon Thames.

Middlesex will rock you

Freddy Mercury of Queen fame lived and studied in Middlesex, attending college in Isleworth.

All in the name

The name Middlesex comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Middle-Seaxe", meaning the territory inhabited by the "middle Saxons".

Artistic heritage

Vincent van Gogh, the Dutch artist who famously lopped off his ear, worked briefly as an assistant teacher at a school on Twickenham Road in Middlesex.

A little corner of Middlesex that will always be Africa

All the scenes in the 1951 classic The African Queen where stars Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn are in the water were filmed at Worton Hall Studios in Middlesex. While the rest of the film was shot on location in Africa, the waters there were considered too much of a health risk.

Middlesex cricket, famous the world over

The famous Lord's Cricket Ground in Middlesex is also the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club.

Much loved, often imitated

There is more than one Middlesex in the world. The US has at least half a dozen, including towns called Middlesex in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Virginia. Not to mention the Middlesex in Australia, the Middlesex in Jamaica, Middlesex in Belize, and Middlesex, Canada.

From small beginnings to the home of rugby

In 1907 a chap named Billy Williams bought a 10-acre market garden in Twickenham, Middlesex, on behalf of the Rugby Football Union. A century later, the site is home to the famous Twickenham Stadium, HQ of the Rugby Football Union and still affectionately known as The Cabbage Patch.

School days in Middlesex

Romantic poet Lord Byron was a pupil at Harrow School in Middlesex, where he was apparently involved in a plot to blow up the headmaster. Another bunch of famously pesky kids were at the school more recently, as the school's fourth form room provided the setting for Hogwarts library in Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone.