Things you didn't know about... Grimsby

Grimsby has its own creation myth
The Viking Lay of Havelock the Dane is a long and complex family saga written in the 13th century—but set earlier—and features Grim, the supposed founder of the town of Grimsby. There is no evidence as to the truth of the story, though historians consider it a realistic account of early medieval life.

In World War II the Germans had big plans for Grimsby
The town was the target for the landing zone in the north of England in the event of a German invasion. The Germans also used their "Butterfly Bomb" for the first time on Grimsby. This was a 2 kg anti-personnel bomb dropped in multiple clusters, which resembled a butterfly as it dropped from the sky. It had various types of trigger and caused extensive damage in the town.

Grimsby went from riches to rags to riches
At the beginning of the 13th century, Grimsby was a thriving port. But the estuary silted up and the town declined until the start of the 19th century, when the port was dredged—and the town picked up again.

Grimsby Town Football Club are said to play away every week
Its ground—Blundell Park—is actually in neighbouring Cleethorpes. Founded in 1878, the club is the oldest in Lincolnshire, and one of the oldest in Britain.

There was once a Grimsby MP called Haddock
Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell once changed his name by deed poll to Austin Haddock as a display of solidarity with the haddock fishermen when severe quotas were brought in in October 2002.

MP took Henry Kissinger to watch Grimsby Football Club play
A previous Grimsby MP, the academic and socialist theorist Anthony Crosland, took the old Cold War warrior to Blundell Park in the 1970s. There are no reports of what he thought, but on the next visit Crosland took him to see Chelsea!

Grimsby has the UK's largest fish market
Oddly, most of the fish sold here arrives by train from other docks in the country, as the facilities are extensive but the fleet is shrinking. Because of this market, the town is home to many other large food-processing businesses.