Big Ben, London, UK

I’ve said before I like making quizzes on Squidoo so it’s no surprise that I’ve just done another one – How Well Do You Know London?

Like the other quizzes I’ve done, this one supports my existing pages on London. As I’ve done several of these, I hope that it will increase traffic to them.

One thing I’ve not done yet is to link to the quiz from my other London pages and that’s just because I’m away from home at the moment. I shall do it as soon as possible, though, so that people who are interested in reading about London are sent to the quiz.

I did list my other quizzes on the new one and they have all had increased visitor numbers over the last week so it shows Squidoo pages do send people from one lens to another. I never doubted this, actually!

The Quilt Museum and Gallery opened on 7th June, 2008, in the medieval St Anthony’s Hall, adding another unique attraction to York’s list of museums and collections.

The Quilt Museum is now the headquarters of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles and its world-famous Heritage Collection of 600 quilts which includes the earliest known signed and dated patchwork, from 1718. There is also quilted clothing, tools and equipment on display.

Additionally, special exhibitions of textiles from home and abroad will be shown in the museum.

When it opened, Janice Gunner, former President of The Quilters Guild, said: “We are all thrilled that the move into our new headquarters is about to become a reality, and with it the opportunity to share with the wider world the traditions and aspirations of this wonderful craft. St Anthony’s is a fabulous location, rich in history: a wholly fitting home for our own Collection, and a focus for the exciting and innovative work going on within contemporary quiltmaking today.”

The first exhibition of 2009 at the Museum started on January 20th and continues through to April 18th. It celebrates the use of cloth through the Quilter’s Guild Heritage collection in ‘Warp, Weft and the Printer’s Block’, and through the work of contemporary textile artist Cefyn Burgess in a Ruthin Crafts Centre Touring Exhibition entitled ‘Migration’.

Find out more about the historic city of York.

Named after their American bald Eagle, Liberty’s Raptor and Reptile Centre is located near Ringwood, in Hampshire, UK. As it’s located on the edge of the New Forest National Park, it makes a great place to visit while you are also visiting the Park.

It has a large collection of birds of prey like eagles, owls and vultures as well as reptiles – snakes, tortoises and lizards. There are displays of the raptors flying and you can even have the experience of flying these beautiful birds yourself with the centre’s Hunting Day Flying Experiences as long as you are over 16 years of age.

Bearded Dragon, Aquarium Animal Photographic Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

The raptors include African Hooded Vulture, Bateleur Eagle also from Africa, Common Kestrel, Crested Caracara from South America, Great Gray Owl, Mackinders Eagle Owl from Africa, Rock Eagle Owl from India and Pakistan, Siberian Eagle Owl, Snowy Owl from the Arctic tundra, Southern White Faced Owl from Africa, Spectacled Owl from South and Central America, Turkey Vulture from North and South America, and the Western Screech Owl from North and Central America.

Reptiles include Bearded Dragons from Australasia, Common Green Iguanas from Central and South America, Giant Tortoise from the Galapagos, Green Water Dragons from Southeast Asia, and Leopard Geckos from Pakistan, East and Southwest Asia.

The centre is open from March to October.

Almost all children in the UK know this rhyme. It commemorates the plot by Guy Fawkes and other plotters to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

In 1605 Fawkes and the others planted barrels of gunpowder in the cellars beneath Parliament. The aim was to assassinate the king, James I, who was due to visit the building for the State Opening, as well as the aristocracy.

Fawkes and the other plotters were Catholic and this was a period when Roman Catholicism was being suppressed in favour of Protestantism. They hoped the assassination would provoke a Catholic uprising.

Unfortunately for them, the authorities were tipped off about the plan and, on the 5th November, the day of the State Opening, a search revealed Guy Fawkes in the cellars with 20 barrels of gunpowder and the means to detonate them. He was arrested along with other plotters. Fawkes was tortured in the Tower of London then put on trial. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered – this meant he would have been hanged but cut down before he died, then his body would be cut open and his internal organs taken out and burned in front of him, then he would be cut into quarters. He was lucky, though, before he could be partly hanged, he jumped from the platform of the gallows and broke his neck and died. Some of the other plotters weren’t so lucky and the full sentence was carried out.

Now we celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot each year on the 5th November by lighting bonfires and letting off fireworks. When I was a child, we used to make a ‘Guy’, an effigy of Guy Fawkes, then sit in the street with our guy in an old pushchair or homemade go-kart. As people went by we’d say “Penny for the guy” and passersby would give us money. Of course, in these less innocent times, that custom has died out. Even so, an effigy is still burnt on the bonfire.