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NE1 Ltd partner with Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums to launch Free Hidden Newcastle app

NE1 Ltd and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums have teamed up to launch a newly revamped Free Hidden Newcastle app (for mobile devices), which unearths the strange, unknown and forgotten history of Newcastle.

The app contains over 75 weird and wonderful stories of things that have happened in the city over the past 800 years that will entertain visitors and locals alike, showing Newcastle in a completely different light.

Visits to the city will be a lot more interesting with the app, called ‘Hidden Newcastle’, which highlights previously unknown or forgotten stories relating to people and places across the city.

The content brings to life ‘hidden’ gems about places and characters that have often been overlooked by mainstream history. The stories run from the 13th century to Mohammed Ali and US President Jimmy Carter’s visits in 1977.

The app aims to provide a unique glimpse of Newcastle’s society through the ages with funny, unusual and macabre tales in an easy to use format. Window stickers will be posted at sites across Newcastle to illustrate Hidden Newcastle points of interest.

Examples of Newcastle’s hidden history include:

• The day in 1954 when 3 brown bears escaped and caused havoc in Newcastle City centre knocking over a policeman who tried to placate them with a sugar lump
• Arnie training for Mr Universe at The City Pool
• The Government sending a warship to quell restless natives on Tyneside during the General Strike in 1926
• The police carrying out ‘chastity patrols’ when The Beatles performed in the city in 1963
• Suffragettes bombing the post office on Barras Bridge in 1913

In 1814 the Tyne froze over and became home to an impromptu funfair, with ice-skating, races and football matches taking place on the ice.

A 19th century hanging on the town moor of Jane Jameson following her conviction for the murder of her mother, the hanging was watched by a crowd of over 20,000 and Jane’s ghost is said to haunt the Quayside even to this day.

In 1733 a huge crowd of spectators gathered at the Castle Keep after a showman claimed he could fly from the top of the tower. Before flying himself he strapped ‘wings’ to a donkey which performed a test flight, with disastrous consequences.

A map function on the app allows users to see these and other stories in text, images and video whilst walking around the city.

The app uses information from documents, photographs and newspaper cuttings from Tyne & Wear Archives and Newcastle City Libraries. It includes a map so people can match stories to locations, and listen to them while standing in the spot where they took place.

Digital Co-ordinator at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, John Coburn, said: “Hidden Newcastle isn’t like your average city guide and the things you’ll hear about aren’t the types of people and events which are commemorated with a blue plaque on a building – these are strange, dark and forgotten stories and characters which we’ve brought back to life.”

“The earliest story is from 1323 but people may remember two of the later stories in particular: the day when three bears escaped in the city centre, knocking over Police Inspector S J Manging as he tried to placate one of them with a sugar lump.

“People may also have heard the tale of Joseph the Monk who was said to haunt the popular 1960s nightclub La Dolce Vita.”

Chief Executive of NE1 Ltd, Sean Bullick, said: “Newcastle has a rich and colourful history and it is great to be able to bring it to life in this new free app.

“There’s so many weird and wonderful facts that people are unlikely to know and the app gathers them all together.

“We hope that the app will inspire a new generation of history lovers and will generate a greater pride and knowledge about the city and its colourful past.

“The response so far has been tremendous and we expect the app to be extremely popular.”

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