Overview
Newcastle upon Tyne (usually shortened to Newcastle) is a large city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north bank of the River Tyne and was formerly the county town of Northumberland. The city was founded in Roman times under the name Pons Aelius.

The city is the 20th most populous in England; the larger Tyneside conurbation, of which Newcastle forms part, is the 5th most populous conurbation in England. Newcastle is a member of the English Core Cities Group and (with Gateshead) the Eurocities network of European cities.

People from Newcastle and surrounding areas are commonly called Geordies. The Latin term Novocastrian, which can equally be applied to residents of any place called Newcastle, is usually only used for ex-pupils of the city's Royal Grammar School.

History
The first settlement in what is now Newcastle was Pons Aelius, designating the bridge across the Tyne and given the family name of the Roman Emperor Hadrian who founded it in the 2nd century AD. The population of Pons Aelius at this period was estimated at 2,000. Hadrian's Wall is still visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road. (The course of the "Roman Wall" can also be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort in Wallsend - the wall's end).

After the Roman withdrawal from Britain, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, and was known throughout this period as Monkchester. After a series of conflicts with the Danes and the devastation north of the River Tyne inflicted by Odo of Bayeux after the 1080 rebellion against the Normans, Monkchester was all but destroyed. Because of its strategic position, Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle there in 1080 and the town was henceforth known as Novum Castellum or New Castle.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress. A stone wall 25 ft high was built around the town in the 13th century, to defend it from invaders during the Border war against Scotland. The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle in 1174, and Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town. Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century, and around this time became a county corporate.

From 1530 a royal act restricted all shipments of coal from Tyneside to Newcastle quayside, giving a monopoly in the coal trade to a cartel of Newcastle burgesses known as the Hostmen. This monopoly, which lasted for a considerable time, helped Newcastle prosper, but it had its impact on the growth of near-neighbours Sunderland, causing a Tyneside and a Wearside rivalry that still exists. In the Sandgate area, to the east of the city and beside the river, resided the close-knit community of keelmen and their families. They were so called because they worked on the keels, boats that were used to transfer coal from the river banks to the waiting colliers, for export to London and elsewhere. During the English Civil War, Newcastle supported the king and in 1644 was stormed ('with roaring drummes') by Cromwell's Scots allies, based in pro-Parliament Sunderland. The grateful King bestowed the motto "Fortiter Defendit Triumphans" ("Triumphing by a brave defence") upon the town. Ironically, Charles was imprisoned in Newcastle by the Scots in 1646-7.

In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages, predated the London Library by half a century. Newcastle also became the greatest glass producer in the world.

Newcastle's development as a major city, however, owed most to its central role in the export of coal. The phrase taking coals to Newcastle was first recorded in 1538. In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the development of safety lamps, Stephenson's Rocket, Lord Armstrong's artillery, Be-Ro flour, Joseph Swan's electric light bulbs, and Charles Parsons' invention of the steam turbine, which led to the revolution of marine propulsion and the production of cheap electricity.

Heavy industries in Newcastle declined in the second half of the 20th century; office and retail employment are now the city's staples.

Urban development
The city has an extensive neoclassical centre, largely developed in the 1830s by Richard Grainger and John Dobson, and recently extensively restored. Grey Street, which curves down from Grey's Monument towards the valley of the River Tyne, was voted as England's finest street in 2005 in a survey of BBC Radio 4 listeners. A portion of Grainger Town was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Eldon Square Shopping Centre, including all but one side of the original Eldon Square itself.

Immediately to the northwest of the city centre is Leazes Park, established in 1873 after a petition by 3,000 working men of the city for "ready access to some open ground for the purpose of health and recreation". Just outside one corner of this is St James' Park, the stadium home of Newcastle United F.C. which dominates the view of the city from all directions.

Another green space in Newcastle is the vast Town Moor, lying immediately north of the city centre. It is larger than Hyde Park and Hampstead Heath put together and the freemen of the city have the right to graze cattle on it. Unlike other cities where similar rights exist, they often take advantage of this, leading to the somewhat bizarre sight of cattle grazing within yards of the city's town hall, Newcastle Civic Centre. The right incidentally extends to the pitch of St James' Park, Newcastle United Football Club's ground, though this is not exercised,although the Freemen do collect rent for the loss of privilege. Honorary freemen include Bob Geldof, Nelson Mandela, Alan Shearer and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Hoppings funfair, said to be the largest travelling fair in Europe, is held here annually in June. In the south eastern corner is Exhibition Park, which is home to the Newcastle Military Vehicle Museum.

The wooded gorge of the Ouseburn in the east of the city is known as Jesmond Dene and forms another popular recreation area, linked by Armstrong Park and Heaton Park to the Ouseburn Valley, where the river finally reaches the River Tyne.

Newcastle was voted as the Best City in the North in April 2007 by The Daily Telegraph newspaper - beating Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds in an online poll conducted of its readers.

Recent developments
The development of the city in the 1960s and 1970s saw the demolition of part of Grainger Town as a prelude to the modernist rebuilding initiatives of T. Dan Smith, the leader of Newcastle City Council. A corruption scandal was uncovered involving Smith and John Poulson, a property developer, and both were jailed. Echoes of the scandal were revisited in the late 1990s in the BBC TV mini-series, Our Friends in the North.

The Tyne Gorge between Newcastle on the north bank and Gateshead (an administratively separate borough) on the south bank, is famous for a series of dramatic bridges, including the Tyne Bridge of 1928 and Robert Stephenson's High Level Bridge of 1849, the first road/rail bridge in the world. Large-scale regeneration has replaced former shipping premises with imposing new office developments; an innovative tilting bridge, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge was commissioned by Gateshead and has integrated the older Newcastle Quayside more closely with major cultural developments in Gateshead, including the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Norman Foster-designed The Sage Gateshead music centre. NewcastleGateshead Quayside is now a thriving, cosmopolitan area with an abundance of bars, restaurants and public spaces. As a tourist promotion, Newcastle and Gateshead have linked together under the banner "Newcastle-Gateshead", to spearhead the regeneration of the north east.

Notable Newcastle housing developments include Ralph Erskine's the Byker Wall designed in the 1960s and now Grade II-listed. It is on UNESCO's list of outstanding 20th century buildings.

Newcastle's thriving Chinatown lies in the north-west of Grainger Town, centred on Stowell Street. A new Chinese arch, or paifang, providing a landmark entrance, was handed over to the city with a ceremony in 2005.

The UK's first biotechnology village, the "Centre for Life" is located in the city centre close to the Newcastle Central railway station. The village is the first step in the City Council's plans to transform Newcastle into a science city.

Culture
Dialect
The Geordie dialect is a Northern English dialect, with a large amount of vocabulary that does not exist in other parts of England, or other English dialects. Much of Geordie can be traced back to the Old Norse and Old English languages and certain words are similar to their equivalents in modern Norwegian.

Examples
Gannin Hyem - Going Home
Snottercloot - Hankerchief
Y'areet - You alright?
Bairns - Children
divint - Do Not
Haway - Come on!
Canny - Nice/Ok
Charva - Chav
Claarts - Mud
Hynny - Honey/Darling


Nightlife
Newcastle has a reputation for being a fun-loving city with many bars, restaurants and nightclubs. More recently, Newcastle has become popular as a destination for Stag and Hen parties. Newcastle was in the top ten of the country's top night spots,[15] and The Rough Guide to Britain placed Newcastle upon Tyne's nightlife as Great Britain's no. 1 tourist attraction.

There are notable concentrations of pubs, bars and nightclubs around the Bigg Market, and the Quayside area of the city centre. There are many bars on the Bigg Market, and other popular areas for nightlife are Collingwood Street, Neville Street, the Central Station area and Osborne Road in the Jesmond area of the city. In recent years "The Gate" has opening in the city centre, a new indoor complex consisting of bars, upmarket clubs, restaurants and a 12-screen Empire multiplex cinema.

Focused on the Times Square area near the Centre for Life, the "Pink Triangle" is the centre of Newcastle's gay scene and hosts many bars and pubs and two clubs. The community has seen much expansion in the past five years, with further growth planned in the future.

The city has a wide variety of restaurants such as Italian, Indian, Persian, Japanese, Greek, Mexican, Spanish, American, Polish, Malaysian, French, Moroccan, Thai and has a Chinese village with many Chinese restaurants on Stowell Street. There has also been a growth in premium restaurants in recent years with top chefs.

The biggest noticeable difference in the last ten years has been increased opening hours, more upmarket bars, a greater range of clubs and some of the older traditional pubs closing. Although many have been revamped and remain very popular.

Theatre and Entertainment

Frontage of the Theatre Royal
The Journal Tyne TheatreA growth in theatre culture has taken place in recent years, centred on the impressive Theatre Royal on Grey Street, which for over 25 years has hosted a season of performances from the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Theatre Royal has recently been closed for refurbishment and reopened in October 2006 in time for the travelling West End musical, Grease and the annual RSC season. Other theatres in the city include the Journal Tyne Theatre, Northern Stage, the Live Theatre, the People's Theatre, Dance City, and the Jubilee Theatre. There are several other venues in and around Newcastle, such as Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle Arena and The Sage Gateshead. NewcastleGateshead was voted in 2006 as the arts capital of the UK in a survey conducted by the Artsworld TV channel.

Festivals and fairs
January or February, Newcastle's Chinatown is at the centre of a carnival of color and noise as the city celebrates the Chinese New Year. Attendance at the 2007 event was estimated at 15,000 by Newcastle City Council.

The popular Newcastle Science Festival is held annually in March, coinciding with National Science and Engineering Week.

The Newcastle Beer Festival organised by CAMRA takes place in April. 2008 will be the 32nd Newcastle Beer Festival.

In May, Newcastle and Gateshead host the Orange Evolution, which culminates with the FreeEvolution free music festival held on the Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides over the Spring Bank Holiday, with performances from well known and up and coming acts from the world of Rock, Indie and Dance Music.

NewcastleGateshead also holds an annual International Arts Fair in May. In 2007, in it's first year, attracted over 5,500 visitors with 57 visiting galleries in 3½ days.

The Hoppings, reputedly the largest travelling fair in Europe, takes place on Newcastle Town Moor every June. The event had its origins in the Temperance Movement during the early 1880s and coincides with the annual race week at High Gosforth Park.

Newcastle Community Green Festival, which claims to be the UK's biggest free community environmental festival, also takes place every June, in Leazes Park. The main festival day hosts musical events over 5 themed stages.

The Northern Rock Cyclone, a major cycling festival takes place within or starting from Newcastle in June.

Newcastle Mela, held on the late August bank holiday weekend, is an annual a two-day multicultural event blending drama, music and food from Punjabi, Pakistani, Bengali and Hindi cultures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_upon_Tyne