The fact of the matter is that our county takes pride of place

Both in its natural beauties and its architectural heritage, our county surpasses many others. It has also spawned some of the most clever, inventive and inspiring sons and daughters these islands, and the world, have seen.

We're more than happy to bask in the admiration of Christopher Winn, who explored the East, West, North and South – and has put together many discoveries of all things lovely, curious and astonishing in the book I Never Knew That About Yorkshire, published to coincide with Local Community History Month, which starts on May 6.

As well as mentioning important places, momentous events and pivotal characters in history, Winn has taken the trouble to excavate some of the quirky facts that are so much part of Yorkshire's idiosyncratic personality.

While stopping to admire the Minster inside and out, how many visitors realise what treasures are held in All Saints Church on York's North Street? Its stained glass rivals the Minster in quality and its most precious window, said to be unique in Europe, is The Pricke of Conscience Window. Made around 1425, it portrays earthquakes, floods and fires in the final 15 days before the end of the world – expected at that point to happen in 1500.

At the Norman church of St Oswald in Flamborough, explorers can contemplate the tomb of local worthy "Little" Sir Marmaduke Constable, who died in 1518 in agony from swallowing a toad while drinking a glass of water. The story goes that the toad gnawed its way through the heart of the veteran of the Battle of Flodden. The tale is illustrated on the tomb by a sculpture showing the ribcage laid open to reveal a bulbous heart.

Many "firsts" have happened in Yorkshire. Caedmon, an Anglo-Saxon herdsman attached to Whitby Abbey during the abbacy of St. Hilda (657–680), was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the 8th century monk Bede. Winn tells us Caedmon later became a monk and an accomplished and inspirational religious poet, the first known poet writing in English.

Coverham near Middleham was the birth place of Miles Coverdale (1488-1569), who produced and published the first complete English translation of the Bible. Henry VIII ordered that every church should have a copy of that bible chained to a pew so that everyone should have access to it.

Britain's largest breed of terrier was first bred in Bingley in the 1850s. From politicians to musicians, navigators to novelists, Yorkshire has also born and bred more than its fair share of internationally renowned figures. Among them was Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928), the Liberal prime minister from 1908-1916, who was born in Morley, Leeds, the son of a wool merchant.

During his time in office he had to contend with the

controversial "People's Budget" introducing national insurance and pensions, the early part of the First World War and the Easter Rising in Ireland. His second wife, Margot Tennant, was a celebrated wit and Asquith's enjoyment of a glass or two earned him the rather original nickname "Squiffy". When he retired to become Earl of Oxford and Asquith, the wag Lord Salisbury remarked that it was like "a suburban villa calling itself Versailles."

Nostell Priory near Wakefield houses a collection of Chippendale furniture only rivalled by Harewood House, while Thomas Chippendale himself was born in Otley. Not such a household name, but equally worthy of note is Harry Brearley (1871-1948), born in Sheffield and a research assistant at Firth's steel company. In 1912, while trying to figure out a way to stop rifle barrels from rusting, he mixed steel with chromium in certain proportions and produced an alloy that was much more resistant to corrosion than ordinary steel. He had invented stainless steel, which would revolutionise British industry.

St Gregory's Minster might sound as though it is high and mighty, but it is a small, topsy-turvy building set in dark woods in Kirkdale on the North York Moors. The longest engraved inscription in Saxon English in Britain can be found around a sundial above the door of the church. St Gregory's is thought to be the burial place of King Ethelwald, son of King Oswy of Northumbria. Even more excitingly, bones were found

far beneath the church in 1821 – bones of animals no longer found in Britain, such as tigers, elephants, and wolves. Kirkdale Cave is now recognised as the most northerly location in the world where hippopotamus remains have been found.

That's Yorkshire – nothing if not varied.

n I Never Knew That About Yorkshire by Christopher Winn is published by Ebury Press, 9.99. To order from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop call 0800 0153232 or go to www.yorkshirepost

bookshop.co.uk. Postage costs 2.95.