Why Wakefield was my childhood capital of the world – Yorkshire Post Letters

IN a recent article, Michael McGowan, the former MEP, put forward the case for the City of Wakefield becoming the centre for a new West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Being a born and bred Wakefieldian, I would wholeheartedly agree. As he stated, until the reorganisation of local government in 1974, the city was indeed the administrative centre of the West Riding.

As youngsters in the early 1950s we thought, and indeed expressed a view, that our city should be the capital of the world. Our simple reasoning went as follows: Wakefield was the capital of the West Riding, which was the largest of the 
three Ridings making up Yorkshire.

The county was the largest in England, and the country was the largest in the United Kingdom, which was in turn the most important country in the world. Hence, Wakefield should be the world’s capital.

At our tender age, it all made complete sense to us. And let’s not forget one important fact. The cruise singer Jane McDonald always sings the praises of Wakefield, her birthplace, when she is on her travels.

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