How well do you know Wearside and County Durham? Here are the first five batches of questions in our fun quiz.
Each night this week, we'll be asking you 10 questions and the winner will receive a signed SAFC shirt, plus a copy of Carol Roberton's book, Sunderland (Images of England). There'll also be runners-up prizes of the book.
Wait until Saturday when you've got all 60 answers, then send them, along with your name, address and phone number, to: Echo Big Quiz, Rob Lawson, Sunderland Echo, Echo House, Pennywell, Sunderland SR4 9ER. You can also drop them into our offices in High Street West, Pennywell, or Adelaide Row, Seaham.
Emailed entries should be sent to
rob.lawson@northeast-press.co.uk.
Closing date is Friday, August 29. The winners will be announced the following week.
Saturday's questions1 Housing Britain's most powerful navigational light when opened in 1903, what appropriate colours are the Aberdeen granite lighthouse on Roker Pier?
2 Which Southwick engineer who died in 1932 invented the hand-grenade "bomb" used by British Army soldiers?
3 The Sunderland-born man who "invented" the FA Cup, was a founding father of football and international cricket was from a wealthy Norfolk Street family. Who was he?
4 Which Hollywood actor, famed for biblical epics, announced when he came to the North East that his grandfather had been a Sunderland man with the surname of Carter?
5 Which former Horden Colliery miner, nicknamed Basher, who died in 2006, found fame as a Hollywood film actor and in scores of TV roles in the US and Britain? He was in Young Guns, Blazing Saddles and was Sergeant Bullock in the 1957 TV series Boots and Saddles.
6 Which nation's fleet was the enemy when Sunderland hero Jack Crawford climbed the broken mast to hoist Admiral Duncan's colours at Camperdown?
7 What was the cast-iron structure, considered to be an industrial wonder of the world, that changed the nature of Sunderland forever after it was built in 1796?
8 Old sailors used to call them the Maiden Paps, because of their shape seen from sea. What is their more formal name?
9 It closed on November 24, 1993, after producing coal for almost 130 years and was the last of the Durham coalfield mines to cease production. Which pit was it?
10 Who is the Sunderland author of the popular Horrible Histories books?
Friday's questions1 Silksworth produced which top-scoring footballer who scored for Sunderland in the 1937 Cup Final?
2 Which colourful Sunderland architect was responsible for the idiosyncratic Elephant Tea Rooms in Fawcett Street, as well as Meng's restaurant and Blackett's in High Street West?
3 Designed by architect ES Prior, which Sunderland Church was called "The Cathedral of the Arts and Crafts Movement" after its opening in 1907.
4. Which company built the famous Sunderland flying boat aircraft?
5 A granite water fountain, which once had a statue on top, was built to commemorate 100 years of the Laing's shipyard in 1893. Outside which Deptford pub does it now stand?
6 In which Sunderland street is the Eagle Building, which has an eagle statue on the roof?
7 In the grounds of which Sunderland school stood a stone memorial thanking God for the failure of a parachute mine to detonate on May 16, 1943?
8 Which architect designed Sunderland Town Hall, opened in 1890?
9 Who was "The Railway King" who became Sunderland's MP and was responsible for promoting new docks and railways in the town?
10 Thomas Meik's cast iron lighthouse stood from 1856 until 1983 at the end of the old South Pier. Where is it now?
Thursday's questions1 A crowd of about 15,000 in November 1963 saw the launch at JL Thompson's Wearside shipyard of the then biggest tanker in Britain at 85,600 tons. What was it called?
2 In which Sunderland park is there a cannon dating back to the English Civil War of the 1640s?
3 Which Sunderland group had hits with She Goes to Finos and Nellie The Elephant?
4 Which famous music hall star opened Sunderland Empire Theatre in 1907?
5 The Compton organ from the Regal, later the Odeon, cinema in Sunderland is now in a community centre. Where?
6 Who designed the Apollo Pavilion in Peterlee?
7 Which Hollywood film star played the part of the Baron in last year's Empire pantomime Cinderella?
8 Which prolific murderess, born in Low Moorsley, worked as a nurse in Sunderland Infirmary and for the wealthy Backhouse family in Ashburne House, Ashbrooke?
9 Which Sunderland musician accompanied Ringo Starr at the 2008 open air concert to start Liverpool's European City of Culture year?
10 In which building is the body of St Cuthbert, right, buried?
Wednesday's questions1 Which German town is twinned with Sunderland?
2 Which former Hetton resident has won three Brit awards and a Grammy as a record producer and wrote Pass the Flame, the official 2004 Olympic song?
3 In Dante's classic epic poem Divine Comedy, the only Englishman in heaven is a Wearmouth monk. Who was he?
4 Born in 1806, near Coxhoe, Durham, this famous poet died in 1861 in Florence, Italy. She married another famous poet and their romance has been depicted in feature film and stage musical. Who was she?
5 Who did Anne Isabella Milbanke marry in Seaham Hall on January 2, 1815?
6 The first English actor to be knighted made a difficult professional stage debut aged 18 in Sunderland in September 1856. Who was he?
7 Sunderland Museum's walrus reputedly inspired which Victorian writer?
8 Which Sunderland-born actor is married to actress Susan Jameson?
9 What was the name of Nissan's first car model off the production line at Sunderland in July 1986?
10 Which shipbuilder launched ships into the River Wear at the North Sands yard?
Tuesday's questions1 What unusual geological feature is in Sunderland's Marine Activities Centre?
2 Name the author and travel writer who is vice-chancellor of Durham University.
3 Which Sunderland cinema showed so many cowboy films before it closed in 1966 that its nickname was The Ranch?
4 Which Sunderland-born jockey rode an Epsom Derby winner?
5 Born Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert on February 17, 1821, in Ireland, she lived with relations in Monkwearmouth before becoming notorious under what name?
6 Which Sunderland store was in St Thomas Street and the New Arcade?
7 Durham City Market Place has a statue of Lord Londonderry on a horse. What piece of the horse's anatomy is missing from the statue?
8 Which cowboy film star rode his horse Tony on the stage of Sunderland Empire in November, 1938?
9 Red Marauder, a 33/1 outsider, won the Grand National in 2001. Which Sunderland man owned the horse?
10 The international Christmas 1959 hit song Little Donkey was written by a Sunderland-born man. Who?
Monday's questions1 In what year did the Queen proclaim that Sunderland was a city?
2 What is the name of Sunderland's patron saint who founded a monastery at Wearmouth in 674AD?
3 Novelist Joseph Conrad served as second mate aboard which famous Sunderland-built ship?
4 Which famous sportsman is Chancellor of the University of Sunderland?
5 About 15 years before Nissan set up in Sunderland, which motor company was building about 40 sports cars a week in Washington?
6 Almost 100 years ago on December 5, 1908, Sunderland AFC notched a record-breaking away score of 9-1. Which team did they beat?
7 Who was the Pallion-born inventor of the electric light bulb, who first demonstrated it at the Athenaeum in Fawcett Street, in January 1879?
8 What is the name of the river that flows through the Boldons and part of Sunderland?
9 Born at Ford Hall, Sunderland, which Victorian soldier has statues in his home city, London's Trafalgar Square, and has many pubs named after him?
10 About 30,000 people turned up to see the foundation stone laid in 1844 in memory of John George Lambton. What was the building?
