Dorothy's story of Shrewsbury in 26 letters
A challenge. Think of something to do with Shrewsbury beginning with X, and something beginning with Z. And you can't have X-ray.
It's a challenge Dorothy Nicolle has risen to with her latest book, which is an A to Z of the county town, featuring its places, people, and history.
As a Blue Badge tourist guide, Dorothy knows the town very well, but has aimed to include some less obvious aspects of it in her book.
And while she compares Shrewsbury with a gem, she does not choose an obvious one either.
"Shrewsbury has the subtlety of, perhaps, an opal, a stone that seems quiet and undemanding but, depending on how you turn it in the light, can give off different colours and stun you with its beauty," she says.
Dorothy, who lives in Oswestry, says that when she first began to list ideas for her book "A-Z of Shrewsbury" she came up with dozens of subjects which would have made it an enormous volume, so she decided to be a bit more subtle and introduce, or remind, readers of some of the more unusual subjects.
"For example, Charles Darwin obviously has to be included, but what about his father, Robert, who tends to be ignored?
"Then there's a pub in the town named after the famous Admiral Benbow, but what about his relative, Captain Benbow?
"And so, hidden among the obvious, I've included some rather more quirky aspects of a town that has to be one of the most fascinating in all of Britain."
If you're struggling with the X, it's a bit of a cheat as Dorothy has chosen Xmas Carol. The movie A Christmas Carol was filmed in Shrewsbury in 1984, starring George C Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge, and involving many local people as extras.
"The scene in the story in which Scrooge visits his own grave was filmed in the churchyard of New St Chad's Church. The grave is still there and attracts many visitors."
As for Z, step forward Professor Martin Zade.
"He was Jewish and born in Germany in 1877. In 1930s Nazi Germany he was working as a professor of ophthalmology at Heidelberg University and realised he needed to escape from persecution, which he did in 1939. He finally came to Shrewsbury where he worked at the Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital for a time before he died in 1944."
Professor Zade is buried at the Longden Road cemetery in Shrewsbury.
A-Z of Shrewsbury is 96 pages, softback, and published by Amberley Publishing, price £15.99.
