PUB quiz: what links Tony the Tiger, Rik Mayall, the days when radio was called ‘the wireless’, water saltier than the Dead Sea and proof that lightning does, indeed, strike twice?

It’s a conundrum worthy of Victoria Coren’s Only Connect TV quiz show. Well, the answer is … drum roll … Droitwich, a historic town in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire.

In fact, the town has many more claims to fame, and they’re detailed in a fun, fact-filled, new book titled Ooh Aah Droitwich Spa by newspaperman Adrian Caffery, who lives there.

Did you know, for example, that the voice of Tony the Tiger – the “They’re GRRREAT” face of Kellogg’s Frosties ever since 1952 – was that of local resident Tom Clarke-Hill from 1999 onwards?

Or that Rik Mayall, one of the UK’s best-loved comedy actors, grew up in Droitwich from the age of three, went to local schools and made his stage debut at the town’s Norbury Theatre?

If you bought a radio set made from 1934 until the 1950s, you’ll have found ‘Droitwich’ on the dial between Luxembourg and Paris, Hamburg, Berlin and Rome – because the BBC’s most powerful long-wave transmitting station was established a couple of miles north in the village of Wychbold.

And we’ve all seen the pictures of tourists floating on their backs in the Dead Sea, reading the paper with a cup of tea. Well, Droitwich’s brine is even saltier than that, ten times saltier than the sea.

Oh, and you really believe that lightning never strikes twice? Ask professional golfer John Bickerton, who grew up on the Chawson estate and was teenage club champion at Droitwich Golf Club.

In 1989, at the Midland Amateur Golf Championships, he was struck by lightning on the first hole but still managed to birdie the hole and went on to win the tournament. 

It was the second time he’d been hit by a bolt from the blue!

There’s history here from the Roman occupation to the recent floods, tales of wartime secrets and derring-do, surprising showbiz, sport and Shakespeare, and – er – the ‘kidnapping’ of Eminem.

These, and many more stories, are told in full in Ooh Aah Droitwich Spa by Adrian Caffery. The 52-page full colour hardback book is priced £11 online at Adrian Caffery Editorial or £12 at Droitwich Spa Heritage and Information Centre, Victoria Square.

It’ll make an ideal Christmas present, especially if you have links to the town and surrounding area.