Hi lads,Geordie Sam here,
there is a Town 30 miles south of where I'm writing this called Hartlepool,during the Napoleonic wars between us Brits and the French (we won 5-0 by the way) a French frigate was shipwrecked off the coast of Hartlepool,there was only one survivor,the ships mascot which was a monkey. (dressed in a sailor suit) The good people of Hartlepool never having seen a Frenchman (or a monkey come to that) thought the monkey was a French spy (it didn't help the fact the monkey couldn't speak English) they held a Kangaroo court and sentenced the monkey to death, the poor monkey was hanged.
To this day if you want to "take the piss" (make fun of) out of someone from Hartlepool you call them a "monkey hanger".
Geordie Sam.
there is a Town 30 miles south of where I'm writing this called Hartlepool,during the Napoleonic wars between us Brits and the French (we won 5-0 by the way) a French frigate was shipwrecked off the coast of Hartlepool,there was only one survivor,the ships mascot which was a monkey. (dressed in a sailor suit) The good people of Hartlepool never having seen a Frenchman (or a monkey come to that) thought the monkey was a French spy (it didn't help the fact the monkey couldn't speak English) they held a Kangaroo court and sentenced the monkey to death, the poor monkey was hanged.
To this day if you want to "take the piss" (make fun of) out of someone from Hartlepool you call them a "monkey hanger".
Geordie Sam.