Why do I think the Black Country's bostin'? Here's a dozen reasons to get you started

What makes the Black Country great? How much paper have you got? Almost everything that is good in your life is linked to the Black Country one way or another. But just to get you started, here's a dozen things that make the Black Country bostin':

1.The birthplace of the age of steam. We've got to start with the reason that July 14 is chosen for Black Country Day: it marks the anniversary of the world's first working steam engine built by Thomas Newcomen at Coneygree Mine Works, about a mile from Dudley Castle, on July 14, 1712. Imagine how different the world would be today if Newcomen had not created this amazing piece of technology – we would probably still be travelling on horse-drawn carts.

2. The canals. These were the motorways of the 19th century, the HS2 of the Industrial Revolution. Their construction enabled the (relatively) rapid transportation of raw materials, and the delivery of finished products around the country – and of course to the docks where they would be transported around the world. Many of the Black Country canals were the work of James Brindley, an engineering genius who came up with some incredible feats of technology which made it possible to navigate the hilly terrain of the region. They looked to be in a state of terminal decline in the 1950s, but the hard work of hundreds of volunteers across the region led to them being restored and becoming prized leisure assets.

3. From the Norman Conquest to the English Civil War the history of Britain has been shaped by the goings on at Dudley Castle.

Generally thought to have been built at the time of the Norman Conquest – although there is a line of thought that it might go back as far as 700AD – this splendid ruin has been a centre of intrigue for almost 1,000 years.

In 1553 its owner John Dudley had his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey installed as queen of England and Ireland, although her reign would last for only nine days. When Mistress Dorothy Beaumont, wife of Royalist leader Lt Col John Beaumont, died at the castle, the Roundheads outside even stopped fighting to allow her funeral procession to make its way around the town. Now that’s what you call history.

4. The Tipton Slasher. Fighters didn't come much harder than the great bare-knuckle bruiser from the Black Country, who first claimed the English heavyweight championship on December 17, 1850, when he by defeated Tom Paddock over 27 rounds.

In 1851 he lost the English heavyweight title in a controversial referee's decision to Harry Broome, which he strongly disputed. After the leading contenders of the day refused to fight him, Perry reclaimed the English title circa 1853, and retained it until Tom Sayers defeated him in a championship bout in 1857. Unlike the boxers of today, with their gold jewellery and blinged-up motors, Perry led a simple life, and after retirement he kept the Bricklayers' Arms in Walsall Road, Wolverhampton.

5. We're the only people who speak proper English. According to academic Ed Conduit, the Black Country dialect is the closest thing we now have to Old English. While other areas of the country allowed their language to be corrupted, first by the Vikings, and later by the Normans, we refused to slip into the sloppy mish-mash of English, Norse and French which blighted the rest of the country. More than anywhere else, Black Country folk fought to retain the established standards of grammar and pronunciation, and we still speak better English than anybody from the Home Counties – no matter what those southern softies might say.

6. 'Jumping' Joe Darby. What can you say about a man who can jump from one side of a canal to another, without taking so much as a run-up? And taking a dip in the middle, without getting his feet wet?

His most unique feat was to jump over a chair, alighting on a man's face and jumping back again without injuring his assistant. On other occasions, he would jump on and off a seated man's hat, without causing any damage.

Today, he would be a shoo-in to win Britain's Got Talent, and his talents made him a global star, touring France, Germany and North America and performing for future King Edward VII at Covent Garden. The Montreal Daily Witness described the nailmaker's son from Netherton as 'the greatest phenomenon in the jumping line in the world'

Not only that, when 20,000 fans turned out to watch him take on American spring jumper Jose Parker at Dudley Castle, all gate receipts went to Dudley Guest Hospital. An all-round good egg.

7. It was the capital of the world's iron and steel industries. Legend has it that, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, more than half the steel in the world was made within a 20-mile radius of the Earl of Dudley’s Steel Works at Round Oak.

Whether that is true or not, we do know that in the 1620s, Dud Dudley, the Earl of Dudley's illegitimate son, became the first person in the world to smelt iron with coke. His great nephew Abraham Darby, also born in Dudley, developed the technique to spark the Industrial Revolution.

Adopted Black Countryman John 'Iron Mad' Wilkinson, who ran an ironworks in Bradley, near Bilston, invented the precision boring machine that could create cast iron cylinders. Without it, we may never have had a car or rail industry.

8. The famous glass industry. Sometime overshadowed by the region's mining, iron and engineering industries, the glassworks of Brierley Hill, Kingswinford, Amblecote and Wordsley were nevertheless recognised around the world. The Red House Cone, thought to be the only complete remaining glass cone of its kind.

9. The Black Country Unesco Geopark. A very un-Black Country term for what we would call 'some bostin' countryside'. While outsiders assume the area is purely about smoking chimneys and urban sprawl, that would be to ignore the 428-million-year-old geology of Wrens Nest National Nature Reserve, the natural wonders of Sandwell Valley, the glorious lakes of Baggeridge Country Park, or the stunning views from Sedgley Beacon.

10. Black Country humour. From Billy Dainty to Frank Skinner, through Josie Lawrence, Lenny Henry, Lizzie Wiggins and Norman Pace – not forgetting legends like Dolly Allen, Tommy Mundon, or Aynuk and Ayli – the region has produced some of the funniest comedians the world has known. And unlike some of the 'edgy' comedians favoured by the London elite, they do it without crude language or being unkind to others.

What makes Black Country unique? We prefer to laugh out ourselves rather than others.

11. The Black Country Living Museum. With three new shops having opened just last week, there has never been a better time to visit this splendid attraction just outside Dudley town centre. The museum is best known for its depiction of life in 'the olden days' and as the set of Peaky Blinders. But the latest additions take the story up to the 1960s, and many of the new attractions will be familiar to visitors.

12. The Black Country has produced some of the world's greatest footballers. From Steve Bloomer, who scored 28 goals in 23 appearances for England from 1895-1907, to Duncan Edwards, who many consider the greatest player of all time, Black Country-born players have worn the white shirt with pride. Then there's Steve Bull, Allan Clarke, Billy Walker, Jess 'Peerless' Pennington....

And then we come to Jude Bellingham. Possibly a bit of a stretch, given that he was raised in Hagley, but he cut his playing teeth in Amblecote, so that's good enough for us.