Did you just smile at that stranger?' It's always slightly depressing when I go down south and no-one thanks the bus driver when they get off. I think that's really sad." – Abbie, Newcastle This may seem like a silly thing to get irritated by because wrapping up in cold weather or on nights out actually makes total sense.

Northerners: A History, from the Ice Age to the Present Day

Brian recounts the notorious visit by Bradford’s JB Priestley to Tyneside in autumn 1933 for his book English Journey. Dosed with medicine for a heavy cold and tired of travelling, Priestley described the Geordie accent as a “most barbarous, monotonous and irritating twang”. Gateshead, he added, was a town “carefully planned by an enemy of the human race”. When I'm told I sound more southern when I return home to visit family and friends, that hurts." – Rachel, Preston Do you know Peter Kay?' Just because I live near Bolton doesn't mean I personally know the guy." – Jess, Manchester What people eat is also telling. Let’s take fish and chips as an example. In Scotland chips are served with a tangy sauce called “chippie sauce” but in London you’re more likely to have chips with gravy. In the Midlands they have “wet chips” which means they are smothered with baked beans or mushy peas. This one always baffles me, but some people from the south ask me what Greggs is?! I don't really understand how anyone from the south can have avoided the cultural icon that is Greggs by this point." – Rachel, Preston

As well as poking fun at one another for their accents and slang,they quibble about who is the friendliest. According to research carried out by Cambridge University, people from Yorkshire are the most helpful when asked for directions and Scots are the friendliest. It also found Londoners to be the least friendly. It’s not just about stereotypes though; there are many different cultural practices in the two that creates this division. Like how it drives northerners crazy when southerners refer to dinner or tea as “supper.”

Northerners: The bestselling history of the North of England

Posh, southern boys love to tell me how brilliant Margaret Thatcher was for the UK…" – Naomi, CheshireI just love pies and southerners don't get it." – Richard, Manchester Why do you love gravy so much? Northerners also shows how the past echoes down the centuries. The devastation of factory and pit closures in the 1980s, for example, recalled the trauma of William the Conqueror’s Harrying of the North. The book charts how the North-South divide has ebbed and flowed and explores the very real divisions between Northerners. There is no denying that people who live in the North of the UK have very different characteristics from those living in the South, which leads to intense rivalry between the two.

Northerners and Southerners: Are they THAT different?

Northeners are very down to earth people, they try hard and alway give a good days work. Coming from one of the poorest parts of England does not stop them from being lovely and considerate. Northerners accuse southerners, especially Londoners, of being “southern fairies.” This means they think people from the South don’t know what an honest day’s work means and spend too much money in wine bars. The book aims to be Northern England’s defining biography, laying out dramatic events that created the North – waves of migration, invasions and battles, and transformative changes affecting European culture and the global economy. This authoritative new history of place and people lays out the dramatic events that created the north – waves of migration, invasions and battles, and transformative changes wrought on European culture and the global economy. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from the earliest times to the present day, the book shows that the people of the north have shaped Britain and the world in unexpected ways.MORE : 25 reasons the North of the UK is way better than the South 7. They don’t understand the chips and gravy hype Isn’t dinner what you have in the evening, not at lunch? So boring." – Abbie, Newcastle My cousin is from Manchester, do you know her? It seems like we've had them all, but ask yourself: what has it all been for if we still don't understand each other? I found some northerners and spoke to them to see how we can become one nation, united despite our differences when it comes to what we put on our chips. Why are you talking funny?