According to research by the Guinness World Records, Shrewsbury Flower Show is the longest running flower show in the world. It has been running from 1875, with breaks only in the war years.
Charles Dickens stayed in the Bear Hotel in the Shropshire town of Newport, and modelled Miss Haversham from his novel ‘Great Expectations’ on a recluse who lived in the town.
One of the greatest poets of his generation, Shropshire-born Wilfred Owen had only five of his poems published before his death on 4th November 1918, just days before the end of the war.