West Midlands: Three things you wanted to know

People have been using Your Questions to ask us what they want to know about the West Midlands.

You wanted to know which was the oldest pub in Shropshire.

You asked why people in Stoke-on-Trent called those from Cannock or Hednesford 'yammies'.

And you were curious as to why Rugby radio station was not bombed during World War Two. Here is how we got on with answering your questions.

Norrie Porter, from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in Shropshire, said he believed the oldest pub in the county was The Royal Oak, in Cardington, which can trace its history back to the 15th Century.

Mr Porter said there were two pubs which disputed that claim, but The Three Horseshoes, in Alveley, had closed.

And while The Swan Inn, in Aston Munslow, claims to have opened in the 14th Century, English Heritage believes the building is 16th Century.

He said the pub in the oldest building was probably The Old Eagles, in Whitchurch, which was built in the 14th Century but has only been a pub since 1868.

And he explained this was further confused because pubs were only really licensed after the 1751 Gin Act and before then any house could claim to be a beer house.

It is generally thought that people from Cannock and the surrounding areas are called 'yammies' due to their use of the term 'yam' to mean 'you are'.

For example, "yam orite, yam" means "you're alright, you are."

Yam Yam or yammie is more often used as a term for people from Wolverhampton, Walsall and Dudley, but if anyone's using it about those from Cannock or Hednesford, that's why.

This editor of the Black Country Society's magazine The Blackcountryman, Michael Pearson, said police in the 1980s used the phrase to distinguish Black Country folk from Brummies, who they called Lardi's (as in la-di-dah).

Ex-station manager Malcolm Hancock, who recently published a book about its history, believes the Germans must have recognised the strategic importance of the site, but little damage was done during bombing raids of World War Two.

He thinks the Germans were using the station as a radio, or physical navigational beacon, possibly to help them find Coventry and Birmingham.

But there is also some speculation that Hitler was protecting his confidante Unity Mitford, who, it's been revealed, spent time in a Hillmorton vicarage near the site.

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