As a result of the item about place names, Tom from N. Carolina wrote in to add: in the US state of Georgia we have Cairo, Athens & Rome. There is also Moscow in the state of Idaho; Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Frankfort, Kentucky and Odessa, Texas. The state of Connecticut has a bunch of place names reminiscent of England – Norwich, Devon, Stratford, Manchester, Windsor Locks, New London, etc.

Crystal from California wrote in to say: “isn't the joke about Simpsons that they called the town Springfield because there's one in every state? That's the rumour, anyway. Anyone know if there is some truth about this?”

Kim from Massachusetts also spotted Moscow, Russia and Moscow, Idaho and Moscow, Vermont.

Doug from Maine e-mailed the Beetle to say that although he lived for 11 years in London, he and his family now live Maine, topmost on the east coast of the USA. Doug goes on to say that Maine residents came from all over the world over the last 3 centuries, primarily from Europe. Many of those first immigrants liked to name their new homes after their previous homes in the “Old Country.” (Many, many came from Britain and we have too many British town names to mention here.) Some of the more interesting names of Maine towns include:

Carthage Orient, China, Paris, Lebanon, Peru, Levant, Poland, Madrid, Rome, Mexico, Smyrna, Moscow, Sweden, Naples, Troy, Norway, Vienna.

Many thanks to all of those who wrote in.