Mild

Following the news that Newcastle may once have had tropical climes, TTel gets a few opinions in the subject:

India Knight, journalist: "They walked about in tiny miniskirts in the snow and rain. Their legs had taken on a blueish tinge and acquired a sort of giraffe-print pattern, to do, I imagine, with chronic circulation problems. But their teeth didn't chatter, their skin wasn't chapped and they didn't collapse in the street from hypothermia.

"Perhaps it's a genetic thing, a superior northern gene denied to us southern softies. The point was, though — this is going back 20 years or so— that the tiny clothes in freezing weather thing was as much to do with money, or the lack of it, as it was with fashion. If you've spent all your wages on buying an outfit for Saturday night, you don't then go and cover it up with some great big shapeless coat which you can't afford — waste of money when you could be buying more hair dye or clothes — and are going to take off the minute you reach your destination. Which kind of makes sense."

Joe Worsley, rugby player: "The local lasses habitually wear less than a triathlete when it's freezing cold."

Philippa Tomson, Tyne Tees television presenter: "While the rest of Britain is shivering in sub-arctic conditions and wrapping up in so many layers that they make the Michelin Man look underdressed, up here in Geordie-land the women are heading out in their traditional winter plumage: mini-skirts, tight-fitting tops and itsy-bitsy dresses that would look more at home on the beach in Acapulco.
The lower the thermometer plunges, the less Geordie women seem to wear — a ‘survival of the fittest’ contest designed to weed out weaklings (or Southerners, as they are more ­commonly known)."
Scientists even did a survey to attempt to find out if Geordies had a genetic disposition to being able to deal with the cold.

Linda Conlon, of Newcastle ScienceFest: "We decided to investigate the reputation Geordies have for not wearing a coat in even the worst weather.
"Is there a possible genetic reason for our bravery or is it simply because we like to show off our finery on a night out?"