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ub quiz question: where was Captain James Cook – navigator, explorer and discoverer of Australia – born?

The answer is Middlesbrough. And if you plot a course for the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, in the North Yorkshire town, the enthusiastic crew that run the place will enlighten you about everything there is to know on England’s greatest mariner.

Inside you’ll find a reconstruction of the interior of Cook’s humble cottage, alongside family household possessions and the artifacts and instruments that charted the great man’s voyage from Europe all the way to New Zealand.

Each room of the museum is dedicated to different stages of the intrepid explorer’s life, with interactive displays, hands-on exercises and films giving youngsters an exciting insight into the Captain Cook story.

They can even become a temporary crew member and take a mini-voyage through Sidney Scurvy’s ship to find out what conditions at sea were really like.

Next time they moan about having to make their room ship-shape – remind them just how bad it could be.