WHAT does a Sunday lunch favourite, a traditional cuppa, and a pint of beer have in common with James Bond’s boss, a long-dead explorer and Monty Python?

According to a new survey the answer is a geographical one - and they are some of the best things to have come out of Yorkshire, the country’s biggest county.

To co-incide with tomorrow’s Yorkshire Day celebrations more than 4,000 people from the UK and overseas were asked what the county was best known for.

Yorkshire pudding predictably headed the top-ten list, with almost half of the votes, followed in quick succession by Yorkshire Tea and Wensleydale Cheese - proving perhaps that a lot of people were led by their taste buds.

But when it came to personalities the survey produced some surprises, with York-born Oscar-winner Dame Judi Dench - who now features as M in the 007 movies - in the lead.

She beat off challenges from such renowned worthies as literary heavyweights the Bronte sisters and the great navigator Captain James Cook.

Even she was surprised at that result: "There must have been some quite stiff competition," she said. "But the city and county are dear to my heart and it’s a place I will always return to."

Another surprise in the personality stakes was comedian, writer and professional traveller Michael Palin. One of the founders of Monty Python, he was born in Sheffield in 1943.

Terry’s Chocolate Oranges may not have been made in Yorkshire for years - they are now produced in Sweden, Belgium, Poland and Slovakia rather than York - but memories are long and it still made the list.

In ninth place legendary outlaw Robin Hood could be regarded as controversial, particularly by the people of Nottingham, but the original legends do place him in Yorkshire - in Barnsdale, near Doncaster, to be precise.

And in tenth place - last but certainly not least - came the youngest of the favourite things to come out of Yorkshire, a pint of Black Sheep Ale.

The Masham brewery was only established in 1991 - but it’s inclusion in the list shows it’s popularity here and abroad and proves that newcomers were not being overlooked.

The survey was commissioned by tourism agency Visit York. Only 13 per cent of those who took part came from Yorkshire with the rest coming from elsewhere in the UK and overseas.