Reasons why South Shields people are called "sand dancers"

Many thanks to everyone who responded to our request for theories a couple of weeks ago when we were discussing the pit yackers of County Durham and the farm yackers of North Yorkshire.

Here are seven of the theories:

• Sailing ships used to get beached at South Shields, and the townspeople would rush furiously about on the sand, as if they were dancing, trying to get them afloat again – while also surreptitiously relieving them of a little cargo
• The people of Shields once worshipped sea gods and so when the tide went out, they performed a dance at the low water mark which made the tide come back in again
• Like many coastal communities, Shields residents turned a blind eye to contraband. Smugglers knew it as a place of “sans danger” – safe. It is a small slip of a Frenchman’s tongue from sans danger to sand dancer

• The action of the sea on the magnesian limestone cliffs around Shields has created some interesting rock formations – like the famous Marsden Rock, which collapsed in 1996 (above, on an Edwardian postcard). People used to hold fashionable parties in caves in which they danced on the sand
• Shields, like Sunderland, is renowned for its manufacture of glass, which uses large quantities of sand. To make the sand ready for use, it was stamped on to break it up in a process that looked like dancing

• There was a surprisingly strong following for early Duran Duran (above) in Shields and when the song Rio became a hit in 1982, with its refrain of “her name is Rio and she dances on the sand”, the townspeople adopted it as their anthem
• In the 19th Century, Arabic sailors from Yemen or Somali were regarded as hard working firemen, shovelling coal into the ships’ engines in the hottest conditions. By the 1860s, there were hundreds of Arabic sailors living in boarding houses in Shields waiting for their next vessel; by 1900, there were 2,000. Some of them married local women and settled down.

However, in the economic downturn following the First World War, they were accused of “stealing” the jobs of British sailors, and tensions arose. There was a small race riot in 1919 and some major ones in 1930 when 13 Somalis were employed as firemen on a ship ahead of local men. This led to Shields getting a reputation as an “Arab Town”.

South Shields police arrest an Arabic man during the 1930 riot

South Shields police, with their truncheons drawn, go searching for rioters on August 3, 1930, in the Mill Dam area of the town

Arab defendants photographed secretly in the dock at South Shields after the riot of 1930

In the 1930s, a music hall act called Wilson, Keppel and Betty became famous for their “sand dancers” routine. With Betty showing a lot of flesh, and long-legged Jack Wilson and Joe Keppel clowning around, they based their dance moves on ancient Egyptian paintings.

This idea was revived by The Bangles in their 1986 hit, Walk Like An Egyptian (above), which has the opening lines:

“All the old paintings on the tombs
They do the sand dance don't you know?”

Because of Shields’ reputation as an “Arab Town”, its people became the “sand dancers” because of the Wilson, Keppel and Betty routine.

Which of these versions do you like the best? Are there any other theories?

Many thanks to everyone who has sent their thoughts on this issue, including Frank Ripley and Diane Fraser.