This book is the first historical assessment of English regional cultural policy. With its dialect and striking modern icons such as the Angel of the North, the north east has been described as England's most distinctive region. This study reveals the impact of the new cultural institutions that emerged after 1945 upon a region with deeply rooted vernacular traditions. The creation of the regional arts board and the development of regional broadcasting as well as the national efforts to manage the northern economic problems presented challenges for vernacular culture. In the ensuing battle between provincial and metropolitan values the north east as a modern cultural region took shape. Some surprising paradoxes are revealed: the region at the end of the nation's cultural queue was the first to create a regional arts council. The last English region to receive television broadcasting produced Tyne Tees, the television company that hoped to outshine the BBC in the local integrity of its programmes.  Vall analyses the post-war cultural initiatives that were harnessed to ambitions for economic improvement. Nascent cultural policy strove to enrich the middle class lifestyle and challenge vernacular hegemony. The concluding chapters detail the cultural regeneration of the urban riversides, with particular attention to Gateshead, long overshadowed by Newcastle, but by the millennium a much vaunted example of successful culture-led regeneration. This volume is essential for anyone with an interest in the formation of cultural identities, the development of regional government arts policies, urban regeneration and cultural and social history.