as raw materials such as coal and iron ore could be found in these areas. This led to comparatively high wealth; Shaw, Greater Manchester reportedly had the highest concentration of millionaires in the country at the time. It also led to heavy reliance on a few key industries and, as heavy industry began to leave the UK for developing countries under the 'New international division of Labour', these areas declined rapidly. Events like the UK miners' strike (1984–85) polarised public opinion and led to an increase in the divide. Potential historical reasons for the divide include the influence of Scandinavian rule in the latter centuries of the first millennium CE, with much of the cultural differences of the north–south divide coinciding with the borders of the Danelaw. The Economist proposed in a 2017 article that the origins of the north–south divide could be traced back to the Norman Conquest, and the Harrying of the North in which William the Conqueror laid waste to many towns and estates in the North. This significantly reduced the wealth of the northern half of the country, laying the foundations for centuries of economic disadvantage. The Midlands The North Midlands are sometimes seen as part of the north, with Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Northern Warwickshire having northern culture and accents. Many Midlands towns and cities appear, at least historically, to have more in common with their northern counterparts than with those in the south. This is mainly because they have a history of concentrated industrialisation and post-industrial economic depression, especially in the West Midlands metropolitan county and Stoke-on-Trent (and the Potteries). The film Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2004), starring Ricky Tomlinson, was made in the character of the straight-talking and dry humoured northern comedies. The non-industrialised service centre and county towns and cities of southern England are perceived to be dominated by London and exist essentially to service the capital. However, during the 1930s while the North suffered badly from the Great Depression, the Midlands shared the fortunes of the South as these two areas of the country both prospered, with a booming Midlands motor car industry matching the Southern growth in the manufacture of electrical goods. This not only placed the Midlands socially on the same side as the South during a crucial defining period in Northern working class cultural identity, but also has had still-visible matching