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Adrian Mole
Adrian Albert Mole (born 2 April 1967) is the fictional protagonist in a series of books by English author Sue Townsend. The character first appeared (as Nigel) in a BBC Radio 4 play in 1982. The books are written in the form of a diary, with some additional content such as correspondence. The first two books appealed to many readers as a realistic and humorous treatment of the inner life of an adolescent boy. They also captured something of the zeitgeist of Britain during the Thatcher period.
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Austin Healey
Austin Sean Healey (born 26 October 1973 in Wallasey, Merseyside) is a former English rugby union player, who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and has represented the England national rugby union team and the British Lions.
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Basshunter
Jonas Erik Altberg (born 22 December 1984), better known by the pseudonym Basshunter, is a Swedish producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his number one hits "Boten Anna" and "Now You're Gone". Basshunter has so far released a total of five albums, two of which have been released in the United Kingdom, and a total of 14 singles. His latest U.K. single, "Saturday," was released on 18 July 2010. He has also competed in hit reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother in January 2010.
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Bishop of Leicester
The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury.
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Blab Happy
Blab Happy were a British indie band from Leicester formed in 1987, comprising Mick McCarthy, Jon Dennis, Tony Owen and Jeremy Clay. After two EPs released on their own Wisdom label won airplay on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, and enthusiastic reviews in New Musical Express, Sounds and Melody Maker, they were signed by Demon Records offshoot F-Beat, for whom they released 2 albums, 1991's Boat and 1993's Smothered. The NMEs Gina Morris, wrote of the band: "Blab Happy are a cheerful Leicester four piece, smirking between That Petrol Emotion, Blur, and The Beatles". Blab Happy toured in their own right and as support to bands such as Radiohead, Kingmaker, and Squeeze. The band split up in 1993, with singer Mick McCarthy and bassist Tony Owen forming Perfume, who enjoyed the patronage of BBC Radio 1 DJs Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley, having a minor hit in 1996 with "Haven't Seen You". Jon Dennis meanwhile formed Slinky, who also won airplay from Lamacq and Whiley with two singles produced by John Robb and were finalists in the 1995 In The City contest.
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Black British
Black British is a term that usually describes British people of Black African descent. The term, which has had different meanings and uses as a racial and political label, has been historically used to refer to any non-white British nationals. The term was first used at the end of the British Empire, when several major colonies formally gained independence and thereby created a new form of national identity. The term was used primarily from the 1950s to describe those from the former colonies of Africa, and the Caribbean, i.e. the New Commonwealth. In some circumstances the word 'Black' still signifies all ethnic minority populations.
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British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi (Bengali: ব্রিটিশ বাংলাদেশি) is someone of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis. Large numbers of Bangladeshis emigrated to the UK, primarily from Sylhet; located in the north-east of the country, mainly during the 1970s. The largest concentration is in London, primarily in the east London boroughs, of which Tower Hamlets has the highest proportion, making up approximately 33% of the borough's total population. This large diaspora in London leads people in Bangladesh to refer to British Bangladeshis as "Londoni" rather than "British". Bangladeshis also have significant communities in Birmingham, Oldham, Luton and Bradford, with smaller clusters in Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cardiff, and Sunderland.
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British Chinese
British Chinese (/ 英国华侨), including British-born Chinese (often informally referred to as BBC), are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in, or have migrated to, the United Kingdom. They are part of the Chinese diaspora, or overseas Chinese. The British Chinese community is the largest in Europe and thought to be the oldest Chinese community in Western Europe (if not all of Europe), with the first Chinese coming from the ports of Tianjin and Shanghai in the early 19th century, many thousands of whom settled in port cities such as Liverpool in 1804 and earlier.
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British Indian
The term British Indian (also Indian British or Indian Britons) refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK, who are of Indian descent or Indian-born people who have immigrated to the UK. Today, Indians number around one and a half million in the UK (not including those of mixed Indian and Other ancestry), making them the single largest visible ethnic minority population in the country. They make up the largest subgroup of British Asians, and are one of the largest Indian communities in the Indian diaspora, largely due to the Indian-British relations (including historical links such as India once been occupied by British and being part of the British Empire and still being part of the Commonwealth of Nations). The British Indian community is the fifth largest in the Indian diaspora, behind the Indian communities in Nepal, the United States, Malaysia and Burma.
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British Pakistanis
British Pakistanis (also Pakistani Britons) are citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. The UK has the largest overseas Pakistani population with a population of 1.2 million as of 2010. Pakistanis make up a large subgroup of British Asians largely due to historical and colonial links and Pakistan still being part of the Commonwealth of Nations. The British Pakistani population is very diverse and differs from region to region. British Pakistanis are victims of the North-South divide in Britain. This means that in London and the South East, the community is socially mobile and educational achievement is on or above national averages. While in the West Midlands and the North of England, the community has generally suffered from a decline in the manufacturing industry and the change to a service economy. Science and Mathematics remain popular subjects with the youngest generation of British Pakistanis, as the youth begin to establish themselves within the field.
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Crazyhead
Crazyhead are an English garage punk band from Leicester. Though lumped in with the largely media-created Grebo scene, they were more influenced by the Garage Rock of the late '60s, as well as bands like The Ramones, The Stooges and Captain Beefheart. They described themselves as an "urban bastard blues band", and their songs ranged in theme from trenchant social commentary to the surreal, but always with an underlying vein of black humour.
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Danelaw
The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagu; ), is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to be geographical. The areas that comprised the Danelaw are in northern and eastern England. The origins of the Danelaw arose from the Viking expansion of the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in nearby Britain, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the year 876.
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David Pleat
David John Pleat (born Nottingham, England on 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager and sports commentator.
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Elizabeth I
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Emile Heskey
Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (born 11 January 1978) is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa as a striker.
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Frank Benbini
Frank Benbini (real name Mark Francis Reid), born in Leicester, United Kingdom, is the drummer in the Fun Lovin' Criminals, following on from their original drummer Steve "O" Borovini and Maxwell "Mackie" Jayson. As well as being known as Frank Benbini, he also goes by the names Uncle Frank and TRM which stands for "The Rhythm Man".
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Freddie King
Freddie King (September 3, 1934 – December 28, 1976), thought to have born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert King and B.B. King.
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Gary Lineker
Gary Winston Lineker, OBE (born 30 November 1960) is a former English footballer, who played as a striker. He is a sports broadcaster for the BBC, Al Jazeera Sports and Eredivisie Live. He remains England's top scorer in the FIFA World Cup finals, with 10 goals.
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Gaye Bykers on Acid
Gaye Bykers On Acid (GBOA) were an English psychedelic rock band from Leicester, and one of the founder members of the Grebo music scene. They later released both thrash punk and dance music albums under various aliases.
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Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth (, ) (c. 1100 – c. 1155) was a Welsh cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British history and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"), widely popular in its day, credited uncritically well into the 16th century and translated to various other languages from its original Latin.
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Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks, OBE (born 30 December 1937) is a retired English footballer, elected in a poll by the IFFHS as the second best goalkeeper of the 20th Century — after Lev Yashin (1st) and before Dino Zoff (3rd).
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Great War
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Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready. England prospered during his reign and his greatest monument is Westminster, which he made the seat of his government and where he expanded the abbey as a shrine to Edward the Confessor.
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Henry VII of England
Henry VII (; 28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
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Hugh Aston
Hugh Aston (c. 1485 – buried 17 November 1558) was an English composer of the early Tudor period. While little of his music survives, he is notable for his innovative keyboard writing.
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Jimmy Bloomfield
James Henry "Jimmy" Bloomfield (15 February 1934 – 3 April 1983) was an English football player and manager.
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John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, born near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was metrically free. John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own unique genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his masterful and idiosyncratic blues guitar and singing. His best known songs include "Boogie Chillen'" (1948) and "Boom Boom" (1962).
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Jon Ashworth
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Kasabian
Kasabian are a British alternative rock band that formed in Countesthorpe, Leicestershire in 1999. Originally comprising vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and keyboardist Christopher Karloff, guitarist and backing vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, bassist Chris Edwards, the band have released three studio albums – Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006) and West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009). The band currently features Meighan, Pizzorno, Edwards and drummer Ian Matthews. Pizzorno also took over as Kasabian's lead song-writer after the departure of Christopher Karloff.
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Keith Vaz
Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz (born 26 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East since 1987, and was the Minister of State for Europe from 1999 to 2001. He was was appointed as a member of the Privy Council in June 2006 and was Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee from July 2007 to 11 May 2010.
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Kyte
Kyte are an electro indie pop group, from Leicestershire, England.
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Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as '''The Nine Days' Queen''', was a young English noblewoman who occupied the English throne from 10 until 19 July 1553 and was executed for high treason. A great-granddaughter of Henry VII by his younger daughter Mary, Jane was a first-cousin-once-removed of Edward VI. The teenage King left her the Crown in his will, thus subverting the claims of his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth under the Third Succession Act. During her short reign Jane resided in the Tower of London, never to leave the premises again. She became a prisoner when the Privy Council decided to change sides and proclaim Mary I. Wyatt's rebellion against Queen Mary's plans of a Spanish match was the direct cause of Jane's execution in February 1554.
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Liz Kendall
Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010.
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Lowell Fulson
Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921 – March 7, 1999) was a big-voiced blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. Fulson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also recorded for business reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, Fulson was the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s.
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Martin O'Neill
'''Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE''', (born 1 March 1952 in Kilrea, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish association football manager and former player. Until resigning the post on 9 August 2010, he was manager of Aston Villa.
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Maybeshewill
Maybeshewill are an instrumental band from Leicester, United Kingdom whose music is characterised by the use of programmed and sampled electronic elements alongside guitars, bass and drums.
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Mercia
Mercia (, ) was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people".
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Middle Angles
The Middle Angles were an important ethnic or cultural group within the larger kingdom of Mercia in England in the Anglo-Saxon period.
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Neil Back
Neil Antony Back (born 16 January 1969) is a former international rugby union footballer for England, who also played for Leicester Tigers, and captained both England and Leicester during his career.
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Neil Lennon
Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a former footballer from Northern Ireland. He is the current manager and former captain of Celtic.
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Otis Spann
Otis Spann (March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970 ) was an American blues musician. Many aficionados considered him then, and now, as Chicago's leading postwar blues pianist.
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Pacific Ocean Fire
Pacific Ocean Fire are a folk rock group from Leicester, England, who have released five albums. Their music is generally considered alternative or Americana.
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Perfume (band)
Perfume were a British indie group from Leicester, active between 1993 and 1997.
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Peter Shilton
Peter Leslie Shilton, OBE (born Leicester, England, 18 September 1949) is a former football goalkeeper who holds the record for playing more games for England than any other player. His international career earned him 125 caps, making him England's most capped player.
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Peter Soulsby
Sir Peter Alfred Soulsby (born 27 December 1948) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South since 2005.
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Polish people
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Queen Elizabeth I
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Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India of the British Raj from 1 May 1876, until her death. At 63 years and 7 months, her reign as the Queen lasted longer than that of any other British monarch, and is the longest of any female monarch in history. Her reign is known as the Victorian era, and was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military progress within the United Kingdom.
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Rafael Vinoly
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Roger Blackmore
Roger Blackmore (born 1941) is the current Lord Mayor[http://www.leicester.gov.uk/about-leicester/lordmayorcivic/lordmayor] of Leicester. He was previously the Liberal Democrat leader of Leicester's City Council from 2003 to 2004 and 2005 to 2007.
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Roger Chapman
Roger Chapman (born Roger Maxwell Chapman on 8 April 1942 in Leicester), also known as Roger "Chappo" Chapman and Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1967 and also the rock, R&B; band Streetwalkers formed in 1974. His idiosyncratic brand of showmanship when performing and vocal vibrato led him to become a cult figure on the British rock scene. Chapman is claimed to have said that he was trying to sing like both Little Richard and his idol Ray Charles. Since the early 1980s he has spent much of his time in Germany and has made occasional appearances there and elsewhere. He has an Artist of the Year award and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
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Saxons
The Saxons () were a confederation of Old Germanic tribes. Their modern-day descendants are generally considered ethnic Germans, Dutch or English. They are primarily found in Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony-Anhalt, Westphalia, Drenthe, Overijssel and England (the state of Saxony is not inhabited by Saxon descendants, and was so-named because it came to be ruled by Saxon feudal dynasty).
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Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy are a 1970s pop group from Leicester, England. They specialised in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s, and dressed as Teddy Boys.
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Simon Grayson
Simon Nicholas Grayson (born 16 December 1969) is a retired English footballer and current manager of Leeds United.
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Somali people
Ethnic group
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The Displacements
The Displacements are a British rock band from Leicestershire, formed by Andy Stone (guitar and vocals), Nick Eversfield (bass and vocals), Joe Wilson (guitar) and James Stone (Drums and Vocals).
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The Happy Mondays
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The Hunters Club
The Hunters Club were a British grebo goth rock band that formed in Leicester, England. They were largely viewed as inferior to Leicester's other bands of the era making music in a similar vein.
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William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
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Amsterdam (; Dutch ) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, with an urban population of 1,364,422 and a metropolitan population of 2,158,372. The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, the sixth-largest metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of approximately 6.7 million.
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Aylestone is a suburb of Leicester, England at . It is south-west of the city centre, but to the east of the River Soar.
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Beaumont Leys is a large modern suburb of Leicester, England in the northwest of the city.
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Bede Island is an area of Leicester, England close to the city centre, with the River Soar to the west and Grand Union Canal to the east. For many years Bede Island South was a run down area of brownfield land home to Vic Berry's locomotive scrapyard but in the 1990s urban regeneration sought to improve housing, employment opportunities and the environment in the area. The programme was successful in developing the waterfront of Leicester, a key part of the overall transformation of the city. A square includes a small Sainsburys and a Tesco Metro, formerly "The Quay" bar and diner. Local streets are named after herbs and spices,these are Sage Road, Tarragon Road, Coriander Road, Mint Road and Thyme Close. Office blocks were built on the former site of the Kirby and West dairy, which was relocated to Richard III Road.
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Belfast () is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in Northern Ireland, the second-largest city in Ireland and the 15th-largest city in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in the province of Ulster. The city of Belfast has a population of 267,500 and lies at the heart of the Belfast urban area, which has a population of 483,418. The Belfast metropolitan area has a total population of 579,276. Belfast is also the 100th-largest urban zone in the EU. Belfast was granted city status in 1888.
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Belgrave Hall is a Queen Anne-style house built in 1709 in the midst of of walled gardens in Belgrave, Leicester. The Hall was opened to the public in 1936 as a museum. Today, Belgrave Hall shows the contrasting lifestyles of an upper middle class family and domestic servants in Victorian society.
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Birmingham ( , locally ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. It is the most populous British city outside London with a population of 1,028,700 (2009 estimate), and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the United Kingdom's second most populous Urban Area with a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census). Birmingham's metropolitan area, which includes surrounding towns to which it is closely tied through commuting, is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000.
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Castle Donington is a village, with a population of around 7000 in the North West of Leicestershire, part of the Derby postcode area and on the edge of the National Forest. It is the closest town to East Midlands Airport.
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::for the gallery in Thailand, see City Gallery, Bangkok
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Crown Hills is an area of eastern side of the English city of Leicester, bounded by Humberstone to the north, Evington to the south-east and Goodwood to the east. The area also has a local secondary school, Crown Hills Community College.
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Curve is a theatre in Leicester, England, based in the Cultural quarter in Leicester City Centre. Before being named Curve, it was referred to as Leicester Performing Arts Centre. It is adjacent to the Leicester Athena conference and banqueting centre.
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Dane Hills is a large area on the western side of the English city of Leicester,consisting of the smaller areas of Newfoundpool, Western Park, and New Parks, which is bounded by Glenfield to the west. A cave in this area was known as Black Annis's Bower, the cave being reputed to be the lair of a witch or hag of that name.
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The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagu; ), is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to be geographical. The areas that comprised the Danelaw are in northern and eastern England. The origins of the Danelaw arose from the Viking expansion of the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in nearby Britain, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the year 876.
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De Montfort Hall is a music and performance venue in Leicester, England. It is situated near Victoria Park and is named after Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester.
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Derby ( ), is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407. According to the 2001 census, Derby was at that time the 18th largest settlement in England, measured by urban area.
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:East Anglia is often used as a shorthand for the Kingdom of the East Angles.
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Evington is an area in eastern Leicester, England. It used to be a small village centred around Main Street and the Anglican church of St Denys but was close enough to Leicester to become one of the outer suburbs in the 1930s.
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Evington Valley is an area in Leicester, England. It is roughly bounded by East Park Road to the west (west of which is Highfields), Chesterfield/Ethel Road to the north (north of which is North Evington), Wakerly Road to the east (east of which is Evington village) and to the south borders Stoneygate.
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Eyres Monsell is a former council estate in the southern suburbs of Leicester, UK. The area is defined by Saffron Lane to the east, the Birmingham to Peterborough railway to the south, Lutterworth Road to the west, and Glenhills Way to the north. Although located in the far south-west corner of suburban Leicester, the area is under the administration of the city council rather than the county council as many of its neighbouring estates are.
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The Gas Museum, also known as the National Gas Museum, is situated in the former gatehouse of a gasworks in Leicester, England, and deals with the history of domestic and industrial gas supply. It is claimed to be "the biggest collection of gas and gas related artefacts in the world".
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Glasgow ( (); (pronounced )) is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands. A person from Glasgow is known as a Glaswegian, which is also the name of the local dialect.
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Gorse Hill City Farm is a city farm and community project practising humane farming based in Leicester. The site is a popular destination for field trips from local schools particularly due to the handling area for small farm animals.
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Grace Road is a cricket ground, in Leicester, England, home to Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
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The Granby Halls was a popular live music, exhibition and sports arena in the city of Leicester, in England, also notable as the long serving home of professional basketball team, the Leicester Riders, from 1980 until 1999.
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The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles (220 km) with 166 locks. It has arms to places including Leicester, Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Northampton.
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Haskovo (), is the name of a town and administrative centre of the province of the same name in southern Bulgaria, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. Its population () is 96,010. The province includes the town of Dimitrovgrad.
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Humberstone is an urban village in Leicester, England. It is in the east of the city, and grew in the industrial revolution outside the borders of the city. It was formally annexed to the city in 1935.
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The Jewry Wall in Leicester, England is believed to be the remaining wall of the public baths of Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) along with foundations of the baths, which are laid out in front of the wall.
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The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain (including both modern-day England and Wales) and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales. It had a land border with the Kingdom of Scotland to the north, and at the start of the period its capital and chief royal residence was Winchester, but Westminster and Gloucester were accorded almost equal status—with Westminster gradually gaining preference.
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Leicester Abbey, the Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis ("St Mary of the Meadows"), standing about a mile (2 km) north of the city of Leicester in the riverside meadows on the west bank of the River Soar, was built under the patronage of Robert le Bossu, Earl of Leicester. It was founded as a community of Augustinian Canons, the canons regular of the Order of Saint Augustine. Canons regular follow a similar, but perhaps less rigid rule than monks, following a rule set down by Saint Augustine in a letter to a convent in his diocese.
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Leicester Airport is a small aerodrome in Stoughton, Leicestershire, east southeast of Leicester. It was previously known as Stoughton Aerodrome. It was constructed in 1942 and was known as RAF Leicester East.
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The Leicester Bike Park is a bicycle parking facility in Leicester Town Hall, Great Britain. It is managed by the City Council and Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire.
http://wn.com/Leicester_Bike_Park -
Leicester Castle is located in Leicester, England. The complex is situated in the west of the city centre, between Saint Nicholas Circle to the north and De Montfort University to the south.
http://wn.com/Leicester_Castle -
The Guildhall in Leicester is a Grade I listed timber framed building, with the earliest part dating from c1390. The Guildhall once acted as the town hall for the city until the current one was commissioned in 1876.
http://wn.com/Leicester_Guildhall -
Leicester Market is a large market in The City of Leicester, England, on Market Place just south of the clock tower.
http://wn.com/Leicester_Market -
Leicester Pride is an annual gay pride event in Belgrave Gate, in Leicester, England.
http://wn.com/Leicester_Pride -
http://wn.com/Leicester_South -
Leicester Town Hall in the City centre of Leicester, England.
http://wn.com/Leicester_Town_Hall -
http://wn.com/Leicester_University -
The Leicester Urban Area is a conurbation based around the city of Leicester in Leicestershire, England. While it has no formal definition as an administrative area, the Office for National Statistics does define a Leicester Urban Area with a population of 441,213 at the time of the 2001 census.
http://wn.com/Leicester_Urban_Area -
Leicestershire ( or ; abbreviation Leics.) is a landlocked county in central England. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire. The county borders onto Derbyshire to the north-west, Nottinghamshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-east. The border with Warwickshire is Watling Street (the A5).
http://wn.com/Leicestershire -
London Luton Airport (previously called Luton International Airport) is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway. It is the fourth largest airport serving the London area after Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, and is one of London's five international airports along with London City Airport.
http://wn.com/London_Luton_Airport -
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (, ) () is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft (the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval trading group).
http://wn.com/Lufthansa -
The M69 is a lightly used dual three lane dual carriageway motorway in Leicestershire and Warwickshire, England connecting Leicester and Coventry. It opened in 1977.
http://wn.com/M69_motorway -
The Magazine Gateway (aka The Magazine) is Grade I listed building in Leicester; built circa 1410 and which was once a gate into Leicester Castle.
http://wn.com/Magazine_Gateway -
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the county (Nottingham being a city), lying on the River Maun, from which the name of the town is derived. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area.
http://wn.com/Mansfield -
Masaya, called the City of Flowers, is the capital city of the Masaya department of Nicaragua. It is situated approximately 14 km north of Granada and 17 km south from Managua. The town of Masaya is situated just South of the Masaya Volcano (Volcan de Masaya), an active Volcano from which the city takes its name. The 2005 population estimate was 146,000.
http://wn.com/Masaya -
Mercia (, ) was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people".
http://wn.com/Mercia -
New Parks is an area in the city of Leicester, England. It is in the west of the city, close by the county border (west of which is Glenfield. South of New Parks is the Western Park area, and to the east is the Newfoundpool area. There are many shops neighbouring the homes and leisure centres. There are four primary schools; Braunstone Frith infant & junior schools, Forest Lodge Primary School, Parks Primary School and Stokes Wood Primary School. There is one secondary school, New College Leicester.
http://wn.com/New_Parks -
The New Walk Museum and Art Gallery is a museum on New Walk in Leicester, England, not far from the city centre. Two dinosaur skeletons are permanently installed in the museum — a cetiosaur found in Rutland (affectionately named George), and a plesiosaur from Barrow upon Soar.
http://wn.com/New_Walk_Museum -
Newfoundpool is an area of Leicester lying south of the former Leicester-Swannington railway. The land was purchased by Isaac Harrison in 1830. Harrison intended to develop the area as a spa, using a spring as the source of water for a bathing establishment. Later the building was converted into a residence, Newfoundpool House, in which successive members of the Harrison family lived until 1885. The house became the Empire Hotel on Fosse Road North.
http://wn.com/Newfoundpool -
North Evington is an area of the city of Leicester, England which is an inclusion of Highfields. It is in the east of the city, south of the Uppingham Road, between Spinney Hills to the west and Crown Hills to the east. To the north of it is New Humberstone, and to the south is Evington Valley.
http://wn.com/North_Evington -
The '''Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted''') is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England (HMCI).
http://wn.com/Ofsted -
Orlando () is a major city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan region. The Orlando metropolitan area has a population of 2,082,628 and it is the 27th largest metropolitan area in the United States. The city-proper population is 235,860 making Orlando the 80th largest city in the United States. It is Florida's fifth largest city by population. Orlando was incorporated on July 31, 1875, and became a city in 1885.
http://wn.com/Orlando_Florida -
Oxford () is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre. For a distance of some along the river, in the vicinity of Oxford, the Thames is known as The Isis.
http://wn.com/Oxford -
The Peepul Centre is an arts centre in Belgrave, Leicester. Designed by Andrzej Blonski Architects, the £15 million building was opened in 2005 and houses an auditorium, restaurant, cyber café, gym and dance studio for the local people, as well as being used for conferences and events. The centre has even been host to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other senior Labour Party figures for hustings during the deputy leadership contest.
http://wn.com/Peepul_Centre -
The Phoenix Arts Centre is a theatre in the city centre of Leicester, England. The centre hosted live shows and films of the arthouse and world cinema genres. In 2010 it will be reborn as an important music training and performance venue under a new name.
http://wn.com/Phoenix_Arts_Centre -
Rajkot ( Rājkot ) is the 4th largest city in the state of Gujarat, India. Rajkot is the 28th urban agglomeration in India, with a population more than 1.43 million as on 2008. Rajkot is ranked 22nd in ''The world's fastest growing cities and urban areas from 2006 to 2020''.
http://wn.com/Rajkot -
Ratae Corieltauvorum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Leicester, located in the English county of Leicestershire.
http://wn.com/Ratae_Corieltauvorum -
The River Soar is a tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands.
http://wn.com/River_Soar -
Rushey Mead is an area of northern Leicester. Originally part of the Thurmaston parish, it was annexed to the city in 1935. The area is further north on the Melton Road than Belgrave, and continues north to the border with the county (and Charnwood), north of which is the remaining parish of Thurmaston.
http://wn.com/Rushey_Mead -
Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland includes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
http://wn.com/Scotland -
Sheffield () is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of Sheffield is () and it is one of the eight largest regional English cities that make up the English Core Cities Group.
http://wn.com/Sheffield -
Silver Arcade is a Grade II listed building in the centre of Leicester, England. A former shopping arcade, Silver Arcade was built by Amos Hall in 1889. The top floor was closed off in 2000, leaving the units on the ground floor occupied by a number of independent retailers. In 2008, the centre was the focus of a campaign by the Leicester Civic Society to reopen it.
http://wn.com/Silver_Arcade -
Spinney Hills is an inner city area of Leicester, England. It is situated to the north of the core Highfields area, around Spinney Hill Park. To the north is Northfields, to the east North Evington, to the west is the railway line, and to the south is the main part of Highfields.
http://wn.com/Spinney_Hills -
'''St Martin's Square''' is a shopping centre in Leicester city centre. Constructed in 1984 by the Bass Pension Scheme, the thirty-two retail units include a mix of individual boutiques, national retailers, bars and restaurants. St Martins Square is part of the Leicester Lanes shopping district.
http://wn.com/St_Martin's_Square -
Stoneygate is part of the City of Leicester, England.
http://wn.com/Stoneygate -
The Charlotte was a live music venue in Leicester, England, on the edge of the City Centre, on Oxford Street, opposite De Montfort University. The venue finally closed on March 13th 2010.
http://wn.com/The_Charlotte -
Thurnby Lodge is an estate in eastern Leicester, England. Roughly, it consists of the area inside the city boundary which is north of the Uppingham Road, east of the A563 outer ringroad, and south of the Scraptoft Lane. Since the core area around Thurncourt Road is a council estate with an average reputation, many, particular those around the western and southern fringe, would disassociate their area from Thurnby Lodge.
http://wn.com/Thurnby_Lodge -
'''Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London''', is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite. The castle was used as a prison since at least 1100, although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat. There were several phases of expansion, mainly under Kings Richard the Lionheart, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries. The general layout established by the late 13th century remains despite later activity on the site.
http://wn.com/Tower_of_London -
http://wn.com/West_End_Leicester -
Westcotes is an area to the west of the city of Leicester. It is also known as the West End. The area is quite small in comparison with other areas of the city, but it is well known as it has many shops, bars and restaurants and is a popular choice for students and young professionals.
http://wn.com/Westcotes -
http://wn.com/York_Place
- A Hawk and a Hacksaw
- Abbey
- Abbey Ward
- Adrian Mole
- Air France
- American football
- Amsterdam
- Anno Domini
- Arabic language
- aristocracy
- Arriva Fox County
- Asian British
- Asian Plus
- Attenborough Tower
- Austin Healey
- Aviva
- Aylestone
- Bank of Baroda
- Barclays Bank
- Basshunter
- BBC Asian Network
- BBC Local Radio
- BBC Radio Leicester
- Beaumont Leys
- Bede Island
- Belfast
- Belgrave
- Belgrave Hall
- Bengali language
- Birmingham
- Bishop of Leicester
- Blab Happy
- Black British
- Blackfriars
- Bmibaby
- Bradgate Park
- Braunstone
- BRIT Awards 2010
- British Asian
- British Bangladeshi
- British Chinese
- British Indian
- British Pakistanis
- British Summer Time
- Cantonese language
- Castle
- Castle Donington
- castra
- Celt
- Centrebus
- Charnwood
- Chongqing
- Chongqing City
- Church of England
- cinquefoil
- City Gallery
- Classic Gold GEM
- coat of arms
- Coleman
- consecration
- Constituent country
- continental Europe
- conurbation
- Corieltauvi
- Cornershop
- county borough
- county town
- Crazyhead
- CrossCountry
- Crown Hills
- Curve (theatre)
- Dane Hills
- Danelaw
- David Pleat
- De Montfort Hall
- Debenhams
- Delicatessen (band)
- Demon FM
- Demonym
- department store
- Derby
- Dewhursts
- Diesel Park West
- Diocese
- directly elected
- Diwali
- Domesday Book
- Dorchester-on-Thames
- Earl of Leicester
- Early Modern Britain
- East Anglia
- East European
- East Midlands
- East Midlands Trains
- EasyJet
- EDF Energy Cup
- Elizabeth I
- Emile Heskey
- English Civil War
- Envy & Other Sins
- ethnic minority
- Eurostar
- Evington
- Evington Valley
- Eyres Monsell
- FA Cup Final
- Family (band)
- Filbert Street
- First Leicester
- Five Burghs
- Football League Cup
- Football League One
- Formation Records
- Fosse
- Fosse Shopping Park
- Fosse Way
- Frank Benbini
- Frank Worthington
- Frankfurt
- Freddie King
- Freemen
- Frito-Lay
- Fun Lovin' Criminals
- Galaxy Digital
- Gary Lineker
- Gas Museum
- Gaye Bykers on Acid
- Gents' of Leicester
- Geoffrey of Monmouth
- Gimson and Company
- Glasgow
- Goodwood
- Gordon Banks
- Gorse Hill City Farm
- Grace Road
- Granby Halls
- Grand Union Canal
- Great War
- Grebo (music)
- Greenwich Mean Time
- Guinness Premiership
- Gujarati language
- H "Two" O
- Hamilton
- Haskovo
- Heart 106
- Heathley Park
- Heineken Cup
- Henry III of England
- Henry VII of England
- Highcross Leicester
- Hindi
- Hindu
- Hindu Sanskar Radio
- history of England
- Horston Hill
- hosiery
- Hospital Radio
- House of Fraser
- Howlin' Wolf
- HSBC
- Hugh Aston
- Humberstone
- Humberstone Garden
- ICICI Bank
- Indian sub-continent
- ISO 3166-2:GB
- Jain
- Janus
- Jarrow March
- Jessops
- jeweller
- Jewry Wall
- Jewry Wall Museum
- Jimmy Bloomfield
- John Lee Hooker
- Jon Ashworth
- Kasabian
- Keith Vaz
- Kinchbus
- King Lear
- King Power Stadium
- Kingdom of England
- KLM
- Knighton Fields
- Krefeld
- Kyte
- Labour Party (UK)
- Lady Jane Grey
- Larger Urban Zone
- Latimer
- LDS Church
- LE postcode area
- League of Nations
- Leicester Abbey
- Leicester Airport
- Leicester Bike Park
- Leicester Castle
- Leicester Cathedral
- Leicester City F.C.
- Leicester City FC
- Leicester East
- Leicester Falcons
- Leicester Guildhall
- Leicester Hunters
- Leicester Lanes
- Leicester Lions
- Leicester Market
- Leicester Mercury
- Leicester Pride
- Leicester Racecourse
- Leicester Riders
- Leicester South
- Leicester Tigers
- Leicester Town Hall
- Leicester University
- Leicester Urban Area
- Leicester West
- Leicestershire
- Leir of Britain
- Liz Kendall
- London Luton Airport
- Lowell Fulson
- Lufthansa
- M1 motorway
- M6 Motorway
- M69 motorway
- Magazine Gateway
- Malayalam language
- Mandarin language
- Mansfield
- market town
- Martin O'Neill
- Masaya
- Maybeshewill
- Mayor of Leicester
- Medieval
- Member of Parliament
- Mercia
- Middle Angles
- Midland Main Line
- Motorcycle speedway
- Mowmacre Hill
- Neil Back
- Neil Lennon
- Nelson Mandela Park
- Netherhall
- Network Rail
- New Model Army
- New Parks
- New Walk Museum
- Newfoundpool
- Next (clothing)
- North Evington
- Ofsted
- ONS coding system
- Orlando, Florida
- Otis Spann
- Oxford
- Pacific Ocean Fire
- Park and ride
- Parliament of Bats
- Paul James Coaches
- Peepul Centre
- Perfume (band)
- Peter Shilton
- Peter Soulsby
- Phoenix Arts Centre
- Phoenix Square
- Pickled Egg Records
- Pineapster
- PlusBus
- Po!
- Polish people
- Population growth
- Pride Parade
- Prince Rupert
- Prolapse (band)
- pseudohistorical
- Punjabi language
- Queen Cordelia
- Queen Elizabeth I
- Queen Regnant
- Queen Victoria
- Rabid (band)
- Rafael Vinoly
- Rajkot
- Ratae Corieltauvorum
- Raw Dykes
- refugee
- Regatta
- River Soar
- Roger Blackmore
- Roger Chapman
- Roman Britain
- Roman road
- Roundhead
- Rowing (sport)
- Rowlatts Hill
- Rowley Fields
- Royal Charter
- Royalist
- rugby league
- Rugby Union
- Rushey Mead
- Ryanair
- Sabras Radio
- Saffron
- Samworth Brothers
- Santander UK
- sari
- Sash
- Saxons
- Scotland
- sculling
- Sheffield
- Sheffield station
- Shoe Zone
- shoemaking
- Showaddywaddy
- Sikh
- Silver Arcade
- Simon Grayson
- Sir Peter Soulsby
- Smooth Radio
- Somali language
- Somali people
- South Asia
- South Asian
- South Knighton
- Spinney Hills
- sport rowing
- St Martin's Square
- St Pancras Station
- St. Mark's
- St. Peter's
- Stake center
- Standard Brands
- State Bank of India
- Stocking Farm
- Stoneygate
- Strasbourg
- Stunt (music act)
- Sue Townsend
- Summer Sundae
- Takeover Radio
- The Animals
- The Beatles
- The Bomb Party
- The Charlotte
- The Deep Freeze Mice
- The Displacements
- The Go! Team
- The Happy Mondays
- The Holloways
- The Hunters Club
- The Yardbirds
- thermae
- Thomson Holidays
- Thurmaston Bus
- Thurnby Lodge
- Thurncourt
- Tower of London
- track cycling
- trade unionism
- Traffic Radio
- treason
- Trelleborg
- UK Albums Chart
- UK Singles Chart
- Unitary authority
- Urdu language
- velodrome
- Viking
- Vikings
- Walkers Stadium
- Welford Road Stadium
- Welsh language
- West End, Leicester
- Westcotes
- Western Park
- White British
- White people
- William Shakespeare
- Woodgate
- wyvern
- XFM
- Yeah Yeah Noh
- York Place
- York railway station
Rich Leicester
Releases by album:
Album releases
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:59
- Published: 01 Dec 2011
- Uploaded: 05 Dec 2011
- Author: valdekmedia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:14
- Published: 09 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 26 Nov 2011
- Author: aojohnson87
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:59
- Published: 10 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 20 Aug 2011
- Author: Pukaarnews
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:40
- Published: 23 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 06 Dec 2011
- Author: KasabianVEVO
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:39
- Published: 09 Oct 2010
- Uploaded: 05 Jun 2011
- Author: SearchlightInfo
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:42
- Published: 16 May 2011
- Uploaded: 05 Dec 2011
- Author: PremiershipRugby
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:05
- Published: 18 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 06 Dec 2011
- Author: KasabianVEVO
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:51
- Published: 26 Jul 2011
- Uploaded: 20 Nov 2011
- Author: UniversityLeicester
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:35
- Published: 01 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 20 Sep 2011
- Author: UniversityLeicester
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:57
- Published: 23 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 06 Dec 2011
- Author: KasabianVEVO
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:35
- Published: 19 Sep 2010
- Uploaded: 12 Nov 2011
- Author: RancidNihilism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:17
- Published: 09 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 12 Oct 2011
- Author: tsatchwell
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:54
- Published: 10 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 24 Nov 2011
- Author: freedom1164
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:34
- Published: 20 Jan 2010
- Uploaded: 29 Nov 2011
- Author: mgbutterman
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:00
- Published: 18 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 05 Dec 2011
- Author: KasabianVEVO
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:50
- Published: 09 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 04 Dec 2011
- Author: GETxNEGATIVE
size: 7.0Kb
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Iran files complaint over purported US drone
Al Jazeera
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Euro crisis summit: The night Europe changed
BBC News
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Italian police arrest alleged Mafia boss hiding in bunker
CNN
-
Before Voting, If Only Death Had Been Before Their Own Eyes
WorldNews.com
-
Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza civilians
Sydney Morning Herald
- 106.6 Smooth Radio
- A Hawk and a Hacksaw
- Abbey
- Abbey Ward
- Adrian Mole
- Air France
- American football
- Amsterdam
- Anno Domini
- Arabic language
- aristocracy
- Arriva Fox County
- Asian British
- Asian Plus
- Attenborough Tower
- Austin Healey
- Aviva
- Aylestone
- Bank of Baroda
- Barclays Bank
- Basshunter
- BBC Asian Network
- BBC Local Radio
- BBC Radio Leicester
- Beaumont Leys
- Bede Island
- Belfast
- Belgrave
- Belgrave Hall
- Bengali language
- Birmingham
- Bishop of Leicester
- Blab Happy
- Black British
- Blackfriars
- Bmibaby
- Bradgate Park
- Braunstone
- BRIT Awards 2010
- British Asian
- British Bangladeshi
- British Chinese
- British Indian
- British Pakistanis
- British Summer Time
- Cantonese language
- Castle
- Castle Donington
- castra
- Celt
- Centrebus
- Charnwood
- Chongqing
- Chongqing City
- Church of England
- cinquefoil
- City Gallery
- Classic Gold GEM
- coat of arms
- Coleman
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Name | Leicester |
---|---|
Official name | City of Leicester |
Native name | |
Settlement type | City and Unitary Authority Area |
Motto | Semper Eadem |
Map caption | Location within Leicestershire and England |
Dot x | |dot_y |
Pushpin map | |
Pushpin label position | |
Pushpin mapsize | |
Coordinates region | GB |
Subdivision type | Sovereign state |
Subdivision name | United Kingdom |
Subdivision type1 | |
Subdivision name1 | England |
Subdivision type2 | Region |
Subdivision name2 | East Midlands |
Subdivision type3 | |
Subdivision name3 | Leicestershire |
Subdivision type4 | Admin HQ |
Subdivision name4 | Leicester City Centre |
Government type | Unitary authority, City |
Leader title | Mayor |
Leader name | Sir Peter Soulsby |
Leader title1 | Leadership |
Leader name1 | Elected mayor and cabinet |
Leader title2 | Unitary authority |
Leader name2 | Leicester City Council |
Leader title3 | List of MPs |
Leader name3 | |
Twin1 | – Chongqing |
Twin1 country | China |
Twin2 | – Krefeld |
Twin2 country | Germany |
Twin3 | – Masaya |
Twin3 country | Nicaragua |
Twin4 | – Rajkot |
Twin4 country | India |
Twin5 | – Strasbourg |
Twin5 country | France |
Twin6 | – Haskovo |
Twin6 country | Bulgaria |
Established title | Founded |
Established date | AD 50 as Ratae Corieltauvorum by the Romans |
Established title2 | City Status |
Established date2 | restored 1919 |
Established date3 | |
Area magnitude | 1 E7 |
Unit pref | |
Area total km2 | 73.32 |
Area land km2 | |
Area blank1 sq mi | |
Population as of | |
Population total | (Ranked ) |
Population metro | 772,400 (LUZ) |
Population urban | 441,213 |
Population blank2 title | Ethnicity (United Kingdom Census 2006 Estimate) |
Population blank1 title | Ethnicity(June 2007 estimates) |
population blank1 | |
Population density blank2 sq mi | |
Timezone | Greenwich Mean Time |
Utc offset | +0 |
Timezone dst | British Summer Time |
Utc offset dst | +1 |
Elevation footnotes | |
Elevation ft | |
Postal code type | Postcode |
Postal code | LE |
Area code | 0116 |
Blank name | Grid Ref. |
Blank info | |
Blank1 name | ONS code |
Blank1 info | 00FN |
Blank2 name | ISO 3166-2 |
Blank2 info | GB-LCE |
Blank3 name | NUTS 3 |
Blank3 info | UKF21 |
Blank4 name | Distance to London |
Blank4 info | |
Blank5 name | Demonym |
Blank5 info | Leicesterian |
Website | http://www.leicester.gov.uk/ |
Footnotes | }} |
Ancient Roman pavements and baths remain in Leicester from its early settlement as Ratae Corieltauvorum, a Roman military outpost in a region inhabited by the Celtic Corieltauvi tribe. Following the demise of Roman society the early medieval Ratae Corieltauvorum is shrouded in obscurity, but when the settlement was captured by the Danes it became one of five fortified towns important to the Danelaw. The name "Leicester" is thought to derive from the words castra of the "Ligore", meaning a camp on the River Legro, an early name for the River Soar. Leicester appears in the Domesday Book as "Ledecestre". Leicester continued to grow throughout the Early Modern period as a market town, although it was the Industrial Revolution that facilitated an unparalleled process of unplanned urbanisation in the area.
A newly constructed rail and canal network routed through the area stimulated industrial growth in the 19th century, and Leicester became a major economic centre with a variety of manufacturers engaged in engineering, shoemaking and hosiery production. The economic success of these industries, and businesses ancillary to them resulted in significant urban expansion into the surrounding countryside. The boundaries of Leicester were extended throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming a county borough in 1889, and granted city status in 1919.
Today, Leicester is located on the Midland Main Line and close to the M1 motorway. The city has a large ethnic minority population, particularly of South Asian origin, a product of immigration to the United Kingdom since the Second World War. To cater for the South Asian community, there are many Hindu, Sikh and Muslim places of worship and the Melton Road district serves as a focus, containing large numbers of Asian restaurants and other small businesses. Leicester is a centre for higher education, with both Leicester University and De Montfort University being based in the city.
History
Roman
Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a history going back at least 2,000 years. The first recorded name of the city is the Roman label Ratae Corieltauvorum. Before being settled by Romans it was the capital of the Celtic Corieltauvi tribe ruling over roughly the same territory as what is now known as the East Midlands.
Ratae Corieltauvorum was founded around AD 50 as a military settlement along the Fosse Way, a Roman road. After the military departure, Ratae Corieltauvorum grew into an important trading centre and one of the largest towns in Roman Britain. The remains of the baths of Roman Leicester can be seen at the Jewry Wall and other Roman artefacts are displayed in the Jewry Wall Museum adjacent to the site.
Anglo-Saxon and Viking
Knowledge of the town in the 5th century is very patchy. Certainly there is some continuation of occupation of the town, though on a much reduced scale in the 5th and 6th centuries. The area was first settled by the Middle Angles and was subsequently included in the kingdom of Mercia. Leicester was chosen as the centre of a bishopric (and therefore a city) in 679/80 which survived until the 9th century, when Leicester was captured by the Danes (Vikings) and became one of the five boroughs (fortified towns) of Danelaw, although this position was short lived. The Saxon Bishop of Leicester fled to Dorchester-on-Thames and Leicester was not to become a bishopric again until the 20th century.It is believed the name "Leicester" is derived from the words castra (camp) of the Ligore, meaning dwellers on the 'River Legro' (an early name for the River Soar). In the early 10th century it was recorded as Ligeraceaster = "the town of the Ligor people". The Domesday Book later recorded it as Ledecestre.
Medieval
Leicester became a town of considerable importance by Medieval times. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book as 'civitas' (city), but Leicester lost its city status in the 11th century owing to power struggles between the Church and the aristocracy. It was eventually re-made a city in 1919, and the Church of St Martin became Leicester Cathedral in 1927. The tomb of King Richard III is located in the central nave of the cathedral although he is not actually buried there. He was originally buried in the Greyfriars Church in Leicester, but there is a legend that his corpse was exhumed under orders from Henry VII and cast into the River Soar, although there is no evidence for this and some historians believe that his tomb and bones were destroyed with the dissolution of the church.
The town is mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written around 1136. According to Monmouth's pseudohistorical work a mythical king of the Britons King Leir founded the city of Kaerleir ('Leir's chester' – i.e. fortified town). Today the name of the city in the Welsh language is Caerlŷr. Leir was supposedly buried by Queen Cordelia in a chamber beneath the River Soar near the city dedicated to the Roman god Janus, and every year people celebrated his feast-day near Leir's tomb. William Shakespeare's King Lear is loosely based on this story and there is a statue of Lear in Watermead Country Park.
Leicester played a significant role in the history of England, when, in 1265, Simon de Montfort forced King Henry III to hold the first Parliament of England at the now-ruined Leicester Castle. This was not the only time parliament was held in Leicester, see Parliament of Bats.
Tudor
On 4 November 1530, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was arrested on charges of treason and taken from York Place. On his way south to face dubious justice at the Tower of London, he fell ill. The group escorting him was concerned enough to stop at Leicester. There, Wolsey's condition quickly worsened and he died on 29 November 1530 and was buried at Leicester Abbey, now Abbey Park.Lady Jane Grey, (1536/7 – 12 February 1554), a great-granddaughter of Henry VII, was born at Bradgate Park near Leicester, and reigned as uncrowned Queen Regnant of England for nine days in July 1553, and for that reason is called "The Nine Days Queen".
Queen Elizabeth I's personal favoured courtier, Robert Dudley, who the Queen had one time thought of marrying, and who has been named and known as her possible lover for centuries, was given the Earldom of Leicester.
Civil War
Leicester was a Parliamentarian stronghold during the English Civil War. In 1645, Prince Rupert decided to attack the city to draw the New Model Army away from the Royalist headquarters of Oxford. Royalist guns were set up on Raw Dykes and after an unsatisfactory response to a demand for surrender, the Newarke was stormed and the city was sacked on 30 May. Although hundreds of people were killed by Rupert's cavalry, reports of the severity of the sacking were exaggerated by the Parliamentary press in London.
18th and 19th centuries
The construction of the Grand Union Canal in the 1790s linked Leicester to London and Birmingham and by 1832 the railway had arrived in Leicester; the new Leicester and Swannington Railway providing a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries. By 1840 the Midland Counties Railway had linked Leicester to the national railway network and by the 1860s, Leicester had gained a direct rail link to London (St Pancras) with the completion of the Midland Main Line.
These developments in transport encouraged and accompanied a process of industrialisation which intensified throughout the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). Factories began to appear, particularly along the canal and the River Soar. Between 1861 and 1901 Leicester's population increased from 68,000 to 212,000 and the proportion employed in trade, commerce, building and the city's new factories and workshops rose steadily. Hosiery, textiles and footwear became major industrial employers joined, in the latter part of the century, by engineering.
During this period a number of what were to become substantial Engineering business were established these included Taylor & Hubbard Ltd, Kent Street, Leicester (Crane Makers, Founders), William Gimson and Company, Vulcan Road (Steam Boilers, Founders), Richards & Co , Martin Street(Founders, Structural Steel workers).
Years of consistent economic growth meant that, for many, living standards increased. The second half of the 19th century also witnessed the creation of many public institutions that we now take for granted such as the town council, the Royal Infirmary and the Leicester Constabulary and the acceptance that municipal organisations had a responsibility for water supply, drainage and sanitation.
The borough expanded throughout the 19th century, most notably in 1892 annexing Belgrave, Aylestone, North Evington, Knighton and the rapidly expanding residential suburb of Stoneygate, home to many of the city's wealthier families and some of its growing middle class. Leicester became a county borough in 1889, but, as with all county boroughs, was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in 1974, becoming an ordinary district of Leicestershire. It regained its unitary status in 1997.
The early 20th century
Leicester was formally recognised as a city in 1919 and a cathedral city on the consecration of St Martin's in 1927. It obtained its current boundaries in 1935, with the annexation of the remainder of Evington, Humberstone, Beaumont Leys and part of Braunstone. In 1900 an important new transport link, the Great Central Railway provided a new goods and passenger route to London.
By the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901 the rapid population growth of the previous decades had already began to slow and the Great War of 1914–18 and its aftermath had a marked social and economic impact. Leicester's diversified economic base and lack of dependence on primary industries meant that it was much better placed than many other cities to weather the severe economic challenges of the 1920s and 1930s. The Bureau of Statistics of the newly formed League of Nations identified Leicester in 1936 as the second richest city in Europe and it became an attractive destination for refugees fleeing persecution and political turmoil in continental Europe. These years witnessed the growth in the city of trade unionism and particularly the co-operative movement. The Co-op became an important employer and landowner and when Leicester played host to the Jarrow March on its way to London in 1936, the Co-op provided the marchers with a change of boots (perhaps made at its `Wheatsheaf' works in Knighton Fields?).
Post World War II
The years after World War II, particularly from the 1960s onwards, brought many social and economic challenges. There was a steady and irreversible decline in Leicester's traditional manufacturing industries and in the city centre working factories and light industrial premises have now been almost entirely displaced by new businesses. The 1960s and 1970s saw the movement of passengers and freight by rail and barge eclipsed by the growth of road transport. The Great Central Railway and the Leicester and Swannington Railway both closed and the northward extension of the M1 motorway linked Leicester into a growing motorway network. By the 1990s Leicester's central position and its good road transport links to the rest of the country had given it a new strategic importance as a distribution centre and the south western boundaries of the city have attracted many new businesses in both service and manufacturing sectors.Mass housebuilding continued across Leicester for some 30 years after World War II ended in 1945. Existing housing estates such as Braunstone were expanded, while several completely new estates – of both private and council tenure – were built. The last major development of this era was Beaumont Leys in the north of the city, which was developed in the 1970s as a mix of private and council housing.
With the loss of much of the city's industry during the 1970s and 1980s, some of the old industrial jobs were replaced by new jobs in the service sector, particularly in retail. The opening of the Haymarket Shopping Centre in 1971 was followed by a number of new shopping centres in the city, including St Martin's Shopping Centre in 1984 and the Shire Shopping Centre in 1992.
Since the war Leicester has experienced large scale immigration from across the world. Immigrant groups today make up around 40% of Leicester's population, making Leicester one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United Kingdom. Many Polish servicemen were prevented from returning to their homeland after the war by the communist regime, and they established a small community in Leicester. Economic migrants from the Irish Republic continued to arrive throughout the post war period. Immigrants from the Indian sub-continent began to arrive in the 1960s, their numbers boosted by Asians arriving from Kenya and Uganda in the early 1970s.
In the 1990s, apparently drawn by the city's free and easy atmosphere and by the number of mosques, a group of Dutch citizens of Somali origin settled in the city. Since the 2004 enlargement of the European Union a significant number of East European migrants have settled in the city. While some wards in the northeast of the city are more than 70% Asian, wards in the west and south are all over 70% white. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) had estimated that by 2011 Leicester would have approximately a 50% ethnic minority population, making it the first city in Britain not to have a white British majority.
This prediction was based on the growth of the ethnic minority populations between 1991 (Census 1991 28% ethnic minority) and 2001 (Census 2001 – 36% ethnic minority). However Professor Ludi Simpson at the University of Manchester School of Social Sciences said in September 2007 that the CRE had "made unsubstantiated claims and ignored government statistics" and that Leicester's immigrant and minority communities disperse to other places. The Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group was a forum set up in 2001 by the editor of the Leicester Mercury to coordinate community relations, with members representing the council, police, schools, community and faith groups, and the media.
Geography
Wards of Leicester
Leicester is divided into several administrative wards, that correspond to many historical suburbs, villages and districts in the unitary authority area:
The Office for National Statistics has defined a Leicester Urban Area, which consists of the conurbation of Leicester, although it has no administrative status. The area contains the unitary authority area and several towns, villages and suburbs outside the city's administrative boundaries.
Climate
Leicester experiences a maritime climate type with mild winters and cool summers, rain spread throughout the year, and low sunshine levels. The nearest official Weather Station was Newtown Linford, about North West of Leicester city centre and just outside the edge of the urban area. However, observations stopped in 2003. The current nearest Weather Station is Market Bosworth, about west of the city centre.The highest temperature recorded at Newtown Linford was 34.5c(94.1f) during August 1990. More typically the highest temperature would reach 28.7c(83.7f) – the average annual maximum. 11.3 days of the year should attain a temperature of 25.1c(77.2f) or above.
The lowest temperature recorded at Newtown Linford was −16.1c(3.0f) during January 1963. Typically, 54.9 air frosts will be recorded during the course of the year.
Rainfall averages 684.4mm per year, with 1mm or more falling on 120.8 days. All averages refer to the period 1971–2000.
Government
On 1 April 1997, Leicester City Council became a unitary authority, local government up until then having been a two-tier system with the city and county councils being responsible for different aspects of local government services (a system which is still in place in the rest of Leicestershire). Leicestershire County Council retained its headquarters at County Hall in Glenfield, just outside the city boundary but within the urban area. The administrative offices of Leicester City Council are in the centre of the city at the New Walk Centre and other office buildings near Welford Place. Some services (particularly the police and the ambulance service) still cover the whole of the city and county, but for the most part the two councils are independent.After a long period of Labour administration (since 1979), the city council from May 2003 was run by a Liberal Democrat/Conservative coalition under Roger Blackmore, which collapsed in November 2004. The minority Labour group ran the city until May 2005, under Ross Willmott, when the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives formed a new coalition, again under the leadership of Roger Blackmore.
In the local government elections of 3 May 2007, Leicester’s Labour Party once again took control of the council in what can be described as a landslide victory. Gaining 18 new councillors, Labour polled on the day 38 councillors, creating a governing majority of +20. Significantly however, the Green Party gained its first councillors in the Castle Ward, after losing on the drawing of lots in 2003, though one of these subsequently resigned and the seat was lost to Labour in a by-election on 10 September 2009. The Conservative Party saw a decrease in their representation, whilst the Liberal Democrat Party was the major loser, dropping from 25 councillors in 2003 to only 6 in 2007.
In the local government elections of 5 May 2011, Labour won 52 of the city's 54 seats, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats winning one seat each.
Leicester is divided into three Parliamentary constituencies, all controlled by the Labour Party : Leicester East, represented by Keith Vaz, Leicester South, represented by Jon Ashworth, and Leicester West represented by Liz Kendall. In April 2011 the then Leicester South MP Sir Peter Soulsby left the House of Commons to seek election as Mayor of Leicester.
On 5 May 2011, Peter Soulsby became the first directly elected Mayor of Leicester.
Coat of arms
The Corporation of Leicester's coat of arms was first granted to the city at the Heraldic Visitation of 1619, and is based on the arms of the first Earl of Leicester, Robert Beaumont. The field is a white cinquefoil on a red background, and this emblem is used by the city council.After Leicester became a city again in 1919, the city council applied to add to the arms, permission for which was granted in 1929, when the supporting lions, from the Lancastrian Earls of Leicester, were added.
The motto "Semper Eadem" was the motto of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted a royal charter to the city. It means "always the same" but with positive overtones meaning unchanging, reliable or dependable. The crest on top of the arms is a white or silver legless wyvern with red and white wounds showing, on a wreath of red and white. The legless wyvern distinguishes it as a Leicester wyvern as opposed to other wyverns. The supporting lions are wearing coronets in the form of collars, with the white cinquefoil hanging from them.
Demography
Leicester compared | ||||
United Kingdom Census 2001UK Census 2001 | |
Leicester| | East Midlands | England |
Total population | 292,600| | 4,172,174 | 49,138,831 | |
Foreign born | 23.0%| | 6.0% | 9.2% | |
White (2001) | 63.9%| | 93.5% | 90.9% | |
White (2006) | 62.0%| | 91.4% | 88.7% | |
South Asian (2001) | 29.9%| | 4.0% | 4.6% | |
South Asian (2006) | 29.4%| | 4.8% | 5.5% | |
Black (2001) | 3.1%| | 0.9% | 2.3% | |
Black (2006) | 4.6%| | 1.4% | 2.8% | |
Mixed (2001) | 2.3%| | 1.0% | 1.3% | |
Mixed (2006) | 2.6%| | 1.4% | 1.6% | |
East Asian and Other (2001) | 0.8%| | 0.5% | 0.9% | |
East Asian and Other (2006) | 1.5%| | 1.0% | 1.4% | |
Christian | 44.7%| | 72.0% | 71.7% | |
No religion | 17.4%| | 15.2% | 14.6% | |
Hindu | 14.7%| | 1.6% | 1.1% | |
Muslim | 11.0%| | 1.7% | 3.1% |
The population density is and for every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. Of those aged 16–74 in Leicester, 38.5% had no academic qualifications, significantly higher than 28.9% in all of England. 23.0% of Leicester’s residents were born outside of the United Kingdom, higher than the English average of 9.2%.
In terms of districts by ethnic diversity, the City of Leicester is ranked 11th in England. According to 2006 estimates, 58.3% of residents are white British (just under 170,000 people), 3.7% other white (around 10,000 people), 29.4% Asian or Asian British (some 84,000 people), 4.6% black or black British (some 9,000 people), 2.6% mixed race (approximately 6,000 individuals) and 1.5% Chinese or other ethnic group (over 2,000 people). Amongst some of Leicester's emerging ethnic groups are the Poles who now number an estimates 30,000 in the city.
Christianity is the predominant faith in Leicester. There are also approximately 41,000 Hindus, 31,000 Muslims, and 12,000 Sikhs. There are two active synagogues on the city, one Progressive and one Orthodox.
Languages
Alongside English there are around 70 languages and/or dialects spoken in the city. In addition to English, many other languages are commonly spoken: Gujarati is the preferred language of 16% of the city’s residents, Punjabi 3%, Somali 4% and Urdu 2%. Other smaller language groups include Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Malayalam and Polish.With continuing migration into the city, new languages and or dialects from Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are also being spoken in the city.
In primary schools in Leicester, English is not the ‘preferred’ language of 45% of pupils and the proportion of children whose first language is known, or believed to be, other than English, is significantly higher than other cities within the region, or within the UK.
Population change
Population growth in Leicester since 1901 | |||||||||
Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 2001 |
Population | |||||||||
Economy
Leicester has the largest economy in the East Midlands. A recent study by emda/Experian estimated the GVA to be £15.3 billion. Companies that have their head office based in the area include Next, Jessops, Shoe Zone, Goldsmiths and the British Gas Business. Caterpillar, Wal-Mart, and DHL all have sites in Leicester.
Engineering
Engineering is an important part of the economy of Leicester. Companies include Jones & Shipman (machine tools and control systems), Richards Engineering (foundry equipment), Transmon Engineering (materials handling equipment) and Trelleborg (suspension components for rail, marine, and industrial applications). Local commitment to nurturing the upcoming cadre of British engineers includes apprenticeship schemes with local companies, and academic-industrial connections with the engineering departments at Leicester University, De Montfort University, and Loughborough University. Leicester was also home to the famous Gents' of Leicester clock manufacturers.
Shopping
In 2008 Leicester was positioned thirteenth in the retail shopping league of England (CACI Retail Footprint 2008).There are two main shopping centres in Leicester – the Haymarket Shopping Centre and Highcross Leicester. The Haymarket Shopping Centre was opened on the site in 1974, and was the first to be built in the City, with parking for up to 500 cars on several levels, two levels of shopping with bus station, and was also the site of the former Haymarket Theatre. Highcross Leicester opened in 2008 after work to redevelop "The Shires Centre" was completed at a cost of £350 million (creating 120 stores, 15 restaurants, a cinema, 110,000 m2 of shopping space). Smaller shopping centres include St Martin's Square. The Leicester Lanes area has numerous designer and specialist shops. Leicester Market is the largest outdoor covered market in Europe selling a wide variety of goods. The Golden Mile is the name given to a stretch of Belgrave Road renowned for its authentic Indian restaurants, sari shops, and jewellers, The Diwali celebrations in Leicester are focused on this area and are the largest outside India
Leicester has a number of department stores including Fenwick, House of Fraser, John Lewis, and Debenhams.
Food and drink
Henry Walker was a successful pork butcher who moved from Mansfield to Leicester in the 1880s to take over an established business in High Street. The first Walker's production line was in the empty upper storey of Walker's Oxford Street factory in Leicester. In the early days the potatoes were sliced up by hand and cooked in an ordinary fish and chip fryer. In 1971 the Walker's crisps business was sold to Standard Brands, an American firm, who sold on the company to Frito-Lay. Walker's crisps currently makes 10 million bags of crisps per day at two factories in Beaumont Leys, and is the UK's largest grocery brand. The Beaumont Leys manufacturing plant is the largest crisp factory in the world.Meanwhile the sausage and pie business was bought out by Samworth Brothers in 1986. Production outgrew the Cobden Street site and pork pies are now manufactured at a meat processing factory and bakery in Beaumont Leys, coincidentally situated near the separately owned crisp factories. Sold under the Walker's name and under UK retailers own brands such as Tesco's Finest, over three million hot and cold pies are made each week. Henry Walker's butcher shop at 4–6 Cheapside is still in business, selling Walker's sausages and pork pies, and is currently trading under the ownership of Scottish company Fife Fine Foods which bought up the Walker's butchers stores chain from Dewhursts in 2006. Leicester Market is the largest outdoor covered marketplace in Europe and selling fruit, vegetables, fresh fish and meat. Every year during the summer the Leicester City Council hold cultural festivals here. In 2009 the Leicester Mela was held in the market area. In 2011 a new area called "Market Corner" was opened with various different food and drink on offer on Fridays and Saturdays. The market was given it's concent in 1229 by Henry III. One famous stallholder family is the Lineker's who have operated a fruit and vegetable store since the late 1960s. Other markets in Leicester include Beaumont Leys Market. There are other markets including the farmer's market and the continental markets usually held on Humberstone Gate or Gallowtree Gate.
Financial and business services
Financial and business service companies with operations in Leicestershire include Santander (previously Alliance & Leicester), Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and HSBC. All of the major accounting firms have offices in Leicester. One of Aviva's seven UK administrative hubs is based in Leicester.
Statistics
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Leicester at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.Year | Regional Gross Value Added| | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
1995 | | | |
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2003 | | | |
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Births, marriages and deaths
The staff at the Leicester office registers 9,500 births and 5,700 deaths annually. In addition around 1,000 marriage ceremonies take place within the building every year together with an increasing number of civil partnership registrations. As part of the legal preliminaries to their wedding the citizens of the city of Leicester who wish to marry anywhere other than the Church of England must give a legal notice of their intention to marry. In the course of a year more than 2,000 notices are entered in the records of this office.The original records of all births, marriages and deaths which have taken place in Leicester since 1837 are kept at the register office. Every year approximately 12,000 certified copies are issued from these historic records.
Business awards
The Leicestershire Business Awards has categories including Investing in Leicestershire, Contribution to the Community, and Entrepreneur of the Year.Recent Leicestershire winners of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise are Guidance Ltd, listed on the Lord Lieutenant's website. Guidance Monitoring Limited (GML) specialises in the design and manufacture of sophisticated electronic tagging/tracking systems for asset protection and personnel monitoring including for security and criminal justice applications.
Landmarks
There are ten Scheduled Monuments in Leicester and thirteen Grade I listed buildings: some sites, such as Leicester Castle and the Jewry Wall, appear on both lists.
20th century architecture: Leicester University Engineering Building (James Stirling & James Gowan : Grd II Listed), Kingstone Department Store, Belgrave Gate (Raymond McGrath : Grd II Listed)
Older architecture:
Tourist: Discover Leicester Tour is an open top tour bus linking many of the Leicestershire tourist sites in and around the city. See .
Parks: Abbey Park, Botanic Gardens, Castle Gardens, Gorse Hill City Farm, Grand Union Canal, Knighton Park, Nelson Mandela Park, River Soar, Victoria Park, Watermead Country Park.
Industry: Abbey Pumping Station, National Space Centre, Great Central Railway.
Places of worship: Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal (Hindu temple), the Stake Centre of the LDS Church's Leicester England Stake, Jain Centre, Leicester Cathedral, Leicester Central Mosque, Masjid Umar (Mosque), Guru Nanak Gurdwara (Sikh), Neve Shalom Synagogue (Progressive Jewish).
Historic buildings: Town Hall, Guildhall, Belgrave Hall, Jewry Wall, Secular Hall, Abbey, Castle, St Mary de Castro, The City Rooms, Newarke Magazine Gateway.
Shopping: Haymarket Shopping Centre, Highcross, Market, Golden Mile, Fosse Shopping Park, St Martin's Square, Silver Arcade.
Sport: Walkers Stadium – Leicester City FC, Welford Road – Leicester Tigers, Grace Road – Leicestershire County Cricket Club, John Sanford Sports Centre – Leicester Riders, Saffron Lane Sports Centre – Leicester Coritanian Athletics Club, City Cricket Academy.
Transport
Railway
The rail network is of growing importance in Leicester, and with the start of Eurostar international services from London St Pancras International in November 2007 giving Leicester railway station almost direct links to the continent, this growth is sure to continue.East Midlands Trains are the InterCity operator running 'fast' and 'semi-fast' services to and from London, UK|London]] to northern England, and provide local services throughout the East Midlands, regional services to the West Midlands and East Anglia are provided by CrossCountry.
Rail routes run north–south through Leicester along the route known as the Midland Main Line, going south to Bedford, Luton and London; and north to Lincoln, Sheffield, Leeds and York. Junctions north and south of the station link the east–west cross country route, going east to Cambridge, Stansted Airport and Norwich; and west to Nuneaton and Birmingham. Leicester is from London on the Midland Main Line, the fastest trains taking 1 hour and 07 minutes. Journeys to Sheffield take around 1 hour, Leeds and York are approximately a 2 hour journey. Birmingham and Peterborough are around 1 hour away.
Passengers using the railway station can include a PlusBus ticket with their train ticket which gives unlimited bus travel in a designated area.
Network Rail has plans afoot to re-develop the station incorporating the city council's plans for the surrounding area.
Great Central Railway
Leicester was also on a competing line from London to the North, built by the Great Central Railway in the late 1890s. Served by Leicester Central railway station, the Great Central Main Line closed as a through route in the late 1960s. A preserved section remains, from the newly opened Leicester North railway station (the original route through Leicester has now been rebuilt on), to Loughborough is now a heritage steam railway.
Motorways
Leicester is close to the heart of the M1 motorway at Junction 21, this section considered to be the busiest part in the country. The M69 motorway also starts near Leicester, and runs to the M6 Motorway and is contiguous with Coventry's eastern bypass.
Airport
East Midlands Airport is near Castle Donington which is in North West Leicestershire. Served by low-cost international airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet & Bmibaby and serves charter holidays like Thomson Holidays. This makes Leicester easily accessible from other parts of the world providing regular services to many principal European destinations. This includes Amsterdam, Berlin & Paris. Also there are internal flights to Belfast, Edinburgh & Glasgow and limited services to transcontinental destinations such as Barbados, Mexico & Orlando.Also Birmingham Airport is only about a 45 or 50 minute drive from Leicester, and London Luton Airport can be reached in an hour or just over. Luton serves similar destinations to East Midlands though Luton services are more regular. Birmingham airport generally flies to places like Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich & Paris with airlines like Air France, KLM & Lufthansa.
Leicester's other local airport is Leicester Airport at Stoughton, Leicestershire.
Buses
Leicester has two main bus stations St Margaret's Bus Station and Haymarket Bus Station.There are three permanent Park and ride sites located at Meynells Gorse (Leicester Forest East) Birstall and Enderby buses operate every 15 mins from all sites. The park and ride services are operated by Paul James Coaches and use a purpose built terminal near St. Nicholas Circle.
The main bus operators for Leicester are Arriva Fox County, Centrebus, Kinchbus, First Leicester and Thurmaston Bus.
The skylink service to East Midlands Airport and Derby operates 24/7 every 30 mins daytime and hourly after 7 pm.
National Cycle Network
Many routes that make up the country's National Cycle Network pass through Leicestershire. The Leicester Bike Park is also located in the city centre. The city is also home to Cyclemagic, a community cycling organisation with probably the widest range of bikes and pedal powered machines in the world.
Education
Leicester is home to two universities, the University of Leicester, which attained its Royal Charter in 1957 and is one of Britain's leading universities ranked 12th by the 2009 Complete University Guide, and De Montfort University, which opened in 1969 as Leicester Polytechnic and achieved university status in 1992.
It is also home to the National Space Centre located off Abbey Lane, due in part to the University of Leicester being one of the few universities in the UK to specialise in space sciences.
Leicester City Local Education Authority initially had a troubled history when formed in 1997 as part of the local government reorganisation – a 1999 Ofsted inspection found "few strengths and many weaknesses", although there has been considerable improvement since then. While many state schools provide a good standard of education, there have been problems with one or two of the large community colleges, in particular New College on Glenfield Road. However, recent changes of leadership at New College have seen a turnaround in the school's prospects.
Recent plans to improve the city's education system included the opening of The Samworth Enterprise Academy, an academy whose catchment area draws in children from the Saffron and Eyres Monsell estates, co-sponsored by the Church of England and David Samworth, chairman of Samworth Brothers. State school status has also been granted to the Madani High School, a Leicester Islamic academy. The city's special schools are currently undergoing reorganisation.
Under the "Building Schools for the Future" project, Leicester City Council has contracted with developers Miller Consortium for £315 million to rebuild Beaumont Leys School, Judgemeadow Community College in Evington, and Soar Valley College in Rushey Mead, and to refurbish Fullhurst Community College in Braunstone.
Leicester City Council underwent a major reorganisation of children's services in 2006, creating a new Children & Young People's Services department.
Leicester was one of the last places in the UK where milk was supplied to primary schools in third pint glass bottles. In 2007 the supplier changed to plastic bottles.
Culture
The city hosts an annual Pride Parade (Leicester Pride), a Caribbean Carnival (the largest in the UK outside London), the largest Diwali celebrations outside of India and the largest comedy festival in the UK Leicester Comedy Festival. One of the best known places in the city is Melton Road, near the city centre, which contains many diverse retail stores and restaurants for both locals and tourists. From clothing to fine cuisines,specialist bridal/groom makeup and home appliances, this road promotes and holds many authentic cultures globally. Melton Road is regarded as the pin point of Leicester as a multifaith city. For many residents of Leicester, Melton Road is place with strong links to their roots and origins. From an ethnic point of view, this is just one of the many sites within the city that enables every person to feel a sense of homeliness and strong pride of cutlture.
The Leicester International Short Film Festival is an annual event; it began life with humble beginnings in 1996 under the banner title of "Seconds Out". It has become one of the most important short film festivals in the U.K. It usually runs in early November, with venues including the Phoenix Arts Centre.
Arts venues in the city include: Curve: New purpose-designed performing arts centre, designed by Rafael Vinoly, opened in Autumn 2008, replaced the Haymarket Theatre
Museums
Music
While Leicester has often been neglected as a centre for popular music, with the new O2 Academy that has recently been built in the city more established acts have been been booked to play. It has had a vibrant history that has thrown up a large number of notable, as well as forgettable, artists. Current venues for music include: De Montfort Hall, which has a standing capacity of 1602 and seating capacity of 2000. One of Leicester's main live music venues, The Charlotte, closed in January 2009. It briefly reopened in October 2009 before being closed permanently on 14 March 2010. There are also a number of small jazz clubs such as the 'Copa'.
1960s
Leicester's main small venue for pop and rock was the Il Rondo on Silver Street. The roll call of bands who played at the Il Rondo runs like a who's Who of early–mid sixties pop and rock. The Yardbirds and The Animals played there before passing into rock history along with less well remembered groups like the Graham Bond Organisation. It also played host to many visiting American blues musicians including Howlin' Wolf, Freddie King, Lowell Fulson, Otis Spann and John Lee Hooker. The Beatles also came to De Montfort Hall.Colin Hyde (East Midlands Oral History Archive) carried out a range of interviews about growing up in Leicester in the 1950s and 1960s and began to map where all of the venues of the day were. He identified a number of clubs, pubs, and coffee bars like the Chameleon, run by Pete Joseph, the El Casa, or the El Paso – cafes which stayed open after the pubs closed. Among others, people also remembered the Blue Beat club on Conduit Street, run by Alex Barrows who later started the House of Happiness on Campbell Street. Night clubs such as the Burlesque or the Night Owl became more popular as the 1960s progressed, and they opened up the opportunity to dance all night.
A local beat band called The Foresights were signed to EMI. They were notable for all members wearing glasses.
Also emerging during this period was the band Family, fronted by Leicester man Roger Chapman.
1970s
The seventies saw the emergence of the well known cabaret band Showaddywaddy from the city with lead singer Dave Bartram and their 1950s-themed songs. The De Montfort Hall held the first of its annual One-World festivals, with the aim of celebrating the cultural diversity of the city and breaking down the barriers of hostility and suspicion that had a potential to foment racial conflict. Adult and children's groups performed traditional dances and music from the many communities settled here – British, Irish, East European, Asian, African and Caribbean. These festivals continued until the 1980s.
1980s
The early 1980s saw Leicester punk band Rabid have two minor indie hits, and there were greater successes later in the decade for Yeah Yeah Noh. The mid-1980s saw the emergence of bands such as Gaye Bykers on Acid, Crazyhead, The Bomb Party, and The Hunters Club, who were all associated with the Grebo scene. The Deep Freeze Mice had formed in 1979 and went on to release ten albums in total. Diesel Park West had their first top 75 hits in the late 1980s. Other notable Leicester bands from this decade included Po! and Blab Happy.
1990s
The band Prolapse, was formed by a group of Leicester University and Polytechnic students in 1992. The band rose in popularity, and quickly gained a record deal with Cherry Red Records, recorded a number of John Peel sessions for Radio 1, and toured with Sonic Youth, Stereolab and Pulp. 1992 also saw the formation in Leicester of Cornershop, an Anglo-Asian agit pop band, who became most famous for the 1998 Number 1 single "Brimful of Asha". Perfume and Delicatessen both also rose to critical acclaim. Leicester is home of the influential Rave – Drum & Bass Formation Records label and associated 5HQ Record Shop.
Post-2000
Since 2000 the city has once more seen a notable upsurge in the success of the local music scene. Several Leicester musicians and/or acts have received considerable media attention in their fields since 2003–2004. Kasabian, followed by Pacific Ocean Fire, The Displacements, Kyte, and Maybeshewill have all risen from the city to national attention. The Go! Team were first signed to local label Pickled Egg Records, other Leicester musicians (such as Frank Benbini) feature in notable national and international bands such as; Fun Lovin' Criminals, The Happy Mondays, The Holloways, Envy & Other Sins, and A Hawk and a Hacksaw.Kasabian albums Empire and West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum both achieved Number 1 status in the Official UK Albums Chart in 2006 and 2009 respectively. Success followed in 2010 when the band won the Best British Group Award at the BRIT Awards 2010.
Other Leicester acts enjoying chart success in the Official UK Singles Chart during the 2000s include Bassline act H "Two" O eventually reaching number 2, and remaining there for 3 weeks, with their hit single "What's It Gonna Be". Dance music project Stunt eventually reached number 9 with their collaborative hit single "Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) feat. Sash" (with Sash). They have also gone on to collaborate with Europop sensation Basshunter.
The development of the award-winning music festival Summer Sundae with connecting Summer Sundae Fringe Festival (run by the local arts collective Pineapster) as well as other music festivals focused on blues and folk music may well provide the city with more of a focus for its local bands to break out nationally. 2006 saw the closure of The Attik, a venue that for over 20 years had played host to hundreds of bands.
In popular culture
Leicester is the setting for the fictional diaries of Adrian Mole, created by Sue Townsend. He lives in a fictional suburb known as 'Mangold Parva'. There, Mole lives and owns a second hand bookshop in the laters novels, notably, Townsend's latest, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years. The local Leicestershire MP is Pandora Braithwaite, a fictional Labour MP since the 1997 General Election.
Sport
Professional & semi professional sports teams include: Leicester Tigers (rugby union), Leicester City (football), Leicester Coritanian A.C. (Athletics), and the Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
Sports clubs include: Leicester Penguins Swimming Club who were awarded Sports Club of the Year by the Leicester Mercury at their annual sports awards for 2007 & 2008. Other Sports clubs include Braunstone Swimming Club & Leicester Neptune Swimming Club.
Leicester Racecourse is located to the south of the city in Oadby.
After a period of success for the football, cricket and rugby teams around the turn of the millennium, Leicester was for some time dubbed (by the local press and local inhabitants at least) the sporting capital of the UK, and a statue commemorating this period was erected in the town centre.
Leicester Tigers on Welford Road are one of the most successful rugby union teams in Europe, having won the European cup twice, the first tier of English rugby eight times, and the Anglo-Welsh cup six times. Notable former players include Englands Rugby world cup winning captain Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Dean Richards and Austin Healey.
Leicester City have also enjoyed a fair degree of success. They have championed the second tier of the English league system on no less than six occasions, competed in the top flight regularly during their history, won three Football League Cups and reached the FA Cup Final four times despite never winning the trophy. In the 2008–09 season they competed in and won League One (third tier), to which they were relegated for the first time. Their current stadium is the King Power Stadium, situated south of the city centre and near to the site Filbert Street from which they relocated in 2002 after 111 years. Notable former managers include Jimmy Bloomfield, David Pleat, Brian Little, and Martin O'Neill. Notable former players include Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Frank Worthington, Gary Lineker, Alan Smith, Emile Heskey, Neil Lennon, Simon Grayson and Matt Elliott.
Motorcycle speedway racing has been staged in Leicester on and off since 1930. In the pioneer days speedway was staged at a track known as Leicester Super situated in Melton Road and at 'The Stadium' in Blackbird Road. Post war, the Leicester Hunters joined the National League Division Three in 1949 and operated at various levels until closure at the end of 1962. The sport was revived for a spell from 1968 before the sale and subsequent redevelopment of the site ended the first Leicester Lions era in 1983. Planning permission was granted in October 2009 for a brand-new speedway track at Beaumont Park, with Leicester Lions returning to action in 2011 in the British Premier League. The history of Leicester's Speedways is well documented in three books by Allan Jones.
Leicester Phoenix are a rugby league club based in the centre of the city. The club was founded in 1986. After playing in different British Amateur Rugby League Association leagues (namely the Midlands and South West Amateur Rugby League and the East Midlands Amateur Rugby League) the Phoenix were one of the 10 founder members of the Rugby League Conference (then the Southern Conference League) in 1997 reaching the grand final in the inaugural season. Since then they have been one of the league's most consistent performers. Their 1st Grade Team currently compete in the Midlands Premier division of the Rugby League Conference.
Leicester Rowing Club is a rowing and sculling club based in the centre of the city on the River Soar. Formed in 1882 they represent Leicester in Regatta and Head Races around Great Britain and Worldwide. The club insignia is based on the mythical Wyvern and rowers compete in the club's colours of black and white.
The city also hosted British and World track cycling and Road Racing championships at its Saffron Lane velodrome in August 1970. The cycle track was improved specially for the event which was televised all over the world. Another first meant that sponsors were allowed to buy sections of the track to utilise for advertising purposes. This was also the first time that a public road – the A46 – was closed in the UK to allow the Road Race to take place:- See The Benny Foster Story published by Fretwell 1971. However, this was the second world championships to be hosted by the city, in 1883 the first ever Bicycling World Championships were held at the Belgrave Road Grounds.
In 1989 and 2009, the city hosted the British Special Olympics. This was the adopted charity for the Lord Mayor of Leicester 2008–2009,Councillor Manjula Sood.
Until its demolition in 1999 Granby Halls was a popular live music, exhibition and sports arena in the city. It was also notable as the long serving home of professional basketball team, the Leicester Riders, from 1980 until 1999.
Leicester is also home to the Leicester Falcons, an American football team that competes as part of the BAFA community leagues. The Falcons' home ground is located at Leicester Forest RFC, Hinkley Rd, Leicester Forest East.
Hockey Club are based at Leicester Grammar School in Great Glen
Leicester was also the '2008 European City of Sport'.
Public services
In the public sector, University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust is one of the larger employers in the city, with over 12,000 employees working for the Trust. Leicester City Primary Care Trust employs over 1,000 full and part time staff providing healthcare services in the city. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust employs 3,000 staff providing mental health and learning disability services in the city and county.In the private sector are Nuffield Hospital Leicester and the Spire Hospital Leicester.
Notable people
Local media
Leicester is home to the Leicester Mercury newspaper, and the Midlands Asian Television channel known as MATV Channel 6.BBC Radio Leicester was the first BBC Local Radio station in Britain, opening on 8 November 1967. Other analogue FM radio stations are Takeover Radio, Heart 106, 106.6 Smooth Radio and Hindu Sanskar Radio, which only broadcasts during Hindu religious festivals. BBC Asian Network and Sabras Radio broadcast on AM.
The local DAB multiplex has the following stations:
The local Hospital Radio station is Hospital Radio Fox. The first children's radio station, Takeover Radio, broadcasts in Leicester.
Sister cities
Leicester has a number of twin/sister cities, these are:
References
;Notes;Further reading
External links
* Category:Local government in Leicestershire Category:Unitary authorities of England Category:50 establishments Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) Category:Cities in the East Midlands Category:County towns in England Category:Local government districts of the East Midlands
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