Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
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	}}

Leicester ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands area of England. It is also the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest. In 2006, the population of the Leicester unitary authority was estimated at 289,700, the largest in the East Midlands, whilst 441,213 people lived in the wider Leicester Urban Area. Eurostat's Larger Urban Zone listed the population of the area at 772,400 people as of 2004. Leicester is the 10th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom using the 2001 census definitions and the urban area is the fifteenth largest conurbation in the UK, the second largest in the region behind the Nottingham Urban Area.

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:

! Ward	! Suburbs, villages and districts
Abbey
Aylestone	Aylestone, Saffron
Beaumont Leys	Beaumont Leys, Heathley Park
Belgrave
Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields	Braunstone, Rowley Fields
Castle	City Centre, Blackfriars, Clarendon Park, Southfields
Charnwood
Coleman	Crown Hills, North Evington
Evington	Evington, Goodwood, Rowlatts Hill
Eyres Monsell	Eyres Monsell
Fosse
Freemen	Knighton Fields
Humberstone & Hamilton	Hamilton, Humberstone, Humberstone Garden, Netherhall
	Stoneygate, Knighton, Leicestershire
[[Latimer	St. Mark's
New Parks	New Parks
Rushey Mead	Rushey Mead
Spinney Hills
Stoneygate
Thurncourt	Thurnby Lodge
Westcotes	Bede Island
Western Park

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 292,600 23.0% 63.9% 62.0% 29.9% 29.4% 3.1% 4.6% 2.3% 2.6% 0.8% 1.5% 44.7% 17.4% 14.7% 11.0%

Leicester compared
United Kingdom Census 2001	UK Census 2001	|	East Midlands	England
Total population	|	4,172,174	49,138,831
Foreign born	|	6.0%	9.2%
White (2001)	|	93.5%	90.9%
White (2006)	|	91.4%	88.7%
South Asian (2001)	|	4.0%	4.6%
South Asian (2006)	|	4.8%	5.5%
Black (2001)	|	0.9%	2.3%
Black (2006)	|	1.4%	2.8%
Mixed (2001)	|	1.0%	1.3%
Mixed (2006)	|	1.4%	1.6%
East Asian and Other (2001)	|	0.5%	0.9%
East Asian and Other (2006)	|	1.0%	1.4%
Christian	|	72.0%	71.7%
No religion	|	15.2%	14.6%
Hindu	|	1.6%	1.1%
Muslim	|	1.7%	3.1%

The United Kingdom Census 2001 showed a total resident population for Leicester of 279,921, a 0.5% decrease from the 1991 census. Approximately 62,000 were aged under 16, 199,000 were aged 16–74, and 19,000 aged 75 and over. 76.9% of Leicester's population claim they have been born in the UK, according to the 2001 UK Census. Mid-year estimates for 2006 indicate that the population of the City of Leicester stood at 289,700 making Leicester the most populous city in East Midlands.

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. Regional Gross Value Added 3,561 5,087

Year	|	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	|	-	1,425	3,088
2003	|	1	1,289	3,797

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.

Schools in Leicester & the Wider Area

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

The De Montfort Hall

The Y Theatre

The Little Theatre

The City Gallery, one of the region's leading contemporary art galleries

The Peepul Centre , 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 former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other senior Labour Party figures for hustings during the deputy leadership contest.

Phoenix Square, which replaced the Phoenix Arts Centre in 2009.

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:

BBC Radio Leicester

Sabras Radio

Galaxy Digital

Highways Agency Traffic Radio

XFM

Classic Gold GEM

Heart 106

Asian Plus – also known as Hindu Sanskar Radio

Takeover Radio

Smooth Radio

Demon FM

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:

Strasbourg (France)

Krefeld (Germany)

Haskovo (Bulgaria)

Masaya (Nicaragua)

Rajkot (India)

Chongqing (China)

References

;Notes

;Further reading

Hoskins, W. G. (1957) Leicestershire: an illustrated essay on the history of the landscape. London: Hodder & Stoughton

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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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Fernando Torres
fullname	Fernando José Torres Sanz
birth date	March 20, 1984
birth place	Fuenlabrada, Spain
height
position	Striker
currentclub	Chelsea
clubnumber	9
youthyears1	1995–2001
youthclubs1	Atlético Madrid
years1	2001–2007
years2	2007–2011
years3	2011–
clubs1	Atlético Madrid
clubs2	Liverpool
clubs3	Chelsea
caps1	214
caps2	102
caps3	17
goals1	82
goals2	65
goals3	1
nationalyears1	2000
nationalyears2	2001
nationalyears3	2001
nationalyears4	2002
nationalyears5	2002
nationalyears6	2002–2003
nationalyears7	2003–
nationalteam1	Spain U15
nationalteam2	Spain U16
nationalteam3	Spain U17
nationalteam4	Spain U18
nationalteam5	Spain U19
nationalteam6	Spain U21
nationalteam7	Spain
nationalcaps1	1
nationalcaps2	9
nationalcaps3	4
nationalcaps4	1
nationalcaps5	5
nationalcaps6	10
nationalcaps7	87
nationalgoals1	0
nationalgoals2	11
nationalgoals3	1
nationalgoals4	1
nationalgoals5	6
nationalgoals6	3
nationalgoals7	27
club-update	16:57, 31 August 2011 (UTC)
nationalteam-update	16:57, 31 August 2011 (UTC) }}

Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984), nicknamed (''The Kid'' in Spanish), is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker.

Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth system to the first team squad. He made his first team debut in 2001 and finished his career with the club having scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances. Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals. He joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2007 after signing for a club record transfer fee. He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player, since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season, to score more than 20 league goals in a season. Torres became the fastest player in Liverpool history to score 50 league goals after scoring against Aston Villa in December 2009. He left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a record British transfer fee of £50 million, which also made him the most expensive Spanish player in history.

Torres is a Spanish international and made his debut for the country against Portugal in 2003. He has since participated in four major tournaments, UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Torres did not score at Euro 2004, but netted three at the 2006 World Cup. He scored twice at UEFA Euro 2008, including the winning goal for Spain in their 1–0 win over Germany in the final. Spain also won the 2010 World Cup, but Torres did not score any goals during the tournament.

Early career

Born in Fuenlabrada, Community of Madrid, Torres became interested in football as a child and joined his first team, Parque 84, at the age of five. His father José Torres worked during Torres' childhood, and his mother Flori Sanz traveled daily with him to training sessions. His grandfather was not a passionate football fan, but took pride in being an Atlético Madrid supporter, and Torres inherited his love for the club.

Torres started playing football as a goalkeeper, the position his brother played in. When he was seven years old, however, he started playing regularly as a striker in an indoor league for the neighborhood club, Mario's Holland, using the characters from the anime Captain Tsubasa as inspiration. Three years later, aged 10, he progressed to an 11-side team, Rayo 13. He scored 55 goals in a season and was one of three Rayo 13 players to earn a trial with Atlético. He impressed the scouts and joined the club's youth system at the age of 11 in 1995.

Club career

Atlético Madrid

After progressing through the ranks, Torres won his first important youth title in 1998. Atlético sent an under-15 team to compete in the Nike Cup, in Spain and Europe, to play against youth teams from other clubs; Atlético won the tournament. He was later voted the best player in Europe for the age group. The 2000–01 season had started badly, as Torres suffered from a cracked shinbone which kept him out until December. Torres trained with the first team to get prepared for pre-season, but eventually made his debut for the team on 27 May 2001, at Vicente Calderón, against CD Leganés. A week later, he scored his first goal for the club against Albacete Balompié and the season finished with Atlético narrowly missing out on promotion to La Liga. Atlético were promoted to La Liga at the end of the 2001–02 season, although Torres did not perform well in the season, as he netted only six times in 36 appearances in the Segunda División. Torres' first season in La Liga, 2002–03, was better, however, as he scored 13 goals in 29 appearances, with Atlético finishing in 11th place. In the 2003–04 season, his second in La Liga, Torres made further strides, scoring 19 league goals in 35 appearances, meaning he finished as joint third highest scorer in the league. At the age of 19, Torres was named Atlético's captain. He scored two goals in the two fourth round matches against OFK Beograd, with one coming in each leg. Atlético reached the Final, but lost 3–1 on a penalty shootout to Villarreal CF following a 2–2 draw on aggregate. FA Premier League champions Chelsea were believed to be interested in signing Torres in 2005, but Atlético president Enrique Cerezo said that they had "no chance" of signing him. Cerezo later said in January 2006 that the club were willing to listen to offers for Torres, and Torres claimed Newcastle United had made a bid to sign him in March.

He stated after the 2006 FIFA World Cup that he had turned down an offer to join Chelsea at the end of the 2005–06 season. Torres scored 14 league goals in the 2006–07 season. The English media reported that he was the main transfer target of Liverpool, but Cerezo stated "We've received no offer from Liverpool or any other club or player". However, a few days later, new reports suggested Atlético had agreed a deal with Liverpool for Torres; the fee was rumored to be £25 million with Luis García moving to Atletico in a separate transfer deal. On 30 June, Atlético announced a deal to sign Diego Forlán from Villarreal, in what was seen as a move to replace Torres before his departure became official. On 2 July, it was reported that Torres had cut short a vacation to fly back to Madrid to finalise the move to Liverpool. The following day, Torres passed a medical for Liverpool's Melwood training ground. He held a press conference in Madrid on 4 July to bid farewell to the Atlético fans, before completing his move to Liverpool on a six-year contract. The transfer fee was the highest in Liverpool's history. In March 2008, manager Rafael Benítez stated in an interview with ''The Times'' that Torres was acquired for around £20 million, although this figure takes into account García's move to Atlético.

Liverpool

2007–08 season

Torres made his competitive debut for Liverpool against Aston Villa in a 2–1 win on 11 August 2007. He made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League four days later in a 1–0 victory over Toulouse, after coming on as a 79th minute substitute. His first Premier League goal came on his Anfield debut on 19 August, in the 16th minute in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea. His first hat-trick came in a 4–2 victory over Reading in the League Cup in September, with all of his goals coming in the second half. His first goals in the Champions League came on his third appearance in the competition as Liverpool beat Porto 4–1, as he scored twice.

He was named Premier League Player of the Month for February, during which he scored four goals in four appearances, including a hat-trick against Middlesbrough on 23 February 2008. Later in March, after he scored a 47th minute header against Reading at Anfield, becoming the first Liverpool player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season campaign to score 20 league goals in a season. In April, he scored another Champions League goal, this time against Arsenal in the quarter-final second leg, as Liverpool advanced to the semi-final. This goal took him onto 29 goals for the 2007–08 season in all competitions, On 11 April 2008, it was announced Torres had made a six man shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, which was eventually won by Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United. The Spanish international was also nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, which was won by Cesc Fàbregas of Arsenal and was named in the PFA Team of the Year. In May, he finished second to Ronaldo for the FWA Footballer of the Year award.

On 4 May 2008, Torres scored a 57th minute winner against Manchester City, which equalled the consecutive Anfield league goal record of eight games set by Roger Hunt. After scoring his 24th league goal in the final game of the season, a 2–0 win against Tottenham Hotspur, he set a new record for the most prolific foreign goal scorer ever in a debut season in England, eclipsing Ruud van Nistelrooy's 23 goals. He ended the season in joint second place with Emmanuel Adebayor in the race for the Premier League golden boot. Torres was subject to media speculation that Chelsea were willing to pay £50 million to sign him but Torres responded by saying it would be "many years" before he left Liverpool. Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks also negated the idea of a transfer, saying he would not allow Torres to leave the club at any price.

2008–09 season

Torres made a promising start to the 2008–09 Premier League season, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 away win against Sunderland. He suffered what was later confirmed as a hamstring tear in a 0–0 draw against Aston Villa, which would keep him out for two to three weeks. Torres made his return in a 2–1 victory against Marseille in the Champions League and went on to score two goals in the Merseyside derby against Everton on 27 September to give Liverpool a 2–0 win. He followed this up with another two goals the following weekend against Manchester City in a 3–2 win away at the City of Manchester Stadium as Liverpool came back from a two goal deficit. The first of these was the thousandth Liverpool goal to be scored in the Premier League. Torres picked up a hamstring injury during a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier, meaning he was likely to miss three games for Liverpool. On 22 October, Liverpool played Torres' former club Atlético in the Champions League at the Vicente Calderón, but his injury meant he missed out on the game. The Atlético president, Enrique Cerezo, had given him a VIP invitation to watch the game, but he declined this to recover his rehabilitation from injury in Merseyside. He was named in the FIFPro World XI team for the 2007–08 season on 27 October. Torres made his return for Liverpool after coming on as a 72nd minute substitute in a 3–0 victory against West Bromwich Albion (West Brom). He said he would be interested in returning to former club Atlético eventually, saying "I don't know if I will retire there, but I would like to go back and finish some things that are left to do." He was ruled out of action for two to three weeks following Liverpool's 1–0 victory over Marseille in the Champions League in November, where he picked up a hamstring strain, which was later extended to at least four weeks by specialists. He was named on the shortlist for the FIFA World Player of the Year award in December, and eventually came in third place behind Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Torres returned to action on 3 January 2009 as a substitute with a goal in the 2–0 win over Preston North End; his first in the FA Cup. He scored two late goals for Liverpool to secure a 2–0 victory over Chelsea on 1 February. Despite having spent a year and a half at the club, Torres was chosen as number 50 in ''The Times'''s list of "The 50 greatest Liverpool players", reinforcing the impact he had made at Liverpool in such a short period of time.

Torres faced his old rivals Real Madrid on 10 March in the Champions League last 16 and due to an ankle injury, he had a painkilling injecting before the game to enable him to play. He scored the first goal of the game, which ended as a 4–0 victory, meaning Liverpool progressed to the quarter-finals 5–0 on aggregate. Four days later he lined up against Manchester United at Old Trafford and he scored the equaliser in a game that finished as a 4–1 victory. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the second season running in April 2009. Torres scored his 50th goal for Liverpool on 24 May against Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the 2008–09 season, which was his 84th appearance.

2009–10 season

Following the end of the season, he agreed a new contract with Liverpool, which he signed on 14 August. By signing this contract, Liverpool increased his wage to £110,000 a week and included the option of a one-year extension after its expiry in 2013. Torres scored two goals in a 3–2 win over West Ham United on 19 September 2009, a result that took Liverpool to third in the Premier League. A week later he scored his first hat-trick of the 2009–10 Premier League season in a 6–1 victory over Hull City at Anfield. He was named Premier League Player of the Month for September, after scoring five goals during the month and becoming the Premier League's top goalscorer. On 25 October, he scored the first goal in a 2–0 victory for Liverpool over Manchester United, after which Benítez praised Torres' performance, saying "We were waiting for that final pass. When it came we knew he would score." Torres was named in the FIFPro World XI for the second successive season in December. His stoppage-time winning goal against Aston Villa on 29 December 2009 made him the fastest Liverpool player ever to score 50 league goals. He was substituted on 65 minutes in a 1–1 draw with Birmingham City on 4 April 2010, which Benítez justified by saying Torres was "exhausted". Torres made his last appearance of the season scoring twice in a 4–1 victory over S.L. Benfica on in the UEFA Cup 8 April, This meant that Torres finished the season with 22 goals in 32 games in all competitions, finishing as Liverpool's top scorer for the second time.

2010–11 season

Following his appointment as Liverpool manager, Roy Hodgson stated Torres would not be sold by the club, saying "He is not for sale and we don't welcome any offers for him. We want to keep him." Hodgson dismissed reports Torres was set to leave Liverpool by saying "He has told us that he is looking forward to Monday, to getting back to work and looking forward to playing for Liverpool next season. That is what I know so other reports, I would suggest, are erroneous." Torres stated his commitment to Liverpool on 3 August, saying "My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is the same as it was on my first day when I signed." He made his first appearance of the 2010–11 season in the opening game, a 1–1 draw with Arsenal on 14 August, entering the game as a substitute in the 74th minute. He scored his first goal of the season with the winner in a 1–0 victory over West Brom on 29 August, which was his 50th goal in all competitions to be scored at Anfield. Torres scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Blackburn Rovers on 24 October, which was his first goal since August. He followed this up by scoring both goals in Liverpool's 2–0 win over Chelsea on 7 November. On 1 January 2011, Torres scored the equaliser in a 2–1 win against Bolton Wanderers.

Chelsea

On 27 January, Torres was the subject of a £40 million bid from Chelsea, which was rejected by Liverpool. He subsequently handed in an official transfer request to Liverpool the next day, which was rejected. Torres completed his move to Chelsea on a five-and-a-half year contract on 31 January for an undisclosed fee reported to be £50 million, which set a new record for a British transfer and made him the fourth most expensive footballer in history. He made his debut on 6 February in a 1–0 defeat to former club Liverpool. On 23 April, Torres scored his first goal for Chelsea against West Ham United in a 3–0 victory, which ended a run of 903 minutes of football without a goal.

2011-12 season

Torres got the new season underway with a Man of the Match performance away against Stoke City, the match ended 0-0.

International career

In February 2001, Torres won the Algarve Tournament with the Spain national under-16 team. The under-16s took part in the 2001 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship in May, which they also won, with Torres scoring the only goal in the Final, as well as finishing as the tournament's leading scorer, and was also named the player of the tournament.}}

Torres made his debut for the senior Spanish national team on 6 September 2003 in a friendly against Portugal. His first goal for Spain came against Italy on 28 April 2004. He was selected for the Spanish squad for UEFA Euro 2004. After appearing as a late substitute in Spain's first two group games, he started for the deciding game against Portugal. Spain were losing 1–0 and, towards the end of the game, he hit the post. He scored seven goals in 11 appearances in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, making him Spain's top scorer for qualification, including a vital two goals against Belgium and his first international hat-trick against San Marino. At his first ever appearance in a FIFA World Cup finals at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Torres scored the final goal in a 4–0 victory over Ukraine with a volley. In the second group match, Torres scored twice against Tunisia, first in the 76th minute to take Spain 2–1 into the lead, and then again from a penalty kick in the 90th. With three goals, he finished the tournament as Spain's top scorer along with fellow striker David Villa.

He was called up for Spain's UEFA Euro 2008 squad, where he set up Villa to score Spain's first goal of the tournament in the first game in the group stage against Russia. Torres came under criticism for apparently refusing to shake the hand of Spanish manager, Luis Aragonés, after being substituted. He subsequently denied being angry with the coaching, saying that he was actually "irritated with himself". He scored his first goal of the tournament in Spain's next game, a 2–1 win over Sweden. Torres scored the winner and was named the man of the match in the Final against Germany in a 1–0 victory. He said "It's just a dream come true. This is my first title and I hope it's the first of many. Victory in a Euro, it is almost as big as a World Cup. We are used to watching finals on television, but today we were here and we won. My job is to score goals. I want to win more titles and be the most important player in Europe and the world." He was later named as a striker along with his striking partner Villa in the Team of the Tournament. Torres made his 60th appearance for Spain in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification victory over Turkey on 28 March 2009, becoming the youngest player to reach this milestone. He was named in Spain's team for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in June. He scored his second hat-trick for Spain after 17 minutes into a Confederations Cup game against New Zealand on 14 June, thus recording the fastest hat-trick by a player for Spain. He played for Spain as they were defeated 2–0 by the United States in the semi-final, as well as the third-place play-off, which Spain won 3–2 against South Africa after extra time.

Having undergone knee surgery on 18 April 2010, and missed the end of the Premier League season, Torres' rehabilitation and fitness was closely monitored by Spain manager Vicente del Bosque. On 8 June, Torres made his first appearance on the field in exactly two months, coming on as a substitute on 66 minutes against Poland in a pre-World Cup friendly. He came on as a substitute on 61 minutes in Spain's opening World Cup game on 16 June, a 1–0 defeat to Switzerland. He started the next two games against Honduras and Chile and although his performances in the group stage were described as below-par, he received backing from manager Vicente del Bosque. Torres came on as a substitute on 105 minutes in the Final as Spain won the FIFA World Cup for the first time following a 1–0 victory over the Netherlands on 11 July 2010.

Personal life

Torres' parents are José and Flori, and he has two older siblings, Israel (born 1977) and Maria Paz (born 1976). He married Olalla Domínguez Liste, with whom he had been in a relationship since 2001, on 27 May 2009 in a private ceremony with just two guests at the local town hall in El Escorial, Madrid. They had been an item for eight years and are thought to have met in the Galician seaside town of Estorde, where Torres would go on family holidays each year to escape the Spanish capital. The couple have two children, a daughter, Nora, born on 8 July 2009 at the Hospital La Rosaleda, in Santiago de Compostela, and a son, born on 6 December 2010 at Liverpool Women's Hospital, with Torres missing the Aston Villa game at Anfield.

In 2009, it was reported that Torres has a personal fortune of £14 million. He features in the video for "Ya Nada Volverá A Ser Como Antes" by Spanish pop rock group El Canto del Loco, whose singer, Dani Martín, shares a strong friendship with the footballer. He makes a cameo appearance in the 2005 comedy film ''Torrente 3: El protector''. In 2009, he released an autobiography entitled ''Torres: El Niño: My Story''.

Style of play

He is considered to be a world-class striker and he is "quick, strong, impressive in the air, blessed with expert technique and is cool and collected in front".

Career statistics

Club

1 6 13 19 16 13 14 24 14 18 9 0

Club	Season	League	Cup	League Cup	Europe	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="8" valign="center"	Atlético Madrid		4	|	2	0	––		0	0	6	1
2001–02 Segunda División	2001–02	36	|	1	1	––		0	0	37	7
2002–03 Atlético Madrid season	2002–03	29	|	2	1	––		3	0	34	14
2003–04 Atlético Madrid season	2003–04	35	|	5	2	––		3	0	43	21
2004–05 Atlético Madrid season	2004–05	38	|	6	2	––		5	2	49	20
2005–06 Atlético Madrid season	2005–06	36	|	4	0	––		0	0	40	13
2006–07 Atlético Madrid season	2006–07	36	|	4	1	––		0	0	40	15
!Total	––!!11!!2!!249!!91
rowspan="5" valign="center"	Liverpool		33	|	1	0	1	3	11	6	46	33
2008–09 Liverpool F.C. season	2008–09	24	|	3	1	2	0	9	2	38	17
2009–10 Liverpool F.C. season	2009–10	22	|	2	0	0	0	8	4	32	22
2010–11 Liverpool F.C. season	2010–11	23	|	1	0	0	0	2	0	26	9
!Total	!102!!65!!7!!1!!3!!3!!30!!12!!142!!81
rowspan="3" valign="center"	Chelsea		3	|	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
!Total	!17!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!4!!0!!21!!1
Career total	!333!!148!!31!!8!!3!!3!!45!!14!!412!!173

International appearances

0 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 1 !34

National team	Season	Friendly	Competitive	Total
!Apps	!Goals	!Apps	!Goals	!Apps	!Goals
rowspan="9"	Spain	2003	1	|	2	0	3	0
2004	6	|	5	0	11	1
2005	3	|	9	7	12	8
2006	6	|	7	4	13	5
2007	2	|	4	1	6	1
2008	6	|	7	2	13	3
2009	3	|	10	3	13	5
2010	3	|	8	2	11	3
2011	4	|	1	0	5	1
Career total	|	8	53	19	87	27

International goals

Estádio Capitão Josino da Costa, Lagoa Municipality (Algarve) 24 February 2001 24 February 2001 27 February 2001 22 April 2001 24 April 2001 24 April 2001 29 April 2001 3 May 2001 3 May 2001 6 May 2001

+	U16 International goals
Goal !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	February 2001	Lagoa, Portugal ||	England national under-16 football team>England U16		1–2	Algrave Tournament
2.	|	Estadio de Lagos, Lagos, Portugal	Finland U16		0–4	Algrave Tournament
3.	|	Estadio de Lagos, Lagos, Portugal	Finland U16		0–4	Algrave Tournament
4.	|	Estádio do Portimonense, Portimão, Portugal	Portugal U16		1–1	Algrave Tournament
5.	|	New Ferens Park, Durham, England	Romania U16		0–3	2001 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship#Group A>2001 UEFA Under-16 Championship
6.	|	New Ferens Park, Durham, England	Belgium U16		5–0	2001 UEFA Under-16 Championship
7.	|	New Ferens Park, Durham, England	Belgium U16		5–0	2001 UEFA Under-16 Championship
8.	|	Stadium of Light, City of Sunderland>Sunderland, England	Italy U16	1–0	1–1	2001 UEFA Under-16 Championship
9.	|	Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, England	Croatia U16	1–0	3–0	2001 UEFA Under-16 Championship
10.	|	Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, England	Croatia U16	2–0	3–0	2001 UEFA Under-16 Football Championship
11.	|	Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England	France U16	1–0	1–0	2001 UEFA Under-16 Championship

Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, Trinidad and Tobago

+	U17 International goal
Goal !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	15 September 2001	|	Oman U17	1–1	1–2	2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship#Group C>2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship

Vila Real, Portugal

+	U18 International goal
Goal !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	16 May 2001	|	Portugal national under-18 football team>Portugal U18		1–3	2001 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship>2001 UEFA Under-18 Championship qualification

Estadio de La Condomina, Murcia, Spain 22 May 2002 23 July 2002 25 July 2002 25 July 2002 28 July 2002

+	U19 International goals
Goal !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	22 May 2002	|	Macedonia national under-19 football team>Macedonia U19	2–0	4–0	2002 UEFA Under-19 Championship qualification
2.	|	Estadio de La Condomina, Murcia, Spain	Macedonia U19	3–0	4–0	2002 UEFA Under-19 Championship qualification
3.	|	AKA Arena>Hønefoss Stadion, Hønefoss, Norway	Norway national under-19 football team>Norway U19	0–2	0–3	2002 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship>2002 UEFA Under-19 Championship
4.	|	Marienlyst Stadion, Drammen, Norway	Slovakia U19	1–2	1–3	2002 UEFA Under-19 Championship
5.	|	Marienlyst Stadion, Drammen, Norway	Slovakia U19	1–3	1–3	2002 UEFA Under-19 Championship
6.	|	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway	Germany national youth football team>Germany U19	1–0	1–0	2002 UEFA Under-19 Championship

Estadio Alfonso Murube, Ceuta, Spain 10 June 2003 10 June 2003

+	U21 International goals
Goal !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	16 April 2002	|	Serbia national under-21 football team>Serbia U21	2–0	2–1	Exhibition game>Friendly
2.	|	Mourneview Park, Lurgan, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland national under-21 football team>Northern Ireland U21	0–1	1–4	2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship#Qualifying>2004 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification
3.	|	Mourneview Park, Lurgan, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland U21	0–2	4–1	2004 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification

Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy 10 February 2005 26 March 2005 8 October 2005 8 October 2005 12 October 2005 12 October 2005 12 October 2005 12 November 2005 7 June 2006 14 June 2006 19 June 2006 19 June 2006 2 September 2006 12 September 2007 14 June 2008 29 June 2008 19 November 2008 9 June 2009 14 June 2009 14 June 2009 14 June 2009 12 August 2009 8 June 2010 3 September 2010 3 September 2010 4 June 2011

+	International goals
Goal !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	28 April 2004	|		0–1	1–1	Exhibition game>Friendly
2.	|	Estadio Mediterraneo, Almería, Spain		2–0	5–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification>2006 World Cup qualification
3.	|	Estadio El Helmántico, Salamanca, Spain		1–0	3–0	Friendly
4.	|	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium		0–1	0–2	2006 World Cup qualification
5.	|	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	0–2	0–2	2006 World Cup qualification
6.	|	Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy	San Marino	0–2	0–6	2006 World Cup qualification
7.	|	Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy	San Marino	0–5	0–6	2006 World Cup qualification
8.	|	Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy	San Marino	0–6	0–6	2006 World Cup qualification
9.	|	Vicente Calderón, Madrid, Spain		3–1	5–1	2006 World Cup qualification
10.	|	Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland		2–1	2–1	Friendly
11.	|	Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany		4–0	4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup>2006 World Cup
12.	|	Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart, Germany		2–1	3–1	2006 World Cup
13.	|	Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart, Germany	Tunisia	3–1	3–1	2006 World Cup
14.	|	Estadio Nuevo Vivero, Badajoz, Spain		1–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification>Euro 2008 qualification
15.	|	Estadio Carlos Tartiere, Oviedo, Spain		2–0	2–0	Euro 2008 qualification
16.	|	Tivoli Neu, Innsbruck, Austria		0–1	1–2	UEFA Euro 2008>Euro 2008
17.	|	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria		0–1	0–1	UEFA Euro 2008 Final>Euro 2008 Final
18.	|	El Madrigal, Villarreal, Spain		2–0	3–0	Friendly
19.	|	Tofik Bakhramov, Baku, Azerbaijan		0–6	0–6	Friendly
20.	|	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa		0–1	0–5	2009 FIFA Confederations Cup>2009 Confederations Cup
21.	|	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa	New Zealand	0–2	0–5	2009 Confederations Cup
22.	|	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa	New Zealand	0–3	0–5	2009 Confederations Cup
23.	|	Philip II Arena, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia>Macedonia		2–1	2–3	Friendly
24.	|	Estadio de La Condomina, Murcia, Spain		5–0	6–0	Friendly
25.	|	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	0–1	0–4	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification>Euro 2012 qualification
26.	|	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	0–3	0–4	Euro 2012 qualification
27.	|	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States		0–4	0–4	Friendly

Honours

Atlético Madrid

Segunda División (1): 2001–02

International

UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship (1): 2001 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship (1): 2002 UEFA European Championship (1): 2008 FIFA World Cup (1): 2010

Individual

Nike Cup top scorer (1): 1999

Algarve Tournament Player of the Tournament (1): 2001

Algarve Tournament top scorer (1): 2001

UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship Player of the Tournament (1): 2001

UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship top scorer (1): 2001

UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship Player of the Tournament (1): 2002

UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship top scorer (1): 2002

UEFA European Football Championship Team of the Tournament (1): 2008

FIFPro World XI (2): 2008, 2009

PFA Team of the Year (2): 2007–08, 2008–09

Premier League Player of the Month (2): February 2008, September 2009

Footnotes

References

;General

;Specific

External links

Official website

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:People from Fuenlabrada Category:Spanish footballers Category:Spain youth international footballers Category:Spain under-21 international footballers Category:Spain international footballers Category:Spanish expatriate footballers Category:Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Category:Expatriate footballers in England Category:Association football forwards Category:Atlético Madrid footballers Category:Liverpool F.C. players Category:Chelsea F.C. players Category:La Liga footballers Category:Premier League players Category:UEFA Euro 2004 players Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA Euro 2008 players Category:2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA European Football Championship-winning players Category:FIFA World Cup-winning players

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Catherine
title	Duchess of Cambridge (more)
imgw	200px
full name	Catherine Elizabeth
house	House of Windsor
spouse	Prince William, Duke of Cambridge(m. 2011)
father	Michael Middleton
mother	Carole Middleton (née Goldsmith)
birth date	January 09, 1982
birth place	Reading, Berkshire, England
religion	Anglican (Church of England) }}

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Catherine Elizabeth "Kate"; ''née'' Middleton; born 9 January 1982), is the wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. The Duke of Cambridge is second in line to the thrones of the sixteen Commonwealth realms and, should he eventually become king (as is expected), she would automatically become his queen consort. Catherine grew up in Chapel Row at Bucklebury, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, England. She studied in Scotland at the University of St Andrews, where she met the then Prince William of Wales in 2001.

They started a romantic relationship and, once it became public, she received widespread media attention and there was much speculation that she and Prince William would eventually marry. During a break-up lasting for several months in 2007, they continued to be friends and then rekindled their relationship later that year. Their engagement was announced on 16 November 2010, and Middleton attended many high-profile royal events before they married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey.

Biography

Early life and family

Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 and christened at St Andrew's Bradfield, Berkshire on 20 June 1982. She is the eldest of three children born to Carole (née Goldsmith), a former flight attendant and now part-owner of Party Pieces, a private company with an estimated worth of £30 million, and Michael Middleton, who also worked as a flight attendant prior to becoming a flight dispatcher for British Airways, currently also an owner of Party Pieces. Her parents married on 21 June 1980, at the Parish Church of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and in 1987, founded Party Pieces, a mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations. Her siblings are Pippa and James Middleton. The family has complained about press harassment of Pippa and their mother since Middleton's engagement.

Middleton's paternal family came from Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, and her great-grandmother Olivia was a member of the Lupton family, who were active for generations in Leeds in commercial and municipal work. Her ancestors include the Revd Thomas Davis, a Church of England hymn-writer. Carole Middleton's maternal family, the Harrisons, were working class labourers and miners from Sunderland and County Durham.

Middleton's parents were based in Amman, Jordan, working for British Airways from May 1984, to September 1986, where she went to an English language nursery school, before returning to their home in Berkshire. After her return from Amman, Middleton was educated at St Andrew's School near the village of Pangbourne in Berkshire, then briefly at Downe House. She continued her studies at Marlborough College, a co-educational independent boarding school in Wiltshire, followed by the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland where she met Prince William. She graduated with an undergraduate MA (2:1 Hons) in the History of Art.

Career

In November 2006, Middleton accepted a position as an accessory buyer with the clothing chain Jigsaw. She also worked part-time until January 2011 as a catalogue photographer, webpage designer and marketing officer for her parents' firm "Party Pieces". In 2008, it was reported that she had quit her job at Jigsaw to become a professional photographer, intending to take private classes with photographer Mario Testino, who had taken several well-known photographs of Diana, Princess of Wales and her sons. Testino later denied that Middleton was going to be working for him.

Public image and style

Catherine is admired for her fashion sense and has been placed on numerous "best dressed" lists. She was selected by ''The Daily Telegraph'' as the "Most Promising Newcomer" in its 2006 list of style winners and losers. ''Tatler'' placed her at number 8 on its yearly listing of the top ten style icons in 2007. She was featured in ''People'' magazine's 2007 and 2010 best-dressed lists. Middleton was named as one of Richard Blackwell's ten "Fabulous Fashion Independents" of 2007. In June 2008, Style.com selected Middleton as its monthly beauty icon. In July 2008, Middleton was included in ''Vanity Fair''s international best-dressed list. In February 2011, she was named the Top Fashion Buzzword of the 2011 season by the Global Language Monitor.

The Duchess is known for mixing couture pieces, often by British designers, with 'High Street' retail fashion. Designers worn by the Duchess include Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen, Issa, Jenny Packham, Beulah London, Alice Temperley, Erdem and Catherine Walker; high street labels worn by the Duchess include Reiss, Zara and L.K.Bennett.

In January 2012, she was voted 'Headwear Person of the Year'.

Relationship with Prince William

Middleton's status as the undeclared girlfriend of Prince William brought her widespread media coverage in Britain and abroad and she was often photographed on her daily outings. On 17 October 2005, she complained through her lawyer about harassment from the media, stating that she had done nothing significant to warrant such publicity. In February 2006, it was announced that Middleton would receive her own 24-hour security detail supplied by the Royalty Protection branch (SO14). This fuelled further speculation that she and Prince William would soon be engaged, since she would not otherwise be entitled to this service.

No engagement was forthcoming and Middleton was not granted an allowance to fund this security. Media attention increased around the time of her 25th birthday in January 2007, prompting warnings from both The Prince of Wales and Prince William and from Middleton's lawyers, who threatened legal action. Two newspaper groups, News International, which publishes ''The Times'' and ''The Sun'', and the Guardian Media Group, publishers of ''The Guardian'', decided to refrain from publishing paparazzi photographs of her. Middleton attended at least one event as an official royal guest, Prince William's Passing Out Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 15 December 2006. In December 2007, it was reported that she had moved in with Prince William at Clarence House, the residence of the Prince of Wales in London. Clarence House later denied this.

On 17 May 2008, Middleton attended the wedding of Prince William's cousin Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly, which the prince did not attend. On 19 July 2008, she was a guest at the wedding of Lady Rose Windsor and George Gilman. Prince William was away on military operations in the Caribbean, serving aboard the HMS ''Iron Duke''. In 2010, Middleton pursued an invasion of privacy claim against two agencies and photographer Niraj Tanna, who took pictures of her over Christmas 2009. She obtained a public apology, £5,000 in damages, and legal costs.

Breakup and reconciliation

On 14 April 2007, ''The Sun'' newspaper broke a "world exclusive" suggesting that Prince William and Middleton had split up. Other media outlets, such as the BBC, confirmed the story as the day progressed. The couple decided to break up during a holiday in the Swiss resort of Zermatt. Clarence House made only one comment about the relationship's end, according to ''The Times'', stating, "We don't comment on Prince William's private life". Newspapers speculated about the reasons for the split, although these reports relied on anonymous sources.

The original report in ''The Sun'' quoted a "close friend of the couple" as saying that Middleton felt Prince William had not been paying her enough attention. The paper highlighted reports that Prince William had been spending time with other young women and said the Prince, aged 24 at the time of the split, felt he was too young to marry. A report in the ''Daily Mail'' blamed a desire by royal courtiers not to "hurry along" a marriage announcement, and Prince William's desire to enjoy his bachelor status within his Army career. The ''Mail'' also suggested that a friend of Prince William encouraged the Prince to take a "careless approach" to relationships. The same article suggested that Middleton had "expected too much" in wanting Prince William to demonstrate his commitment to her.

In June 2007, Middleton and Prince William insisted they were "just good friends" following reports of a reconciliation. Middleton and her family attended the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium, where she and Prince William sat two rows apart. The couple were subsequently seen together in public on a number of occasions and several news sources, including the BBC and the ''Daily Mail'', stated that they had "rekindled their relationship". She also joined Prince William and The Prince of Wales on a deerstalking expedition at Balmoral and attended the wedding of Prince William's cousin, Peter Phillips, even though Prince William, due to a prior commitment, did not. In April 2008, Middleton accompanied Prince William when he was awarded his RAF wings at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. On 16 June 2008, she attended Prince William's investiture into the Order of the Garter, along with the Royal Family.

Engagement and wedding

Prince William and Catherine Middleton became engaged in October 2010 in Kenya, East Africa, during a 10-day trip to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to celebrate Prince William passing his RAF helicopter search and rescue course. Clarence House announced the engagement on 16 November 2010. The couple married in Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011, (St. Catherine's Day) with the day declared a bank holiday in the United Kingdom. Estimates of the global audience for the wedding ranged around 300 million or more, whilst 26 million watched the event live in the United Kingdom.

In October, several months after the wedding, Commonwealth leaders approved a change in British royal succession law that allows daughters of future monarchs to have equal rights to the throne.

Royal duties

Public appearances

Middleton was formally introduced to public life on 24 February 2011, two months before the wedding, when she and Prince William attended a lifeboat naming ceremony in Trearddur, Anglesey in North Wales. A day later they appeared in St Andrews and launched the university's 600th anniversary celebrations. On 16 February 2011, Clarence House announced that the Duke and Duchess's first royal tour of Canada would take place in July 2011.

In May 2011, shortly after the wedding, and while The Prince of Wales was in official visit to the United States, Clarence House announced that the Duke and Duchess would visit California after their Canadian tour. It was the Duchess of Cambridge's first visit to the United States.

She recently handed out medals to the members of the Irish Guards. The Duchess visited the Canadian Museum of Civilization to attend a citizenship ceremony, on 1 July 2011 in Gatineau, Canada. The newly married Royal Couple were on the second day of their first joint overseas tour. They were joined by thousands of Canadians taking part in the Canada Day celebrations, which mark Canada’s 144th Birthday.

On 2 November, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the UNICEF Supply Division Centre for supplying food to malnourished African children in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Patronages

In January 2012, the Duchess announced the first charities of which she will be a patron.

These are: the Art Room

the National Portrait Gallery, London

East Anglia's Children's Hospice (EACH)

Action on Addiction

In addition, she will be a local volunteer leader with the Scout Association in Anglesey, north Wales, her marital home.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

name	The Duchess of Cambridge
dipstyle	Her Royal Highness
offstyle	Your Royal Highness
altstyle	Ma'am }}

9 January 1982 29 April 2011: ''Miss'' Catherine Elizabeth Middleton 29 April 2011 present: ''Her Royal Highness'' The Duchess of Cambridge

Catherine's full title and style is ''Her Royal Highness Princess William, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus''.

Unlike the majority of royal brides, and in contrast to most previous consorts-in-waiting for over 350 years, Catherine does not come from a royal or aristocratic background. On the morning of their wedding day on 29 April 2011, at 8:00 am, officials at Buckingham Palace announced that in accordance with royal tradition and on recognition of the day by the Queen, Prince William was created Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus.

Honours

Honorary military appointments

; Canada 5 July 2011 present: Canadian Ranger

Honorific eponyms

;Awards : Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Award, University of Waterloo, Waterloo

Arms

Notes	The Duchess bears the arms of her husband, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, impaled with her own arms. Catherine's coat of arms is based on those of her father Michael Middleton, which was granted to him by the College of Arms on 19 April 2011. Thomas Woodcock, Garter King of Arms, the senior officer of the College of Arms, helped the family with the design.
Year adopted	19 April 2011
Coronet	Coronet of a child of the Heir Apparent
Escutcheon	Quarterly 1st and 4th Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or armed and langed Azure (England), 2nd Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory counterflory of the second (Scotland), 3rd Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (Ireland), the whole differenced with a label of three points Argent with the central point charged with an escallop Gules (Prince William); Impaled with a shield per pale Azure and Gules, a chevron Or, cotised Argent, between three acorns slipped and leaved Or (Middleton).
Symbolism	right|100px The dividing line (between two colours) down the centre is a canting of the name 'Middle-ton'. The acorns (from the oak tree) are a traditional symbol of England and a feature of west Berkshire, where the family have lived for 30 years. The three acorns also denote the family's three children. The gold chevron in the centre of the arms is an allusion to Carole Middleton's maiden name of Goldsmith. The two white chevronels (narrow chevrons above and below the gold chevron) symbolise peaks and mountains, and the family's love of the Lake District and skiing.
Previous versions	Her previous coat of arms depicted a lozenge shaped shield of arms which hangs from a blue ribbon, this symbolised her unmarried state. This version of the arms is now used only by her sister Pippa as it denotes an unmarried daughter of their father Michael Middleton. }}

Ancestry

In a study of the ancestry of Catherine, William Addams Reitwiesner uncovered that she shares ancestors with her husband Prince William; the closest relationship is via Prince William's mother and Catherine's father through a common descent from Sir Thomas Fairfax and his wife Agnes (or Anne) Gascoigne, daughter of Sir William Gascoigne and his wife, née Lady Margaret Percy. This makes the couple fifteenth cousins. Sir Thomas Fairfax and Agnes Gascoigne are through Catherine's great-grandmother Olive Lupton, daughter of a Leeds cloth merchant Francis Lupton and his wife Harriet (née Davis) – Fairfax being an ancestor of Lupton. In turn Lady Margaret Percy is descended from Edward III.

Middleton's maternal great-great-grandfather John Goldsmith was married to Esther Jones at St John's Hoxton in 1850.

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Popular culture

Following international attention regarding the wedding, Lifetime aired a TV movie entitled ''William & Kate'' on 18 April 2011, in the US. The film premiered in the UK on 24 April 2011. Middleton was played by Camilla Luddington and Prince William by Nico Evers-Swindell. TV programmes were also shown in the UK prior to the wedding which provided deeper insights into the couple's relationship and backgrounds, including ''When Kate Met William'' and Channel 4's ''Meet the Middletons''.

A second TV Movie is also being produced that covers much the same ground as "William & Kate". That movie titled ''William & Catherine: A Royal Romance'' stars Alice St. Clair as Kate Middleton and Dan Amboyer as Prince William. Of note in this second television movie is the appearance of Jane Alexander as the Queen and ''Alias'' alum Victor Garber as the Prince of Wales. According to The Hollywood Reporter the movie is scheduled to air 27 August 2011 in the United States on the Hallmark Channel. The movie was filmed in Bucharest.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

}}

External links

The Duchess of Cambridge The British Monarchy official website

Engaged! Prince William and Kate, LIFE, 25 April 2011

"Popular girl who caught royal eye", ''BBC News'', 31 March 2005

"Royal wedding: Family tree", ''BBC News'', 13 April 2011

Cracroft's Peerage

in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews Category:British duchesses by marriage Category:British princesses by marriage Category:English Anglicans Category:English socialites Category:House of Windsor Category:Mountbatten-Windsor family Category:Old Marlburians Category:Old St Andrews Category:People from Bucklebury Category:Prince William, Duke of Cambridge

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