City of Worcester
—  City & Non-metropolitan district  —
Coat of arms of City of Worcester Coat of arms
City of Worcester shown within Worcestershire
Coordinates: 52°11′28″N 2°13′20″W / 52.19123°N 2.22231°W / 52.19123; -2.22231
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	West Midlands
Non-metropolitan county	Worcestershire
Status	Non-metropolitan district, City
Admin HQ	Worcester
Incorporated
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Borough council	Worcester City Council (TBA (council NOC))
• Mayor	Dr. David Tibbutt
• MPs	Robin Walker (Conservative)
Area
• Total	12.85 sq mi (33.28 km2)
Area rank	305th (of 326)
Population (2010 est.)
• Total	94,800
• Rank	237th (of 326)
• Density	7,400/sq mi (2,800/km2)
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
Postcodes	WR1-5
Area code(s)	01905
ONS code	47UE
OS grid reference	SO849548
Website	www.worcester.gov.uk

Worcester skyline from the River Severn

The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, (ⁱ/ˈwʊstər/ WUUS-tər), is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Birmingham and 29 miles (47 km) north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the middle of the city, overlooked by the twelfth-century Worcester Cathedral. The site of the final battle of the Civil War, Worcester was where Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles II's Cavaliers, resulting in the English Interregnum, the ten-year period during which England and Wales became a republic. Worcester was the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain and the birthplace of the composer Sir Edward Elgar. It houses the Lea and Perrins factory where the traditional Worcestershire Sauce is made, and is home to one of the UK's fastest growing universities, the University of Worcester.

History[link]

Occupation of the site of Worcester can be dated back to Neolithic times, a village surrounded by defensive ramparts having been founded on the eastern bank of the River Severn in around 400 BC. The position, which commanded a ford on the river, was used in the first century by the Romans to establish what may at first have been a fort on the military route from Glevum (Gloucester) to Viroconium (Wroxeter) but which soon developed – as the frontier of the empire was pushed westwards – into an industrial town with its own pottery kilns and iron-smelting plants.

A map of Worcester in 1806

Tudor buildings in Friar Street

Tudor building with jettied upper storey in New Street.

Roman Worcester (which may have been the Vertis mentioned in the seventh century Ravenna Cosmography) was a thriving trading and manufacturing centre for some three hundred years, though by the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain in 407 it had dwindled considerably in size and is not recorded again until the mid-seventh century when documents mention the Anglo-Saxon settlement Weorgoran ceaster (settlement of the people by the winding river).^[1] The fact that Worcester was chosen at this time – in preference to both the much larger Gloucester and the royal centre of Winchcombe – to be the Episcopal See of a new diocese covering the area suggests that there may have been a well established, and powerful, Christian community living on the site when it fell into English hands.

The town was almost destroyed in 1041 after a rebellion against the punitive taxation of Harthacanute. The town was attacked several times (in 1139, 1150 and 1151) during "The Anarchy", i.e. civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I. This is the background to the well-researched historical novel The Virgin in the Ice, part of Ellis Peters' "Cadfael" series, which begins with the words:

"It was early in November of 1139 that the tide of civil war, lately so sluggish and inactive, rose suddenly to wash over the city of Worcester, wash away half of its lifestock, property and women, and send all those of its inhabitants who could get away in time scurrying for their lives northwards away from the marauders". (These are mentioned as having arrived from Gloucester, leaving a long lasting legacy of bitterness between the two cities.)

By late medieval times the population had grown to around 10,000 as the manufacture of cloth started to become a large local industry. The town was designated a county corporate, giving it autonomy from local government.

Worcester was the site of the Battle of Worcester (3 September 1651), when Charles II attempted to forcefully regain the crown, in the fields a little to the west and south of the city, near the village of Powick. However, Charles II was defeated and returned to his headquarters in what is now known as King Charles house in the Cornmarket, before fleeing in disguise to Boscobel House in Shropshire from where he eventually escaped to France. Worcester was one of the cities loyal to the King in that war, for which it was given the epithet "Fidelis Civitas" ("The Faithful City"). This motto has been incorporated into the city's coat of arms.^[2]

In 1670, the River Severn broke its banks and the subsequent flood was the worst ever seen by Worcester. A brass plate can be found on a wall on the path to the cathedral by the path along the river showing how high this flood went, and other flood heights of more recent times are also shown in stone bricks. The closest flood height to what is known as The Flood of 1670 was when the Severn flooded in the torrential rains of July 2007.

The Royal Worcester Porcelain Company factory was founded by Dr John Wall in 1751, although it no longer produces goods. A handful of decorators are still employed at the factory and the Museum is still open.

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Worcester was a major centre for glove making, employing nearly half the glovers in England at its peak (over 30,000 people).^[3] In 1815 the Worcester and Birmingham Canal opened, allowing Worcester goods to be transported to a larger conurbation.

The British Medical Association (BMA) was founded in the Board Room of the old Worcester Royal Infirmary building in Castle Street in 1832.^[4] While most of the Royal Infirmary has now been demolished to make way for the University of Worcester's new city campus, the original Georgian building has been preserved.^[5] There are plans to reopen the building as a medical museum.^[6]

During World War II, the city was chosen to be the seat of an evacuated government in case of mass German invasion. The War Cabinet, along with Winston Churchill and some 16.000 state workers, would have moved to Hindlip Hall (now part of the complex forming the Headquarters of West Mercia Police), 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Worcester, and Parliament would have temporarily seated in Stratford-upon-Avon. The former RAF station RAF Worcester was located east of Northwick.

In the 1950s and 1960s large areas of the medieval centre of Worcester were demolished and rebuilt as a result of decisions by town planners. There is still a significant area of medieval Worcester remaining, but it is a small fraction of what was present before the redevelopments.

The current city boundaries date from 1974, when the Local Government Act 1972 transferred the parishes of Warndon and St. Peter the Great County into the city.

Governance[link]

The Conservatives had a majority on the council from 2003 to 2007, when they lost a by-election to Labour meaning the council had no overall control.^[7] The Conservatives remained with the most seats overall with 17 out of 35 seats after the 2008 election.^[8] Worcester has one member of Parliament, Robin Walker of the Conservative Party, who represents the Worcester constituency as of the May 2010 general election.^[9]

The County of Worcestershire's local government arrangement is formed of a non-metropolitan county (Worcestershire County Council) and six non-metropolitan districts, with Worcester City Council being the district for most of Worcester, with a small area of the St. Peters suburb actually falling within neighbouring Wychavon District. The Worcester City Council area includes two parish councils, these being Warndon Parish Council and St Peter the Great Parish Council.

Geography[link]

Notable suburbs in Worcester include Barbourne, Blackpole, Cherry Orchard, Claines, Diglis, Northwick, Red Hill, Ronkswood, St Peter the Great (also simply known as St Peters), Tolladine, Warndon and Warndon Villages (which was once the largest housing development in the Country when the area was being constructed in the late 1980s/very early 1990s). Most of Worcester is on the eastern side of the River Severn; Henwick, Lower Wick, St. John's and Dines Green are on the western side.

Climate[link]

Worcester enjoys a temperate climate with warm summers and mild winters generally. However, the city can experience more extreme weather and flooding is often a problem.^[10] During the winters of 2009-10 and 2010-11 the city experienced prolonged periods of sub-freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls. In December 2010 the temperature dropped to −18 °C (−0.4 °F) in the city and in nearby Pershore the temperature fell to −19.5 °C (−3.1 °F).^[11] The Severn and the Teme partially froze over in Worcester during this cold snap. In contrast, Worcester recorded 37 °C (98.6 °F) on 3 August 1990.^[12]

Skyline of Worcester viewed from Worcester Cathedral

Demography and religion[link]

The 2001 census^[14] recorded Worcester's population at 93,353. About 96.5% of Worcester's population was white; of which 94.2% were White British,^[15] greater than the national average.^[16] The largest religious group are Christians, who made up 77% of the city's population.^[17] People who reported having no religion or who did not state their religion made up 21% of the city's population. Other religions totaled less than 2% of the population. Ethnic minorities include people of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Italian and Polish origin, with the largest single minority group being British Pakistanis, numbering around 1,200, approximately 1.3% of Worcester's population.^[17] This has led to Worcester containing a small but diverse range of religious groups; as well as the commanding Worcester Cathedral (Church of England), there are also Catholic and Baptist churches, a large centre for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), an Islamic mosque, and a number of smaller interest groups regarding Eastern Religions such as Buddhism and the Hare Krishnas.^[18]

Worcester is the seat of a Church of England bishop. His official signature is his Christian name followed by Wigorn, which is also occasionally used as an abbreviation for the name of the county.

Economy[link]

The city of Worcester, located on the River Severn and with transport links to Birmingham and other parts of the Midlands through the vast canal network, became an important centre for many light industries. The late-Victorian period saw the growth of ironfounders, like Heenan & Froude, Hardy & Padmore and McKenzie & Holland.

Glove industry[link]

One of the flourishing industries of Worcester was glove making. Worcester's Gloving industry peaked between 1790 to 1820 when about 30,000 where employed by 150 companies. At this time nearly half of the Glove manufacturers of Britain were located in Worcestershire.

In the 19th century the industry declined because import taxes on foreign competitors, mainly from France, were greatly reduced. By the middle of the 20th century, only a few Worcester gloving companies survived since gloves became less fashionable and free trade allowed in cheaper imports from the Far East.
Nevertheless at least 3 large glove manufacturing companies still survived until the late 20th century: Dent Allcroft, Fownes and Milore. Queen Elizabeth II's coronation gloves were designed by Emil Rich and manufactured in the Worcester based Milore factory.^[19][20]

Manufacturing[link]

The inter-war years saw the rapid growth of engineering, producing machine tools James Archdale, H.W. Ward, castings for the motor industry Worcester Windshields and Casements, mining machinery Mining Engineering Company (MECO) which later became part of Joy Mining Machinery and open-top cans Williamsons, though G H Williamson and Sons had become part of the Metal Box Co in 1930. Later the company became Carnaud Metal Box PLC.

Worcester Porcelain operated in Worcester until 2008 when the factory was closed down due to the recession. However, the site of Worcester Porcelain still houses the Worcester Porcelain Museum which is open daily to visitors.^[21]

One of Worcester's most famous products, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce is made and bottled in the Midland Road factory in Worcester, which has been the home of Lea & Perrins since 16 October 1897. Mr Lea and Mr Perrins originally met in a chemist's shop on the site of the now Debenhams store in the Crowngate Shopping Centre.

The surprising foundry heritage of the city is represented by Morganite Crucible^[22] at Norton which produces graphitic shaped products and cements for use in the modern industry.

The Kays^[23] mail order business was founded in Worcester in the 1880s and operated from numerous premises in the city^[24] until 2007. It was then bought out by Reality, owner of the Grattan catalogue. Kays' former warehouse building was knocked down in 2008. Worcester is the home of what is claimed to be the oldest newspaper in the world, Berrow's Worcester Journal, which traces its descent from a news-sheet that started publication in 1690. The city is also a major retail centre with several covered shopping centres that has most major chains represented as well as a host of independent shops and restaurants, particularly in Friar Street and New Street.

Retail trade[link]

Worcester’s main shopping centre is the High Street, home to the stores of major retail chains such as Marks & Spencer, Pandora (jewelry), House of Fraser, TK Maxx, Primark, Next, and Debenhams. Part of the High Street was modernised in 2005 amid much controversy, many comments were reported in the Worcester News. Many of the issues focussing on the felling of long-standing trees, the duration of the works (caused by the weather and an archaeological find) and the removal of flagstones outside the city’s eighteenth century Guildhall. The other main thoroughfares are The Shambles and Broad Street, while The Cross (and its immediate surrounding area) is the city’s financial centre and location of the majority of Worcester’s main bank branches.

There are three main covered shopping centres in the City Centre, the CrownGate Shopping Centre, Cathedral Plaza and Reindeer Court. There are three retail parks, the Elgar and Blackpole Retail Parks, which are located in the Blackpole area of the city, and the Shrub Hill Retail Park which is located immediately outside the city centre.

Landmarks[link]

Worcester Cathedral at night.

Probably the most famous landmark in Worcester is its imposing Worcester Cathedral. The current building, formally named The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, was begun in 1084 while its crypt dates from the tenth century. The chapter house is the only circular one in the country while the cathedral also has the distinction of having the tomb of King John. Limited parts of the city wall still remain.

There are three main parks in Worcester, Cripplegate Park, Gheluvelt Park and Fort Royal Park, the latter being on one of the battles sites of the English Civil War. In addition, there is a large open area known as Pitchcroft to the North of the city centre on the east bank of the River Severn, which, apart from those days when it is being used for horse racing, is a public space.

Gheluvelt Park was opened as a memorial to commemorate the Worcestershire Regiment's 2nd Battalion after their part in the Battle of Gheluvelt, during World War I.

There are also two large woodlands in the city, Perry Wood, at twelve hectares, and Nunnery Wood, covering twenty-one hectares. Perry Wood is often said to be the place where Oliver Cromwell met and made a pact with the devil.^[25] Nunnery Wood is an integral part of the adjacent and popular Worcester Woods Country Park, itself next door to County Hall on the east side of the city.

Destinations from Worcester[link]

	Tenbury Wells, Ludlow	Droitwich, Kidderminster, Dudley, Wolverhampton	Bromsgrove, Redditch, Birmingham
	Leominster, Bromyard		Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick
		Worcester    East
	Hereford, Malvern	Tewkesbury, Upton-Upon-Severn, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bristol	Banbury, Pershore, Evesham, Oxford

Transport[link]

Road[link]

Worcester Shrub Hill station.

The M5 Motorway runs north-south immediately to the east of the City, and is accessed by Junction 6 (Worcester North) and Junction 7 (Worcester South). This makes the city easily accessible by car to most parts of the country, including London which is only 120 miles (190 km) away (via the M5, M42 and M40).

Several A roads pass through the city. The A449 road runs south-west to Malvern and north to Kidderminster. The A44 runs south-east to Evesham and west to Leominster and Aberystwyth and crosses Worcester Bridge. The A38 trunk road runs south to Tewkesbury and Gloucester and north-north-east to Droitwich and Birmingham. The A4103 goes west-south-west to Hereford. The A422 heads east to Alcester, branching from the A44 a mile east of the M5. The city is encompassed by a partial ring road (A4440) which is formed, rather inconsistently, by single and dual carriageways. The A4440 road provides a second road bridge across the Severn (Carrington Bridge) just west of the A4440-A38 junction. Carrington Bridge links the A38 from Worcester towards Gloucester with the A449 linking Worcester with Malvern.

Rail[link]

Worcester locomotive depot 14 April 1959

Worcester has two stations, Worcester Foregate Street and Worcester Shrub Hill.

Worcester Foregate Street is located in the city centre, on Foregate Street. Although featuring two tracks Foregate Street consists of two bi-directional single working lines, one of which is the Birmingham to Worcester line while the other is the Cotswold Line, which Shrub Hill also serves.

Worcester Shrub Hill is located just outside the city centre on Shrub Hill Road. The station is on the Cotswold Line as well being a spur off the Birmingham to Worcester line. Unlike Foregate Street, Shrub Hill does not have single working lines. Being the much bigger of Worcester's stations, due to a large number of tracks and sidings, Shrub Hill is often used as a stabling point and a through route for freight trains.

Both stations frequently serve Birmingham via Droitwich Spa, then either lines being firstly via Kidderminster and Stourbridge mostly Birmingham Snow Hill (with some going this way to Birmingham New Street) and Birmingham Moor Street then onwards perhaps to Warwick or secondly via Bromsgrove and University and Birmingham New Street which trains are run by London Midland.

London is also served frequently by both stations via the Cotswold Line and, infrequently, via the Birmingham-Bristol/Gloucester-Swindon/Bristol-London lines. Train services to Oxford and London Paddington are operated by First Great Western.

Although connected to the Birmingham-Bristol 'Cross Country' mainline only two miles away, Worcester is not served by Inter City Cross Country services therefore making Worcestershire the only county in England where Inter City Cross Country services pass through but do not stop in during normal scheduled timetables. The proposed station, Worcestershire Parkway is expected to end this.^{[citation needed]}

Bus[link]

The main operator of bus services in and around the city is First Midlands, while Diamond Bus Company, trading as Red Diamond, and Worcestershire County Council, trading as Woosh, operate many other services. A few other smaller operators provide services in Worcester, most notably Astons (Veolia Transport) and Bromyard Omnibus Company. The terminus and interchange for many bus services in Worcester is Crowngate Bus Station located in the city centre.

Park and ride[link]

There are two park and ride sites serving Worcester, one located off the A38 in the Perdiswell area of the city and the other located at Worcester Rugby Football Club's Sixways Stadium next to junction 6 of the M5 motorway.

Perdiswell site[link]

A direct and limited stop bus service (W1), operated by Worcestershire County Council under the Woosh name, runs every ten minutes between the Perdiswell site and the cityity centre and vice versa, between 7am and 6:45pm Monday to Saturday.

The stops on the W1 service are at: • Perdiswell Park & Ride • St Stephen’s Church (Barbourne area) • St George’s Square (Barbourne area) • Little London for Royal Grammar School (Barbourne area) • Foregate Street Rail Station (city centre) • Worcester Bus Station (city centre)

Sixways Stadium site[link]

Two circular bus services (W2 and W3), operated by Worcestershire County Council under the Woosh name, link the Sixways site to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the government offices on Whittington Road, Monday to Friday.

Air[link]

Worcester's nearest major airport is Birmingham International which by train is via Birmingham New Street and then on a London Euston train for 10 minutes non-stop or a stopping train slightly longer.

Assumed to be approximately 45 minutes by road via the M5 and M42 motorways.

Education[link]

Worcester is home to the University of Worcester, which was awarded university status in 2005 by HM Privy Council. From 1997 to 2005 it was known as University College Worcester (UCW) and prior to 1997 it was known as Worcester College of Higher Education. From 2005 to 2010 it was the fastest growing university in the UK, more than doubling its student population. The University is also home to the independent Worcester Students Union institution. The city is also home to two colleges, Worcester Sixth Form College and Worcester College of Technology.

High schools[link]

The High schools located in the city are Bishop Perowne CofE College, Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Christopher Whitehead Language College, Tudor Grange Academy Worcester (on the site of the defunct Elgar High School), Nunnery Wood High School and New College Worcester which caters for blind and partially sighted students from the ages of 11 to 18.

Independent schools[link]

Worcester is also the seat of three independent schools. The Royal Grammar School, founded in 1291, and Alice Ottley School merged in 2007. The King's School, Worcester was re-founded in 1541 under King Henry VIII. Saint Mary's Convent School, now the only all-girls school in the city, is the third private school in the city. Other independent schools include the Independent Christian school, the River School in Fernhill Heath.

Sport[link]

Entrance to the Worcester King George's Field.

• Worcester Warriors, an Aviva Premiership Rugby Union team who play at Sixways Stadium.
• Worcestershire County Cricket Club whose home ground is New Road.
• Blue Square Conference South side Worcester City F.C. who play at St George's Lane.
• Worcester St Johns Cycling Club
• Worcester Wolves, a professional basketball team in the British Basketball League.
• Worcester Racecourse is on an open area known as "Pitchcroft" on the east bank of the River Severn.
• Worcester has King George's Field in memorial to King George V.
• Worcester Rowing Club which is situated near the city centre on the River Severn.
• University of Worcester Rowing Club which shares accommodation with Worcester Rowing Club.
• University of Birmingham Rowing Club
• Worcester Athletics Club who meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Nunnery Wood Sports Centre
• Worcester University Climbing and Mountaineering Club

Culture[link]

Festivals and shows[link]

Every three years Worcester becomes home to the Three Choirs Festival, which dates from the eighteenth century and is credited with being the oldest music festival in Europe. The location of the festival rotates each year between the Cathedral Cities of the Three Counties, Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester. Famous for its championing of English music, especially that of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, Worcester last hosted the festival in August 2011.

The Worcester Festival is a relatively new venture established in 2003. Held in late August, the festival consists of a variety of music, theatre, cinema and workshops, as well as the already established Beer Festival, which runs as an event within the Worcester Festival.

For one weekend the city plays host to the Worcester Music Festival. Now in its 4th year (2011) the festival comprises a weekend original music by predominantly local bands and musicians. All performances are free, and take place throughout the city centre in bars, clubs, community buildings, churches and the library. In 2010 the festival comprised 230 unique acts.

Worcester Festival ends with a spectacular firework display on the banks of the River Severn on the Monday of the August bank holiday.

The Victorian-themed Christmas Fayre is a major source of tourism every December. Elton John came to the Worcestershire Cricket Ground, New Road on Saturday 9 June 2006. Status Quo came to Sixways Stadium (Worcester Warriors) on Saturday 28 July 2007.

The twelfth CAMRA Worcester Beer and Cider festival took place for three days from the 17 August 2010^[26] and was held as usual on Pitchcroft Race Course.

The Worcester Beer, Cider and Perry festival is the largest beer festival within the West Midlands with the 2009 event being attended by 11,000 people.

Arts and cinema[link]

Famous 18th century actress Sarah Siddons made her acting début here at the Theatre Royal in Angel Street. Her sister, the novelist Ann Julia Kemble Hatton,^[27] otherwise known as Ann of Swansea, was born in the city. Matilda Alice Powles, better known as Vesta Tilley, a leading male impersonator and music hall artiste was born in Worcester.

In present-day Worcester the Swan Theatre^[28] stages a mixture of professional touring and local amateur productions. The Countess of Huntingdon's Hall^[28] is a historic church now used as venue for an eclectic range of musical performances, while the Marrs Bar^[29] is a venue for gigs and stand-up comedy. Worcester has two multi-screen cinemas; a Vue Cinema complex located on Friar Street, and an Odeon Cinema on Foregate Street – both of which were 3D-equipped by March 2010.

In the northern suburb of Northwick is the Art Deco Northwick Cinema. Built in 1938 it contains one of the only two remaining interiors in Britain designed by John Alexander (the original perspective drawings are still held by RIBA). It was a bingo hall from 1966 to 1982 and then empty until 1991; it was then run as a music venue until 1996, and was empty again until autumn 2006 when it became an antiques and lifestyle centre, owned by Grey's Interiors, who were previously located in the Tything.^{[citation needed]}

There are a number of other arts organisations in Worcester. Based at the university and also at Bishop Perowne C of E Performing Arts College is C&T (formerly Collar & Tie), an educational theatre company that specialises in theatre for young people tackling topical issues using a blend of drama and new media technologies.^[30]

Media[link]

Worcester is home to Worcester News, Worcester Standard and Berrow's Worcester Journal newspapers and radio stations Free Radio & BBC Hereford & Worcester.

Twinning and planned twinning[link]

Worcester is twinned with the German city of Kleve, the Parisian commune of Le Vésinet, and its larger American namesake Worcester, Massachusetts.^[31]

In February 2009 Worcester City Council's Twinning Association began deliberating an application to twin Worcester with the Palestinian city of Gaza. Councillor Alan Amos introduced the application, which was passed at its first stage by a majority of 35-6.^[32] The proposal was later rejected by the Executive Committee of the City of Worcester Twinning Association for lack of funding due to its present commitment to existing twinning projects.^[33]

Notable people[link]

Edward Elgar

• Composer Sir Edward Elgar's father ran a music shop at the end of High Street; a statue of Elgar stands near the original location of that shop. His birthplace is a short way outside Worcester in the village of Broadheath.
• Hannah Snell, famous for impersonating a man and being enlisted in the Royal Marines in the 18th century was born and brought up here.
• Sir Charles Hastings, founder of the British Medical Association lived in Worcester for most of his life. The newly built Worcestershire Royal Hospital stands in a road named in his honour.
• William Stephenson 2007 British streetluge and buttboard champion and 2009 world number three streetluger and number two buttboarder was born and lives in Worcester.
• Philip Henry Gosse, naturalist, was born in the city in 1810.
• Sir Thomas Brock, sculptor most famous for the Imperial Victoria Memorial in London was born here in 1847.
• Edward Leader Williams, designer of the Manchester Ship Canal, was born and brought up in Worcester, living at Diglis House (now the Diglis House Hotel) with his brother, noted landscape artist Benjamin Williams Leader.
• William Morris, Lord Nuffield, (founder of Morris Motors Limited and philanthropist), spent the first three years of his life in the city.
• Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, poet and author, famously known as "Woodbine Willy", was for some time the Vicar of St. Paul's Church in the city. He rose to fame during World War I when he became an army chaplain, his sermons and poetry helping boost morale to the troops. He acquired his nickname from his habit of handing out "Woodbine" cigarettes to the men in the trenches.
• Mrs. Henry Wood writer, was born in Worcester.
• Fay Weldon writer, was born in Worcester.
• Revd Thomas Davis, hymn-writer, was born in Worcester in 1804. He is an ancestor of the Duchess of Cambridge.
• Worcester was home to electronic music producer and collaborator Mike Paradinas and his record label Planet Mu, until the label moved to London in 2007.
• Dave Mason musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, was born in Worcester.
• Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power of experimental music group Fuck Buttons were both brought up in Worcester.
• Ernest Payne was born in Worcester and rode for the local Worcester St Johns Cycling Club. He won a gold medal in the team pursuit at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.
• Sheila Scott, aviatrix
• James White (1775–1820), founder of the first advertising agency in 1800 in London, was born in Worcester.
• Ann Hatton, writer of the Kemble family was born in Worcester.

See also People from Worcester.

See also[link]

• List of Bishops of Worcester
• Worcester Cathedral
• Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum
• Worcester Porcelain Museum

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Worcester.

• Worcester City Council
• Worcester at the Open Directory Project

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Christian Bale
Bale in June 2009
Born	Christian Charles Philip Bale (1974-01-30) 30 January 1974 (age 38) Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Sandra Blažić (2000–present)
Children	1
Parents	David Bale, Jenny (née James) Bale
Family	Gloria Steinem (Step-Mother)

Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor.^[1] Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses.

Bale first caught the public eye at the age of 13, when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). He played an English boy who is separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself lost in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.^[2] He is also notable for his role as serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000), and for portraying Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and the upcoming finale The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

In 2010, Bale portrayed Dicky Eklund in the biopic The Fighter. He received critical acclaim for his role and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.

Early life[link]

Bale was born in Wales to parents of English descent. His South African–born father, David Bale, was an entrepreneur, commercial pilot and talent manager, and his mother, Jenny (née James), was a circus performer.^[3][4][5][6] He spent his childhood in England, Portugal, and the United States.

Bale's first foray into acting was a commercial for the fabric softener Lenor in 1982.^[7] A year later, he appeared in a Pac-Man cereal commercial playing a child rock star. In 1984, he made his stage debut in The Nerd, opposite Rowan Atkinson.^[8]

Career[link]

1986–1998[link]

A 14-year-old Bale in Stockholm, Sweden in February 1988 while promoting Empire of the Sun

Bale made his film debut as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia in the made-for-television film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna in 1986, which was followed by leading roles in the miniseries Heart of the Country and the fantasy adventure Mio in the Land of Faraway, in which he appeared with Christopher Lee and Nick Pickard.

Bale's performance as Jim Graham in Empire of the Sun earned him widespread critical praise and the first ever "Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor" award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.^[9] The attention the press and his schoolmates lavished upon him after this took a toll on Bale, and he contemplated giving up acting until Kenneth Branagh approached him and persuaded him to appear in Henry V in 1989.^[9] In 1990, he played the role of Jim Hawkins opposite Charlton Heston (as Long John Silver) in Treasure Island, an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic book.

In 1992, Bale starred as Jack Kelly in the Disney musical Newsies, and followed it up in 1993 with another release, Swing Kids, a film about teenagers who secretly listened to forbidden jazz during the rise of Nazi Germany.^[10] Bale was recommended by actress Winona Ryder to star in Gillian Armstrong's 1994 film Little Women.^[9] Bale provided the voice for Thomas, a young compatriot of Captain John Smith, in Disney's Pocahontas (1995) and in 1997 played Arthur Stuart in Velvet Goldmine, Todd Haynes' tribute to glam rock.^[10] In 1999, Bale contributed to an all-star cast, including Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci and Rupert Everett, portraying Demetrius in an updated version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[10]

1999–2001[link]

In 1999, Bale played serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, director Mary Harron's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' controversial novel. Bale was briefly dropped from the project in favour of Leonardo DiCaprio, but DiCaprio eventually dropped out to star in The Beach, and Bale was cast once again. He researched his character by studying the novel and prepared himself physically for the role by spending months tanning and exercising in order to achieve the "Olympian physique" of the character as described in the original novel.^[11] He went so far as to distance himself from the cast and crew to maintain the darker side of Bateman's character. American Psycho premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival to much controversy. Roger Ebert condemned the film at first, calling it pornography,^[12] and "the most loathed film at Sundance,"^[13] but gave it a favourable review, writing that Harron "transformed a novel about bloodlust into a film about men's vanity." Of Bale's performance, he wrote, "Christian Bale is heroic in the way he allows the character to leap joyfully into despicability; there is no instinct for self-preservation here, and that is one mark of a good actor."^[14]

On 14 April 2000, Lions Gate Films released American Psycho in cinemas. Bale was later approached to make a cameo appearance in another Bret Easton Ellis adaptation, The Rules of Attraction, a film loosely connected to American Psycho, but he declined out of loyalty to Harron's vision of Bateman, which he felt could not be properly expressed by anyone else.^[15] In 2000, he again played a wealthy murderer, this time in John Singleton's Shaft.

Bale has played an assortment of diverse characters since 2001. His first role after American Psycho was in the John Madden adaptation of the best-selling novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Bale played Mandras, a Greek fisherman who vied with Nicolas Cage's title character for the affections of Pelagia (Penelope Cruz). Captain Corelli's Mandolin was Bale's second time working with John Hurt, after All the Little Animals.

2002–2004[link]

From 2002 to 2003, Bale starred in three feature films. Laurel Canyon (2002) was generally well received by critics.^[16] This film also marked the second time he worked with actress Kate Beckinsale, his costar in Prince of Jutland (1994). Critics generally focused on star Frances McDormand's performance over the rest of the cast, however.^[17]

Reign of Fire was Bale's first action vehicle and had, compared to all his previous work, an immense budget estimated at US$95,000,000.^[18] Bale entered into negotiations about starring in the film with reservations, but director Rob Bowman convinced him to take the lead role.^[19] Bale starred as Quinn Abercromby opposite Matthew McConaughey's Denton Van Zan. Bale and McConaughey trained for their respective roles by boxing and working out.^[19]

Equilibrium was Bale's third film of 2002, costing US$20 million to produce but earning just over US$5 million worldwide.^[20] In Equilibrium, Bale played John Preston, an elite law enforcer in a dystopian society. Equilibrium featured a fictional martial art called Gun Kata that combined gunfighting with hand-to-hand combat. According to moviebodycounts.com, the character of John Preston has the third most on-screen kills in a single movie ever with 118, exactly half of the movie's total of 236.^[21]

After a year's hiatus, Bale returned in 2004 to play Trevor Reznik, the title character in the psychological thriller The Machinist. Bale gained attention for his devotion to the role and for the lengths to which he went to achieve Reznik's emaciated, skeletal appearance. He went without proper rest for prolonged periods, and placed himself on a crash diet of generally coffee and apples,^[22] which reduced his weight by 63 pounds (4 st 4 lb/27 kg) in a matter of months.^[23] By the end of filming Bale weighed only 121 pounds (8 st 9 lb/55 kg),^[22] a transformation he described as "very calming mentally"^[24] and which drew comparisons to Robert De Niro's alternate weight-gaining regimen for his role as Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull.^[25] Bale claimed that he had not worked for a period of time before he was cast in the film. "...I just hadn't found scripts that I'd really been interested in. So I was really dying for something to arrive. Then when this one did, I just didn't want to put it down. I finished it and, upon the kind of revelation that you get at the end, I immediately wanted to go back and re-visit it, to take a look at what clues I could have gotten throughout".^[26] The Machinist was a low-budget production, costing roughly US$5 million to produce, and was given only a limited US release. It was well received, with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 75% of the critics' reviews tallied were positive.^[27]

Bale, an admirer of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away,^[15] was then cast as the voice of the title character, Howl, in the English language dub of the Japanese director's fantasy anime adventure Howl's Moving Castle, an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones's children's novel. Its gross in the US was US$4,711,096, a fraction of its worldwide gross (US$235,184,110).^[28]

Batman: 2005–present[link]

Bale in 2005

It was reported that Bale had previously auditioned for the role of Robin in Batman Forever (1995) and later Batman and Robin (1997), but lost out to Chris O'Donnell. However, this rumour was later dispelled by Bale himself in a magazine interview in 2008.^[29] In 2004, after completing filming for The Machinist, Bale won the coveted role of Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, a reboot of the Batman film series. Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal, the closest competition for the role.^[30]

Still fresh off The Machinist, it became necessary for Bale to bulk up to match Batman's muscular physique. He was given a deadline of six months to do this. Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: "...when it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn't do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that."^[23] With the help of a personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining a total of 100 lb (45 kg) in six months. He went from about 130 lbs to 230 lbs.^[31] He then discovered that he had actually gained more weight than the director desired, and dropped his weight to 190 lbs by the time filming began.^[32]

Bale had initial concerns about playing Batman, as he felt more ridiculous than intimidating in the Batsuit. He dealt with this by depicting Batman as a savage beast.^[23] To attain a deeper understanding of the character, Bale read various Batman comic books. He explained his interpretation of the young boy: "Batman is his hidden, demonic rage-filled side. The creature Batman creates is an absolutely sincere creature and one that he has to control but does so in a very haphazard way. He's capable of enacting violence — and to kill — so he's constantly having to rein himself in." For Bale, the most gruelling part about playing Batman was the suit. "You stick it on, you get hot, you sweat and you get a headache in the mask," he said. "But I'm not going to bitch about it because I get to play Batman."^[33] When promoting the film in interviews and public events, Bale retained an American accent to avoid confusion.^[34]

Batman Begins was released in the U.S. on 15 June 2005 and was a U.S. and international triumph for Warner Bros., costing approximately US$135 million to produce and taking in over US$370 million in returns worldwide.^[35] Bale earned the Best Hero award at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards for his performance.^[36]

Bale reprised his role as Batman in the Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight. He trained in the Keysi Fighting Method, and performed many of his own stunts.^[37] The Dark Knight was released in the U.S. on 18 July 2008 and stormed through the box office, with a record-breaking $158.4 million in the U.S. in its first weekend.^[38] It broke the $300 million barrier in 10 days, the $400 million mark in 18 days and the $500 million mark in 43 days, three new U.S. box office records set by the film.^[39] The film went on to gross over $1 billion at the box office worldwide, making it the fourth-highest grossing movie worldwide of all time, before adjusting for inflation.^[40]

Bale will reprise his role in The Dark Knight Rises which will be released on 20 July 2012,^[41] making Bale the actor who has played Batman the most times in feature film. Bale has given the same opinion as Nolan that, if the latter was forced to bring Robin into the films, he would never again play Batman; even though one of his favourite Batman stories, Batman: Dark Victory, focuses on Robin's origin.^[42]

2006–2009[link]

Bale in 2008

After Batman Begins, Bale returned to appearing in independent films. He was cast as one of the two leads in the South Central David Ayer-helmed crime drama Harsh Times, co-starring Freddy Rodriguez and Eva Longoria. Bale played Jim Luther Davis, a grim Afghanistan War veteran afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder, approached by the Department of Homeland Security and hired as a federal agent. Harsh Times premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and had a wide release on 10 November 2006.^[43]

Terrence Malick directed The New World, a period piece inspired by the stories of Pocahontas, and Bale was cast as John Rolfe. He shared the screen with Colin Farrell and Q'Orianka Kilcher, who played John Smith and Pocahontas. The majority of screen time was devoted to Farrell and Kilcher; Bale was a secondary character, and only appeared during the last third of the film. The film was a failure at the U.S. box office and its worldwide total (US$29,506,437) fell short of turning a profit (the production budget was placed at US$30 million).^[44]

In 2006, Bale took on four projects. Rescue Dawn, by German filmmaker Werner Herzog, had him playing U.S. Fighter pilot Dieter Dengler, who has to fight for his life after being shot down while on a mission during the Vietnam War. Bale left a strong impression on Herzog, with the director complimenting his acting abilities: "I find him one of the greatest talents of his generation. We made up our own minds long before he did Batman."^[45]

In The Prestige, an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel about a rivalry between two Victorian stage magicians, Bale was reunited with Batman Begins' Michael Caine and director Christopher Nolan. The cast of The Prestige also included Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, and David Bowie. I'm Not There, a film in which Bale again worked alongside Todd Haynes and Heath Ledger (who would go on to play The Joker in The Dark Knight), is an artistic reflection of the life of Bob Dylan. He starred opposite Russell Crowe in a commercially and critically successful Western film, 3:10 to Yuma.

Bale was originally cast to play George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's film W., but dropped out due to the prosthetics involved.^[47] Bale played John Connor in Terminator Salvation^[48] and FBI agent Melvin Purvis in Michael Mann's Public Enemies.^[49]

[edit] Terminator Salvation incident

In July 2008, Bale flew into an angry tirade on the sets of Terminator Salvation, while filming in New Mexico.^[50] In February 2009, the audio recording of the incident was released.^[51][52] The tirade was directed at Shane Hurlbut, director of photography for the film. According to Bale, Hurlbut had, for the second time, ruined his concentration by walking onto the set during a scene.^[50][53][54] The recording is of a highly agitated Bale directing profanities at Hurlbut, threatening and belittling him, and finally threatening to quit the film if Hurlbut repeated his offence without being fired for it.^[53] It was reported that Warner film executives sent the tape to the insurer of the film in case Bale decided to quit the movie.^[55] In an interview with E! Online, assistant director and producer of Terminator Salvation, Bruce Franklin, said it was an isolated incident. "If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove ... It was the most emotional scene in the movie ... [A]nd for him to get stopped in the middle of it. He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed," Franklin said.^[56]

Actors Whoopi Goldberg and Terry Crews,^[57][58] directors Darren Aronofsky^[59] and Ron Howard,^[60] as well as Ain't It Cool News website creator Harry Knowles^[61] have also publicly defended Bale's actions, some of them citing the practice that crew members are to remain still while the camera is rolling. The incident also inspired experimental band The Mae Shi to write the song, "R U Professional", which features samples from the recording;^[62] similarly, Lucian Piane's remix "Bale Out" is composed almost entirely of audio from the incident. Stephen Colbert parodied the incident on 4 February 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, in which guest Steve Martin repeatedly walked in front of the camera and was berated by Colbert.^[63] The incident was re-enacted on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton giving performances of both Bale and the crewmember.^[64] An episode of the animated comedy series Family Guy also mixed in the voice of Peter Griffin interacting with Bale and reacting to Bale's comments as if they were directed at him to comedic effect.