Leicester

Coordinates: 52°38′N 1°8′W / 52.633°N 1.133°W / 52.633; -1.133

Leicester (ⁱ/ˈlɛstər/ LESS-tər,but often locally /ˈlɛstɒ/) is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest. It is the burial place of King Richard III.

In the 2011 census the population of the Leicester unitary authority was c.330,000 making it the most populous unitary authority in the East Midlands region. The associated urban area is also the 11th largest by population in England and the 13th largest in the United Kingdom.

"Unlike almost every other city in the UK, Leicester has retained a remarkable record of its past in buildings that still stand today". Ancient Roman pavements and baths remain in Leicester from its early settlement as Ratae, a Roman military outpost in a region inhabited by the Celtic Corieltauvi tribe. Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain, the early medieval Ratae is shrouded in obscurity, but when the settlement was captured by the Danes it became one of five fortified towns important to the Danelaw and it appeared 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 a process of rapid unplanned urbanisation in the area.

University of Leicester

The University of Leicester (ⁱ/ˈlɛstə/ LES-tər) is a public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park.

The university has established itself as a leading research-led university and has been named University of the Year of 2008 by the Times Higher Education. It was ranked 13th among all British universities by The Guardian in 2014. The University of Leicester is also the only university ever to have won a Times Higher Education award in seven consecutive years. In 2016, the university ranked 24th in the The Complete University Guide and 32nd in the The Guardian. Recent REF 2014, the University of Leicester ranked 49th among 126 universities. The 2012 QS World University Rankings also placed Leicester eighth in the UK for research citations.

The university is most famous for the invention of genetic fingerprinting and contributing to the discovery and identification of the remains of King Richard III.

Lars Tharp

Lars Broholm Tharp (born 27 March 1954, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish-born British historian, lecturer and broadcaster, and one of the longest running 'experts' on the BBC antiques programme, Antiques Roadshow, first appearing in 1986.

Early life and education

Tharp was born in Copenhagen on 27 March 1954, the son of Harry Tharp and Anne Marie Broholm. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester, England, before studying for an undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University.

Career

In 1977, a year after graduating, Tharp began working as an auctioneer at Sotheby's, where he specialised in European and Chinese ceramics. Tharp continued to work with Sotheby's for sixteen years, becoming a director in 1983. He left to form his own company 'Lars Tharp Ltd' in 1993. In 2008 he was appointed the Director of the Foundling Museum in London, and Visiting Professor at De Montfort University, Leicester. Today (2015) he represents the Foundling Museum as its Ambassador, and as "Hogarth Curator".