'Leicester' (
pronounced ) is the largest
city and
unitary authority in the English
East Midlands. The city is the traditional
county town of
Leicestershire.
Leicester lies on the
River Soar and at the edge of the
English National Forest. In 2004, the population of the city proper was estimated at 285,100, with 441,213 living in the
urban area. It is currently, by population, the 10th largest city in England and the 13th largest in the UK.
The urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the city proper to include the satellite towns of
Oadby,
Wigston,
Braunstone Town,
Birstall,
Glenfield,
Blaby,
Thurmaston,
Syston and
Leicester Forest East. A number of these towns are in fact closely integrated suburbs of the city itself, especially Glenfield and Braunstone. For areas within the city, see
Areas of Leicester. In terms of population within the city limits it is the largest in the East Midlands.
General
The city is close to the
M1 motorway, and is on the
Midland Main Line from
London to
Sheffield,
Nottingham and
Leeds. High-speed trains operated by
Midland Mainline can reach London in just over an hour. It is also served by rail lines to
Birmingham via
Nuneaton, and to
Peterborough.
Major industries in Leicester today include food processing, hosiery, knitwear, engineering, electronics, printing and plastics.
The
city centre is mainly
Victorian with some later developments, which have usually been integrated in smoothly. The heart of the city centre is the Clock Tower, which is at the intersection of five routes into the city - High Street, Churchgate, Belgrave Gate, Humberstone Gate, and Gallowtree Gate. Today, the latter two are pedestrianised, and vehicles are restricted on the others, with the High Street currently being pedestrianised.
Leicester City Centre is home to
the Haymarket and
the Shires (soon to be renamed
Highcross Leicester) shopping centres, both of which face the Clock Tower.
Leicester Market, Europe's largest covered market, is nearby.
The historic core of the city lies slightly to the west, and monuments here include the Castle, the
Anglican cathedral of
St Martin, the medieval churches of
St Mary de Castro and
St. Nicholas, the
Guildhall and the
Jewry Wall.
There are a number of major developments on the horizon implemented by the
Leicester Regeneration Company including the £60 million
Leicester Performing Arts Centre designed by
Rafael Viñoly.
In 1990, Leicester was designated the
UK's first
Environment City, and won the European Sustainable City Award in 1996.
Leicester has a large
ethnic minority population, mainly from the
Indian subcontinent. There are many
Hindu mandirs,
Sikh gurdwaras and
Muslim mosques around the city, mostly converted from existing buildings. The
Jain Temple in Leicester is near the city centre (
The Jain Centre). The area around Belgrave Road is known as the
Golden Mile, and contains many Indian restaurants, jewellery shops, and other shops catering to the large Asian community in the neighbourhood. Many people travel to the area specifically for the restaurants, which serve authentic
Indian cuisine. The annual
Diwali celebrations are also held here and at the nearby
Abbey Park, and are the biggest outside of
India.
There are also many of Afro-Caribbean descent (mainly from
Antigua & Barbuda,
Montserrat and
Jamaica), the community being centred around
Highfields to the south-east of the city centre, and Leicester plays host to the second largest
Caribbean Carnival in the UK after
Notting Hill.
History
According to
Geoffrey of Monmouth, a mythical king of the Britons
King Leir founded the city of Kaerleir (Leicester). He 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.
Roman
Main articles: Ratae Corieltauvorum
Leicester is one of the oldest cities in
England, with a history going back 2000 years. The city of Leicester was first known as ''Ratae Coritanorum'' and was inhabited by the
Corieltauvi tribe. The Corieltauvi were a
Celtic tribe and Leicester was the capital of a territory of what is now known as the East Midlands.
The
Roman city of ''
Ratae Corieltauvorum'' was founded around AD
50 as a military settlement upon the
Fosse Way Roman road. After the military departure, ''Ratae Corieltauvorum'' grew into an important trading 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.
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. 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 had become 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 church 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.
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.
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 were 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.
18th and 19th centuries
With the construction of the
Grand Union Canal in the 1790s linking Leicester to
London and
Birmingham, Leicester began rapid
industrialisation. The main industries being
hosiery,
footwear and, especially in the 20th century,
engineering. All are, however, in decline now.
By 1832,
railways had arrived in Leicester with the opening of the
Leicester and Swannington Railway, which provided a supply of
coal to the town from nearby collieries. By 1840 the
Midland Counties Railway had linked Leicester to the national railway network, which further boosted industrial growth. By the 1860s, Leicester had gained a direct rail link to
London (
St Pancras) with the completion of the
Midland Main Line. The
Great Central Railway arrived in 1900, providing an alternative route to London. However, this closed in 1966.
The borough expanded throughout the 19th century, most notably in 1892 annexing
Belgrave,
Aylestone,
Knighton and
North Evington. The city obtained its current boundaries in 1935, with the annexation of the remainder of
Evington,
Humberstone,
Beaumont Leys, along with part of
Braunstone. It became a
county borough when these were established 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.
Post World War II
In the decades since
World War II, 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 Ireland continued to arrive throughout the post war period. Immigrants from the Indian sub-continent began to arrive in the 1960s, their numbers boosted by Indians arriving from
Kenya and
Uganda in the early 1970s. In the 1990s a group of Dutch citizens of
Somali origin, settled in the city, apparently drawn by its free and easy atmosphere and by the number of mosques. Since the 2004
enlargement of the European Union a significant number of eastern European migrants have settled in the city. While some wards in the north-east of the city are more than 70% Asian, wards in the west and south are all over 70% white. The 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
[1]. 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 the CRE's prediction is now out of date owing to the large number of recently arrived (2004 - present) white migrants from eastern Europe.
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". 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 supporting lions are wearing coronets in the form of collars, with the white cinquefoil hanging from them.
Economy
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.
Food and drink
Blackfriars bakery produces cakes and flapjacks. The city's ethnic minority population runs leading
British Asian businesses, including food manufacturers catering to the changing tastes of the British public such as Cofresh Snack Foods. The 'Mithai' Indian sweet market is catered for by such businesses, for instance the vegetable samosas sold at The Sharmilee on Belgrave Road approved by the Vegetarian Society.
Leicester Market is the largest outdoor covered marketplace in Europe and among the products on sale are fruit and vegetables sold by enthusiastic market stallholders who shout out their prices, and fresh fish and meat in the Indoor Market.
Everards is the largest Leicester brewery.
The annual Leicestershire & Rutland Restaurant Awards has several categories including City Best Business Lunch, and Young Chef of the Year.
A safe pubs and clubs scheme
Leicester Best Bar None has accredited 50 venues in the city that meet public safety and crime prevention standards.
Clothing
Leicester and Leicestershire have had a traditional industry of
knitwear,
hosiery and
footwear; in the latter it equalled Northamptonshire's idiosyncratic footwear history. The
sheep on the county's coat of arms is recognition of this. The local manufacturing industry only survived through protection of the
Multi Fibre Arrangement, which came to an end in 2004. However the creative side lives on as
De Montfort University has, in the form of its Fashion and Contour Design course, a leading design department for female underwear. It also has the only UK University courses in Footwear Design, with the likes of
Nike visiting the university to employ students. The head office for
Next (clothing) is based in nearby
Enderby. The headquarters of
Freeman Hardy Willis - owned by the British Shoe Corporation (before 1996) used to be in Leicester, and those of Shoefayre (based in
South Wigston and owned by the
Co-op) and Stead and Simpson (based in
Syston, Charnwood) are still in Leicestershire.
Shoe Zone (originally known as Benson Shoe) is based on Humberstone Road in the city of Leicester, and took over the Oliver Group in 2000, which included Timpson's former retail division and was actually based just inside the City of Leicester on the
Braunstone Frith industrial estate - next to the old plant of the British Shoe Corporation.
Financial and business services
Financial and business service companies with operations in Leicestershire include
Alliance & Leicester,
Royal Bank of Scotland,
State Bank of India,
HSBC, and
PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Companies that have their head office based in the area include
Next (clothing), and British Gas Business.
Invest Leicestershire provides information to businesses looking to relocate to the city or county, or to established local companies wanting to develop.
Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce is another good source for business advice.
Creative industries
Leicester Creative Business Depot was established to house creative and arts businesses, and puts on exhibitions. Businesses in Leicester include Haley Sharpe Design, Checkland Kindleysides, printers Taylor Bloxham Ltd in Beaumont Leys, sister company C & R Printing Services in Enderby and
Channel 2020.
Healthcare
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 in the city and county.
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 Bupa Hospital Leicester.
Statistics
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Leicester at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[2] | Agriculture[3] | Industry[4] | Services[5] |
|---|
| 1995 | '3,561' | 1 | 1,256 | 2,304 |
| 2000 | '4,513' | - | 1,425 | 3,088 |
| 2003 | '5,087' | 1 | 1,289 | 3,797 |
1. http://www.cre.gov.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0cq.RefLocID-0hg00900c008.Lang-EN.htm
2. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
3. includes hunting and forestry
4. includes energy and construction
5. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
6. City to host its second 'games'
7. http://www.goleicestershire.com/news/history.htm
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 listed on the Lord Lieutenant's
website.
Politics
Leicester town hall.
On
April 1,
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 May 3rd 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 ever councillors in the Castle Ward, after losing on the drawing of lots in 2003. 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.
Leicester is divided into three Parliamentary constituencies.
Leicester East and
Leicester West are represented by
Keith Vaz and
Patricia Hewitt respectively - both members of the
Labour Party. The third seat,
Leicester South, became vacant in May 2004 on the death of Labour politician
Jim Marshall. A
by-election was held on
July 15, and was won by
Parmjit Singh Gill of the
Liberal Democrats, with a 21% swing. This by-election saw almost 4,000 votes go to a
Respect Party candidate, who opposed the Iraq war. However, in the
2005 general election, Labour's unsuccessful by-election candidate and former Council Leader
Sir Peter Soulsby won Leicester South back for the party, and Vaz and Hewitt retained their seats.
Transport
Railway
The rail network is of growing importance in Leicester, and with the start of
Eurostar international services from
London St Pancras in November 2007 giving Leicester almost direct links to the continent, this growth is sure to continue.
Central Trains provide local services throughout the
East Midlands, regional services to the
West Midlands as well as
East Anglia.
Midland Mainline are the InterCity operator running 'fast' and 'semi-fast' services to and from
London to northern England.
Rail routes run north-south through Leicester, going south to London St Pancras and north to
Sheffield,
Leeds and
York along the route known as the
Midland Main Line.
Junctions north and south of the city connect other lines west towards
Birmingham, and east towards
Peterborough,
Cambridge and
Stansted Airport.
Leicester is 99 miles from London on the Midland Main Line, the fastest trains taking 1 hour and 8 minutes. Journeys to
Sheffield take around 1 hour, Leeds and York are approximately a 2 hour journey. Birmingham can be reached in 46 minutes while Peterborough is 1 hour away.
There are four long and spacious platforms helping Leicester receive the accolade of "Highly Commended Large Station of the Year" in the 2005
National Rail Awards. Midland Mainline won "
Train Operator of the Year" in 1999 and also in 2006.
Passenger train operating companys (TOC) using the station include Midland Mainline, Central Trains and occasionally
Virgin Trains along with a variety of rail-freight and Charter train companies.
Network Rail has plans afoot to re-develop the station incorporating the city council's plans for the surrounding area.
Great Central Railway
Main articles: Great Central Railway (preserved)
Leicester was also on a competing line from London to the North, built by the Great Central Railway in the late 1890s. Closed as a through route in the late 1960s, a section from the recently opened Leicester North station 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 to
Castle Donington which is in North West
Leicestershire. Served by low-cost international
airlines, makes the city easily accessible from other parts of the world providing daily services to many principal European destinations such as
Paris,
Frankfurt,
Berlin, and
Amsterdam, internal flights to
Edinburgh and
Belfast and limited services to trans-continental destinations such as
Barbados,
Mexico,
Sanford and
Florida.
Leicester's other local airport is
Leicester Airport at
Stoughton, Leicestershire, which is more for the benefit of enthusiasts than a transport hub.
Buses & coaches
An Arriva Midlands Dennis Dart in Leicester
is the main interchange for coach services in Leicester, while local bus services are split between St. Margaret's and the Haymarket Bus Station.
★
National Express operate long distance services.
★
Stagecoach Group operate a mixture of mid to long distance bus and coach services including
Megabus.
★ Flight Link buses operate hourly during the day and two hourly at night to East Midlands Airport.
★
First Group are the parent company of
First Leicester who operate mainly high frequency local bus routes.
★
Arriva Group are the parent company of
Arriva Midlands who operate a mixture of local and rural bus services throughout
Leicestershire.
★
Centrebus operate budget local services mainly between local authority estates.
National Cycle Network
Many of the country's
National Cycle Network pass through Leicestershire. In Leicester City Centre you will find the
Leicester Bike Park.
Education
Leicester is home to two universities, the
University of Leicester (
Royal Charter 1957) and the
De Montfort University, (founded in 1992 from
Leicester Polytechnic).
It is also home to the
National Space Centre, 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. However, recent changes of leadership at New College have seen a turnaround in the school's prospects. Current plans to improve the city's education system include the opening of a City Academy partly sponsored by the
Church of England and a local Christian businessman (a new school on the Saffron estate), a £250 million "Building Schools for the Future" project using the
Private Finance Initiative, the granting of state school status to the Leicester Islamic Academy, and the reorganisation of the city's special schools. Leicester City Council underwent a major reorganisation of children's services in 2006, creating a new Children & Young People's Services department under the leadership of Sheila Lock.
Education Links
★
★
★
Schools in Leicester & the Wider Area
The Arts
The city plays host to an annual
Pride Parade (
Leicester Pride), a
Caribbean Carnival (the largest in the UK outside London), the largest Diwali celebrations outside of India, the largest comedy festival in the UK (Leicester Comedy Festival, and the award winning music festival
Summer Sundae with connecting Summer Sundae Fringe festival.
Arts venues in the city include:
★ The
Haymarket Theatre : (Now closed, the Leicester Theatre Trust await relocation to the new
Leicester Theatre and Performing Arts Centre).
★
Leicester Theatre and Performing Arts Centre : New purpose designed performing arts centre, designed by
Rafael Vinoly, Scheduled to open in September 2008.
★ The
Peepul Centre
★ The
Phoenix Arts Centre
★ The
De Montfort Hall.
★ The
Little Theatre.
★ The
City Gallery (one of the regions leading contemporary art galleries)
Sport
The Sports Statue on Gallowtree Gate
Sports teams include
Leicester City F.C. (football),
Leicester Tigers (rugby union),
Leicester Riders (basketball),
Leicester Coritanian A.C. (Athletics), and the
Leicestershire County Cricket Club. The city has also hosted British and World
track cycling championships at its Saffron Lane
velodrome. Leicester racecourse is located to the south of the city in Oadby. Leicester is now sometimes regarded (by its inhabitants at least) as the sporting capital of the UK.
Recent titles won by local teams
★ 1996
County Cricket Championship
★ 1997
Coca Cola League Cup,
Pilkington Cup
★ 1998 County Cricket Championship,
★ 1999 Allied Dunbar Premiership
★ 2000
Worthington League Cup, Allied Dunbar Premiership
★ 2001 Allied Dunbar Premiership, Zurich Championship,
Heineken Cup
★ 2002
Zurich Premiership,
Heineken Cup
★ 2004
Twenty20 Cup
★ 2006 Twenty20 Cup
★ 2007 EDF Energy cup,
Guinness Premiership
To celebrate the successes of 1997-98, the
Leicester Mercury organised the placement of a statue portraying a cricketer, a footballer, and a rugby-player on Gallowtree Gate, not far from the Clock Tower at the heart of the city.
Leicestershire County Cricket Club are the only team that have won the
Twenty20 Cup twice.
Leicester City played the last
Football League Cup Final at the Old
Wembley Stadium beating
Tranmere 2-1.
Leicester Tigers are the only side to have retained the
Heineken Cup, and also hold the record for most English Championships won (7).
Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in Leicester. 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 Leicester Lions era.
The history of Leicester's Speedways is well documented in three books by Allan Jones.
In 1989, the city hosted the
British Special Olympics, and will do so again in 2009
[6].
Areas
Snow in Leicester, taken in Spinney Hills Park
★
Aylestone
★
Beaumont Leys,
Bede Island,
Belgrave,
Blackfriars,
Braunstone Estate,
Braunstone Frith
★
Charnwood,
City Centre,
Clarendon Park,
Crown Hills
★
Dane Hills
★
Eyres Monsell,
Evington,
Evington Valley
★
Frog Island
★
Gilmorton Estate,
Goodwood
★
Hamilton,
Highfields
★
Horston Hill,
Humberstone,
Humberstone Garden City
★
Knighton
★
Mowmacre Hill
★
Nether Hall,
New Humberstone,
New Parks,
Newfoundpool,
North Evington,
Northfields
★
Rowley Fields,
Rushey Mead
★
Saffron Lane Estate,
Southfields,
South Knighton, Spinney Hills,
St Peters,
St Matthew's,
Stoneygate
★
Thurnby Lodge
★
Westcotes,
West End,
West Knighton,
Western Park,
Wigston,
Woodgate
Places of interest and landmarks
The inside of Leicester Cathedral
'Tourist:' Discover Leicester Tour is a open top tour bus linking many of the
Leicestershire tourist sites in and around the city. See
[1].
'Parks:'
Abbey Park,
Victoria Park,
Gorse Hill City Farm,
Castle Gardens.
'Industry:'
Abbey Pumping Station,
National Space Centre,
Great Central Railway.
'Places of Worship:'
Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal (Hindu temple)
[2],
Jain Centre [3],
Leicester Cathedral,
Masjid Umar (Mosque)
[4]
'Historic Buildings:'
Leicester Guildhall,
Belgrave Hall,
Jewry Wall,
Leicester Secular Hall.
'Shopping:'
Haymarket Centre,
The Shires.
'Sport:'
Walkers Stadium –
Leicester City FC,
Welford Road –
Leicester Tigers RUFC,
Grace Road –
Leicestershire County Cricket Club,
John Sanford Sports Centre, Saffron Lane Sports Centre.
Famous Leicesterians
A Leicesterian is somebody who comes from the city of Leicester, England. Famous people born in Leicester, educated there, or otherwise associated with the city include:
Academia
★
Graham Barnfield (sociologist)
★
W. G. Hoskins, (landscape historian)
★
Howard Jones (criminologist)
The arts and entertainment
★
Laurel Aitken (singer, "The Godfather of Ska". Born Cuba, lived on the St. Mark's Estate from 1971-2005)
★
James Allen (author)
★
Richard Armitage (actor, ''
North and South'')
★
David Attenborough (
broadcaster and
naturalist)
★
Richard Attenborough (actor, ''
Jurassic Park'' and director ''
Gandhi'')
★
Julian Barnes (author)
★
Biddy Baxter (editor, ''
Blue Peter'')
★
Manish Bhasin (
BBC sports presenter, ''
Football Focus'')
★
Jeremy Bulloch (actor, ''
Star Wars'')
★
Graham Chapman (comedian,
Monty Python)
★
Roger Chapman (singer,
Family)
★
Thomas Cooper (poet)
★
Cornershop (band)
★
John Deacon (bassist,
Queen)
★
The Deep Freeze Mice (band)
★
Diesel Park West (band)
★
The Displacements (band)
★
Betty Driver (singer and actress,
Coronation Street)
★
Terri Dwyer (actress,
Hollyoaks)
★
Duncan Fegredo (comic book artist)
★
Anne Fine (author)
★
Stephen Frears (film director,
Dangerous Liaisons)
★
Ernest Gimson (architect,
craftsman)
★
Gaye Bykers on Acid (band)
★
Robert Gotobed (drummer,
Wire)
★
Ric Grech (bassist,
Family,
Blind Faith)
★
Kevin Hewick (singer)
★
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer,
Release Me,
Misty Blue)
★
David Icke (sports reporter, conspiracy theorist)
★
John Illsley (bassist,
Dire Straits)
★
Kasabian (band)
★
Tony Kaye (keyboard player,
Yes)
★
Dominic Keating (actor, )
★
Michael Kitchen (actor)
★
Lisa Lashes (DJ)
★
McKenzie Lee (pornography actress)
★
John Leeson (actor, voice of
K-9 in
Doctor Who and
Bungle in
Rainbow)
★
Jon Lord (organist,
Deep Purple)
★
Bill Maynard (actor,
Coronation Street,
Heartbeat)
★
Mark Morrison (singer,
Return of the Mack)
★
Kevin Myers journalist, (
Irish Independent)
★
Parminder Nagra (actor,
Bend It Like Beckham,
ER)
★
David Neilson (actor,
Coronation Street)
★
Kate O'Mara (actress,
Howards' Way)
★
Joe Orton (playwright)
★
Helen Pearson (actress,
Hollyoaks)
★
Po! (band)
★
Prolapse (band)
★ Phil Shaw (inventor of
extreme ironing)
★
Showaddywaddy (band)
★
Lucie Silvas (singer-is known to live in the area with her boyfriend
Geordan Murphy)
★
C. P. Snow (author)
★
Elle Milano (band)
★
DJ SS (DJ and producer)
★
Una Stubbs (actress,
Till Death Us Do Part)
★
Jon Tickle (Leicester University graduate, presenter)
★
Sue Townsend (author,
Adrian Mole books)
★
Gok Wan (fashion stylist and presenter of How to Look Good Naked, Channel 4)
★
John "Charlie" Whitney (guitarist,
Family)
★
Colin Wilson (author)
★
Mark Wingett (actor,
The Bill)
★
The Young Knives (band)
Business
★
Thomas Cook (travel agent)
★
Thomas White (merchant, philanthropist)
★
William Inman (shipping company owner)
★
William Wyggeston (merchant, philanthropist)
★
Nathaniel Corah (textile manufacturer)
Politics and Royalty
★
Alastair Campbell (journalist and political advisor)
★
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (founder of the English Parliament)
★
Lady Jane Grey ("Queen for Nine Days")
★
Greville Janner (MP and barrister)
★
Richard III of England, King of England
Religion
★
William Carey (missionary and translator)
★
George Fox (founder of the
Religious Society of Friends, otherwise known as
Quakers)
Science
★
Henry Bates (naturalist and explorer)
★ Sir
Alec Jeffreys (
geneticist and developer of
genetic fingerprinting) (DNA)
★
Benjamin Ward Richardson (physician)
Sport
★
Martin Corry (Rugby Player, Current Leicester captain and Former England captain)
★
Dion Dublin (England International Footballer)
★
Glenn Flear (Chess grandmaster)
★
Emile Heskey (England international footballer)
★
Martin Johnson (CBE, Rugby player, Leicester and England's World-Cup winning captain)
★
Chris Kirkland (England international footballer)
★
Gary Lineker (England international footballer, World Cup 1986 Golden Boot Winner, sports presenter)
★
Chris Pyatt (former World Champion middleweight boxer)
★
Dean Richards (Rugby player and coach, Leicester Tigers and England captain)
★
Michael Robinson (footballer, Spanish TV presenter)
★
Mark Selby, (snooker player and current
Eight Ball Pool world champion)
★
Peter Shilton (England's most capped footballer)
★
Ollie Smith (Rugby Union international)
★
Willie Thorne (snooker player and commentator)
★
Luke Varney (Professional footballer, Charlton Athletic)
Miscellaneous
★
Daniel Lambert (heaviest man in England)
★
Joseph Merrick ("The Elephant Man")
Leicester firsts
★ First
BBC local radio station. Launched on 8 November 1967 with the first local radio
jingle.
★ First
Space Shuttle Simulator outside USA which is at the National Space and Science Centre
★ First automatic multi-storey car park in Europe which included the largest supermarket in the UK at the time which was a Tesco
★ First
Tesco outside of London
★ First European Environment City
★ First traffic
roundabout in the UK
[7]
★ First
criminal conviction using
Genetic Fingerprint as evidence
★ First place to have traffic wardens
★ First city in the UK to have traffic lights and is supposed to have more traffic lights than any other UK city
★ First
Halfords store opened in the city
Twinning
Leicester is
twinned with:
Local media
Leicester is home to the ''
Leicester Mercury'' newspaper, and the
MATV (Midlands Asian Television) cable channel which can also be viewed on normal analogue TV and is known as MATV Channel 6.
BBC Radio Leicester was the first
BBC local radio station. Other
analogue FM radio stations are
Leicester Sound,
Takeover 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
★
Leicester Sound
★
Sabras Radio
★
Galaxy Digital
★
Highways Agency Traffic Radio
★
XFM
★
Classic Gold GEM
★
Heart 106
★
Asian Plus - also known as
Hindu Sanskar Radio
The local
Hospital Radio stations is
Hospital Radio Fox.
External links
★
Leicester Tourist Guide
★
Leicestershire TV
★
History of Leicester
★
BBC Leicester
★
Leicester City Council
★
Leicester regeneration discussion forums on skyscrapercity.com
References
1. http://www.cre.gov.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0cq.RefLocID-0hg00900c008.Lang-EN.htm
2. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
3. includes hunting and forestry
4. includes energy and construction
5. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
6. City to host its second 'games'
7. http://www.goleicestershire.com/news/history.htm
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