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Coalville

Coalville

Coalville is a town in North West Leicestershire, England, with a population of about 45,000. It is just off junction 22 of the M1 motorway and is between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Leicester. As the name indicates, it is a former coal-mining town. A disused colliery at Snibston has been regenerated into Snibston Discovery Park, a museum focused on transport, mining, and engineering. The town grew up with the advent of coalmining, quarrying and engineering industries in the 1800s. The Leicester and Swannington Railway opened in 1832 and had a small station at Long Lane in Coalville. Snibston colliery opened in 1833. A fire underground at Whitwick colliery led to the deaths of 35 men in 1898. The town is known internationally for the club night 'passion' held at the Emporium in the centre of the town. Passion has attracted international DJs such as DJ Tiesto and Paul Van Dyk to the normally sleepy town.

External links


- Category:Towns in Leicestershire

North West Leicestershire

North West Leicestershire is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. Its main towns are Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Coalville. It contains Nottingham East Midlands Airport, which has flights to the rest of Britain and various places in Europe. It is also notable for Castle Donington, site of Donington Park, a grand-prix circuit and site for music festivals. In Parliament, it is represented by David Taylor (Labour). This district has a long history of mineral extraction, with coal, brick clay, gravel and granite amongst the products. All the deep coal mines are now closed, but opencast continues. It was formed in 1974 by a merger of Ashby de la Zouch Urban District, Ashby Woulds Urban District, Coalville Urban District, Ashby de la Zouch Rural District, Castle Donnington Rural District and Ibstock from the Market Bosworth Rural District.

Parishes


- Appleby Magna, Ashby Woulds, Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
- Bardon, Battleflat, Belton, Breedon on the Hill
- Castle Donington, Charley, Chilcote, Coleorton
- Ellistown and Battleflat
- Heather
- Ibstock
- Isley cum Langley
- Kegworth
- Lockington cum Hemington, Long Whatton
- Measham
- Normanton le Heath
- Oakthorpe and Donisthorpe, Osgathorpe
- Packington
- Ravenstone with Snibston
- Snarestone, Staunton Harold, Stretton en le Field, Swannington, Swepstone
- Worthington ---- Category:Local government in Leicestershire Category:Shire districts

England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.
Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)
Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England. The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government. London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city. Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap. Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use. The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel. The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours) The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]

Major rivers

Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

Major Conurbations

:See main article: List of towns in England The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census) #Greater London (8,278,251) #West Midlands (2,284,093) #Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066) #Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #Bournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading (369,804) #Teesside (365,323)

Economy

Main article: Economy of England

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands. This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees). The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.

English identity

The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one. A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism. One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase. Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.

Culture

Union Flag Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
  - Sir Thomas Browne
  - Geoffrey Chaucer
  - John Milton
  - William Shakespeare
  - Jane Austen
  - Mary Shelley
  - Charles Dickens
  - Thomas Hardy
  - George Orwell
  - J. R. R. Tolkien
  - C. S. Lewis
  - Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
  - English school of painting
- Music of England

Languages

Music of England.]] As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived. Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words. The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales). The only non-Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish Border. Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters. Different languages from around the world, especially from the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances. Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany. Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.

Nomenclature

The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries. There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country. The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
- "England" (Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian)
- "Engeland" (Dutch)
- "Inglismaa" (Estonian)
- "Angleterre" (French)
- "Inghilterra" (Italian)
- "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
- "Anglia" (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
- "Anglija" (Russian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Ukrainian)
- "Engleska" (Croatian, Serbian)
- "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek)
- "Englanti" (Finnish) The Celtic names are quite different:
- "Bro-Saoz" (Breton)
- "Pow Sows" (Cornish)
- "Sasana" (Irish)
- "Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)
- "Lloegr" (Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
- "Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic) Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which arrived at about the same time as the Angles. See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England. "England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct and commonly also use "England" when "Britain" would be correct. Alternative names include:
- the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
- "Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white (Latin alba) cliffs of Dover, this term has also been interpreted as a relative of Alba, today the Scots Gaelic name for Scotland. Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole island of Great Britain and is still sometimes seen that way today — but is more often used for England.
- More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations respectively from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II) and William Blake (And did those feet in ancient time). The inhabitants of England are the English. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the Scots Gaelic), "Limeys" (in reference to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English and New Zealand English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative words for British.

Symbols and insignia

alternative words for British.]] The two traditional symbols of England are the St. George's cross (the English flag) and the Three Lions coat of arms (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou. The three lions were first definitely used by Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in the late 12th century (although it is also possible that Henry I may have bestowed it on his son Henry before then). Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin line. A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with St George and England, along with other countries and cities (such as Georgia, Milan and the Republic of Genoa), which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the Union Flag (which English and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606) was adopted for all purposes to unite the whole of Great Britain under a common flag. The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it is widely flown by Church of England properties and at sporting events. (Paradoxically, the latter is a fairly recent development; until the late 20th century, it was commonplace for fans of English teams to wave the Union Flag, rather than the St George's Cross). The rose is widely recognised as the national flower of England and is used in a variety of contexts. Predominantly, this is a red rose (which also symbolises Lancashire), such as the badge of the English Rugby Union team. However, a white rose (which also symbolises Yorkshire) or a "tudor rose" (symbolising the end of the War of the Roses) may also be used on different occasions. The Three Lions badge performs a similar role for the English national football team and English national cricket team.

National anthems

Although England does not have an official anthem of its own, the following are widely regarded as English national hymns:
- "Jerusalem:" Words by William Blake, Music by Hubert Parry
- "I Vow to Thee, My Country": Words by Cecil Spring-Rice, Music by Gustav Holst
- "Land of Hope and Glory": Words by A C Benson, Music by Edward Elgar (although this refers to all of Great Britain, not only England)
- "Nimrod": Music by Edward Elgar "God Save The Queen" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches), although "Land of Hope and Glory" has also been used as the English anthem for the Commonwealth Games. "Rule Britannia" despite being a song about Britain as a whole was often used for the English national football team when they play against another of the home nations but more recently "God Save The Queen" has been used by both the rugby and football teams. Many believe that English teams should use their own anthems, most popular of which is the use of "Jerusalem".

References


- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]

See also


-
- English language
- English law
- English (people)
- List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree
- List of English people
- Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named)
- UK topics
- List of not fully sovereign nations
- Education in England

References

External links


- [http://www.enjoyengland.com/ The official website of the English Tourist Board — Enjoy England]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]: articles on England and her neighbours Category:Monarchies Category:European countries als:England zh-min-nan:England ko:잉글랜드 ms:England ja:イングランド simple:England th:แคว้นอังกฤษ

M1 motorway (England)

:This article concerns the M1 motorway in England. There are M1 motorways in Northern Ireland (see M1 motorway (Northern Ireland)) and the Republic of Ireland (see N1 road). The M1 is a major north-south motorway in England connecting London to Yorkshire, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford. The motorway is 187 miles (301 km) long and was constructed in stages between the 1950s and 1970s, with a further extension in the late 1990s. It was the first full-length motorway to be built in the United Kingdom, and was opened on November 2 1959 between junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 and M45 spurs. The M1 was first opened as a St Albans Bypass (j5-10a and M10) and London to Birmingham route (j10-18 and M45) broadly following the route of the A5. It started south of St Albans on the Watford Bypass which connected it to the main A1 at Apex Corner. At the northern end it linked to the A5 at Crick, with a spur (M45) to connect to the A45 to Coventry and then on to Birmingham. The alternate branch (M10) at the southern end was to the North Orbital Road (the forerunner to the M25) at Park Street (where the A5 also meets it). The M1 was extended in two stages to London, terminating between the junctions of the A406 "North Circular" with the A5 ("Staples Corner") and A41 ("Brent Cross Flyover"). The first stage to London terminated at "Fiveways Corner", just north of the present Junction 2 (the A1 junction) and the original slip road is retained as an emergency exit route. The M1 was also planned to start further in to London (on ringway 1) than its present southern terminus. The northbound flyover from the other side of the roundabout, as well as the flare in the carriageways, show that the M1 was to go over the roundabout here. The first motorway service station in the UK was built at Watford Gap and later immortalised in song by Roy Harper. The M1 was always going to Yorkshire, and a series of extensions took it through the East Midlands. Originally, the M1 was to end at Doncaster, however it was decided to go over what was going to be the "Leeds and Sheffield Spur", with the stub of the M1 becoming, and opening as, the M18. There were plans to reroute the M1 from just south of the M62, round the west of Leeds and to the A1 at Dishforth, however these were changed to a curving route to the east of Leeds, with the M621 completing a "D" shaped ring. The termini of both these motorways were sub-standard, messy junctions. In 1999, the M1 was extended to join the A1 at Hook Moor, with the three miles of the old M1 renumbered as an extention of the M621. This is the only bit of road to have been renumbered from M1. It now broadly follows an arc to the west of the route taken by the older A1; though less direct, this route takes it closer to the major population centres of the East Midlands. A close approximation of its route using A-roads is: A5, A426, A6, A60, A57, A61. It passes close to Milton Keynes, Northampton, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Mansfield, Sheffield and Leeds. It also connects with the M6 and M45 motorways near Rugby, the M18 near Rotherham, the M25 near Potters Bar, the M69 at Leicester, and the M62 and M621 near Leeds.

Route


- Junction 1 - at the junction of the A5/North Circular, known as Staples Corner, at Brent Cross, west of Golders Green - A406
- Junction 2 - "Fiveways interchange" at Hendon, west of Finchley, with A1
- Junction 3 - London Gateway Service Area (formerly Scratchwood) only - was to be a link to the A1.
- Junction 4 - Edgware
- Junction 5 - A41, Watford and Radlett, spur road to Central Watford (built in 1990s)
- Junction 6 - north Watford and south of St Albans
- Junction 6a - for M25
- Junction 7 - for M10 west of St Albans
- Junction 8 - east of Hemel Hempstead
- Junction 9 - for A5 (northwards) and A5183 (southbound) between Redbourn and Markyate
- Junction 10 - south of Luton, sole exit to: : Junction 10a - spur for Luton south and for London Luton Airport (airport not actually on M1)
- Junction 11 - west of Luton
- Toddington Service Area
- Junction 12 - north-east of Toddington, Bedfordshire - A5120
- Junction 13 - south-east of Milton Keynes, west of Bedford - A421
- Junction 14 - east of (central) Milton Keynes - A509, A4146
- Newport Pagnell Service Area
- Junction 15 - south of Northampton - A45, A508
- Junction 15a - south-west of Northampton, north-east of Milton Keynes (via A34, A5). Uses exit for:
- Rothersthorpe Service Area - A43
- Junction 16 - west of Northampton, east of Daventry - A45 / A4500
- Watford Gap Service Area
- Junction 17 - for M45
- Junction 18 - east of Rugby - A5, A428
- Junction 19 - the "Catthorpe interchange" for M6 and A14
- Junction 20 - east of Lutterworth - A4303 (to A5), A4304
- Junction 21 - for M69, south-west of Leicester - A563
- Leicester Forest East Service Area
- Junction 21a - for northern Leicester - A46
- Junction 22 - east of Coalville - A50 for Leicester and A511 for Ashby-de-la-Zouch
- Junction 23 - west of Loughborough, east of Shepshed - A512
- Junction 23a - A42, Donington Park Service Area (northbound)
- Junction 24 - west of Kegworth, for Nottingham East Midlands Airport, Nottingham South, Donington Park Service Area (southbound) - A453, A50, A6.
- Junction 24a - for A50
- Junction 25 - Sandiacre between Derby and Nottingham A52
- Trowell Service Area
- Junction 26 - Nuthall north-west of Nottingham - A610
- Junction 27 - Annesley north-west of Hucknall - A608
- Junction 28 - west of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Mansfield, east of Alfreton
- Tibshelf Service Area - A38
- Junction 29 - south-east of Chesterfield - A617
- Junction 30 - north-east of Chesterfield - A616, A619, A6135
- Woodall Service Area
- Junction 31 - "Aston Roundabout", east of Aston-cum-Aughton - A57
- Junction 32 - for M18
- Junction 33 - between Rotherham and Sheffield
- Junction 34 - Tinsley Viaduct between Rotherham and Sheffield, for Meadowhall
- Junction 35 - Thorpe Hesley, east of Chapeltown
- Junction 35a - for A616
- Junction 36 - west of Hoyland - A61
- Junction 37 - west of Barnsley - A628
- Junction 38 - west of Royston - A637
- Woolley Edge Service Area
- Junction 39 - west of Crigglestone - A636
- Junction 40 - west of Wakefield - A638
- Junction 41 - north-west of Wakefield
- Junction 42 - for M62, J29
- Junction 43 - for M621 (Leeds)
- Junction 44 - for Rothwell and the A639
- Junction 45 - not yet open
- Junction 46 - for East Leeds and for the A63
- Junction 47 - north of Garforth
- Junction 48 - motorway ends and joins with the A1

See also


- :Category:M1 Motorway service stations
- List of motorways in the United Kingdom
- M1 motorway (Northern Ireland)

External links


- [http://www.uk-roads.org.uk/ UK Roads Portal]
- [http://www.ukmotorwayarchive.org/ UK Motorway Archive]
- [http://www.cbrd.co.uk/motorway/m1/ CBRD Motorway Database - M1]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/asop/northampton/m1.shtml BBC website The Backbone of Britain contains link to a video of 2'42" in length] 1

Leicester

Leicester (pronounced ) is a city in the English East Midlands, on the River Soar. It is the traditional county town of Leicestershire, and since 1997 has been a self-governing unitary authority. It lies on the edge of the National Forest. In 2002 the population of the city proper was estimated at 283,578, with 330,574 living in the urban area. Technically it is the most populous city in the East Midlands, but Nottingham's urban area is much larger. Nottingham The urban area spreads outside the boundaries of the city proper, and includes Oadby, Wigston, Braunstone Town, Birstall, Glenfield, Blaby, Thurmaston, Syston and Leicester Forest East. For areas within the city, see Areas of Leicester. Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, having been founded by the Romans, and is now one of the most ethnically diverse.

General information

The city is next to the M1 motorway, and is on the Midland Main Line between London and Sheffield. 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, footwear, knitwear, engineering, electronics, printing and plastics. Peterborough 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. The city centre is home to the Haymarket and the Shires 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 mediaeval churches of St Mary de Castro and St Nicholas, the Guildhall and the Jewry Wall. It is set to become a major city with many developments on the horizon implemented by the [http://www.leicesterregeneration.co.uk Leicester Regeneration Company] including a major [http://www.leicester.gov.uk/departments/print.asp?pgid=3562 theatre] 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 multi-ethnic population, mainly from the Indian subcontinent. There are many Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras and Muslim mosques around the city, mostly converted from existing buildings. The only Jain Temple in the western world is near the city centre ([http://www.jaincentre.com 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 southeast of the city centre, and Leicester plays host to the second-largest [http://www.lccarnival.org.uk/ Caribbean Carnival] in the UK after Notting Hill.

History

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the 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. King Lear] In fact, Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a history going back nearly 2000 years. The Roman city of Ratae Coritanorum was founded in AD 50 as a military settlement upon the Fosse Way Roman road. The city was named after the Corieltauvi, the Celtic tribe that dwelt in the area before the Romans arrived. Ratae Coritanorum grew into an important trading and military 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. According to the Venerable Bede Leicester city was the site of some of the earliest Christian Martyrdoms in Britain. The Dates are unknown, but in his Historia Ecclesiastica Bede describes how several people were persecuted and put to death for their faith in Christ in Leicester at the same time as St. Alban the first English martyr was killed in the Roman city of Verulamium (beside modern-day St Albans). As St Alban is supposed to have been executed some time between 303 and 313 AD, it is supposed that the Leicester Martyrs must also have died around this time. :   "At the same time suffered Aaron and Julius, inhabitants of the city of Leicester [or Caerleon], and many others of both sexes, in other places; who, having been tormented on the rack till their members were dislocated, and having endured various other unheard-of cruelties, yielded their souls, after the conflict was over, to the joys of the city above." - The History of the Primitive Church of England. Book One, Chapter Seven St Bede the Venerable. The Roman town was largely abandoned when the Romans left Britain in the 5th century, but was later re-settled by Saxons. In the 9th century, 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. 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 according to local tradition he is not actually buried there. He was originally buried in the Greyfriars Church in Leicester, but his corpse was exhumed under orders from Henry VII and cast into the River Soar. 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. On 4 November 1530, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey was arrested on charges of treason and taken from York Palace. 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. 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. 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. In the decades after World War II Leicester gained a large population of immigrants from the Indian sub-continent, and from Uganda in the early 1970s. These immigrant groups make up around 40% of Leicester's population, making Leicester one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United Kingdom. Among the more recent arrivals are a group of Dutch citizens of Somali origin, apparently drawn by its free and easy atmosphere and by the number of mosques. In the U.K., Leicester today is widely regarded as a model of inter-communal tolerance, however for a short period in the 1970s the neo-fascist National Front recorded high votes in the city. Leicester is expected by 2012 to become the first major city in Britain in which the ethnic minority population will form a majority.

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 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.

Politics

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, which collapsed in November 2004. The minority Labour group ran the city until May 2005, when the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives formed a new coalition. 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 byelection candidate and former Council leader Sir Peter Soulsby won Leicester South back for the party, and Vaz and Hewitt retained their seats.

Education

Leicester is home to two universities, the University of Leicester (Royal Charter 1957) and 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 science. Leicester City Local Education Authority has had a troubled history since its formation in 1997 as part of the local government reorganisation - a 1999 Ofsted inspection found "few strengths and many weaknesses", and although there has been some improvement since then the LEA's capacity to sustain improvement of education is still judged to be "not secure" ([http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/manreports/2260.pdf 2004 Performance Assessment]). While many state schools provide a good standard of education, there have been long-running problems with several of the large community colleges, in particular New College. Current plans to improve the city's education system include the opening of City Academies part-sponsored by the Church of England and a local Christian businessman (a new school on the Saffron estate, and a replacement for New College), a £260 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. All of these measures are controversial. Following an overspend of £3.5 million by the department of Lifelong Learning, Steven Andrews (Director of Education and Lifelong Learning) left the council in June 2005 - the terms of his leaving included a reduced severance payment in return for the suppression of an auditors' report into the overspend. John Crookes, the head of the Lifelong Learning department, left the council at the same time.

Arts

The city plays host to an annual Pride parade (Leicester Pride), a Caribbean Carnival (the largest in the UK outside London), and the Summer Sundae music festival. Arts venues in the city include:
- The Haymarket Theatre
- The Phoenix Arts Centre
- The De Montfort Hall.

Sport

De Montfort Hall Sports teams include Leicester City F.C. (football), Leicester Tigers (rugby union), Leicester Riders (basketball), and the Leicestershire County Cricket Club. The city has also hosted British and World track cycling championships at its Saffron Lane velodrome. 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 League Cup
- 1998 County Cricket Championship, Zurich Premiership
- 1999 Allied Dunbar Premiership
- 2000 Allied Dunbar Premiership, League Cup
- 2001 Allied Dunbar Premiership, Zurich Championship, Heineken Cup
- 2002 Zurich Premiership, Heineken Cup
- 2004 Twenty20 Cup
- 2005 Zurich Premiership To celeberate 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.

Areas


- Aylestone, Aylestone Park
- Beaumont Leys, Bede Island, Belgrave, Black Friars, Braunstone Park, Braunstone Frith
- Charnwood, City Centre, Clarendon Park, Crown Hills
- Dane Hills
- Eyres Monsell, Evington, Evington Valley
- Frog Island
- 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
- Southfields, South Knighton, Spencefield, Spinney Hills, St Matthew's, Stoneygate
- Thurnby Lodge
- West End, West Knighton, Western Park, Woodgate

Places of Interest and Landmarks

Parks: Leicester Botanic Gardens, Abbey Park, Victoria Park, Gorse Hill City Farm Industry: Abbey Pumping Station, National Space Centre, Great Central Railway Places of Worship: Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal (Hindu temple)[http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/360_images/2002/11/shree_jalaram_prathana_mandal.shtml], Jain Centre [http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/360_images/2002/11/jain_temple.shtml], Leicester Cathedral Historic Buildings: Leicester Guildhall, Belgrave Hall, Jewry Wall Shopping: Haymarket Centre, The Shires, Fosse Park (just outside the city).

Famous people


- David and Richard Attenborough
- Henry Bates
- Alastair Campbell
- William Carey
- Graham Chapman
- Thomas Cook
- John Deacon
- Simon de Montfort
- George Fox
- Stephen Frears
- Lady Jane Grey
- Liam Herringshaw
- Emile Heskey
- Kevin Hewick
- Engelbert Humperdinck
- David Icke
- Greville Janner
- Kasabian
- Dominic Keating
- Chris Kirkland
- Daniel Lambert
- Gary Lineker
- Bill Maynard
- Mark Morrison
- Joseph Merrick (the Elephant Man)
- Gabriel Newton
- Parminder Nagra
- Joe Orton
- Phil Shaw
- Showaddywaddy
- C. P. Snow
- Una Stubbs
- Willie Thorne
- Sue Townsend
- Thomas White
- Colin Wilson
- William Wyggeston
- Alastair Yates Note: This includes all those who spent at least part of their lives here. Not all were born or have spent their entire life there.

Leicester Firsts


- First BBC local radio station
- First Space Shuttle Simulator outside USA
- First automatic multi-storey carpark in Europe
- First Tesco outside of London
- First European Environment City
- First roundabout in the UK

Twinning

Leicester is twinned with:
- Chongqing, China
- Krefeld, Germany
- Masaya, Nicaragua
- Rajkot, India
- Strasbourg, France

Local media

Leicester is home to the Leicester Mercury newspaper, and the MATV (Midlands Asian Television) cable channel. Local analogue radio stations are:
- BBC Radio Leicester (FM)
- Leicester Sound (FM)
- BBC Asian Network (AM)
- Sabras Radio (AM) The local DAB multiplex has the following stations:
- BBC Radio Leicester
- Leicester Sound
- Sabras Radio
- Galaxy Digital
- Capital Disney
- A Plus
- The Storm
- Classic Gold Gem
- Heart 106

External links


- [http://www.localhistories.org/leicester.html History of Leicester]
- [http://www.geocities.com/leicestercityguide Leicester City Guide]
- [http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/ Leicester Mercury]
- [http://www.wartimeleicestershire.com/ Wartime Leicestershire]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester BBC Leicester]
- [http://www.leicester.gov.uk/ Leicester City Council] Category:Local government in Leicestershire category:Cities in England Category:Unitary authorities in England

1800s

Events and Trends


- Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815).
- Semaphore is adopted by navies.
- United Kingdom founded in 1801

World Leaders


- Emperor Napoleon I (France)
- Emperor Francis II (Holy Roman Empire)
- Pope Pius VII
- Emperor Alexander I (Russia)
- King George III, (United Kingdom)
- President John Adams (United States)
- President Thomas Jefferson (United States) Category:1800s ja:1800年代

1833

1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 3, British invades the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
- March 2, President Andrew Jackson signs the Force Bill, which authorizes him to use troops to enforce Federal law in South Carolina.
- March 3 -Ayya Vaikundar incarnated in a human body from the sea of Thiruchendur.
- May 11 - French-American farmhand Antoine le Blanc murders family of three.
- May 28 - Royal pretender Karl Wilhelm Naundorf arrives in Paris on foot
- June 6, US President Andrew Jackson becomes the first President to ride a train.
- August 29 - Child labor - in United Kingdom, parliament passes an act that makes illegal to employ children less than 9 years old in factories and limits the child workers 9 to 13 years of age to maximum of 9 hours a day
- September 2, Oberlin College is founded by John Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.
- September 29, the infant Isabella II becomes Queen of Spain, under the regency of her mother, Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Her uncle Don Carlos, Conde de Molina challenges her claim, beginning the First Carlist War.
- December 14, assassination of Kaspar Hauser, dies three days later in December 17
- Charles Babbage described his analytical engine. (see also history of computing hardware)
- The dawn of biochemistry: discovery of the first enzyme, diastase, by Anselme Payen
- The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.

Births


- January 1 - Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (d. 1902)
- February 11 - Melville Weston Fuller 8th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1910)
- February 19 - Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1906)
- February 25 - John St. John, American temperance movement leader (d. 1916)
- February 28</