Liverpool

Liverpool is a city in Merseyside, England. A borough from 1207 and a city from 1880, in 2014 the city local government district had a population of 470,537 and the wider Liverpool/Birkenhead metropolitan areahad a population of 2,241,000.

Liverpool is in the south west of the historic county of Lancashire in North West England, on the eastern side of theMersey Estuary. The town historically lay within the ancient Lancashire division of West Derby known as a «hundred».

The urbanisation and expansion of the city were largely brought about by its advantageous location during the industrial revolution status that led to its growth as a major port, which included its participation in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic, and many other Cunard and White Star ocean liners such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. Liverpool’s status as a port city has contributed to its diverse population, which, historically, was drawn from a wide range of peoples, cultures, and religions, particularly those from Ireland. The city is also home to the oldest Black African community in the country and the oldest Chinese community in Europe.

Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians (from a long-standing jocular alteration of ‘Liverpool’ to ‘Liverpuddle’) and colloquially as «Scousers«, a reference to «scouse«, a form of stew. The word «Scouse» has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect.

Tourism forms a significant part of the city’s modern economy. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, in 2008. Labelled the «World Capital City of Pop» by Guinness World Records, the popularity of The Beatles, and other groups from the Merseybeat era and later, contributes to Liverpool’s status as a tourist destination.

Several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, and William Brown Street. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton. Matches between the two are known as the Merseyside derby. The world-famous Grand National also takes places annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city.

History

Early History

King John‘s letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, but by the middle of the 16th century the population was still only around 500. The original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape: Bank Street (now Water Street), Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street (now High Street), Moor Street (now Tithebarn Street) and Whiteacre Street (now Old Hall Street).

In the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, including an eighteen-day siege in 1644. In 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. As trade from the West Indies surpassed that of Ireland and Europe, and as the River Dee silted up, Liverpool began to grow. The first commercial wet dock was built in Liverpool in 1715.  Substantial profits from the slave trade helped the town to prosper and rapidly grow, although several prominent local men, including William Rathbone, William Roscoe and Edward Rushton, were at the forefront of the abolitionist movement.

In the early 19th century Liverpool played a major role in the Antarctic sealing industry, in recognition of which Liverpool Beach in the South Shetland Islands is named after the city.

By the start of the 19th century, a large volume of trade was passing through Liverpool, and the construction of major buildings reflected this wealth. In 1830, Liverpool and Manchester became the first cities to have an intercity rail link, through the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The population continued to rise rapidly, especially during the 1840s when Irishmigrants began arriving by the hundreds of thousands as a result of the Great Famine. By 1851, approximately 25% of the city’s population was Irish-born. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Liverpool was drawing immigrants from across Europe. This is evident from the diverse array of religious buildings located across the city, many of which are still in use today. The Deutsche Kirche Liverpool, Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas, Gustav Adolf Church and Princes Road Synagogue were all established in the 1800s to serve Liverpool’s growing German, Greek, Nordic and Jewish communities respectively. One of Liverpool’s oldest surviving churches, St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, served the Polish community in its final years as a place of worship.

Given the crucial place of both cotton and slavery in the city’s economy, during the American Civil War Liverpool was, in the words of historian Sven Beckert, «the most pro-Confederate place in the world outside the Confederacy itself.

20th Century

The Housing Act 1919 resulted in mass council housing building across Liverpool during the 1920s and 1930s. Thousands of families were rehoused from the inner-city to new suburban housing estates, based on the pretext that this would improve their standard of living, though this is largely subjective. A large number of private homes were also built during this era. The process continued after the Second World War, with many more new housing estates being built in suburban areas, while some of the older inner city areas were also redeveloped for new homes. The Great Depression of the early 1930s saw unemployment in the city peak at around 30%.

During the Second World War there were 80 air-raids on Merseyside, killing 2,500 people and causing damage to almost half the homes in the metropolitan area. Significant rebuilding followed the war, including massive housing estates and theSeaforth Dock, the largest dock project in Britain. Much of the immediate reconstruction of the city centre has been deeply unpopular, and was as flawed as much town planning renewal in the 1950s and 1960s – the portions of the city’s heritage that survived German bombing could not withstand the efforts of urban renewal. Since 1952 Liverpool has been twinned withCologne, Germany, a city which also experienced severe aerial bombing during the war.

Like most British cities and industrialised towns, Liverpool became home to a significant number of Commonwealth immigrants after World War II, mostly settling in older inner city areas such as Toxteth. However, a significant West Indian black community had existed in the city as long ago as the first two decades of the 20th century.

In the 1960s Liverpool was the centre of the «Merseybeat» sound which became synonymous with The Beatles and fellow Liverpudlian rock bands.

From the mid-1970s onwards Liverpool’s docks and traditional manufacturing industries went into sharp decline. The advent of containerisation meant that the city’s docks became largely obsolete. By the early 1980s unemployment rates in Liverpool were once again among the highest in the UK, standing at 17% by January 1982 – although this was just over half of the level of unemployment that was affecting the city in an economic downturn 50 years previously.

In recent years, Liverpool’s economy has recovered and has experienced growth rates higher than the national average since the mid-nineties.

At the end of the 20th century Liverpool was concentrating on regeneration, a process which still continues today.

Previously part of Lancashire, and a county borough from 1889, Liverpool became in 1974 a metropolitan borough within the newly created metropolitan county ofMerseyside.

21st Century

To celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002, the conservation charity Plantlife organised a competition to choosecounty flowers; the sea-holly was Liverpool’s final choice.

Capitalising on the popularity of 1960s rock groups, such as The Beatles, as well as the city’s world-class art galleries, museums and landmarks, tourism has also become a significant factor in Liverpool’s economy.

In 2004, property developer Grosvenor started the Paradise Project, a £920 m development centred on Paradise Street, which involved the most significant changes to Liverpool’s city centre since the post-war reconstruction. Renamed ‘Liverpool ONE’, the centre opened in May 2008.

In 2007, the city celebrated the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, for which a number of events were planned. Liverpool is a joint European Capital of Culture for 2008. The main celebrations, in September 2008, included La Princesse, a large mechanical spider which is 20 metres high and weighs 37 tonnes, and represents the «eight legs» of Liverpool: honour, history, music, the Mersey, the ports, governance, sunshine and culture. La Princesse roamed the streets of the city during the festivities, and concluded by entering the Queensway Tunnel.

Spearheaded by the multi-billion-pound Liverpool ONE development, regeneration has continued on an unprecedented scale through to the start of the early 2010s in Liverpool. Some of the most significant regeneration projects to have taken place in the city include new buildings in the Commercial District, the King’s Dock area, the Mann Island area, the Lime Street Gateway, the Baltic Triangle area, the RopeWalks area and the Edge Lane Gateway. All projects could however soon be eclipsed by the Liverpool Waters scheme which if built will cost in the region of £5.5billion and be one of the largest megaprojects in the UK’s history. Liverpool Waters is a mixed use development which will contain one of Europe’s largest skyscraper clusters. The project received outline planning permission in 2012, despite fierce opposition from the likes of UNESCO who claim it will have a damaging effect on Liverpool’s World Heritage status.

On 9 June 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron launched the International Festival for Business in Liverpool, the world’s largest business event in 2014  and the largest in the UK since the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Economy

The Economy of Liverpool is one of the largest within the United Kingdom, sitting at the centre of one of the two core economies within the North West of England. In 2006, the city’s GVA was £7,626 million, providing a per capita figure of £17,489, which was above the North West average. Liverpool’s economy has seen strong growth since the mid-1990s, with its GVA increasing 71.8% between 1995 and 2006 and employment increasing 12% between 1998 and 2006. GDP per capita was estimated to stand at $32,121 in 2014, and total GDP at $65.8 billion.

In common with much of the rest of the UK today, Liverpool’s economy is dominated by service sector industries, both public and private. In 2007, over 60% of all employment in the city was in the public administration, education, health, banking, finance and insurance sectors. Over recent years there has also been significant growth in the knowledge economy of Liverpool with the establishment of the Liverpool Knowledge Quarter in sectors such as media and life sciences. Liverpool’s rich architectural base has also helped the city become the second most filmed city in the UK outside of London, including doubling for Chicago, London, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rome.^[

Another important component of Liverpool’s economy are the tourism and leisure sectors. Liverpool is the 6th most visited city in the United Kingdom and one of the 100 most visited cities in the world by international tourists. In 2008, during the city’s European Capital of Culture celebrations, overnight visitors brought £188m into the local economy, while tourism as a whole is worth approximately £1.3bn a year to Liverpool. The city’s new cruise liner terminal, which is situated close to the Pier Head, also makes Liverpool one of the few places in the world where cruise ships are able to berth right in the centre of the city. Other recent developments in Liverpool such as the Echo Arena and Liverpool One have made Liverpool an important leisure centre with the latter helping to lift Liverpool into the top five retail destinations in the UK.

Historically, the economy of Liverpool was centred on the city’s port and manufacturing base, although a smaller proportion of total employment is today derived from the port. Nonetheless the city remains one of the most important ports in the United Kingdom, handling over 32.2m tonnes of cargo in 2008. A new multi-million pound expansion to the Port of Liverpool, Liverpool2, is scheduled to be operational from the end of 2015, and is projected to greatly increase the volume of cargo which Liverpool is able to handle. Liverpool is also home to the UK headquarters of many shipping lines including Japanese firm NYK and Danish firm Maersk Line, whilst shipping firm Atlantic Container Line has recently invested significant amounts in expanding its Liverpool operations, with a new headquarters currently under construction. Future plans to redevelop the city’s northern dock system, in a project known asLiverpool Waters, could see £5.5bn invested in the city over the next 50 years, creating 17,000 new jobs.

Car manufacturing also takes place in the city at the Jaguar Land Rover Halewood plant where the Range Rover Evoque model is assembled.

Landmarks

Liverpool’s history means that there are a considerable variety of architectural styles found within the city, ranging from 16th century Tudor buildings to modern-day contemporary architecture. The majority of buildings in the city date from the late-18th century onwards, the period during which the city grew into one of the foremost powers in the British Empire. There are over 2,500 listed buildings in Liverpool, of which 27 are Grade I listed and 85 are Grade II* listed. The city also has a greater number of public sculptures than any other location in the United Kingdom aside from Westminster and more Georgian houses than the city of Bath. This richness of architecture has subsequently seen Liverpool described by English Heritage, as England’s finest Victorian city. The value of Liverpool’s architecture and design was recognised in 2004, when several areas throughout the city were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Known as the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City, the sites were added in recognition of the city’s role in the development of international trade anddocking technology.

 

 

Waterfronts and docks

As a major British port, the docks in Liverpool have historically been central to the city’s development. Several major docking firsts have occurred in the city including the construction of the world’s first enclosed wet dock (the Old Dock) in 1715 and the first ever hydraulic lifting cranes.^[153] The best-known dock in Liverpool is the Albert Dock, which was constructed in 1846 and today comprises the largest single collection of Grade I listed buildings anywhere in Britain.[154] Built under the guidance of Jesse Hartley, it was considered to be one of the most advanced docks anywhere in the world upon completion and is often attributed with helping the city to become one of the most important ports in the world. The Albert Dock houses restaurants, bars, shops, two hotels as well as the Merseyside Maritime Museum,International Slavery Museum, Tate Liverpool and The Beatles Story. North of the city centre is Stanley Dock, home to theStanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse, which was at the time of its construction in 1901, the world’s largest building in terms of area^[155] and today stands as the world’s largest brick-work building.

One of the most famous locations in Liverpool is the Pier Head, renowned for the trio of buildings – the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building – which sit upon it. Collectively referred to as the Three Graces, these buildings stand as a testament to the great wealth in the city during the late 19th and early 20th century. Built in a variety of architectural styles, they are recognised as being the symbol of Maritime Liverpool, and are regarded by many as contributing to one of the most impressive waterfronts in the world.

In recent years, several areas along Liverpool’s waterfront have undergone significant redevelopment. Amongst the notable recent developments are the construction of the Echo Arena Liverpool and BT Convention Centre on Kings Dock, Alexandra Tower and 1 Princes Dock on Princes Dock and Liverpool Marina around Coburg and Brunswick Docks.

Commercial distric and Cultural Quarter

Liverpool’s historic position as one of the most important trading ports in the world has meant that over time many grand buildings have been constructed in the city as headquarters for shipping firms, insurance companies, banks and other large firms. The great wealth this brought, then allowed for the development of grand civic buildings, which were designed to allow the local administrators to ‘run the city with pride’.

The commercial district is centred on the Castle Street, Dale Street and Old Hall Street areas of the city, with many of the area’s roads still following their medieval layout. Having developed over a period of three centuries the area is regarded as one of the most important architectural locations in the city, as recognised by its inclusion in Liverpool’s World Heritage site.

 

The oldest building in the area is the Grade I listed Liverpool Town Hall, which is located at the top of Castle Street and dates from 1754. Often regarded as the city’s finest piece of Georgian architecture, the building is noted as one of the most extravagantly decorated civic buildings anywhere in Britain. Also on Castle Street is the Grade I listed Bank of England Building, constructed between 1845 and 1848, as one of only three provincial branches of the national bank. Amongst the other noted buildings in the area are the Tower Buildings, Albion House (the formerWhite Star Line headquarters), the Municipal Buildings and Oriel Chambers, which is considered to be one of the earliest Modernist style buildings ever built.

The area around William Brown Street is referred to as the city’s ‘Cultural Quarter’, owing to the presence of numerous civic buildings, including the William Brown Library, Walker Art Gallery, Picton Reading Rooms and World Museum Liverpool. The area is dominated by neo-classical architecture, of which the most prominent, St George’s Hall, is widely regarded as the best example of a neo-classical building anywhere in Europe. A Grade I listed building, it was constructed between 1840 and 1855 to serve a variety of civic functions in the city and its doors are inscribed with «S.P.Q.L.» (Latin senatus populusque Liverpudliensis), meaning «the senate and people of Liverpool». William Brown Street is also home to numerous public monuments and sculptures, including Wellington’s Column and the Steble Fountain. Many others are located around the area, particularly in St John’s Gardens, which was specifically developed for this purpose. The William Brown Street area has been likened to a modern recreation of the Roman Forum.

Other notable landmarks

While the majority of Liverpool’s architecture dates from the mid-18th century onwards, there are several buildings that pre-date this time. One of the oldest surviving buildings is Speke Hall, a Tudor manor house located in the south of the city, which was completed in 1598. The building is one of the few remaining timber framed Tudor houses left in the north of Englandand is particularly noted for its Victorian interior, which was added in the mid-19th century. In addition to Speke Hall, many of the city’s other oldest surviving buildings are also former manor houses including Croxteth Hall and Woolton Hall, which were completed in 1702 and 1704 respectively. The oldest building within the city centre is the Grade I listed Bluecoat Chambers, which was built between 1717 and 1718. Constructed in British Queen Anne style, the building was influenced in part by the work of Christopher Wren and was originally the home of the Bluecoat School (who later moved to larger site in the south of the city). Since 1908 it has acted as a centre for arts in Liverpool.

Liverpool is noted for having two Cathedrals, each of which imposes over the landscape around it. The Anglican Cathedral, which was constructed between 1904 and 1978, is the largest Cathedral in Britain and the fifth largest in the world. Designed and built in Gothic style, it is regarded as one of the greatest buildings to have been constructed during the 20th century and was described by former British Poet Laureate, John Betjeman, as ‘one of the great buildings of the world’. The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral was constructed between 1962 and 1967 and is noted as one of the first Cathedrals to break the traditional longitudinal design.

In recent years, many parts of Liverpool’s city centre have undergone significant redevelopment and regeneration after years of decline. The largest of these developments has been Liverpool One, which has seen almost £1 billion invested in the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land, providing new retail, commercial, residential and leisure space. Around the north of the city centre several new skyscrapers have also been constructed including the RIBA award winningUnity Buildings and West Tower, which at 140m is Liverpool’s tallest building. Many future redevelopment schemes are also planned including Central Village (planning permission granted), the Lime Street gateway (work started)  and the highly ambitious Liverpool Waters (early planning stage).

There are many other notable buildings in Liverpool, including the art deco former terminal building of Speke Airport, the University of Liverpool‘s Victoria Building, (which provided the inspiration for the term Red Brick University), and the Adelphi Hotel, which was in that past considered to be one of the finest hotels anywhere in the world.

Culture, music and sports

Liverpool is internationally known for music and is recognised by Guinness World Records as the World Capital City of Pop. Musicians from the city have produced 56 number one singles, more than any other city in the world. Both the most successful male band and girl group in global music history have contained Liverpudlian members. Liverpool is most famous as the birthplace of The Beatles and during the 1960s was at the forefront of the Beat Music movement, which would eventually lead to the British Invasion. Many notable musicians of the time originated in the city including Billy J Kramer, Cilla Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Searchers. The influence of musicians from Liverpool, coupled with other cultural exploits of the time, such as the Liverpool poets, prompted American poet Allen Ginsberg to proclaim that the city was «the centre of consciousness of the human universe». Other musicians from Liverpool include Billy Fury, A Flock of Seagulls,Echo and the Bunnymen, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Frankie Vaughan and more recently Anathema, Ladytron, The Zutons,Atomic Kitten, Heidi Range and Rebecca Ferguson. Elvis Costello, whose mother is from Liverpool, moved to Birkenhead aged 17 and formed his first band.

Liverpool has more galleries and national museums than any other city in the United Kingdom apart from London. National Museums Liverpool is the only English national collection based wholly outside London. The Tate Liverpoolgallery houses the modern art collection of the Tate in the North of England and was, until the opening of Tate Modern, the largest exhibition space dedicated to modern art in the United Kingdom. The FACT centre hosts touring multimedia exhibitions, while the Walker Art Gallery houses one of the most impressive permanent collections of Pre-Raphaelite art in the world. Sudley House contains another major collection of pre-20th-century art. Liverpool University’s Victoria Building was re-opened as a public art gallery and museum to display the University’s artwork and historical collections which include the largest display of art by Audubon outside the US. A number of artists have also come from the city, including painterGeorge Stubbs who was born in Liverpool in 1724.

The Liverpool Biennial festival of arts runs from mid-September to late November and comprises three main sections; the International, The Independents and New Contemporaries although fringe events are timed to coincide. It was during the 2004 festival that Yoko Ono‘s work «My mother is beautiful» caused widespread public protest when photographs of a naked woman’s pubic area were exhibited on the main shopping street.

The City of Liverpool is the most successful footballing city in England. Football is the most popular sport in the city, home to Everton F.C. and Liverpool F.C.. Between them, the clubs have won 27 English First Division titles, 12 FA Cup titles, 10 League Cup titles, 5 European Cup titles, 1 European Cup Winners’ Cup title, 3 UEFA Cup titles, and 24 FA Charity Shields. The clubs both compete in the Premier League, of which they are founding members, and contest the Merseyside Derby, dubbed the ‘friendly derby’ despite there having been more sending-offs in this fixture than any other. However, unlike many other derbies, it is not rare for families in the city to contain supporters of both clubs.

Everton F.C. were founded in 1878 and play at Goodison Park and Liverpool F.C. were founded in 1892 and play at Anfield. Many high-profile players have played for the clubs, including Dixie Dean, Alan Ball, Gary Lineker, Neville Southall and Wayne Rooney for Everton F.C. and Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush and Steven Gerrard for Liverpool F.C.. Notable managers of the clubs include Harry Catterick and Howard Kendall of Everton, and Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley of Liverpool. Famous professional footballers from Liverpool include Peter Reid, Gary Ablett, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard,Jamie Carragher and Tony Hibbert. The City of Liverpool is the only one in England to have staged top division football every single season since the formation of the Football League in 1888, and both of the city’s clubs play in high-capacity stadiums.

Leeds

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. In 2011, it had an estimated population of 474,632. It is the largest settlement in the eponymous City of Leeds, which had an estimated population of 757,700.

 Historically in Yorkshire’s West Riding, the history of Leeds can be traced to the 5th century when the name referred to a wooded area of the Kingdom of Elmet. The name has been applied to many administrative entities over the centuries. It changed from being the appellation of a small manorial borough in the 13th century, through several incarnations, to being the name attached to the present metropolitan borough. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a major centre for the production and trading of wool.

Then, during the Industrial Revolution, Leeds developed into a major mill town; wool was the dominant industry but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing, and other industries were important. From being a compact market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century.

 

Today, Leeds is ranked as a gamma world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network; and is considered the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. Leeds is served by four universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and has the country’s fourth largest urban economy. 

After London, Leeds is the largest legal centre in the UK, and in 2011 its financial and insurance services industry was worth £2.1 billion, the 5th largest in the UK, with over 30 national and international banks located in the city. It is the leading UK city for telephone delivered banking and related financial services, with over 30 call centres employing around 20,000 people.

 

Outside of London, Leeds has the second busiest railway station and ninth busiest airport in England. Public transport, rail and road communications networks in the region are focused on Leeds and there are a number of twinning arrangements with towns and cities in other countries. Its assigned role in the Leeds City Region partnership recognises the city’s importance to regional economic development, and the second phase of High Speed 2 plans to connect Leeds to London via East Midlands Hub and Sheffield Meadowhall.

 

History

 Toponymy

 The name Leeds derives from the old Brythonic word Ladenses meaning «people of the fast-flowing river», in reference to the River Aire which still flows through the city. This name originally referred to the forested area covering most of the Brythonic kingdom of Elmet, which existed during the 5th century into the early 7th century. Bede states in the fourteenth chapter of his Ecclesiastical History, in a discussion of an altar surviving from a church erected by Edwin of Northumbria, that it is located in…regione quae vocatur Loidis (Latin, «the region which is called Loidis»). An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner, a word of uncertain origin. The term Leodensian is also used, from the city’s Latin name.

Economic development

 

Leeds developed as a market town in the Middle Ages as part of the local agricultural economy. Before the Industrial Revolution it became a co-ordination centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth and white broadcloth was traded at its White Cloth Hall. Leeds handled one sixth of England’s export trade in 1770. Growth, initially in textiles, was accelerated by the building of the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1699 and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816. The railway network constructed around Leeds, starting with the Leeds and Selby Railway in 1834, provided improved communications with national markets and, significantly for its development, an east-west connection with Manchester and the ports of Liverpool and Hull giving improved access to international markets. Alongside technological advances and industrial expansion, Leeds retained an interest in trading in agricultural commodities, with the Corn Exchange opening in 1864.

Marshall’s Mill was one of the first of many factories constructed in Leeds from around 1790 when the most significant were woollen finishing and flax mills. Manufacturing diversified by 1914 to printing, engineering, chemicals and clothing manufacture. Decline in manufacturing during the 1930s was temporarily reversed by a switch to producing military uniforms and munitions during World War II. However, by the 1970s the clothing industry was in irreversible decline, facing cheap foreign competition. The contemporary economy has been shaped by Leeds City Council’s vision of building a ’24 hour European city’ and ‘capital of the north’. The city has developed from the decay of the post-industrial era to become a telephone banking centre, connected to the electronic infrastructure of the modern global economy. There has been growth in the corporate and legal sectors and increased local affluence has led to an expanding retail sector, including the luxury goods market. In a 2010 index for sustainable cities, the city placed 6th for the second year running.

 Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone was launched in April 2012 to promote development in four sites along the A63 East Leeds Link Road.

 

 Suburban growth

 In 1801, 42% of the population of Leeds lived outside the township, in the wider borough. Cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1849 caused the authorities to address the problems of drainage, sanitation and water supply. Water was pumped from the River Wharfe, but by 1860 it was too heavily polluted to be usable. Following the Leeds Waterworks Act of 1867 three reservoirs were built at Lindley Wood, Swinsty and Fewston in the Washburn Valley north of Leeds. Residential growth occurred in Holbeck and Hunslet from 1801 to 1851, but, as these townships became industrialised new areas were favoured for middle class housing. Land south of the river was developed primarily for industry and secondarily for back-to-back workers’ dwellings. The Leeds Improvement Act 1866 sought to improve the quality of working class housing by restricting the number of homes that could be built in a single terrace.

 Holbeck and Leeds formed a continuous built-up area by 1858, with Hunslet nearly meeting them. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, population growth in Hunslet, Armley and Wortley outstripped that of Leeds. When pollution became a problem, the wealthier residents left the industrial conurbation to live in Headingley, Potternewton and Chapel Allerton which led to a 50% increase in the population of Headingley and Burley from 1851 to 1861. The middle class flight from the industrial areas led to development beyond the borough at Roundhay and Adel. The introduction of the electric tramway led to intensification of development in Headingley and Potternewton and expansion outside the borough into Roundhay.

 Two private gas supply companies were taken over by the corporation in 1870 and the municipal supply provided street lighting and cheaper gas to homes. From the early 1880s the Yorkshire House-to-House Electricity Company supplied electricity to Leeds until it was purchased by Leeds Corporation and became a municipal supply.

 Slum clearance and rebuilding began in Leeds during the Inter-war period when over 18,000 houses were built by the council on 24 estates in Cross Gates, Middleton, Gipton, Belle Isle and Halton Moor. The slums of Quarry Hill were replaced by the innovative Quarry Hill flats, which were demolished in 1975. Another 36,000 houses were built by private sector builders, creating suburbs in Gledhow, Moortown, Alwoodley, Roundhay, Colton, Whitkirk, Oakwood, Weetwood and Adel. After 1949 a further 30,000 sub-standard houses were demolished by the council and replaced by 151 medium-rise and high-rise blocks of council flats in estates at Seacroft, Armley Heights, Tinshill and Brackenwood.

 Leeds has seen great expenditure on regenerating the city, attracting in investments and flagship projects, as found in Leeds city centre.Many developments boasting luxurious penthouse apartments have been built close to the city centre.

 Landmarks

 City Square

Leeds displays a variety of natural and built landmarks. Natural landmarks include such diverse sites as the gritstone outcrop of Otley Chevin and the Fairburn Ings RSPB reserve. The city’s parks at Roundhay and Temple Newsam have long been owned and maintained by the council for the benefit of ratepayers and among the open spaces in the centre of Leeds are Millennium Square, City Square, Park Square and Victoria Gardens. This last is the site of the central city war memorial: there are 42 other war memorials in the suburbs, towns and villages in the district.

 The built environment embraces edifices of civic pride like Morley Town Hall and the trio of buildings in Leeds, Leeds Town Hall, Corn Exchange and Leeds City Museum by the architect Cuthbert Brodrick. The two startlingly white buildings on the Leeds skyline are the Parkinson building of Leeds University and the Civic Hall, with golden owls adorning the tops of its twin spires.

 Armley Mills, Tower Works, with its campanile-inspired towers, and the Egyptian-style Temple Works hark back to the city’s industrial past, while the site and ruins of Kirkstall Abbey display the beauty and grandeur of Cistercian architecture. Notable churches are Leeds Minster (formerly Leeds Parish Church), St George’s Church and Leeds Cathedral, in the city centre, and the Church of St John the Baptist, Adel and Bardsey Parish Church in quieter locations. Notable non-conformist chapels include the Salem Chapel, dating back to 1791 and notably the birthplace of Leeds United Football Club in 1919.

 The 112 metres (367 ft) tower of Bridgewater Place, also known as The Dalek, is part of a major office and residential development and the region’s tallest building; it can be seen for miles around. Among other Skyscrapers the 37-storey Sky Plaza to the north of the city centre stands on higher ground so that its 106 metres (348 ft) is higher than Bridgewater Place.

 Elland Road (football) and Headingley Stadium (cricket and rugby) are well known to sports enthusiasts and the White Rose Centre is a well-known retail outlet. Headingley Carnegie Stadium is also home to Leeds Rhinos rugby team.

 Culture

Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd, owned by Johnston Press plc, is based in the city, and produces a daily morning broadsheet, the Yorkshire Post, and an evening paper, the Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP). The YEP has a website which includes a series of community pages which focus on specific areas of the city. The Wetherby News covers mainly areas within the north eastern sector of the district, and the Wharfedale & Airedale Observer, published in Ilkley, covers the north west, both appearing weekly. The two largest universities both have student newspapers, the weekly Leeds Student from the University of Leeds and the monthly The Met from Leeds Beckett University. The Leeds Guide was a fortnightly listings magazine, which was established in 1997 and ceased publication in 2012. Free publications include the Leeds Weekly News, produced by Yorkshire Post Newspapers in four geographic versions and distributed to households in the main urban area of the city, and the regional version of Metro which is distributed on buses and at railway stations.

 Regional television and radio stations have bases in the city; BBC Television and ITV both have regional studios and broadcasting centres in Leeds. ITV Yorkshire, formerly Yorkshire Television, broadcasts from the Leeds Studios on Kirkstall Road. There are a number of independent film production companies, including the not-for-profit cooperative Leeds Animation Workshop, founded in 1978; community video producers Vera Media and several small commercial production companies. BBC Radio Leeds, Radio Aire, Magic 828, Capital Yorkshire, Real Radio and Yorkshire Radio broadcast from the city.LSRfm.com, is based in Leeds University Union, and regularly hosts outside broadcasts around the city. Many communities within Leeds now have their own local radio stations, such as East Leeds FM and Tempo FM for Wetherby and the surrounding areas.

 Made in Leeds is the new local television station to launch across the city in 2014. A privately owned television station: Leeds Television is run by volunteers and supported by professionals in the media industry.

 

 Museums

 A new Leeds City Museum opened in 2008 in Millennium Square. Abbey House Museum is housed in the former gatehouse of  Kirkstall Abbey, and includes walk-through Victorian streets and galleries describing the history of the abbey, childhood, and Victorian Leeds. Armley Mills Industrial Museum is housed in what was once the world’s largest woollen mill, and includes industrial machinery and railway locomotives. This museum also shows the first known moving pictures in the world which were taken in the city, by Louis Le Prince, of a Roundhay Garden Scene and of Leeds Bridge in 1888. These short film clips can be found on YouTube.

 Thwaite Mills Watermill Museum is a fully restored 1820s water-powered mill on the River Aire to the east of the city centre. The Thackray Museum is a museum of the history of medicine, featuring topics such as Victorian public health, pre-anaesthesia surgery, and safety in childbirth. It is housed in a former workhouse next to St James’s Hospital. The Royal Armouries Museum opened in 1996 in a dramatic modern building when this part of the national collection was transferred from the Tower of London. Leeds Art Gallery reopened in June 2007 after a major renovation, and houses important collections of traditional and contemporary British art. Smaller museums in Leeds include Otley Museum; Horsforth Village Museum; ULITA, an Archive of International Textiles; and the museum at Fulneck Moravian Settlement.

 

Nightlife

 Leeds has the fourth largest student population in the country (over 200,000), and is therefore one of the UK’s hotspots for night-life. There are a large number of pubs, bars, nightclubs and restaurants, as well as a multitude of venues for live music. The full range of music tastes is catered for in Leeds. It includes the original home of the club nights Back 2 Basics and Speedqueen. Morley was the location of techno club The Orbit. Leeds has number of large ‘super-clubs’ and there is a selection of independent clubs such as Club Mission and Mint Club, which is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best clubs by DJ Magazine. Two other Leeds clubs, The Warehouse and The Garage featured in the Top 100 Clubs list from 2013

 Leeds has a well established gay nightlife scene. The Bridge Inn and The New Penny, both on Call Lane, have long been gay night spots.

 Towards Millennium Square and the Civic or Northern Quarter, is a growing entertainment district providing for both students and weekend visitors. The square has many bars and restaurants and a large outdoor screen mounted on the side of the Civic Theatre. Millennium Square is a venue for large seasonal events such as a Christmas market, gigs and concerts, citywide parties and the Rhythms of the City Festival. It is adjacent to the Mandela Gardens, which were opened by Nelson Mandela in 2001. A number of public art features, fountains, a canal and greenery can be found here as an oasis among the city centre excitement.

 Yorkshire has a great history of real ale, but several bars near the railway station are fusing traditional beers with a modern bar. Popular bars such as this include The Hop, The Cross Keys and The Brewery Tap.

 Sport

 The city has teams representing all the major national sports. Leeds United A.F.C. is the city’s main football club. Leeds Rhinos (Rugby League), Leeds Carnegie (Rugby Union) and Yorkshire County Cricket Club are also based in the city.

 Leeds United was formed in 1919 and plays at the 40,000 capacity Elland Road stadium in Beeston. The team plays in The Championship but has enjoyed success at the highest level in the past, notably during the 1960s and 1970s when it won two Football League titles, an FA Cup, a Football League Cup and an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup under the management of Don Revie. The club’s only other major trophy to date came in 1992 when it won another top division title under the management of Howard Wilkinson – the last top division title of the Football League before the creation of the FA Premier League, in which Leeds would play for 12 years before being relegated.

 Leeds Rhinos are the most successful rugby league team in Leeds. In 2009 they became first club to be Super League champions three seasons running, giving them their fourth Super League title. They play their home games at theHeadingley Carnegie Stadium. Hunslet Hawks, based at the John Charles Centre for Sport play in Co-Operative Championship One. East Leeds and Oulton Raiders play in the National Conference League. Bramley Buffaloes and Leeds Akkies were members of the Rugby League Conference.

 Leeds is also home to Yorkshire County Cricket Clubmwhich is the most successful Cricket team in English Domestic Cricket, with over 31 County Championship wins. It is also one of the most popular Cricketmteam in England and plays at Headingley stadium. Their main rivals are Lancashire.

 Leeds United L.F.C. are the best-placed women’s football team in Leeds, competing at the highest level in England, the FA Women’s Premier League National Division. Leeds City Athletic Club competes in the British Athletics League and UK Women’s League as well as the Northern Athletics League.

 The 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart took place from the Headrow in Leeds city centre on 5 July 2014.

El pase de diapositivas requiere JavaScript.

Sam Smith

Samuel Frederick «Sam» Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer-songwriter. He rose to fame in October 2012 when he was featured on Disclosure’s breakthrough single «Latch«, which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. His subsequent feature—on Naughty Boy‘s «La La La«—earned him his first number one single in May 2013.

 

In December 2013, he was nominated for the 2014 Brit Critics’ Choice Award and the BBC‘s Sound of 2014 poll, both of which he won. He released his debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, in May 2014 on Capitol Records. The lead single, «Lay Me Down«, was released prior to «La La La». The second single, «Money on My Mind«, became his second number one single in the UK. The album’s third single, «Stay with Me«, was an international success, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, while the fourth single «I’m Not the Only One» reached the top five in both countries. The fifth single, «Like I Can«, reached number nine in the UK.

 

In December 2014, Smith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, and at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2015 he won four: Best New Artist, «Stay with Me» for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and In the Lonely Hourfor Best Pop Vocal Album. At the 2015 Brit Awards, he won the awards for British Breakthrough Act and Global Success. In October 2015, Smith’s composition «Writing’s on the Wall» for the James Bond film Spectre was released, for which he received a Guinness World Record when it became the first Bond theme song to reach number one in the UK.

 

 

Early Life

Smith was born in London, England, the son of Frederick Smith and Kate Cassidy, a broker. He is an alumnus of Youth Music Theatre UK and starred in their 2007 production of «Oh! Carol». Before entering the musical theatre, Smith had been in jazz bands. For a number of years he studied singing and songwriting under jazz pianist Joanna Eden. He attended St Mary’s Catholic School in Bishop’s Stortford. He was a member of the Bishop’s Stortford Junior Operatics (now Bishops Stortford Musical Theatre Society) and the Cantate Youth Choir.

 

Music Career

Smith was featured on the Disclosure song «Latch«, which was released on 8 October 2012 and peaked at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart. In February 2013, he released the first single from his debut album, «Lay Me Down«. He was also featured on Naughty Boy‘s single «La La La«. It was released on 19 May 2013 and peaked at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. The same year, he released his first EP Nirvana consisting of four tracks. The first song on the EP titled, «Safe with Me«, is produced by Two Inch Punch and premiered on MistaJam‘s BBC Radio 1Xtra show on 24 July 2013. The second song on the EP is titled «Nirvana» and is produced by Craze & Hoax and Jonathan Creek. The EP also includes Smith’s acoustic solo version of «Latch» and a live version of «I’ve Told You Now». Smith released the Disclosure, Nile Rodgers, and Jimmy Napes collaboration «Together» on 25 November 2013 as the only single from Settle: The Remixes.

The second single from his debut album, titled «Money on My Mind«, was released on 16 February 2014. It was announced on 16 December that Smith’s debut studio album titled In the Lonely Hour would be released on 26 May 2014 through Capitol Records. He describes the album as «all about unrequited love» because he has never been loved back by any of his love interests. The album reached number one in the UK Albums Chart and number two on the Billboard 200, and by 5 November it had become the second biggest selling album of 2014 in the U.S. behind only 1989 by Taylor Swift. In January 2015, In the Lonely Hour was named the second best selling album of 2014 in the UK, behind X by Ed Sheeran.

A live version of album track «I’ve Told You Now», performed at St Pancras Old Church, was made available for free download as part of an Amazon.com promotion on 27 December 2013. The album track «Make It To Me», co-written by Howard of Disclosure and Jimmy Napes, was made available for free download as part of an iTunes Store promotion on 13 January 2014. Smith went on his debut American headlining tour in the Spring of 2014, with a setlist of primarily new material.

 

On 20 January 2014, Smith made his American television debut performing «Latch» with Disclosure on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He also performed on Saturday Night Live on 29 March 2014, performing the gospel-tinged «Stay with Me» and an acoustic version of «Lay Me Down». «Stay with Me» reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The fourth single from the album, «I’m Not the Only One«, reached number three in the UK and number five in the U.S.

 

In June 2014, Smith first appeared on the cover of The Fader in its 92nd issue. In August 2014, Smith’s single «Stay with Me» was named Variance Magazine’s Song of Summer. Smith performed «Stay With Me» live at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on 24 August at The Forum in Inglewood, California. On 15 November 2014, Smith joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track «Do They Know It’s Christmas?» at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in Western Africa.

 

At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards held on 8 February 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Smith performed «Stay with Me», and received four Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, «Stay with Me» for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and In the Lonely Hour for Best Pop Vocal Album. At the 2015 Brit Awards held at The O2 Arena in London on 25 February, Smith performed «Lay Me Down», and won the Brit Awards for British Breakthrough Act, and Global Success.

 

In March 2015, «Lay Me Down» was re-released as the sixth single from the album, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Smith’s third US top 10 single). The same month, Smith recorded another version of the song, featuring John Legend, for the British charity telethon Comic Relief, which reached number one in the UK. At the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on 17 May, Smith received three Billboard Awards: Top Male Artist, Top New Artist, and Top Radio Songs Artist. Smith features in Disclosure‘s single «Omen» which was released on 27 July 2015.

 

On September 8, 2015, Smith confirmed that he composed the theme song to Spectre, the 24th James Bond film, entitled «Writing’s on the Wall«. The song was released on 25 September 2015 and became the first James Bond theme to reach number one in the UK. On 19 October, Smith was presented with two Guinness World Records—one for recording the first James Bond theme song to go to number one in the UK, and another for scoring the most consecutive weeks in the UK top 10 by a debut album (In the Lonely Hour).

 

Personal Life

In May 2014, Smith revealed to the public that he is gay. He acknowledged a relationship—since ended—with actor and model Jonathan Zeizel. At the 2015 Grammy Awards, where he won four categories, he said, «I would like to thank the man that I fell in love with last year – the man who this album is about. Thank you so much for breaking my heart, because you got me four Grammys!».

 

 

 

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. With some of its southern suburbs annexed fromDerbyshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of Sheffield is 563,749 (mid-2014 est.) and it is one of the eight largest regional English cities that make up the Core Cities Group. Sheffield is the third largest English district by population. The metropolitan population of Sheffield is 1,569,000.

During the 19th century, Sheffield gained an international reputation for steel production. Many innovations were developed locally, including crucible and stainless steel, fuelling an almost tenfold increase in the population in the Industrial Revolution. Sheffield received its municipal charter in 1843, becoming the City of Sheffield in 1893. International competition in iron and steel caused a decline in traditional local industries in the 1970s and 1980s, coinciding with the collapse of coal mining in the area.

The 21st century has seen extensive redevelopment in Sheffield along with other British cities. Sheffield’s gross value added (GVA) has increased by 60% since 1997, standing at £9.2 billion in 2007. The economy has experienced steady growth averaging around 5% annually, greater than that of the broader region of Yorkshire and the Humber.

The city is located within the valleys of the River Don and its four tributaries, the Loxley, the Porter Brook, the Rivelin, and the Sheaf. 61% of Sheffield’s entire area is green space, and a third of the city lies within the Peak District national park. There are more than 250 parks, woodlands and gardens in the city, and an estimated 2 million trees, giving Sheffield the highest ratio of trees to people of any city in Europe. The city has a long sporting heritage, and is home to the world’s oldest football club.

History

The area now occupied by the City of Sheffield is believed to have been inhabited since at least the late Upper Palaeolithic period, about 12,800 years ago. The earliest evidence of human occupation in the Sheffield area was found at Creswell Crags to the east of the city. In the Iron Age the area became the southernmost territory of thePennine tribe called the Brigantes. It is this tribe who are thought to have constructed several hill forts in and around Sheffield. Following the departure of the Romans, the Sheffield area may have been the southern part of the Celtic kingdom of Elmet, with the rivers Sheaf and Don forming part of the boundary between this kingdom and the kingdom of Mercia. Gradually, Anglian settlers pushed west from the kingdom of Deira. A Celtic presence within the Sheffield area is evidenced by two settlements called Wales and Waleswood close to Sheffield. The settlements that grew and merged to form Sheffield, however, date from the second half of the first millennium, and are of Anglo-Saxon and Danish origin. In Anglo-Saxon times, the Sheffield area straddled the border between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that King Eanred of Northumbria submitted to King Egbert of Wessex at the hamlet of Dore (now a suburb of Sheffield) in 829, a key event in the unification of the kingdom of England under the House of Wessex. After the Norman conquest, Sheffield Castle was built to protect the local settlements, and a small town developed that is the nucleus of the modern city.

By 1296, a market had been established at what is now known as Castle Square, and Sheffield subsequently grew into a small market town. In the 14th century, Sheffield was already noted for the production of knives, as mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and by the early 1600s it had become the main centre of cutlery manufacture in England outside of London, overseen by the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire. From 1570 to 1584, Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor.

During the 1740s, a form of the crucible steel process was discovered that allowed the manufacture of a better quality of steel than had previously been possible. In about the same period, a technique was developed for fusing a thin sheet of silver onto a copper ingot to produce silver plating, which became widely known as Sheffield plate. These innovations spurred Sheffield’s growth as an industrial town, but the loss of some important export markets led to a recession in the late 18th and early 19th century. The resulting poor conditions culminated in a cholera epidemic that killed 402 people in 1832. The population of the town grew rapidly throughout the 19th century; increasing from 60,095 in 1801 to 451,195 by 1901. The town was incorporated as a borough in 1842 and was granted a city charter in 1893. The influx of people also led to demand for better water supplies, and a number of new reservoirs were constructed on the outskirts of the town. The collapse of the dam wall of one of these reservoirs in 1864 resulted in the Great Sheffield Flood, which killed 270 people and devastated large parts of the town. The growing population led to the construction of many back-to-back dwellings that, along with severe pollution from the factories, inspired George Orwell in 1937 to write: «Sheffield, I suppose, could justly claim to be called the ugliest town in theOld World».

A recession in the 1930s was halted by increasing international tensions as the Second World War loomed; Sheffield’s steel factories were set to work manufacturing weapons and ammunition for the war effort. As a result, the city became a target for bombing raids, the heaviest of which occurred on the nights of 12 and 15 December 1940, now known as the Sheffield Blitz. More than 660 lives were lost and many buildings destroyed.

In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the city’s slums were demolished, and replaced with housing schemes such as the Park Hill flats. Large parts of the city centre were also cleared to make way for a new system of roads. Increased automation and competition from abroad resulted in the closure of many steel mills. The 1980s saw the worst of this run-down of Sheffield’s industries, along with those of many other areas of the UK. The building of the Meadowhall Centre on the site of a former steelworks in 1990 was a mixed blessing, creating much needed jobs but hastening the decline of the city centre. Attempts to regenerate the city were kick-started when the city hosted the 1991 World Student Games, which saw the construction of new sporting facilities such as the Sheffield Arena, Don Valley Stadium, and the Ponds Forge complex.

Sheffield is changing rapidly as new projects regenerate some of the more run-down parts of the city. One such, the Heart of the City Project, has initiated a number of public works in the city centre: the Peace Gardens were renovated in 1998, the Millennium Galleries opened in April 2001, the Winter Gardens were opened in May 2003, and a public space to link these two areas, the Millennium Square, was opened in May 2006. Additional developments included the remodelling of Sheaf Square, in front of the recently refurbished railway station. The new square contains «The Cutting Edge», a sculpture designed by Si Applied Ltd and made from Sheffield steel.

Sheffield was particularly hard-hit during the 2007 United Kingdom floods and the 2010 Big Freeze. Many landmark buildings such as Meadowhall and the Sheffield Wednesday grounds flooded due to being close to nearby rivers that flow through the city.

Culture and attractions

Attractions

The Sheffield Walk of Fame in the City Centre honours famous Sheffield residents past and present in a similar way to the Hollywood version. Sheffield also had its own Ferris Wheel known as the Wheel of Sheffield, located atop Fargate shopping precinct. The Wheel was dismantled in October 2010 and moved to London’s Hyde Park. Heeley City Farm and Graves Park are home to Sheffield’s two farm animal collections, both of which are fully open to the public.

There are about 1,100 listed buildings in Sheffield (including the whole of the Sheffield postal district). Of these, only five are Grade I listed. Fifty-nine are Grade II*, but the overwhelming majority are listed as Grade II. Compared to other English cities, Sheffield has few buildings with the highest Grade I listing—Liverpool, for example, has 26 Grade I listed buildings. This situation led the noted architecture historian Nikolaus Pevsner, writing in 1959, to comment that the city was «architecturally a miserable disappointment», with no pre-19th-century buildings of any distinction. By contrast, in November 2007, Sheffield’s Peace and Winter Gardens beat London’s South Bank to gain the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Academy of Urbanism «Great Place» Award, as an «outstanding example of how cities can be improved, to make urban spaces as attractive and accessible as possible»

Music

Sheffield has been home to several well-known bands and musicians, with a notably large number of synthpop and other electronic bands originating from the city. These include The Human League, Heaven 17, ABC, and the more industrially inclined Cabaret Voltaire and Clock DVA. This electronic tradition has continued: techno label Warp Records was a central pillar of the Yorkshire Bleeps and Bass scene of the early 1990s, and has gone on to become one of the UK’s oldest and best-loved dance music labels. More recently, other popular genres of electronic music such as bassline house have originated in the city. Sheffield was once home to a number of historically important nightclubs in the early dance music scene of the 1980s and 90s, Gatecrasher One was one of the most popular clubs in the North of England until its destruction by fire on 18 June 2007.

A number of major music acts, including Joe Cocker, Def Leppard, Paul Carrack (of Mike + The Mechanics), Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me the Horizon, Pulp and Moloko, hail from the city. Indie band The Long Blondes originated from the city, as part of what the NME dubbed the New Yorkshire scene.

In 1999, the National Centre for Popular Music, a museum dedicated to the subject of popular music, was opened in the city. It was not as successful as was hoped, however, and later evolved to become a live music venue; then in February 2005, the unusual steel-covered building became the students’ union for Sheffield Hallam University. Live music venues in the city include the Harley Hotel, Leadmill, West Street Live, the Boardwalk, Dove & Rainbow, The Casbah, The Cremorne, Corporation, New Barrack Tavern, The Broadfield Hotel, Redstone bar and nightclub, the City Hall, the University of Sheffield Students’ Union, the Studio Theatre at the Crucible Theatre, the O2 Academy Sheffield, and The Grapes.

Sheffield hosts a number of festivals, the Grin Up North Sheffield Comedy Festival, the Sensoria Music & Film Festival and the Tramlines Festival. The Tramlines Festival was launched as an annual music festival in 2009, it is held throughout venues in Sheffield City Centre, and features local and national artists. The city is also home to several local orchestras and choirs, such as the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra, the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sheffield Chamber Orchestra, the City of Sheffield Youth Orchestra, the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and the Chorus UK community choir.

Entertainment

Sheffield has four cinema complexes, 2 of which are in the city centre and 2 in the Lower Don Valley. Valley Centertainment is a leisure and entertainment complex in the Don Valley. It was built on land previously occupied by steel mills near what is now Meadowhall and the Sheffield Arena. It is home to several restaurants, bars, a cinema multiplex, and a bowling alley. It is also the largest Cineworld complex in the United Kingdom, containing 20 screens in one building. Odeon Sheffield, situated on Arundel Gate in the city Centre and Vue, located within Meadowhall Shopping Centre, are the two other mainstream cinemas in the city. The Showroom, an independent cinema showing non-mainstream productions, is located in Sheaf Square, close to Sheffield Station. In 2002 the Showroom was voted as the best Independent cinema in the country by Guardian readers.

Owing to its long history, Sheffield has a large number of pubs throughout the city. West Street, running through the heart of the West End district of the city centre, is home to many pubs, bars, bars and clubs and attracts many student visitors. A recent addition to the city’s nightlife is Leopold Square, situated just off the northern end of West Street. Aagrah, an Indian restaurant in the square which serving Kashmiri cuisine, has recently been voted «Best Restaurant Group in the UK» at the prestigious British Curry Awards.

Description Photo

Liam Gallagher

Liam Gallagher is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the original founder and lead singer of the rock bands Oasis and Beady Eye. His erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press; he remains one of the most recognisable figures in modern British music.
Although his older brother Noel wrote the majority of Oasis’ songs, Liam penned the singles «Songbird» and «I’m Outta Time», along with a string of album tracks and B-sides. Noel departed Oasis in 2009 and formed Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, while Gallagher continued with the former members of Oasis under the Beady Eye name until they disbanded in 2014.

Gallagher was born in Burnage, Manchester, to Irish parents Thomas and Peggy Gallagher. Thomas was often violently abusive towards his family and although his older brothers Noel and Paul took the most abuse, Liam has said that the abuse affected him deeply and inspired him to become an artist. When Liam was 10, Peggy took the boys and moved away from Thomas. Although Liam maintained sporadic contact with his father throughout his teens, he has said that their issues remain unresolved.

Paul and Noel often contend that even from a young age, Liam went out of his way to antagonise people, especially Noel, with whom he shared a bedroom. The Gallagher brothers were troubled, especially in their mid-teens. Liam often stole bicycles from local shops. He attended St. Bernard’s RC Primary School until age 11, then The Barlow RC High School in Didsbury; despite common reports that he was expelled at age 16 for fighting, Liam was actually suspended for three months. He then returned to school, where he completed his last term in Spring 1990. He gained 4 GCSEs.

Noel has said that Liam showed little interest in music until his late teens. Gallagher became confident in his ability to sing and began listening to bands like The Stone Roses, The Who, The Kinks, The Jam, T.Rex and The Beatles. In the process he forged a lifelong obsession with John Lennon; Liam would later sarcastically claim to be Lennon re-incarnated, despite being born eight years prior to Lennon’s death.

Gallagher married Patsy Kensit on 7 April 1997. However, the marriage got off to a rocky start due to various incidents reported in the tabloids. Gallagher made headlines after an incident of road rage. He allegedly leaned out of his car window, grabbed a cyclist and threw him off his bike. The cyclist was not injured and Gallagher was given a caution. On 26 March 1998, Lisa Moorish bore Gallagher a daughter, Molly, who was conceived during an affair in Los Angeles in June 1997, just a couple of months after he and Kensit got married.

Gallagher and Kensit’s only child together, son Lennon Francis Gallagher, was born on 14 September 1999. The couple divorced a year later.
Gallagher’s second son, Gene Gallagher, was born to Nicole Appleton on 2 July 2001. Liam tried to drag a photographer into a fight outside the hospital.
In 2004, Gallagher made headlines when it was revealed that he regularly paid £2000 in child support for his son Lennon Francis and daughter Molly. Furthermore, he criticised musician Pete Doherty, the father of Lisa Moorish’s other child, for his alleged lack of child support. The relationship between the two was put under further strain, because of Doherty’s heavy heroin habit and his visits to Moorish under the influence of the drug.

In April 2007, it was reported that Gallagher had purchased a property in Henley-on-Thames. Gallagher and Nicole Appleton were married on 14 February 2008 at Westminster Register Office, the same venue where he married Kensit. Also present were Appleton’s sister Natalie and her husband, The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett. Noel Gallagher and band mates Gem Archer and Andy Bell were not notified until after the ceremony took place.

In August 2013, the couple announced their pending divorce, after five years of marriage, finally formalizing it in April 2014.
Gallagher is a passionate supporter of football club Manchester City FC.

During Oasis’ first American tour in 1994, Liam frequently changed the words of Noel’s songs so that they were offensive to both Americans and Noel. A confrontation after the show led to a chair being thrown and a brawl; Noel left the tour. During the 1995 recording sessions for the second Oasis album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, the brothers had a violent fight involving a cricket bat when Liam invited everyone from a local pub back to the studio while Noel was trying to work.

In August 1996, after a record breaking two night stand at Knebworth, tension mounted between the Gallaghers when Liam backed out of Oasis’ MTV Unplugged set minutes before it was due to start. Noel was forced to fill in at the last minute. Liam claimed to have been struck down with a «sore throat» and that he doesn’t like performing acoustically, though Noel claims he was hungover. Noel was further angered when Liam proceeded to heckle him from the balcony while the band performed. Four days later, Noel was again forced to fill in for Liam on the first show of their American tour when Liam refused to travel to America with the rest of the band, claiming he needed time to buy a house. He was back on stage with Oasis for their next show three days later, in Detroit, but tension between Noel and the rest of the band mounted and Noel left the tour, causing several media outlets to question the future of the band.
While on tour in Barcelona in May 2000, Oasis were forced to cancel a show when drummer Alan White’s arm seized up; the band spent the night drinking instead. During the night Liam made a derogatory comment about Noel’s then wife, Meg Mathews (apparently questioning the legitimacy of Noel’s daughter), leading to a fight. Following this, a press release was put out declaring that Noel had decided to quit overseas touring with Oasis. The rest of the band, with guitarist Matt Deighton replacing Noel, played the remaining dates.

In 2009, prior to the group’s break up, Noel characterised Liam as «rude, arrogant, intimidating and lazy. He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.»[19] The final straw for the band came at the Rock En Seine festival in Paris when an altercation between the brothers (subsequently described by Noel as «no physical violence but there was a lot of World Wrestling Federation stuff») prior to their performance resulted in the destruction of one of Noel’s guitars and saw him announce his departure from the group.
Liam has stated he does not speak much with his brother and that they «don’t really have a relationship». During the final tour, the only time that they ever spoke directly was when onstage. However, he has shown signs of conciliation: when asked who is the best frontman ever, Liam said, «Noel Gallagher. What makes a good frontman? Behaving yourself, and not jumping around like a bastard.

Career
When school friend Paul «Guigsy» McGuigan, invited Gallagher to join his band, The Rain, as a vocalist, he agreed. Liam was the band’s co-song writer, along with guitarist Paul «Bonehead» Arthurs. Noel Gallagher has since openly mocked this writing partnership, describing them as being «just awful»; even Liam admits that «We were shit».[6] The band only rehearsed one day a week and did not get many gigs. It was after one of their rare shows in 1991, that Noel, having recently returned from touring America as a roadie with Inspiral Carpets, saw them perform.

Under Noel’s guidance, Oasis acquired a record contract and recorded the album Definitely Maybe, which at the time was the fastest selling British debut album ever. Liam was praised for his vocal contributions to the album, and his presence made Oasis a popular live act. However, his attitude also won him much attention from the British tabloid press who often ran stories concerning his alleged drug use and behaviour. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? was even more successful, becoming the third-best selling album in British history. Around this time, Oasis became embroiled in a well documented media-fuelled feud with fellow Britpop band Blur. The differing styles of the bands now leading the Britpop movement – Oasis a working class, northern band and Blur a middle class, southern band – made the media perceive them as natural rivals. On 14 August 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day. Blur’s «Country House» outsold Morning Glory’s second single, «Roll with It», 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week.[24] When the band mimed the single on Top of the Pops, Liam pretended to play Noel’s guitar and Noel pretended to sing.

After an incident of air rage (apparently over a scone) on a flight to Australia, Gallagher was banned for life from Cathay Pacific airlines; Gallagher claimed he would «rather walk». During the tour of Australia, Gallagher was arrested and charged with assault after allegedly head-butting a 19-year-old fan, who claimed he was only asking him for a photo. Criminal charges were later dropped although a civil case was pursued leading to Gallagher reportedly settling out of court.[26] Liam later admitted the assault, claiming he was being heckled by the fan.

Oasis’ much anticipated third album, Be Here Now, was released on 21 August 1997 and set a new record as the fastest selling album in UK Chart history. The album was dismissed by Noel in later years,[27] but Liam has defended the album, describing it as «a top record».

Oasis returned in 2000 with Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Founding members Paul «Bonehead» Arthurs and «Guigsy» McGuigan left during the recording, leaving Liam Gallagher as the only member remaining from The Rain. The album featured their first song written by Liam rather than Noel, «Little James», a melody written for Kensit’s son James Kerr described as «childlike». The album, along with the song, received mixed reviews from critics.

Oasis’ next album, Heathen Chemistry (2002), featured three more songs written by him. «Songbird» was an acoustic ballad about his love for Appleton. The song was the fourth single from the album, reaching No.3 in the UK charts. Later that year, on 1 December, Gallagher broke several of his teeth and sustained injuries to his face after a fight broke out in a Munich bar. He and Alan White were arrested, but were released without charge. Oasis had to pull out of the shows in Munich and Düsseldorf due to Liam’s injuries.

2005 saw the release of Oasis’ sixth studio album, Don’t Believe the Truth, featuring a further three compositions by Gallagher: «Love Like a Bomb» (co-written with rhythm guitarist Gem Archer), «The Meaning of Soul» and «Guess God Thinks I’m Abel».

Gallagher joined the rest of Oasis to receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the BRIT Awards 2007. As the band picked up the award, he commented on stage, «Seeing as we don’t get nominated for this shit no more this’ll have to do.» Around the same time, it was announced that he was in negotiations with the makers of Channel 4 afternoon quiz Countdown to appear as the weekly celebrity guest in «Dictionary Corner». Co-presenter Carol Vorderman, interviewed by The Daily Sport, said, «Liam loves it and yes, we’re in talks about him coming on. I told him I think it will do his cred no end of good.»
2008 saw the release of the band’s final album Dig Out Your Soul (2008), which featured three Liam songs: «I’m Outta Time» (also a single), «Ain’t Got Nothin'» and «Soldier On». Dig Out Your Soul went straight to number 1 in the UK Album Charts and reached Number 5 in the US 200 Billboard Charts. In mid-2009 at the end of the tour of the same name, the band split up due to Noel not being able to work with Liam any more.

In November 2009, Gallagher announced that he and former Oasis band members had written new material as part of a new project, and could be gigging as early as a couple of months, and stated that «Oasis are done, this is something new». On 19 November 2009, Liam announced that he would be recording an album with Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock around Christmas time, with a possible release date in July 2010. Whether guitarist Jeff Wootton recorded for the album is unknown.

He told MTV: «We’ve been demo-ing some songs that we’ve had for a bit. Just doing that, on the quiet, not making a big fuss about it. After Christmas we might go in the studio and record them and hopefully have an album out in July.» He later said that the band would «do it in a different kind of way now. I’ll try and reconnect with a new band, new songs, and I’m feeling confident about the songs.» He was reported to be «feeling a million percent confident that they could be better than Oasis.»

On 16 March 2010, Liam announced that his new band would be releasing their first single in October with an album to follow the next year. On 9 November 2010 Beady Eye released their first single Bring the Light as a free download. The next single from the album, «The Roller», was released in January 2011. The band’s debut album Different Gear, Still Speedingwas released on 28 February 2011. On the album the songwriting is credited as a collaborative work between Liam, Andy Bell and Gem Archer.

On 3 April 2011 Beady Eye headlined a Japan Tsunami Disaster relief concert at the Brixton Academy. Liam Gallagher organised this multi star-studded event as a fundraiser for the devastating event that happened on 11 March 2011. The event raised over £150,000 for the British Red Cross working in the earthquake and tsunami hit country. Liam also announced that Beady Eye’s version of The Beatles’ ‘Across the Universe’, which they performed on the night, would be released as a charity single, to further benefit the fundraising.

In March 2012, Liam stated that Beady Eye would play Oasis songs. They did this for the first time when they supported The Stone Roses in June 2012. This prompted speculation as to whether an Oasis reunion was in the offing.

The band’s second studio album BE was released on 12 June 2013. It was recorded with Dave Sitek between November 2012 and March 2013. The band embarked on a corresponding tour playing a «secret gig» at Glastonbury. In contrast to his headlining spot with Oasis, Beady Eye featured as one of the first bands to open the festival. Liam stated it was a «refreshing» change.
On 25 October 2014, Liam Gallagher announced that Beady Eye have disbanded. His post on Twitter states that the band are «no longer» and thanked fans for their support.

Public persona
With the appearance of Oasis on the music scene in 1994, Gallagher quickly made a public name for himself with his «loutish» behaviour. In 1998 the Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific banned Gallagher after he abused passengers and crew on a flight between the UK and Australia. During the band’s Australian tour, he made a substantial out-of-court settlement to a British backpacker he allegedly headbutted.

In 2006, it was alleged that Gallagher had a drunken fight with Paul Gascoigne at the Groucho Club which ended with Gallagher setting off a fire extinguisher in Gascoigne’s face.[46] Gallagher has made known his distaste for many non-Brits’ tastes and conventions (particularly those of Australians and Americans). On an early US tour, Gallagher regularly made derisive remarks about Americans, as well as his brother Noel, which led to an ultimatum from the guitarist who briefly left the band in 1994. When addressing their muted reception in the States (especially by comparison to the UK), Gallagher stated «Americans want grungy people, stabbing themselves in the head on stage. They get a bright bunch like us, with deodorant on, they don’t get it.»

Gallagher briefly touched on the topic of religious belief with the statement, «I live for now, not for what happens after I die. If I die and there’s something afterwards, I’m going to hell, not heaven. I mean, the devil’s got all the good gear. What’s God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that. However Liam has confessed to going to church, but he claims to not «be looking for guidance». He stated that «some days I don’t believe and some days I do believe». Liam claims to have had «a conversation with God one night in a boozer».

On receiving an award at the 2010 BRIT Awards for the best album of the past 30 years, Gallagher swore while he thanked all the former members of Oasis except for his brother. He then threw the microphone into the audience. The camera cut to presenter Peter Kay, commenting, «what a knobhead!».
On 30 April 2012, Gallagher attended Manchester City’s vital derby match with rivals Manchester United. City won the match through a Vincent Kompany goal, to go above United at the top of the Premier League.
Although he had vowed never to return to Glastonbury after headlining with Oasis, Liam opened the 2013 Festival with Beady Eye, and claimed «Glastonbury’s back in the good books.»

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, located in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. It is the second most populous city in Scotland and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2014 is 492,680. Edinburgh lies at the heart of a Functional Urban Area with a population in 2011 of 834,648. The Edinburgh city region has a population of 1,330,480. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and the seat of the monarchy in Scotland. The city is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and home to national institutions such as theNational Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. It is the largest financial centre in the UK after London.

The city has long been known as a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is also famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the largest annual international arts festival in the world. The city’s historical and cultural attractions have made it the second most popular tourist destination in the United Kingdom after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and theCanongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town, built in the 18th century. Edinburgh’s Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999.

History

The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area is from Cramond where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp-site dated to c. 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have been found on Castle Rock, Arthur’s Seat,Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills.

When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they discovered a Celtic Britonnic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini. At some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its exact location has not been identified, it seems more than likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock or Arthur’s Seat or Calton Hill.

In 638 AD the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria, and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles. Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950 AD, when, during the reign of Indulf, son of Constantine II, the «burh» (fortress), named in the 10th-century Pictish Chronicle as «oppidum Eden», fell to the Scots and thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction.

The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the precise date is unknown. By the middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Jean Froissart was describing it as the capital of Scotland (c.1365), and James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as «the principal burgh of our kingdom». Despite the destruction caused by an English assault in 1544, the town slowly recovered, and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant.

In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns, though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King Charles I’s attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart’s restoration to the throne of England resulted in Edinburgh’s occupation by Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth of England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650.

In the 17th century, the boundaries of Edinburgh were still defined by the city’s defensive town walls. As a result, expansion took the form of the houses increasing in height to accommodate a growing population. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common, and have been described as forerunners of the modern-day skyscraper. Most of these old structures were later replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today’s Old Town.

In 1706 and 1707, the Acts of Union were passed by the Parliaments of England and Scotland uniting the two kingdoms into the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots at the time, resulting in riots in the city.

By the first half of the 18th century, despite rising prosperity evidenced by its growing importance as a banking centre, Edinburgh was being described as one of the most densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns in Europe. Visitors were struck by the fact that the various social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same tenement buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail, whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more expensive middle storeys.

During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Edinburgh was briefly occupied by the Jacobite «Highland Army» before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden, there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans. In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, re-affirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for the streets of the New Town, for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street, and for the royal family: George Street, Queen Street, Hanover Street, Frederick Street andPrinces Street (in honour of George’s two sons).

In the second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment, when thinkers like David Hum, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname «Athens of the North» because of its many neo-classical buildings and reputation for learning, similar to Ancient Athens. In the 18th century novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes Edinburgh as a «hotbed of genius».

From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of the more elegant «one-family» residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the social character of the city. According to the foremost historian of this development, «Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented.

Although Edinburgh’s traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continued to grow in the 19th century and were joined by new rubber works and engineering work there was little industrialisation compared with other cities in Britain. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland’s largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the 1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates. Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in the 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today. More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of Patrick Geddes, but relative economic stagnation during the two world wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major slum clearance in the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments which transformed the George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly controversial.

Since the 1990s a new «financial district», including a new Edinburgh International Conference Centre, has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of the castle, stretching into Fountainbridge, a run-down 19th-century industrial suburb which has undergone radical change since the 1980s with the demise of industrial and brewery premises. This ongoing development has enabled Edinburgh to maintain its place as the second largest financial and administrative centre in the United Kingdom after London. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city. The development of Edinburgh Park, a new business and technology park covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 mi (6 km) west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council’s strategy for the city’s major economic regeneration.

In 1998, the Scotland Act, which came into force the following year, established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish Government since September 2007). Both based in Edinburgh, they are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters such as defence, taxation and foreign affairs remain the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London.

Culture, music festivals and museums

The city hosts the annual Edinburgh International Festival, which is one of many events that run between the end of July and early September each year. The best known of these events are the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The longest established of these festivals is the Edinburgh International Festival, which was first held in 1947 and consists mainly of a programme of high-profile theatre productions and classical music performances, featuring international directors, conductors, theatre companies and orchestras.

This has since been overtaken both in size and popularity by the Edinburgh Fringe which began as a programme of marginal acts alongside the «official» Festival and has become the largest performing arts festival in the world. In 2006, 1867 different shows were staged in 261 venues across the city. Comedy has become one of the mainstays of the Fringe, with numerous well-known comedians getting their first ‘break’ here, often by being chosen to receive the Edinburgh Comedy Award. In 2008, the largest comedy venues «on the Fringe» launched the Edinburgh Comedy Festival as a festival within a festival.

Other festivals include the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival which takes place in February, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, which takes place in June, the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The Edge Festival (formerly known as T on the Fringe), a popular music offshoot of the Fringe, began in 2000, replacing the smaller Flux and Planet Pop series of shows.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo, one of the centrepieces of the «official» Festival, occupies the Castle Esplanade every night, with massed pipers and military bands drawn from around the world. Performances end with a short fireworks display. As well as the various summer festivals the Edinburgh International Science Festival is held annually in April and is one of the largest of its kind in Europe.

The annual Hogmanay celebration was originally an informal street party focused on the Tron Kirk in the High Street of the Old Town. Since 1993 it has been officially organised with the focus moved to Princes Street. In 1996, over 300,000 people attended, leading to ticketing of the main street party in later years up to a limit of 100,000 tickets. Hogmanay now covers four days of processions, concerts and fireworks, with the street party beginning on Hogmanay. Alternative tickets are available for entrance into the Princes Street Gardens concert and Céilidh, where well-known artists perform and ticket holders can participate in traditional Scottish céilidh dancing. The event attracts thousands of people from all over the world.

On the night of 30 April the Beltane Fire Festival takes place on Calton Hill, involving a procession followed by scenes inspired by pagan old spring fertility celebrations. At the beginning of October each year the Dussehra Hindu Festival is also held on Calton Hill.

Outside the Festival season, Edinburgh supports several theatres and production companies. TheRoyal Lyceum Theatre has its own company, while the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Theatre and Edinburgh Playhouse stage large touring shows. The Traverse Theatre presents a more contemporary repertoire. Amateur theatre companies productions are staged at the Bedlam Theatre, Church Hill Theatre and King’s Theatre among others.
The Usher Hall is Edinburgh’s premier venue for classical music, as well as occasional popular music concerts. It was the venue for the Eurovision Song Contest 1972. Other halls staging music and theatre include The Hub, the Assembly Rooms and the Queen’s Hall. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is based in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has two repertory cinemas, the Edinburgh Filmhouse and The Cameo, as well as the independent Dominion Cinema and a range of multiplexes.

Edinburgh has a healthy popular music scene. Occasionally large concerts are staged at Murrayfield and Meadowbank, while mid-sized events take place at smaller venues such as the Corn Exchange, the Liquid Rooms and the Bongo Club. In 2010, PRS for Music listed Edinburgh among the UK’s top ten ‘most musical’ cities. Several city pubs are well known for their live performances of folk music. They include ‘Sandy Bell’s’ in Forrest Road, ‘The Captain’s Bar’ in South College Street, and ‘Whistlebinkies’ in Niddry Street.

Edinburgh is home to a flourishing group of contemporary composers such as Nigel Osborne, Peter Nelson, Lyell Cresswell, Hafliði Hallgrímsson, Edward Harper, Robert Crawford, Robert Dow and John McLeod. McLeod’s music is heard regularly on BBC Radio 3 and throughout the UK.

Rockstar North, formerly DMA Design, known for creating the Grand Theft Auto series, is based in Edinburgh

Edinburgh has many museums and libraries. These include the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland, National War Museum, the Museum of Edinburgh, Surgeons’ Hall Museum, the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library, the Museum of Childhood, and Our Dynamic Earth.

Edinburgh Zoo, covering 82 acres (33 ha) on Corstorphine Hill, is the second most popular paid tourist attraction in Scotland, and currently home to two giant pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, on loan from the People’s Republic of China.
Edinburgh is also home to The Royal Yacht Britannia, decommissioned in 1997 and now a five-star visitor attraction and evening events venue permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal.

Edinburgh contains Scotland’s five National Galleries of Art as well as numerous smaller art galleries. The national collection is housed in the National Gallery of Scotland, located on the Mound, now linked to the Royal Scottish Academy which holds regular major exhibitions of paintings. Contemporary collections are shown in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art which occupies a split site at Belford. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Queen Street focuses on portraits and photography.
The council-owned City Art Centre in Market Street mounts regular art exhibitions. Across the road, The Fruitmarket Gallery offers world class exhibitions of contemporary art, featuring work by British and international artists with both emerging and established international reputations.

There are many small private galleries, including the Ingleby Gallery. This provides a varied programme including shows by Callum Innes, Peter Liversidge, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Forster, and Sean Scully.
The city hosts several of Scotland’s galleries and organisations dedicated to contemporary visual art. Significant strands of this infrastructure include: The Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh College of Art, Talbot Rice Gallery (University of Edinburgh) and the Edinburgh Annuale.

Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. Her career began when she met record producer Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who later became her manager and A&R. After signing to Polydor Records in July 2009, Goulding released her debut extended play, An Introduction to Ellie Goulding, later that year.

In 2010, she became the second artist to top the BBC’s annual Sound of… poll and win the Critics’ Choice Award at the Brit Awards in the same year. She released her debut studio album, Lights, in 2010. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and has sold over 850,000 copies in the UK. Her cover of Elton John’s «Your Song» reached number two in the UK in December 2010 and on 29 April 2011 she performed the song at the wedding reception of Prince William and Catherine Middleton at Buckingham Palace. The album’s title track, «Lights», was released in the US in March 2011, and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

Goulding’s second studio album, Halcyon, was released in October 2012. «Anything Could Happen» preceded the album as the lead single. Halcyondebuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and after 65 weeks reached number one. Halcyon debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200. Halcyon Days, a repackaged edition of Halcyon, was released on 23 August 2013; it included new singles including «Burn», which became her first UK number-one single. At the 2014 Brit Awards she received the award for British Female Solo Artist.

Early Life

Elena Jane Goulding was born in Hereford and raised in Lyonshall, a small village near Kington, Herefordshire, the second of four children (she has a brother and two sisters). Her father, Arthur Goulding, came from a family of undertakers, while her mother, Tracy (née Clark), used to work at a supermarket. When she was 5, her parents separated; later she had a stepfather who was a lorry driver, whom she considered «horrible». At 9, she began playing the clarinet and at 14 began learning guitar. She attended Lady Hawkins’ High School in Kington where she won a lead part in a school production, the Wizard of Oz, as the scarecrow. At 15, she started songwriting and while at Hereford Sixth Form College entered a singing competition and won.

After commencing drama, politics, and English courses at the University of Kent, where she was exposed to electronic music, she was spotted by Jamie Lillywhite of Turn First Artists at a university talent contest. After she successfully showcased for Turn First head Sarah Stennett, she was told to leave university and was set up in a house in West London. Lillywhite became her manager and introduced her to the producer Starsmith who would become her chief collaborator and the primary producer of Lights.

Career

Although Ellie Goulding signed to Polydor Records in July 2009, her debut single, «Under the Sheets», was released through the independent label Neon Gold Records as a deliberately low-key debut, appearing digitally in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2009. The single peaked at number fifty-three on the UK Singles Chart following a successful appearance on Later… with Jools Holland (performing «Under the Sheets» and «Guns and Horses») and a UK tour supporting Little Boots. «Wish I Stayed» was available as a free download as Single of the Week on iTunes Store UK from 22–28 December 2009.

Before the release of her debut album, Goulding won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, which showcases the music industry’s top choices for rising stars. She also won the Critics’ Choice Award at the 2010 Brit Awards, making her the second artist to win both in the same year. Goulding co-wrote «Love Me ‘Cause You Want To» for Gabriella Cilmi’s second album, Ten, and three songs («Remake Me + You», «Notice», «Jumping into Rivers») for Diana Vickers’s debut album, Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree. Her song «Not Following» was used by German singer Lena on her debut album My Cassette Player.

Goulding’s debut album Lights was released in March 2010, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the Irish Albums Chart. Its singles «Starry Eyed», «Guns and Horses», and «The Writer» peaked at numbers 4, 26, and 19. As of June 2012, the album had sold over 850,000 copies in the UK and 1.6 million copies worldwide. In August 2010, she released a second EP, Run into the Light, containing remixes of songs from Lights. The album was supported by Nike and was released through Polydor as a running soundtrack in an effort to get her music taken up by the running subculture. In November 2010, Lights was re-released as Bright Lights, with six new tracks added. It was originally announced that the lead single from Bright Lights would be the new edit of the title track with a release scheduled for 1 November 2010. This plan was ultimately scrapped to allow her cover of Elton John’s «Your Song» to be released in conjunction with the John Lewis Christmas 2010 advertising campaign in the UK. The single became her second highest-charting single to date, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. It also charted in some European countries. In January 2011, it was announced that the title track from Lights would serve as the second single from Bright Lights

Goulding toured in support of Lights and supported Passion Pit in March 2010 and John Mayer during his British tour in May 2010. During the summer she performed at a number of festivals. On 29 May she performed at the Dot to Dot Festival in Bristol. She performed a set on 25 June at the Glastonbury Festival 2010 on the John Peel Stage. Her third EP was a live recording of part of her set at the iTunes Festival 2010. The whole set was ultimately included as bonus content on the iTunes version of Bright Lights. She made her T in the Park debut on 11 July. In early 2011, she recorded an original song for the film Life in a Day. Ellie Goulding was number five on Rolling Stone ’​s annual hot list in February 2011. In February 2011, she returned to the Brit Awards where she was nominated for Best British Female and Best British Breakthrough Act, but lost out to Laura Marling and to Tinie Tempah.

In August/September 2010, she was an opening act for U2 on the U2 360 Tour in Zurich (two nights), Munich, and Vienna. She also played live at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2011. She made her American television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 7 April 2011 performing «Starry Eyed». She performed at the wedding reception of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April 2011. Goulding collaborated with American electronic artist and producer Skrillex on a song titled «Summit», included on his 2011 EP Bangarang. She travelled with Skrillex on his South American tour She headlined the 2011 Wakestock Festival in Wales, performing on 8 July. In August, she performed at the V Festival for her second year in a row. On 6 August 2011, she performed at Lollapalooza in Chicago. She performed at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert on 11 December 2011 in Oslo, Norway, where she also served on a panel discussion with Amy Lee of Evanescence and Janelle Monáe. On 1 December 2011, she performed at the White House during theNational Christmas Tree lighting, alongside Big Time Rush and Will.i.am.

In 2012, Goulding was featured on the song «Fall into the Sky» from Zedd’s debut album Clarity and on Calvin Harris’s song «I Need Your Love» which is included on Halcyon and also Harris’s album 18 Months.

In late July 2012, it was announced that Goulding’s second album is titled Halcyonand it would be released on 8 October 2012. The album was preceded by the lead single «Anything Could Happen» on 21 August. On 19 November 2012, the music video for Goulding’s second single from Halcyon, titled «Figure 8» was released. The single was released digitally in the UK on 12 December 2012. The song charted before it was released, and made its way into the Top 40 in the UK, peaking at number 33.

Goulding contributed a track titled «Bittersweet» (produced by Skrillex) to the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, released on 13 November 2012. It was announced on 12 February 2013, that in May 2013, she would be supporting Bruno Mars on his Moonshine Jungle World Tour on selected dates. On 20 May 2013, Goulding announced she would embark on a seven-date tour in the UK during October that year. On 28 May 2013, Goulding’s cover of Alt-J´s song «Tessellate» was released via her SoundCloud page.

On 5 July 2013, Digital Spy confirmed the release of Halcyon Days, a repackaged edition of Halcyon, which was released on 23 August 2013.The re-release, featuring ten additional tracks, was preceded by the single «Burn», which had been uploaded to Goulding’s SoundCloud page the previous day. On 7 July 2013, the official music video for «Burn» premiered on Goulding’s Vevo channel on YouTube. «Burn» became Goulding’s first single to top the UK’s Official Singles Chart. Goulding was performing at V Festival Chelmsford when news of her first UK number one broke; Rita Ora surprised Goulding with her Official Number 1 Award.

In November 2014, Goulding announced that she was focusing on a third studio album.
In early 2015, Goulding released the song «Love Me like You Do» which was featured in the soundtrack to the movie adaptation of the hit novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The video was released to YouTube on 22 January, to precede an official release date of 15 February. The single has been a commercial success, spending four weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart topping the charts in many other nations including Australia, New Zealand, and Germany, and reaching number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single held the record for the most-streamed track in a single week in the United Kingdom (streamed 2.58 million times), and worldwide (streamed 15.5 million times).

Personal Life

Goulding is a keen runner, aiming to run six miles every day and in 2010 announced plans to run a marathon. In support of her second EP, Run into the Light, she invited a small number of fans through her Facebook pages to run with her in seven different cities on her UK tour, and has announced that she will be doing the same across Europe and the US. Goulding ran the inaugural Nike Women Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. on 28 April 2013, earning a time of 1:41:35. She also follows a vegan diet.
Goulding is close friends with American folk singer Lissie. The two toured the United Kingdom together in 2010. She is also good friends with New Zealand indie pop singer Lorde and American pop singers Katy Perry and Taylor Swift (she appears in the music video of Swift’s song «Bad Blood» released in May 2015)

In 2010, Goulding participated in the Bupa Great North Run for the British Heart Foundation. In 2011, Goulding ran the She Runs LA event for charity Students Run LA, which aims to increase access to sport for less privileged children across the Los Angeles Unified School District.

In 2012, she partnered with Pandora Radio, one dollar for each sale of her mixtape was donated to the Free the Children charity. On 1 June 2013, Goulding performed at Gucci’s global concert event in London whose campaign «Chime for Change» aims to raise awareness of women’s issues in terms of education, health and justice.

On 15 November 2014, Goulding joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track «Do They Know It’s Christmas?» at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill London, to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority and county in South West England with an estimated population of 442,500 in 2015. It is England’s sixth and the United Kingdom’s eighth most populous city, and the second most populous city in Southern England after London. Bristol is one of the eight largest regional English cities that make up the Core Cities Group. People from the city are known as Bristolians.

Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built in the area around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, and it became known as Brycgstow (Old English «the place at the bridge») around the beginning of the 11th century. Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was part of Gloucestershire until 1373, when it became a county. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities after London (with York and Norwich) in tax receipts. Bristol was eclipsed by the rapid rise of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham during the Industrial Revolution. It borders the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire, with the historic cities of Bath and Gloucester to the southeast and northeast, respectively. The city has a short coastline on the Severn Estuary (which flows into the Bristol Channel).

Bristol’s prosperity has been linked with the sea since its earliest days. It was the base for the early voyages of exploration to the New World: on a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot was the first European since the Vikings to land in North America; and in 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. The Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock.

Bristol’s modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries, and the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as centres of heritage and culture. The city has two universities and a variety of artistic and sporting organisations and venues. It is well connected to London and other major UK cities by road, rail, sea and air including the M5 and M4 (which connect to the city centre by the M32), Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations, and Bristol Airport.

Bristol is one of the UK’s most popular tourist destinations. It was selected in 2009 as one of the world’s top-ten cities by international travel publishers Dorling Kindersley in their Eyewitness guides for young adults, was named the best city to live in Britain in 2014 by The Sunday Times, and won the EU’s European Green Capital Award in 2015.

History

Archaeological finds, including flint tools believed to be 60,000 years old made with the Levallois technique, indicate the presence of Neanderthals in the Shirehampton and St Annes areas of Bristol during the Middle Palaeolithic. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, and on Kings Weston Hill near Henbury. A Roman settlement, Abona, existed at what is now Sea Mills (connected to Bath by a Roman road); another was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were also scattered throughout the area.

Middle Ages

The town of Brycgstow (Old English «the place at the bridge») appears to have been founded by 1000; by about 1020, it was a trading centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name. By 1067 Brycgstow was a well-fortified burh, capable of resisting an invasion sent from Ireland by Harold Godwinson’s sons. Under Norman rule, the town had one of the strongest castles in southern England.
Black and white etching showing the towers of St Stephen’s Church, St Augustine the Less Church and Bristol Cathedral, published c.1850.

The port began to develop in the 11th century around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, adjacent to the original Bristol Bridge and just outside the town walls. By the 12th century Bristol was an important port, handling much of England’s trade with Ireland (including slaves). In 1247 a stone bridge was built, which was replaced by the current Bristol Bridge during the 1760s; the town incorporated neighbouring suburbs, becoming a county in 1373. During this period, Bristol became a shipbuilding and manufacturing centre. By the 14th century Bristol, York and Norwich were England’s three largest medieval towns after London, but one-third to one-half the population died in the Black Death of 1348–49. This checked population growth, and Bristol’s population remained between 10,000 and 12,000 for most of the 15th and 16th centuries.

15th century

During the 15th century Bristol was the second most important port in the country, trading with Ireland, Iceland and Gascony. It was the starting point for many voyages, including Robert Sturmy’s (1457–58) unsuccessful attempt to break up the Italian monopoly of Eastern Mediterranean trade. Bristol merchants then turned west, launching voyages of exploration in the Atlantic by 1480 in search of the phantom island of Hy-Brazil. These Atlantic voyages, also aimed at China, culminated in Venetian John Cabot’s 1497 exploration of North America and subsequent expeditions to the New World, underwritten by Bristol merchants and King Henry VII until 1508. A 1499 voyage, led by merchant William Weston of Bristol, was the first English-led expedition to North America.

16th century

During the 16th century, Bristol merchants concentrated on developing trade with Spain and its American colonies. This included the smuggling of prohibited goods, such as food and guns, to Iberia during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). Bristol’s illicit trade grew enormously after 1558, becoming integral to its economy.

The Diocese of Bristol was founded in 1542, with the former Abbey of St. Augustine (founded by Robert Fitzharding in 1140).becoming Bristol Cathedral. Bristol also became a city and county that year. During the English Civil War in the 1640s the city was occupied by Royalists, who built the Royal Fort House on the site of an earlier Parliamentarian stronghold.

17th and 18th centuries

Renewed growth came with the rise of England’s American colonies in the 17th century and the rapid 18th century expansion of England’s role in the Atlantic trade in Africans taken for slavery to the Americas. Bristol and Liverpool became centres of the triangular trade. In the first side of the slavery triangle, manufactured goods were shipped to West Africa and exchanged for Africans; the enslaved captives were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas in the Middle Passage under brutal conditions. In the third side of the triangle, plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and a small number of slaves (sold to the aristocracy as house servants) returned across the Atlantic. Some household slaves eventually purchased their freedom in England. At the height of the Bristol slave trade from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried a conservatively-estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas. The Seven Stars public house, where abolitionist Thomas Clarkson collected information on the slave trade, is still operating.

Fishermen from Bristol (who had fished the Grand Banks of Newfoundland since the 15th century) began settling Newfoundland permanently in larger numbers during the 17th century, establishing colonies at Bristol’s Hope and Cuper’s Cove. Because of Bristol’s nautical environment, maritime safety was an important issue in the city. During the 19th century, Samuel Plimsoll (known as «the sailor’s friend») campaigned to make the seas safer; shocked by overloaded vessels, he successfully fought for a compulsory load line on ships.

In 1739 John Wesley founded the first Methodist chapel, the New Room, in Bristol.

19th century

The city was associated with Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London Paddington, two pioneering Bristol-built oceangoing steamships (the SS Great Britain and the SS Great Western), and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The new railway replaced the Kennet and Avon Canal, which had fully opened in 1810, as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London. Competition from Liverpool (beginning around 1760) and disruptions of maritime commerce due to war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to Bristol’s failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of Northern England and the West Midlands. The tidal Avon Gorge, which had secured the port during the Middle Ages, had become a liability. An 1804–9 plan to improve the city’s port with a floating harbour designed by William Jessop was a costly error, requiring high harbour fees. By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over 300 feet (91 m) from reaching the harbour resulting in the loss of trade. The port facilities were migrating downstream to Avonmouth and new industrial complexes were founded there. Some of the traditional industries including copper and brass manufacture went into decline, however the import and processing of tobacco flourished with the expansion of the W.D. & H.O. Wills business.

Bristol’s population (66,000 in 1801), supported by new industry and growing commerce, quintupled during the 19th century. This resulted in the development of new suburbs such as Clifton and Cotham which provide examples of the developments from the Georgian to the Regency style, with many fine terraces and villas facing the road, and at right angles to it. In the early 19th century, the romantic medieval gothic style appeared, partially as a backlash to the symmetry of Palladianism, and can be seen in buildings such asBristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Royal West of England Academy, and The Victoria Rooms. Riots broke out in 1793 and 1831; the first protested against the renewal of tolls on Bristol Bridge, and the second against the rejection of the second Reform Bill by the House of Lords.

20th Century

In 1901 Bristol’s population was about 330,000, and the city grew steadily during the 20th century. Its docklands were enhanced during the early 1900s by the Royal Edward Dock. Another new dock, the Royal Portbury Dock, opened during the 1970s. With the advent of air travel, aircraft manufacturers built new factories in the city during the first half of the century.

Bristol’s educational system was boosted in 1909 by the formation of the University of Bristol and again in 1925, when the university’s main building opened. A polytechnic university opened in 1969, giving the city a second institute of higher education which became theUniversity of the West of England in 1992.

Bristol was heavily damaged by Luftwaffe raids during World War II; about 1,300 people living or working in the city were killed and nearly 100,000 buildings were damaged, at least 3,000 beyond repair. The original central market area, near the bridge and castle, is now a park containing two bombed churches and fragments of the castle. A third bomb-damaged church nearby, St Nicholas, has been restored and is a museum housing a 1756 William Hogarth triptych painted for the high altar of St Mary Redcliffe. The museum also has statues of King Edward I (moved from Arno’s Court Triumphal Arch), King Edward III (taken from Lawfords’ Gate in the city walls when they were demolished about 1760) and 13th century statues of Robert (builder of Bristol Castle) and Geoffrey de Montbray (who built the city’s walls) from Bristol’s Newgate.

The rebuilding of Bristol city centre was characterised by 1960s and 1970s skyscrapers, mid-century modern architecture and road improvements. Since the 1980s some main roads were closed, the Georgian-era Queen Square and Portland Square were restored, the Broadmead shopping area regenerated and one of the city centre’s tallest mid-century towers was demolished. Bristol’s road infrastructure changed dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the M4 and M5 motorways, which meet at the Almondsbury Interchange just north of the city and link Bristol with London (M4 eastbound), Swansea (M4 westbound across the Severn Estuary), Exeter (M5 southbound) and Birmingham (M5 northbound).

The 20th century relocation of the docks to Avonmouth Docks and Royal Portbury Dock, 7 miles (11 km) downstream from the city centre, has allowed the redevelopment of the old dock area (the Floating Harbour). Although the docks’ existence was once in jeopardy (since the area was seen as a derelict industrial site), the inaugural 1996 International Festival of the Sea held in and around the docks affirmed the area as a leisure asset of the city.

Culture

Arts

Bristol has a thriving current and historical arts scene. Some of these have merged with modern venues and digital production companies being based in old buildings around the city. In 2008 the city was a finalist for the 2008 European Capital of Culture; however the title was awarded to Liverpool.

The Bristol Old Vic, founded in 1946 as an offshoot of The Old Vic in London, occupies the 1766 Theatre Royal (607 seats) on King Street; the 150-seat New Vic (a studio-type theatre), and a foyer and bar in the adjacent Coopers’ Hall (built in 1743). The Theatre Royal, a grade I listed building, is the oldest continuously-operating theatre in England. The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (which originated in King Street) is a separate company, and the Bristol Hippodrome is a 1,951-seat theatre for national touring productions. Other smaller theatres include the Tobacco Factory, QEH, the Redgrave Theatre at Clifton College and the Alma Tavern. Bristol’s theatre scene features a number of companies in addition to the Old Vic, including Show of Strength, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Travelling Light. Theatre Bristol is a partnership between the city council, Arts Council England and local residents to develop the city’s theatre industry. Several organisations support Bristol theatre; the Residence (an artist-led community) provides office, social and rehearsal space for theatre and performance companies, and Equity has a branch in the city.

The city has many venues for live music, its largest the 2,000-seat Colston Hall named after Edward Colston. Others include the Bristol Academy, The Fleece, The Croft, the Exchange, Fiddlers, the Victoria Rooms, Trinity Centre, St George’s Bristol and a number of pubs, from the jazz-oriented The Old Duke to rock at the Fleece and Firkin and indie bands at the Louisiana. In 2010 PRS for Music called Bristol the UK’s most musical city, based on the number of its members born there relative to the city’s population. Since the late 1970s Bristol has been home to bands combining punk, funk, dub and political consciousness, and trip hop and Bristol Sound artists such as Tricky, Portishead and Massive Attack; the list of bands from Bristol is extensive. The city is a stronghold of drum and bass, with artists such as Roni Size’s Mercury Prize-winning Reprazent, as DJ Krust and More Rockers. This music is part of the Bristol urban-culture scene which received international media attention during the 1990s.

The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection encompassing natural history, archaeology, local glassware, Chinese ceramics and art. The M Shed museum opened in 2011 on the site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum. Both are operated by Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives, which also runs three historic houses – the Tudor Red Lodge, the Georgian House and Blaise Castle House – and Bristol Record Office. The 18th- and 19th century portrait painter Thomas Lawrence, 19th century architectFrancis Greenway (designer of many of Sydney’s first buildings). The graffiti artist Banksy is believed to be from Bristol, with many of his works being om display in the city.

The Watershed Media Centre and Arnolfini gallery (both in dockside warehouses) exhibit contemporary art, photography and cinema, and the city’s oldest gallery is at the Royal West of England Academy in Clifton. The nomadic Antlers Gallery opened in 2010, moving into empty spaces on Park Street, Whiteladies Road and in the Purifier House on Bristol’s Harbourside. Stop motion animation films and commercials (produced by Aardman Animations). Bristol is home to the regional headquarters of BBC West and the BBC Natural History Unit. Locations in and around Bristol have featured in the BBC’s natural-history programmes, including Animal Magic (filmed at Bristol Zoo).

Bristol is the birthplace of 18th century poets Robert Southey and Thomas Chatterton. Southey (born on Wine Street in 1774) and his friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, married the Fricker sisters from the city. William Wordsworth spent time in Bristol, where Joseph Cottle published Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Comedians from the city include Justin Lee Collins, Lee Evans Russell Howard and writer-comedian Stephen Merchant.

Architecture

Bristol has 51 Grade I listed buildings, 500 Grade II and over 3,800 Grade II buildings in a variety of architectural styles, from medieval to modern. During the mid-19th century Bristol Byzantine, a style unique to the city, was developed and several examples have survived. Buildings from most architectural periods of the United Kingdom can be seen in the city. Surviving elements of the fortifications and castle date to the medieval period, and the Church of St James dates back to the 12th century.

The oldest Grade I listed buildings in Bristol are religious. St James’ Priory was founded in 1129 as a Benedictine priory by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I. The second oldest is Bristol Cathedral and its associated Great Gatehouse. Founded in 1140, the church became the seat of the bishop and cathedral of the new Diocese of Bristol in 1542. Most of the medieval stonework, particularly the Elder Lady Chapel, is made from limestone taken from quarries around Dundry and Felton with Bath stone being used in other areas. Amongst the other churches included in the list is the 12th century St Mary Redcliffe which is the tallest building in Bristol. The church was described by Queen Elizabeth I as «the fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England.»

Secular buildings include The Red Lodge which was built in 1580 for John Yonge as a lodge for a larger house, which once stood on the site of the present Colston Hall. It was subsequently added to in Georgian times and restored in the early 20th century. St Bartholomew’s Hospital is a 12th-century town house which was incorporated into a monastery hospital founded in 1240 by Sir John la Warr, 2nd Baron De La Warr (c. 1277–1347), and became Bristol Grammar School from 1532 to 1767, and then Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital 1767–1847. Three 17th-century town houses were then incorporated into model workers’ flats of 1865, and converted to offices in 1978. The round piers predate the hospital, and may come from an aisled hall, the earliest remains of domestic architecture in the city, which was then adapted to form the hospital chapel. St Nicholas’s Almshouses were built in 1652 to provide care for the poor. Several public houses were also built in this period, including the Llandoger Trow on King Street and the Hatchet Inn.

Manor houses include Goldney Hall where the highly decorated Grotto dates from 1739. Commercial buildings such as the paired Exchange and Old Post Office from the 1740s are also included in the list. Residential buildings in the Georgian Portland Square and the complex of small cottages around a green at Blaise Hamlet, which was built around 1811 for retired employees of Quaker banker and philanthropist John Scandrett Harford, who owned Blaise Castle House. The 18th century Kings Weston House, in northern Bristol, was designed by John Vanbrugh and is the only Vanbrugh building in any UK city outside London. Almshouses and pubs from the same period intermingle with modern development. Several Georgian squares were designed for the middle class as prosperity increased during the 18th century. During World War II, the city centre was heavily bombed during the Bristol Blitz. The central shopping area near Wine Street and Castle Street was particularly hard-hit, and the Dutch House and St Peter’s Hospital were destroyed. However, in 1961 John Betjeman called Bristol «the most beautiful, interesting and distinguished city in England»

Bristol has teams representing all the major national sports. Bristol City and Bristol Rovers are the city’s main football clubs. Bristol Rugby (Rugby Union) and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club are also based in the city.

Bristol has two Football League clubs Bristol City and Bristol Rovers – the former being the only club from the city to play in the precursor to the Premier League. Non-league clubs include Mangotsfield United, Bristol Manor Farm and Brislington. Bristol City, formed in 1897, were Division One runners-up in 1907 and lost the FA Cup final in 1909. In the First Division in 1976, they then sank to the bottom professional tier before reforming after a 1982 bankruptcy. Bristol City were promoted to the second tier of English football in 2007, losing to Hull City in the playoff for promotion to the Premier League that season.

Bristol Rovers, the oldest professional football team in the city, were formed in 1883. They were third-tier champions twice (Division Three South in 1952–53 and Division Three in 1989–90), Watney Cup Winners (1972 and 2006–07) and runners-up for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy although have never played in England’s top Division. The club has planning permission for a new 21,700-capacity all-seater stadium at the University of the West of England’s Frenchay campus. Although construction was due to begin in summer 2014, as of March 2015 the sale of the Memorial Stadium site (needed to finance the new stadium) was in jeopardy. Bristol Academy Women’s Football Club is based at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.