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Leicester

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{{dablink|This article discusses Leicester in England. For other places of the name see Leicester (disambiguation).}} Image:Leicester City Centre.jpg thumb|320px|'''Leicester''' city centre, looking towards clock tower '''Leicester''' (IPA chart for English pronounced {{IPA|[ˈlɛstə]}}) is the largest city status in the United Kingdom city in the English East Midlands. It is the traditional county traditional county town of Leicestershire, and since 1997 has been a self-governing unitary authority. It lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest, England National Forest. In 2004 the population of the city proper was estimated at 285,100, with 330,574 living in the urban area. The urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the city proper to include Oadby, Wigston, Braunstone Town, Birstall, Leicestershire Birstall, Glenfield, Leicestershire Glenfield, Blaby, Thurmaston, Syston and Leicester Forest East. For areas within the city, see #Areas of Leicester Areas of Leicester. Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, having been founded by the Roman Empire Romans.

General information
{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=270 style=margin-left:10px |- !colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|City of Leicester |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:EnglandLeicester.png |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography |- |width="45%"|Status:||Unitary, City status in the United Kingdom City (1919) |- |Regions of England Region:||East Midlands |- |Ceremonial County:||Leicestershire |- |Surface area Area:
- Total||List of English districts by area Ranked 276th
1 E7 m² 73.32 square kilometre km² |- |Admin. HQ:||Leicester |- | Latitude || 52°38'06"N |- | Longitude || 1°08'06"W |- | British national grid reference system Grid reference: || {{mmukscaled|SK584044|100|SK 5804}} |- |ONS coding system ONS code:||00FN |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics |- |Population:
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density.html">List of English districts by population Ranked 21st
285,100
3,888 / km² |- |Ethnicity:||63.8% White
29.9% S.Asian
3.07% Afro-Carib
2.3% Mixed
0.8% Chinese. |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|Leicester City Council
http://www.leicester.gov.uk/ |- |Local government in England#Councils and councillors Leadership:||Leader & Cabinet |- |Executive:||Liberal Democrats / Conservative Party (UK) Conservative Party |- |MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 MPs:||Patricia Hewitt, Peter Soulsby, Keith Vaz |} The city is next to the M1 motorway (England) M1 motorway, and is on the Midland Main Line between London and Sheffield. High-speed trains operated by Midland Mainline can reach London in just over an hour. It is also served by rail lines to Birmingham via Nuneaton, and to Peterborough. Major industries in Leicester today include food processing, hosiery, footwear, knitwear, engineering, electronics, printing and plastics. Image:Leicester clocktower.jpg thumb|left|90px|The clock tower The Leicester City Centre city centre is mainly Victorian era Victorian with some later developments, which have usually been integrated in smoothly. The heart of the city centre is the Clock Tower, which is at the intersection of five routes into the city - High Street, Churchgate, Belgrave Gate, Humberstone Gate, and Gallowtree Gate. Today the latter two are pedestrianised, and vehicles are restricted on the others. The city centre is home to Haymarket Centre the Haymarket and the Shires shopping centres, both of which face the clock tower. Leicester Market, Europe's largest covered market, is nearby. The historic core of the City lies slightly to the west, and monuments here include the Castle, the Anglican cathedral of Leicester Cathedral St Martin, the mediaeval churches of St Mary de Castro (Leicester) St Mary de Castro and St Nicholas (Leicester) St Nicholas, the Leicester Guildhall Guildhall and the Jewry Wall. It is set to become a major city with many developments on the horizon implemented by the [http://www.leicesterregeneration.co.uk Leicester Regeneration Company] including a major [http://www.leicester.gov.uk/departments/print.asp?pgid=3562 theatre] designed by Rafael Viñoly. In 1990 Leicester was designated the United Kingdom UK's first Environment City, and won the European Sustainable City Award in 1996. Leicester has a large multi-ethnic population, mainly from the Indian subcontinent. There are many Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwara gurdwaras and Muslim mosques around the city, mostly converted from existing buildings. The only Jain Temple in the western world is near the city centre ([http://www.jaincentre.com The Jain Centre]). The area around Belgrave Road is known as the Golden Mile (Leicester) Golden Mile, and contains many Indian restaurants, jewellery shops, and other shops catering to the large Asian community in the neighbourhood. Many people travel to the area specifically for the restaurants, which serve authentic Indian cuisine. The annual Diwali celebrations are also held here and at the nearby Abbey Park, and are the biggest outside of India. There are also many of Afro-Caribbean descent (mainly from Antigua & Barbuda, Montserrat and Jamaica), the community being centred around Highfields (Leicester) Highfields to the southeast of the city centre, and Leicester plays host to the second-largest [http://www.lccarnival.org.uk/ Caribbean Carnival] in the UK after Notting Hill.

History
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the mythical king of the Britons King Leir founded the city of Kaerleir (Leicester). He was supposedly buried by Queen Cordelia in a chamber beneath the River Soar near the city dedicated to the Roman god Janus, and every year people celebrated his feast-day near Leir's tomb. William Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' is loosely based on this story. Image:Roman ruins at Jewry Wall.jpg Jewry Wall.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|left|250pg|The remains of the Roman baths at [[Jewry Wall.html" title="Meaning of left|250pg|The remains of the Roman baths at [[Jewry Wall">thumb|left|250pg|The remains of the Roman baths at [[Jewry Wall">left|250pg|The remains of the Roman baths at [[Jewry Wall">thumb|left|250pg|The remains of the Roman baths at [[Jewry Wall In fact, Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a history going back nearly 2000 years. The Roman Empire Roman city of ''Ratae Coritanorum'' was founded in AD 50 as a military settlement upon the Fosse Way Roman road. The city was named after the Corieltauvi, the Celtic tribe that dwelt in the area before the Romans arrived. ''Ratae Coritanorum'' grew into an important trading and military centre and one of the largest towns in Roman Britain. The remains of the thermae baths of Roman Leicester can be seen at the Jewry Wall, and other Roman artefacts are displayed in the Jewry Wall museum adjacent to the site. According to the Venerable Bede Leicester city was the site of some of the earliest Christian Martyrdom Martyrdoms in Britain. The Dates are unknown, but in his Historia Ecclesiastica Bede describes how several people were persecuted and put to death for their faith in Christ in Leicester at the same time as St. Alban the first English martyr was killed in the Roman city of Verulamium (beside modern-day St Albans). As St Alban is supposed to have been executed some time between 303 and 313 AD, it is supposed that the Leicester Martyrs must also have died around this time. :'' "At the same time suffered Aaron and Julius, inhabitants of the city of Leicester [or Caerleon], and many others of both sexes, in other places; who, having been tormented on the rack till their members were dislocated, and having endured various other unheard-of cruelties, yielded their souls, after the conflict was over, to the joys of the city above."'' - '''Historia Ecclesiastica The History of the Primitive Church of England. Book One, Chapter Seven''' St Bede the Venerable. The Roman town was largely abandoned when the Romans left Britain in the 5th century, but was later re-settled by Anglo-Saxons Saxons. In the 9th century, Leicester was captured by the Danes (Vikings) and became one of the Five Burghs five boroughs (fortified towns) of Danelaw, although this position was short lived. The Saxon Bishop of Leicester fled to Dorchester-on-Thames and Leicester was not to become a bishopric again until the twentieth century. It is believed the name "Leicester" is derived from the words ''castra'' (camp) of the ''Ligore'', meaning dwellers on the 'River Legro' (an early name for the River Soar). In the early tenth century it was recorded as ''Ligeraceaster'' = "the town of the Ligor people". The Domesday book later recorded it as ''Ledecestre''. Leicester had become a town of considerable importance by Medieval times. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book as 'civitas' (city), but Leicester lost its List of cities in the United Kingdom city status in the eleventh century owing to power struggles between the Church and the aristocracy. It was eventually re-made a city in 1919, and the Church of St Martin became Leicester Cathedral in 1927. The tomb of Richard III of England King Richard III is located in the central nave of the church although according to local tradition he is not actually buried there. He was originally buried in the Greyfriars Church in Leicester, but his corpse was exhumed under orders from Henry VII of England Henry VII and cast into the River Soar. Leicester played a significant role in the history of England, when in 1265 Simon de Montfort, sixth Earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort forced King Henry III of England Henry III to hold the first parliament of England at the now-ruined Leicester Castle. On 4 November 1530, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey was arrested on charges of treason and taken from York Palace. On his way south to face dubious justice at the Tower of London, he fell ill. The group escorting him were concerned enough to stop at Leicester. There, Wolsey's condition quickly worsened and he died on 29 November 1530 and was buried at Leicester Abbey, now Abbey Park. With the construction of the Grand Union Canal in the 1790s linking Leicester to London and Birmingham, Leicester began rapid industrialisation. The main industries being hosiery, footwear and, especially in the twentieth century, engineering. All are however in decline now. By 1832 railways had arrived in Leicester with the opening of the Leicester and Swannington Railway, which provided a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries. By 1840 the Midland Counties Railway had linked Leicester to the national railway network, which further boosted industrial growth. By the 1860s Leicester had gained a direct rail link to London (St Pancras Station St Pancras) with the completion of the Midland Main Line. The Great Central Railway arrived in 1900, providing an alternative route to London. However this closed in 1966. The borough expanded throughout the nineteenth century, most notably in 1892 annexing Belgrave, Leicestershire Belgrave, Aylestone, Knighton and North Evington. The city obtained its current boundaries in 1935, with the annexation of the remainder of Evington, Humberstone, Beaumont Leys, along with part of Braunstone. It became a county borough when these were established in 1889, but as with all county boroughs was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in 1974, becoming an ordinary Non-metropolitan district district of Leicestershire. It regained its unitary status in 1997. In the decades after World War II Leicester gained a large population of immigrants from the Indian sub-continent, and from Uganda in the early 1970s. These immigrant groups make up around 40% of Leicester's population, making Leicester one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United Kingdom. Among the more recent arrivals are a group of Dutch citizens of Somali origin, apparently drawn by its free and easy atmosphere and by the number of mosques. In the U.K., Leicester today is widely regarded as a model of inter-communal tolerance, however for a short period in the 1970s the neo-fascist National Front (UK) National Front recorded high votes in the city. Leicester is expected by 2012 to become the first major city in Britain in which the ethnic minority population will form a majority.

Coat of arms
The Corporation of Leicester's coat of arms was first granted to the city at the Heraldic Visitation of 1619, and is based on the arms of the first Earl of Leicester, Robert Beaumont. The field is a white cinquefoil on a red background, and this emblem is used by the City Council. After Leicester became a city in 1919, the city council applied to add to the arms, permission for which was granted in 1929, when the supporting lions, from the Lancastrian Earls of Leicester, were added. The motto "Semper Eadem" was the Motto of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted a royal charter to the city. It means "Always the same". The crest on top of the arms is a white or silver legless wyvern with red and white wounds showing, on a wreath of red and white. The supporting Lions are wearing coronets in the form of collars, with the white cinquefoil hanging from them.

Politics
Image:Leicester_Town_Hall.jpg thumb|right|Leicester town hall. On April 1, 1997, Leicester City Council became a unitary authority, local government up until then having been a two-tier system with the city and county councils being responsible for different aspects of local government services (a system which is still in place in the rest of Leicestershire). Leicestershire County Council retained its headquarters at County Hall in Glenfield, Leicestershire Glenfield, just outside the city boundary but within the urban area. The administrative offices of Leicester City Council are in the centre of the city at the New Walk Centre and other office buildings near Welford Place. Some services (particularly the police and the ambulance service) still cover the whole of the city and county, but for the most part the two councils are independent. After a long period of Labour administration (since 1979), the city council from May 2003 was run by a Liberal Democrats (UK) Liberal Democrat/Conservative Party (UK) Conservative coalition under Roger Blackmore, which collapsed in November 2004. The minority Labour group ran the city until May 2005, under Ross Wilmot, when the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives formed a new coalition, again under the leadership of Roger Blackmore. Leicester is divided into three Parliamentary constituencies. Leicester East (UK Parliament constituency) Leicester East and Leicester West (UK Parliament constituency) Leicester West are represented by Keith Vaz and Patricia Hewitt respectively - both members of the The Labour Party (UK) Labour Party. The third seat, Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency) Leicester South, became vacant in May 2004 on the death of Labour politician Jim Marshall (UK politician) Jim Marshall. A Leicester South by-election, 2004 by-election was held on July 15, and was won by Parmjit Singh Gill of the Liberal Democrats (UK) Liberal Democrats, with a 21% swing. This by-election saw almost 4,000 votes go to a RESPECT The Unity Coalition Respect party candidate, who opposed the Iraq war. However, in the United Kingdom general election, 2005 2005 general election, Labour's unsuccessful byelection candidate and former Council leader Peter Soulsby Sir Peter Soulsby won Leicester South back for the party, and Vaz and Hewitt retained their seats.

Education
Leicester is home to two universities, the University of Leicester (Royal Charter 1957) and De Montfort University (founded in 1992 from Leicester Polytechnic). It is also home to the National Space Centre, due in part to the University of Leicester being one of the few universities in the UK to specialise in space science. Leicester City Local Education Authority has had a troubled history since its formation in 1997 as part of the local government reorganisation - a 1999 Ofsted inspection found "few strengths and many weaknesses", and although there has been some improvement since then the LEA's capacity to sustain improvement of education is still judged to be "not secure" ([http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/manreports/2260.pdf 2004 Performance Assessment]). While many state schools provide a good standard of education, there have been long-running problems with several of the large community colleges, in particular New College. Current plans to improve the city's education system include the opening of City Academies part-sponsored by the Church of England and a local Christian businessman (a new school on the Saffron estate, and a replacement for New College), a £260 million "Building Schools for the Future" project using the Private Finance Initiative, the granting of state school status to the Leicester Islamic Academy, and the reorganisation of the city's special schools. All of these measures are controversial. Following an overspend of £3.5 million by the department of Lifelong Learning, Steven Andrews (Director of Education and Lifelong Learning) left the council in June 2005 - the terms of his leaving included a reduced severance payment in return for the suppression of an auditors' report into the overspend. John Crookes, the head of the Lifelong Learning department, left the council at the same time.

Arts
The city plays host to an annual Pride parade (Leicester Pride), a Leicester Caribbean Carnival Caribbean Carnival (the largest in the UK outside London), and the Summer Sundae music festival. Arts venues in the city include: * The Haymarket Theatre, Leicester Haymarket Theatre * The Phoenix Arts Centre * The De Montfort Hall. * The Little Theatre(Leicester) Little Theatre. * The City Gallery (one of the regions leading contemporary art galleries)

Sport
Image:Leicestersportingstatue.jpg thumb|250px|The Sports Statue on Gallowtree Gate Sports teams include Leicester City F.C. (football), Leicester Tigers (rugby union), Leicester Riders (basketball), and the Leicestershire County Cricket Club. The city has also hosted British and World track cycling championships at its Saffron Lane velodrome. Leicester racecourse is located to the south of the city in Oadby. Leicester is now sometimes regarded (by its inhabitants at least) as the sporting capital of the UK.

Recent titles won by local teams
* 1996 County Cricket Championship * 1997 League Cup * 1998 County Cricket Championship, Guinness Premiership Zurich Premiership * 1999 Allied Dunbar Premiership * 2000 Allied Dunbar Premiership, League Cup * 2001 Allied Dunbar Premiership, Zurich Championship, Heineken Cup * 2002 Zurich Premiership, Heineken Cup * 2004 Twenty20 Cup * 2005 Zurich Premiership To celeberate the successes of 1997-98, the Leicester Mercury organised the placement of a statue portraying a cricketer, a footballer, and a rugby-player on Gallowtree Gate, not far from the Clock Tower at the heart of the city.

Areas
*Aylestone *Beaumont Leys, Bede Island, Belgrave, Leicestershire Belgrave, Black Friars, Leicester Black Friars, Braunstone Braunstone Park, Braunstone Frith *Charnwood, Leicester Charnwood, Leicester City Centre City Centre, Clarendon Park, Crown Hills *Dane Hills *Eyres Monsell, Evington, Evington Valley *Frog Island *Goodwood, Leicestershire Goodwood *Hamilton, Leicester Hamilton, Highfields, Leicester Highfields *Horston Hill, Humberstone, Humberstone Garden City *Knighton, Leicestershire Knighton *Mowmacre Hill *Nether Hall, New Humberstone, New Parks, Newfoundpool, North Evington, Northfields *Rowley Fields, Rushey Mead *Saffron Lane Estate, Southfields, Leicestershire Southfields, South Knighton, Spencefield, Spinney Hills, St Matthew's, Stoneygate *Thurnby Lodge *West End, Leicester West End, West Knighton, Leicestershire West Knighton, Western Park, Woodgate

Places of Interest and Landmarks
Image:Leicester Cathedral.jpg thumb|right|300px|The inside of Leicester Cathedral Parks: Leicester Botanic Gardens, Abbey Park, Victoria Park, Leicester Victoria Park, Gorse Hill City Farm Industry: Abbey Pumping Station, National Space Centre, Great Central Railway (preserved) Great Central Railway Places of Worship: Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal (Hindu temple)[http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/360_images/2002/11/shree_jalaram_prathana_mandal.shtml], Jain Centre [http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/360_images/2002/11/jain_temple..html], Leicester Cathedral, Masjid Umar (Mosque)[http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/panoramas/masjid_mosque_360.shtml] Historic Buildings: Leicester Guildhall, Belgrave Hall, Jewry Wall Shopping: Haymarket Centre, The Shires, Fosse Park (just outside the city).

Famous people
*Richard Armitage (actor) *David Attenborough David and Richard Attenborough *Graham Barnfield *Henry Walter Bates Henry Bates *Alastair Campbell *William Carey *Graham Chapman *Thomas Cook *Thomas Cooper (poet) Thomas Cooper *Cornershop *John Deacon *Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort *George Fox *Stephen Frears *Lady Jane Grey *Emile Heskey *Kevin Hewick *Engelbert Humperdinck (singer) Engelbert Humperdinck *David Icke *Greville Janner *Kasabian (band) Kasabian *Dominic Keating *Chris Kirkland *Daniel Lambert *Gary Lineker *Bill Maynard *Mark Morrison *Joseph Merrick ''(the Elephant Man)'' *Gabriel Newton *Parminder Nagra *Joe Orton *Prolapse (band) Prolapse *Phil Shaw *Showaddywaddy *C. P. Snow *DJ SS *Una Stubbs *Willie Thorne *Sue Townsend *Thomas White *Colin Wilson *William Wyggeston *Alastair Yates Note: Not all were born or have spent their entire life there.

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

Twinning
Leicester is twin towns twinned with: {|bloxham | valign="top" | * {{flagicon|People's Republic of China}} - Chongqing City Chongqing, China * {{flagicon|Germany}} - Krefeld, Germany * {{flagicon|Nicaragua}} - Masaya, Nicaragua | valign="top" | * {{flagicon|India}} - Rajkot, India * {{flagicon|France}} - Strasbourg, France |}

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

External links

- History of Leicester
- Leicester City Guide
- Leicester Mercury
- Wartime Leicestershire
- BBC Leicester
- Leicester City Council
- Leicester Accommodation {{East_Midlands}} {{English Cities}} Category:Cities in England Category:Leicester Category:Local government in Leicestershire Category:Unitary authorities in England ar:لايستر cy:Caerlŷr de:Leicester (England) eo:Leicester fi:Leicester fr:Leicester he:לסטר hu:Leicester id:Leicester nl:Leicester pl:Leicester (miasto) simple:Leicester sk:Leicester (Anglicko) sv:Leicester tr:Leicester Category:Leicestershire Category:Cities in England

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