Interesting facts about Each city
Leeds
The first ever moving pictures were filmed in Leeds
That’s right, folks! In October 1888, the marvelously named French inventor Louis Le Prince shot the first ever moving picture in Leeds. The Roundhay Garden Scene features Le Prince’s son Adolphe and three friends Sarah Whitley, Joseph Whitley and Harriet Hartley prancing around in the sunshine of the Whitley’s back garden.
Two years later, Le Prince mysteriously vanished without a trace during a train journey in France in September 1890. His dubious disappearance occurred just a few weeks before he was due to travel to America and publicly exhibit his work for the first time – leading many to suspect foul play.
Le Prince is now often referred to as the “forgotten inventor of motion pictures” as other competing inventors such as Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers largely took credit for developing the technology. So the next time you watch your favourite TV show, raise a glass to the Prince.
Beloved British retailer Marks & Spencer had its humble beginnings in Leeds
In 1882, a Belarusian Jew named Michael Marks immigrated to England and headed for Leeds where a company called Barran was known to give work to Jewish refugees. After a brief stint as a peddler, Marks bought his own stall in Kirkgate Market. Before long Marks’ Penny Bazaar was thriving under his famous slogan “Don’t ask the price, it’s a penny.”
In 1894, Marks invited Thomas Spencer, a cashier he knew through a business acquaintance, if he’d be interested in partnering with him. Spencer decided that the £300 required for a fifty percent share in the business was a wise investment and on 28 September 1894 Marks & Spencer was born.
Largest indoor market in Europe
Leeds Kirkgate Market is Europe’s largest indoor market with over 600 stalls. It is open 6 days a week. There are over 400 stalls inside and a further 200 stalls outside. Michael Marks opened his Penny Bazaar in 1884, leading to the founding of Marks & Spencer in 1890.
The Leeds City Region has a workforce of 1.5 million, a business base of over 105,000 companies, and an economy worth over £52 billion per year.
Leeds is the UK's largest centre for financial and business services outside London, with the sector employing over 124,000 people. Leeds is also recognised as the UK's most important legal centre outside London, with over 180 law firms operating within Leeds.
50% of all UK manufacturing takes place within a 2-hour drive of Leeds, and Leeds is the UK's third largest centre for manufacturing accounting for around 152,000 jobs in advanced engineering, medical technology, food and drink, chemicals and printing.
Average morning peak travel times to work in Leeds are just 26 minutes, compared to 44 minutes in London.
Leeds has been voted the top UK city in terms of freedom from pollution in both 2008 and 2009.
Leeds is the only English city outside London with its own repertory theatre, opera house and ballet companies. The West Yorkshire Playhouse stages more productions each year than any other theatre outside London.
There are more listed buildings in Leeds than in any other English city outside London, with highlights including the Victoria Quarter, Leeds Corn Exchange and Harewood House.
Leeds is the fastest growing media and new media centre in the UK, and is the largest centre for print, packaging and publishing outside London.
The University of Leeds receives more student applications than any other university in the country. There are almost 75,000 degree students at Leeds' two internationally acclaimed universities, and 10% of all UK graduates were educated in Leeds. The Independent called Leeds the ‘Best University Destination in the UK’.
Leeds has more public green space per child than any other city in the UK (The Children's Society 2008).
Leeds Health Authority is the second largest in the country and is home to Europe's largest teaching hospital, which houses the landmark £220 million Yorkshire Cancer Centre, opened in 2008, the largest of its kind in Europe.
Manchester
Below are 7 interesting facts that you may not know about the city..
1. The World’s Oldest Railway Station
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Manchester is home to the world’s oldest railway station. Liverpool Road station was the Manchester terminus of the world’s first railway line that ran between Manchester and Liverpool. It opened on 15th September 1830 and closed to passenger services on 4th May 1844. The station is now part of the Science and Industry museum.
2. Birthplace of The Football League
football
There was a time in history when football wasn’t a global phenomenon awash with money. A meeting between football club representatives at Manchester’s Royal Hotel (now demolished) on 17th April 1888 saw the creation of the Football League, a professional football competition and predecessor of the Premiership. The first matches of the newly formed league took place on 8th September 1888.
3. Birthplace of the Trade Union Congress
Labour-Gallery-image-08
As the industrial revolution swept through the world in the 19th century it placed many new obstacles in front of the world’s labour force. With a general consensus that London called too many shots representatives of various northern labour organisations met on 2nd June 1868 at the Manchester Mechanics Institute and the Trade Union Congress was formed to be the voice of workers across the country.
4. Oldest Free Public Reference Library
Baronial_Hall_Chetham's
Manchester is home to the oldest free public reference library in the UK. The library was opened in 1653 and has been in continuous use since that date. The library holds more than 100,000 volumes of printed books of which 60,000 were published before 1851. The library was also the place where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels would meet during their time in the city.
5. First Public Lending Library
Campfield
Manchester was home to the UK’s first public lending library to be opened under provision of the 1850 Libraries Act. The library opened in September 1852 and was housed in the House of Science in Campfield, close to the present-day site of the Museum of Science and Industry’s Air and Space Hall. Authors Charles Dickens and William Thackeray were among the guests at the opening ceremony.
6. ‘Splitting of The Atom’
In 1907 Ernest Rutherford took over as the chair of physics at the University of Manchester. In 1917 after assembling a team of world class scientists Rutherford gave the world a real scientific breakthrough when his team successfully ‘split the atom’. It was this breakthrough which eventually led to Atomic energy and weapons. Ernest Rutherford died on 19th October 1937 and his remains lie in Westminster Abbey.
7. Worlds First Computer
The world’s first stored-program computer was built at the University of Manchester and ran its first program on 21st June 1948. The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine also known as ‘The Baby’ was developed into the Manchester Mark 1 which was then turned into the Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s first commercially available general-purpose computer. The SSEM had a 32-bit word length and a memory of 32 words.
8. More than twenty Nobel prize winners have come from Greater Manchester.
The Coats of arms
Looking at the architecture of each city
Manchester
The architecture of Manchester demonstrates a rich variety of architectural styles. The city is a product of the Industrial Revolution and is known as the first modern, industrial city. Manchester is synonymous for warehouses, railway viaducts, cotton mills and canals - remnants of a past when the city produced and traded goods. Manchester has minimal Georgian or medieval architecture to speak of and consequently has a vast array of 19th and early 20th-century architecture styles; examples include Palazzo, Neo-Gothic, Venetian Gothic, Edwardian baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and the Neo-Classical.
Leeds
The architecture of Leeds, a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, encompasses a wide range of architectural styles and notable buildings. As with most northern industrial centres, much of Leeds' prominent architecture is of the Victorian era.
Liverpool
The architecture of Liverpool is rooted in the city's development into a major port of the British Empire. It encompasses a variety of architectural styles of the past 300 years, while next to nothing remains of its medieval structures which would have dated back as far as the 13th century. Erected 1716-18, Bluecoat Chambers is supposed to be the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool.
There are over 2,500 listed buildings in Liverpool of which 27 are Grade I and 85 Grade II* listed. Only Bristol and London have more. Liverpool has more Georgian houses than the city of Bath and more public sculptures than any place in the United Kingdom aside from the City of Westminster; it has been described by English Heritage as England's finest Victorian city. However, due to neglect, some of Liverpool's finest listed buildings are on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk register.
In accordance with Liverpool's role as a trading port, many of its best buildings were erected as headquarters for shipping firms and insurance companies. The wealth thus generated led to the construction of grand civic buildings, designed to allow the local administrators to "run the city with pride".
The historical significance and value of Liverpool's architecture and port layout was recognised when, in 2004, UNESCO declared large parts of the city a World Heritage Site. Known as the Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City, the nomination papers stress the city's role in the development of international trade and docking technology,[12] summed up in this way under Selection Criterion iv: "Liverpool is an outstanding example of a world mercantile port city, which represents the early development of global trading and cultural connections throughout the British Empire.
Hull
Hull is one of the great historic trading centres of northeast England. Severely hit by industrial decline, it has recently begun to see substantial regeneration. Exciting new architectural projects reflect the fierce pride of the community and relate closely to the citys magnificent maritime history. Filled with numerous maps; plans; and superb, specially taken colour photographs, this new Pevsner Guide is an indispensable visitors companion to Hull.
Looking at the architecture is something that we could maybe use later on for the posters or part of the branding for each city.
The football teams and there colours
I looked at using the colours of each city because they are some of the most recognisable colours for each city and are what people think about when they think of cites in terms of colours usually.
Dark Blue
Gold, Yellow
Red
Red
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