Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. The local authority, Portsmouth City Council was given unitary authority district status in 1997. Wikipedia

"Portsmouth ( (listen)) is an English port city built mainly on Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire. The city of Portsmouth is nicknamed Pompey , a nickname shared with HMNB Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club. Portsmouth is the United Kingdom's only island city.Portsmouth is 70 miles (110 km) south-west of London and 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Southampton. Portsmouth's official population was 205,100 in the 2011 UK Census. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers the city of Southampton and the towns of Gosport, Fareham, Waterlooville, Havant and Eastleigh.

Portsmouth's history can be traced back to Roman Britain. A significant naval port for centuries, Portsmouth has the world's oldest dry dock. In the sixteenth century, Portsmouth was England's first line of defence during the French invasion of 1545. By the early nineteenth century, the world's first mass production line was set up in Portsmouth Dockyard's Block Mills, making it the most industrialised site in the world and birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Portsmouth was also the most heavily fortified town in the world, and was considered "the world's greatest naval port" at the height of the British Empire throughout Pax Britannica. Defences known as the Palmerston Forts were built around Portsmouth in 1859 in anticipation of another invasion from continental Europe.

King Richard I first granted Portsmouth market town status on 2 May 1194 with a Royal Charter and a heraldic coat of arms, 'a crescent of gold on a shade of azure, with a blazing star of eight points' .

On 21 April 1926, Portsmouth's status was officially elevated from a town to a city. The motto "Heaven's Light Our Guide", a reference to the city's eight-pointed star and crescent moon emblem, was registered to the City of Portsmouth in 1929. The eight-hundredth anniversary of the 1194 Royal Charter was celebrated in Portsmouth on 2 May 1994. On 1 April 1997, Portsmouth became a Unitary Authority, with Portsmouth City Council gaining powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined, responsibilities previously held by Hampshire County Council.

During the Second World War, the city of Portsmouth was bombed extensively in the Portsmouth Blitz, which resulted in the deaths of 930 people. In 1944, Portsmouth was the pivotal embarkation point for the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. In 1982, a large proportion of the task force dispatched to liberate the Falkland Islands deployed from the city's naval base. Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia left the city to oversee the transfer of Hong Kong in 1997, which marked for many the end of the empire.

Portsmouth is one of the world's best known ports. HMNB Portsmouth is considered to be the home of the Royal Navy and is home to two-thirds of the UK's surface fleet. The city is home to some famous ships, including HMS Warrior, the Tudor carrack Mary Rose and Horatio Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory (the world's oldest naval ship still in commission). The former HMS Vernon naval shore establishment has been redeveloped as a retail park known as Gunwharf Quays. Portsmouth is among the few British cities with two cathedrals: the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist. The waterfront and Portsmouth Harbour are dominated by the Spinnaker Tower, one of the United Kingdom's tallest structures at 170 metres (560 ft). Southsea, an area in Portsmouth, is a seaside resort with an amusement arcade on Clarence Pier.

Portsmouth F.C., the city's professional football club, play their home games at Fratton Park in the Milton area of the city, near Fratton railway station. Portsmouth has several mainline railway stations that connect to Brighton, Cardiff, London Victoria and London Waterloo amongst other lines in southern England. Portsmouth International Port is a commercial cruise ship and ferry port for international destinations. The port is the second busiest in the United Kingdom after Dover, handling around three million passengers a year. The city formerly had its own airport, Portsmouth Airport, until its closure in 1973. The University of Portsmouth enrols 23,000 students and is ranked among the world's best modern universities. Portsmouth is also the birthplace of author Charles Dickens, engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and former Prime Minister James Callaghan." Wikipedia