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For the jubilee one lucky town is to be awarded city status.

Who should it be?

Some of the least well known and worthwhile England and Wales options have been cut

Several of those are already cities according to Civilization. Dover, Brighton, and Reading for sure.

That's the 2000 Millenium City Status list.  Inverness, Wolverhampton and Brighton won.

The 2012 list is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_status_in_the_United_Kingdom

QuoteTo mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, another competition was launched for towns to bid for city status, as well as for existing cities to bid for Lord Mayoralty or Provostship. It is expected that one new city will be created, as well as for one city to be granted a Lord Mayoralty/Provostship.[45] The six month application period opened on 1 December 2010, with the winners expected to be announced in the first half of 2012.[46] 26 applications were received, but that of Dumfries was rejected as invalid.[47] The remaining 25 applicants for city status in 2012 are:[48]
East of England: Chelmsford, Colchester, Luton, Southend-on-Sea
East Midlands: Corby
Greater London: Croydon, Tower Hamlets
North East England: Gateshead, Middlesbrough
North West England: Bolton, Stockport
Northern Ireland: Coleraine, Craigavon
Scotland: Perth
South East England: Medway, Milton Keynes, Reading
South West England: Bournemouth, Dorchester, St Austell
Wales: St Asaph, Wrexham
West Midlands: Dudley
Yorkshire and the Humber: Doncaster, Goole

Dorchester's a joke :lol:

The village from "Hot Fuzz".

Quote from: Ed Anger on March 06, 2012, 07:08:52 PM
The village from "Hot Fuzz".

Already a city:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells

You're not a city unless the Queen says so... Heh.


I vote for Cairo, Illinois.

Quote from: Sheilbh on March 06, 2012, 07:10:27 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on March 06, 2012, 07:08:52 PM
The village from "Hot Fuzz".

Already a city:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells

Well, that ruined the fun.

The  :bowler: smiley is not English enough for this thread.

Quote from: Sheilbh on March 06, 2012, 07:07:56 PM
That's the 2000 Millenium City Status list.  Inverness, Wolverhampton and Brighton won.

The 2012 list is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_status_in_the_United_Kingdom

QuoteTo mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, another competition was launched for towns to bid for city status, as well as for existing cities to bid for Lord Mayoralty or Provostship. It is expected that one new city will be created, as well as for one city to be granted a Lord Mayoralty/Provostship.[45] The six month application period opened on 1 December 2010, with the winners expected to be announced in the first half of 2012.[46] 26 applications were received, but that of Dumfries was rejected as invalid.[47] The remaining 25 applicants for city status in 2012 are:[48]
East of England: Chelmsford, Colchester, Luton, Southend-on-Sea
East Midlands: Corby
Greater London: Croydon, Tower Hamlets
North East England: Gateshead, Middlesbrough
North West England: Bolton, Stockport
Northern Ireland: Coleraine, Craigavon
Scotland: Perth
South East England: Medway, Milton Keynes, Reading
South West England: Bournemouth, Dorchester, St Austell
Wales: St Asaph, Wrexham
West Midlands: Dudley
Yorkshire and the Humber: Doncaster, Goole

Dorchester's a joke :lol:

Yeah, no place says 'county town' more than Dorchester.

Sadly I'd have to vote for my local conurbation Bournemouth-Poole-etc the whole thing is 350,000+ people and should be recognised as a city.

Quote from: Sheilbh on March 06, 2012, 07:07:56 PM
That's the 2000 Millenium City Status list.  Inverness, Wolverhampton and Brighton won.

Woops :blush:

Well, it obviously has to be Middlesbrough in my book. Not only is it one of the biggest and most important of the lot in its own right but it is also the centre of Teeside which is very big and important and cityless.

Some of the pictures for those cities seem to have been selected by their worse enemies.

And I could live with a much smaller picture for Wolverhampton.

Telford looks more like a man then a city.  Is Brighten and Hove built entirely on the pier?  Also does Dover have anything besides that lighthouse?

Quote from: Razgovory on March 06, 2012, 07:38:00 PM
Telford looks more like a man then a city.  Is Brighten and Hove built entirely on the pier?  Also does Dover have anything besides that lighthouse?

:blink:

Enormous castle, largest in the UK.

Also largest passenger port in UK.

Quote from: mongers on March 06, 2012, 07:40:46 PM

Quote from: Razgovory on March 06, 2012, 07:38:00 PM
Telford looks more like a man then a city.  Is Brighten and Hove built entirely on the pier?  Also does Dover have anything besides that lighthouse?

:blink:

Enormous castle, largest in the UK.

Also largest passenger port in UK.

Look, I don't even know where half these places even are.  I'm judging by the picture that Tyr posted.  He posts a photo of a city with horse drawn wagons, I assume it's a city with horse drawn wagons.  He posts a picture of Dover that consists of a cliff and a lighthouse, I assume that Dover is a cliff and a lighthouse.  He posts a photo Telford that appears to be a man sitting at table, I assume that Telford is in fact a man siting at a table.  I don't understand your damn customs.  Maybe your inbred monarchs decided to give this man his own area code or something and now he may qualify as a city.

I agree, Brits are weird about their geography. Also, it makes British stand up comics less fun.

QuoteAnd I could live with a much smaller picture for Wolverhampton.

Indeed....what a bad picture...

Quote from: Razgovory on March 06, 2012, 07:38:00 PM
Telford looks more like a man then a city.  Is Brighten and Hove built entirely on the pier?  Also does Dover have anything besides that lighthouse?

Telford is Thomas Telford after whom the town is named since the town didn't have any pictures of note and isn't particularly famous for much.
Brighton's pier is super famous.
As are the white cliffs.

I think Brighton's more famous for the pavilion:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timetravel-britain.com%2Farticles%2F1photos%2Ftowns%2Fpavilion2BOV.jpg&hash=c4181d14a5c598fd717972eaf82de5174d9fac1d)
But these are all very provincial cities.  I wouldn't expect anyone outside the UK to know of almost any of them.  I didn't even know of Telford and I wish I didn't know about Dover :(

Quote from: Razgovory on March 06, 2012, 07:50:54 PM

Quote from: mongers on March 06, 2012, 07:40:46 PM

Quote from: Razgovory on March 06, 2012, 07:38:00 PM
Telford looks more like a man then a city.  Is Brighten and Hove built entirely on the pier?  Also does Dover have anything besides that lighthouse?

:blink:

Enormous castle, largest in the UK.

Also largest passenger port in UK.

Look, I don't even know where half these places even are.  I'm judging by the picture that Tyr posted.  He posts a photo of a city with horse drawn wagons, I assume it's a city with horse drawn wagons.  He posts a picture of Dover that consists of a cliff and a lighthouse, I assume that Dover is a cliff and a lighthouse.  He posts a photo Telford that appears to be a man sitting at table, I assume that Telford is in fact a man siting at a table.  I don't understand your damn customs.  Maybe your inbred monarchs decided to give this man his own area code or something and now he may qualify as a city.

Raz, your saying your unaware of Dover, it has figured rather prominently in several British naval and cross-channel interventions.

Incidentally, here's a picture of the castle and ferry port in background, both are quite big:

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webbaviation.co.uk%2Fgallery%2Fd%2F38341-1%2FDoverCastle-da49196a.jpg&hash=2823cc416ff25e1ccc7540ac4589efdfa144de5d)

Dover is so famous the French even have a word for it.

Ugh, Brighton.

Poll is worthless with pics.

Sitting on the rocks at Brighton doesn't look like much fun.

Quote from: mongers on March 06, 2012, 08:11:54 PM


Raz, your saying your unaware of Dover, it has figured rather prominently in several British naval and cross-channel interventions.

Incidentally, here's a picture of the castle and ferry port in background, both are quite big:

I was partly joking.  I know where some are.  Milton Keynes, Reading, Dover, Inverness, Shrewsbury, Brighton Beach, and a few others.  Other like Presely and Telford I have no idea.  I don't actually know what most of those towns actually look like though.

Quote from: mongers on March 06, 2012, 08:11:54 PM
Raz, your saying your unaware of Dover, it has figured rather prominently in several British naval and cross-channel interventions.

Incidentally, here's a picture of the castle and ferry port in background, both are quite big:

There's a lot of green space around that, doesn't really look like a city.

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on March 06, 2012, 10:05:23 PM

Quote from: mongers on March 06, 2012, 08:11:54 PM
Raz, your saying your unaware of Dover, it has figured rather prominently in several British naval and cross-channel interventions.

Incidentally, here's a picture of the castle and ferry port in background, both are quite big:

There's a lot of green space around that, doesn't really look like a city.

It's quite common in English towns and cities, besiders castle slopes tend to be wooded or grass.

Quote from: Ed Anger on March 06, 2012, 08:23:11 PM
Ugh, Brighton.

That's where I wanted to move. :wub:

I'm confused by this definition of city as I've actually been to some of those places.

Quote from: garbon on March 06, 2012, 10:22:31 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on March 06, 2012, 08:23:11 PM
Ugh, Brighton.

That's where I wanted to move. :wub:

I'm confused by this definition of city as I've actually been to some of those places.

Dear god man, what's coming over you ? 

You do realise that it's the only UK constituency represented by a Green Party MP ?   

Surely that'll be enough to revolt the old Garbon ? :unsure:

Quote from: mongers on March 06, 2012, 10:26:43 PM
Dear god man, what's coming over you ? 

You do realise that it's the only UK constituency represented by a Green Party MP ?   

Surely that'll be enough to revolt the old Garbon ? :unsure:

It is our San Fran and he loved living there.

That's a particularily unflattering pic of Preston, which I thought was quite nice when I visited RH.

Quote from: Barrister on March 06, 2012, 10:45:00 PM
That's a particularily unflattering pic of Preston, which I thought was quite nice when I visited RH.

I thought of something even more unflattering at first- googling Preston brings up pictures of the singer.....

Quote from: Sheilbh on March 06, 2012, 10:32:55 PM

Quote from: mongers on March 06, 2012, 10:26:43 PM
Dear god man, what's coming over you ? 

You do realise that it's the only UK constituency represented by a Green Party MP ?   

Surely that'll be enough to revolt the old Garbon ? :unsure:

It is our San Fran and he loved living there.

This.

The hell is that bizarre traffic paint in front of the bus in Wolverhampton? Does it connote the spot in the road where buses need to squeeze like accordions for a few meters?

Quote from: fahdiz on March 07, 2012, 02:34:38 AM
The hell is that bizarre traffic paint in front of the bus in Wolverhampton? Does it connote the spot in the road where buses need to squeeze like accordions for a few meters?

I can't see that photo. Is it one of those Zebra crossings?

Quote from: Tyr on March 06, 2012, 08:17:05 PM
Dover is so famous the French even have a word for it.

Yep, Douvres.

Might lose it the future though look what happened to

- Bouquinquan :
- Ouestmoutiers :
- Vicêtre (Bicêtre) :

I'll let you guess the English forms

I like how the picture for Telford is some 19th century guy.  :lol:

They all look like shitholes. I am voting for Brighton as it could be the world's capital of kitsch.

Given the selection of photos I would advise you not to apply for a job at the British Tourism Authority  :D

Lisburn is in Portugal.

Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on March 07, 2012, 04:51:28 AM
Given the selection of photos I would advise you not to apply for a job at the British Tourism Authority  :D

I dunno, might be interesting to take a trip to Reading and see the world Austin Powers lived in.

Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on March 07, 2012, 04:51:28 AM
Given the selection of photos I would advise you not to apply for a job at the British Tourism Authority  :D

That was the point with most ;)

Quote from: Sheilbh on March 06, 2012, 08:07:20 PMBut these are all very provincial cities.  I wouldn't expect anyone outside the UK to know of almost any of them.  I didn't even know of Telford and I wish I didn't know about Dover :(

Just with the football teams is enough to put several of them in the map. I mean, Blackburn Rovers even won the Premiership once!

And I might work with an organization that is located in Stirling.  :ph34r:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eijc2tGe-zM

Vote Newport (and piss ogf Jay-Z and Alicia)

Concrete jumble, nothing in order
Not far from the border....
When you're in Newport
Chips, cheese, curry makes you feel brand new
Washed down with a Special Brew

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on March 07, 2012, 05:37:37 AM

Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on March 07, 2012, 04:51:28 AM
Given the selection of photos I would advise you not to apply for a job at the British Tourism Authority  :D

I dunno, might be interesting to take a trip to Reading and see the world Austin Powers lived in.

CBC Radio has a show "As It Happens" which has been on the air for fourty-plus years.  It's a reasonably straight-forward news and current events show on the air from 6:30 to 8.

But they have a delightfully-quirky tradition of listing every possible location in England in terms of it's distance from Reading.  E.g.  "London, located 43 miles to the East of Reading..."

So it'd be amusing to go to Reading just to visit "Ground Zero", so to speak.   :)

Don't go to Reading BB. Here's what the Idler had to say about it and they're not exagerrating

Your notable idle predecessor – Jerome K Jerome – highlighted Reading's failings, in 'Three Men In A Boat', as a carbuncle on the Thames. However, even he had difficulty coming up with a suitable adjective to describe the grey/brown miasma that shrouds the town, suffocating its inhabitants.

Reading is of course famous as the unwelcome home of Oscar Wilde. No worse prison could have been invented for the man. In 'The Ballard Of Reading Gaol' he speaks for everyone who has spent time there:

"In Reading gaol by Reading town
There is a pit of shame"

Until recently, the only entertainment for a young boy or girl growing up in Reading was a set of benches outside Boots the Chemist. The place had a smattering of pubs, all populated by either violent rockers or even more violent men in yellow pullovers, white socks and toggled slip-on shoes ("The Casuals") or, the leitmotif of all provincial towns, the teenage gothic. The nearest functioning cinema was in Bracknell, the only clothes shop was a C&A, and the one "restaurant" a Wimpy.

Reading was but 30 minutes from London, yet it felt like a lifetime away. London has Soho and Mayfair; Reading defined itself with Smelly Alley – a fish market in the center of town – and the Butt's Center – a 1970′s shopping concrete complex designed to attract glue-sniffers from throughout the world.

A statute of Queen Victoria has her back to the town, so much did she hate it. The other statute in the town is of a lion, but the sculptor designed the legs backwards then killed himself.

The people were oily thuggish and believed in queues above all else. Staring was considered a crime.

One story is of a teenager who stole a bag from the station, ran home with it, looked inside, discovered it contained a bomb and threw it into his own (Well, his Mother's anyway), garden and split before it blew. Only someone from Reading could steal a bomb and blow up their Mother's garden.

Nevertheless, it was a paradise in those days compared to what it is now. Benefiting from millions of pounds of renovation and a massive economic boom, Reading looks more like Bilbao. But insurance salesmen, estate agents, foreign exchange students and mobile telephone engineers populate it. Scum in other words. It is a shrine to par venue pretensions. It may be shinny and new, but the whiff of boredom, wretchedness and despair reaches the nostrils and reminds one of the acrid rotten foundations.

Kate Winslet, Tanita Tikaram, Kenneth Brannagh all came from Reading. Do they talk about it? I haven't heard them.

Ralph El Turk

HEY

Hey!!!

Reading rocks!

Kathy Dawson

IT SMELLS OF WEE

The whole place smells of stale urine. In fact, rogue widdling
is eating away at shop doorways and has become such a problem that the council has installed several pop-up urinals at �20,000 a go to try and encourage the Reading male to wee in appropriate places.

It has no soul and no defining characteristics at all. The art deco cinema in the decrepit centre of town is due to be pulled down because the developer claimed it 'had no architectural value' whereas of course the overpriced flats he's going to build will have.

I'm taking advantage of the ridiculous house prices and moving very shortly.

I'm going to slightly hijack this thread about BBC America. HOW THE FUCK IS STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION AND BATTLESTAR GALACTICA BRITISH PROGRAMMING?

Thank you.

Patrick Stewart, obviously.

Quote from: Gups on March 07, 2012, 10:19:05 AM
Nevertheless, it was a paradise in those days compared to what it is now. Benefiting from millions of pounds of renovation and a massive economic boom, Reading looks more like Bilbao. But insurance salesmen, estate agents, foreign exchange students and mobile telephone engineers populate it. Scum in other words. It is a shrine to par venue pretensions. It may be shinny and new, but the whiff of boredom, wretchedness and despair reaches the nostrils and reminds one of the acrid rotten foundations.

Heh.  Sounds like a Manhattanite describing any place remotely affordable nearby...like New Jersey.

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on March 07, 2012, 10:25:52 AM
Patrick Stewart, obviously.

Playing a Frenchman. Hilarious.  :lol:

Quote from: garbon on March 07, 2012, 03:36:23 AM

Quote from: fahdiz on March 07, 2012, 02:34:38 AM
The hell is that bizarre traffic paint in front of the bus in Wolverhampton? Does it connote the spot in the road where buses need to squeeze like accordions for a few meters?

I can't see that photo. Is it one of those Zebra crossings?

No, it's zig-zag lines that you get near road crossing, schools and the like. Parking on them is the only shooting offence in the UK.

Quote from: Brazen on March 07, 2012, 10:46:42 AM

Quote from: garbon on March 07, 2012, 03:36:23 AM

Quote from: fahdiz on March 07, 2012, 02:34:38 AM
The hell is that bizarre traffic paint in front of the bus in Wolverhampton? Does it connote the spot in the road where buses need to squeeze like accordions for a few meters?

I can't see that photo. Is it one of those Zebra crossings?

No, it's zig-zag lines that you get near road crossing, schools and the like. Parking on them is the only shooting offence in the UK.

:D Got it. Well, it's certainly an attention-grabber! O_O

Quote
Just with the football teams is enough to put several of them in the map. I mean, Blackburn Rovers even won the Premiership once!

And I might work with an organization that is located in Stirling.  :ph34r:

Heh, that's how I learned my geography as a kid. Which led to me knowing some pretty darn unimportant and obscure places whilst bigger players without teams of note remained totally unknown- Birmingham was quite a mystery for me until my teenage years (sure, Villa and Brom, but there's no Brum in their name!).

Quote from: Ed Anger on March 07, 2012, 10:24:27 AM
I'm going to slightly hijack this thread about BBC America. HOW THE FUCK IS STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION AND BATTLESTAR GALACTICA BRITISH PROGRAMMING?

Thank you.

ST- god knows. Just the British actor I guess.
BSG- I believe it was half financed by Sky.

Cable channels have gotten pretty lax about sticking to their supposed formats over the past several years. What does a reality show about truck drivers have to do with history? How does a classic movie channel end up showing Catwoman? And why doesn't MTV play videos anymore?  <_<

OTOH, AMC's original television programming does a lot to make up for all that.