Eleven places have put their names forward to become the UK City of Culture in 2017. The government-led programme is inspired by Liverpool's time as European Capital of Culture in 2008. The English contenders for the 2017 title are Chester, East Kent, Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea, Hull, Leicester, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, and Southend-on-Sea. Swansea Bay in Wales and Aberdeen and Dundee in Scotland are also competing. The chosen place will succeed Londonderry, which is the City of Culture for 2013 and the first place to be awarded the title. Announcing the list of contenders, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said: "The competition brings together communities and creates economic and social benefits and I am pleased to see so many local authorities and different partners coming together." All 11 places must formally submit their initial bids by 30 April. The bids will be considered by an independent panel, chaired by Phil Redmond, creator of popular TV series including Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks, and a shortlist will be announced in June. Mr Redmond said: "The UK City of Culture can be a real catalyst for change and I'm delighted so many places have registered their interest in the competition for 2017."
The comments section, on there, has already transcended into slagging the place off. I hope the judges are fairer.
Blimey if Liverpool got it a a few years ago then there's hope for us all.. Got the Deep, The Old Town, Ferens and Museums - better than lot of other places have on offer..
One thing we could learn from a Tourist attraction that Liverpool has is the "Duck Tour". We could have amphibian vehicles touring Hull city center, then driving straight into one of the docks (some thought needed) for a jaunt. Brilliant. I lived in Glasgow when they had the European City of Culture status.
City of culture - yes, let's give it to a seaside TOWN full of old biddies (Hastings and Bexhill-on-sea), which is where I was born over a CITY (isn't that what City of Culture should be firstly) which has produced some good bands, the writer of the greatest poem ever written (which should be studied for GCSE English), a good Art Gallery plus numerous people currently big noises in the arts world
Liverpool has fantastic culture, history and listed buildings etc Why anyone would think it's not worthy of the accolade baffles me.
How can East Kent, Hastings, Southend,Chester & Swansea Bay be cities of culture. Non of them are cities.
Sorry to disagree, living in Cheshire but Chester is a city and has been for centuries, but if they are trying to use the title to attract tourists to the "city of culture" then Chester already gets more than enough tourists - so they don't really need it
seems every town/city on the south coast is in the running too !!! Hopefully we can get the whole of Yorksire and the N.Easts backing on this one and let the rest squabble with each othe
Yeah, sorry forgot about Chester City, obvious really isn't it. However the South coast ones are a joke.
This Be the Verse surely. They **** you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were ****ed up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.
Andrew Marvell - To His Coy Mistress Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime We would sit down and think which way To walk and pass our long love's day. Thou by the Indian Ganges' side Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow; An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest; An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart. For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate. But at my back I always hear Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song: then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust: The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace. Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapt power. Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run. ----------------------------------------------- It's pretty much Ye Olde Sexting I can remember studying it for GCSE English as I remember the teacher trying to explain how Marvell was telling this woman that he's stood beside the Humber with an erection ( "My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires" ).
