Portsmouth is located on the south coast of England in the county of Hampshire, nicknamed Pompey it is the only island city in the UK, located on Portsea Island. The city’s origins are thought to date back to pre-Roman times with prominent Scholars agreeing that it was founded in 1180. Since then Portsmouth has also been and still is a famous naval port with notable Royal Navy presence and the world’s oldest dry dock which saw the building of Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory.

Gaining official city status in 1926, Portsmouth was given a Lord Mayoralty rank two years later, which is a singular honor, granted only to mayors of large cities in England. Modern Portsmouth has a population of around 450,000, making it the 11th largest urban zone in the country and at the 2001 census it was the only city in England with a greater population density than London as a whole.

The Portsmouth Urban Area is larger than the boundaries of the City and covers an area with a population well over twice that of the city of Portsmouth itself. One tenth of that city’s workforce works at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, with many jobs provided by defense contracts. Companies with headquarters in the city include BAE Systems Surface Ships, Grumman Aerospace Corporation, IBM and Zurich Financial Services.

Facts about Portsmouth:

- Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth

- As was the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel

- Portsmouth has the tallest publicly accessible structure in the UK, the Spinnaker Tower

- Portsmouth is one of the UK’s largest fruit handling ports, 65% of bananas eaten in Britain enter the country through the city’s   ports

As well as housing the Royal Navy and launching many famous boats over centuries of marine campaigns, the area of Portsmouth has also seen its share of incoming military assaults. In 1916 the town experienced and aerial bombardment from a Zeppelin airship. In the Second World War, the city was bombed extensively resulting in the destruction of residential properties and the Guildhall. The fact that it was a major port was the key factor in the Luftwaffe’s decision to bomb Portsmouth so heavily.

Portsmouth ethnicity is mainly white but because of it’s port it has the highest number of emigrants of any city in the UK, and interestingly has most skilled number of emigrants. Socially, football is a big sport in the city with many big-name footballers choosing to spend the twilight of their careers at Portsmouth F.C. The Championship side plays their home games at Fratton Park and recently held the FA Cup title and made the FA Cup final for a second time in 2 years in 2010.

As for the origins of that nickname, ‘Pompey’ is thought to have derived from shipping entering Portsmouth harbour. As they did so they used to make an entry in their logs as Pom. P. referencing the geographical location of Portsmouth Point. A fascinating fact revealing that the city of Portsmouth has plenty of history and character in its heritage.?