Derby

Derby is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire, of which it was traditionally the county town. In the 2011 census, the city had a population of 248,700.

As home to Lombe's Mill, the first factory in the world, Derby is considered the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. With the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, and due to its strategic central location, the city grew to become the foremost centre of the British rail industry.

Today, Derby is an internationally renowned centre for advanced transport manufacturing, home to the world’s second largest aero-engine manufacturer, Rolls-Royce, and Derby Litchurch Lane Works—the UK's only remaining train manufacturer. The Toyota Manufacturing UK's automobile headquarters is found just South of the city at Burnaston.

Origins


The Roman camp of 'Derventio' was probably at Little Chester/Chester Green ; The site of the old Roman fort is at Chester Green. Later the town was one of the 'Five Boroughs' (fortified towns) of the Danelaw.

Djúra-bý, recorded in Anglo-Saxon as Deoraby "Village of the Deer". This popular belief is asserted by Tim Lambert who states, "The name Derby is derived from the Danish words deor by meaning deer settlement" without reference or proof. However some assert that it is a corruption of the original Roman name 'Derventio'. The proven origin of the name "Derby" would seem to be elusive.

The name could also be linked with the river which flows through it, the Derwent, meaning 'oak'.

The town name appears, nevertheless, as 'Darby' or 'Darbye' on early modern maps, such as that of Speed (1610).

Modern research (2004) into the history and archaeology of Derby has provided evidence that the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons probably co-existed, occupying two areas of land surrounded by water. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 900) says that "Derby is divided by water". These areas of land were known as Norþworþig ("Northworthy", = "north enclosure") and Deoraby, and were at the "Irongate" (north) side of Derby.

16th century – 18th century
During the Civil War of 1642–1646, Derby was garrisoned by Parliamentary troops commanded by Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, who was appointed Governor of Derby in 1643. These troops took part in the defence of nearby Nottingham, the Siege of Lichfield, the Battle of Hopton Heath and many other engagements in Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, as well as successfully defending Derbyshire against Royalist armies.

A hundred years later, Bonnie Prince Charlie set up camp at Derby on 4 December 1745, whilst on his way south to seize the British crown. The prince called at The George Inn on Irongate, where the Duke of Devonshire had set up his headquarters, and demanded billets for his 9,000 troops.

He stayed at Exeter House, Exeter Street where he held his "council of war". A replica of the room is on display at Derby Museum in the city centre. He had received misleading information about an army coming to meet him south of Derby. Although he wished to continue with his quest, he was over-ruled by his fellow officers. He abandoned his invasion at Swarkestone Bridge on the River Trent just a few miles south of Derby. As a testament to his belief in his cause, the prince – who on the march from Scotland had walked at the front of the column – made the return journey on horseback at the rear of the bedraggled and tired army.

Industrial Revolution
Derby and Derbyshire were centres of Britain's Industrial Revolution. In 1717, Derby was the site of the first water powered silk mill in Britain, built by John Lombe and George Sorocold, after Lombe had reputedly stolen the secrets of silk-throwing from Piedmont in Italy (he is alleged to have been poisoned by the Piedmontese as revenge in 1722).

In 1759, Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment that revolutionised the manufacture of hose. This attachment was used on the Rev. Lee's Framework Knitting Machine; it was placed in front of – and worked in unison with – Lee's Frame, to produce ribbed hose (stockings). The partners were Jedediah Strutt, William Woollatt (who had been joined in 1758 by John Bloodworth and Thomas Stafford, all leading hosiers in Derby). The patent was obtained in January 1759. After three years, Bloodworth and Stafford were paid off, and Samuel Need – a hosier of Nottingham – joined the partnership. The firm was known as Need, Strutt and Woollatt. The patent expired in 1773, though the partnership continued until 1781 when Need died.

Messrs Wright, the bankers of Nottingham, recommended that Richard Arkwright apply to Strutt and Need for finance for his cotton spinning mill. The first mill opened in Nottingham in 1770 and was driven by horses. In 1771 Richard Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world's first commercially successful water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, developing a form of power that was to be a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.

This was followed in Derbyshire by Jedediah Strutt's cotton spinning mills at Belper. They were: South Mill, the first, 1775; North Mill, 1784, which was destroyed by fire on 12 January 1803 and then rebuilt; it started work again at the end of 1804; West Mill, 1792, commenced working 1796; Reeling Mill, 1897; Round Mill, which took 10 years to build, from 1803 to 1813, and commenced working in 1816; and Milford Mills, 1778. The Belper and Milford mills were not built in partnership with Arkwright. These mills were all Strutt owned and financed.

Other famous 18th-century figures with connections to Derby include the painter Joseph Wright, known as Wright of Derby, who was famous for his revolutionary use of light in his paintings and was an associate of the Royal Academy; and John Whitehurst, a famous clockmaker and philosopher. Erasmus Darwin, doctor, scientist, philosopher and grandfather of Charles Darwin, whose practice was based in Lichfield, Staffordshire was a frequent visitor to Derby, having founded the Derby Philosophical Society.

The beginning of the next century saw Derby emerging as an engineering centre with manufacturers such as James Fox, who exported machine tools to Russia.

In 1840, the North Midland Railway set up its works in Derby and, when it merged with the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, to form the Midland Railway, Derby became its headquarters.

The connection with the railway encouraged others, notably Andrew Handyside, Charles Fox and his son Francis Fox.

Derby was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and it became a county borough with the Local Government Act 1888. The borough expanded in 1877 to include Little Chester and Litchurch, and then in 1890 to include New Normanton and Rowditch. The borough did not increase substantially again until 1968, when under a recommendation of the Local Government Boundary Commission it was expanded into large parts of the rural district of Belper, Repton and South East Derbyshire. This vastly increased Derby's population from 132,408 in the 1961 census to 219,578 in the 1971 census. Despite being one of the areas of Britain furthest from the sea, Derby holds a special place in the history of marine safety – it was as MP for Derby that Samuel Plimsoll introduced his bills for a 'Plimsoll line' (and other marine safety measures). This failed on first introduction, but was successful in 1876 and contributed to Plimsoll's re-election as an MP.

20th century to present day
An industrial boom began in Derby when Rolls-Royce opened a car and aircraft factory in the town in 1907. In 1923, the Midland Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway with headquarters in London. However, Derby remained a major rail manufacturing centre, second only to Crewe and Wolverton. Moreover it remained a design and development centre and in the 'thirties, on the direction of Lord Stamp, the LMS Scientific Research Laboratory was opened on London Road.

In World War I, Derby was targeted by German Zeppelin air bombers, who killed five people in a 1916 raid on the town.

All Saints Church was designated as a cathedral in 1927, signalling that the town was ready for city status.

Slum clearance in the 1920s and 1930s saw the central area of Derby become less heavily populated as families were rehoused on new council estates in the suburbs, where houses for private sale were also constructed. Rehousing, council house building and private housing developments continued on a large scale for some 30 years after the end of World War II in 1945.

Production and repair work continued at the railway works. In December 1947 the Locomotive Works unveiled Britain's first mainline passenger diesel-electric locomotive – "Number 10000". In 1958 production switched over to diesel locomotives completely. Meanwhile the Carriage and Wagon Works were building the first of the Diesel Multiple Units which were to take over many of the services.

In 1964 the British Rail Research Division opened to study all aspects of railway engineering from first principles. Its first success was in drastically improving the reliability and speed of goods trains, work which led to the development of the Advanced Passenger Train.

Derby gained a high profile in sport following the appointment of Brian Clough as manager of Derby County F.C. in 1967. Promotion to the Football League First Division was achieved in 1969, and County were champions of the English league three years later. Following the Clough's resignation in 1973, his successor Dave Mackay guided Derby County to another league title in 1975, but this remains to date the club's last major trophy; relegation followed in 1980 and top flight status was not regained until 1987, since then Derby have spent a total of 11 seasons (1987–1991, 1996–2002, 2007–2008) in the top flight. The club moved from its century-old Baseball Ground in 1997 to the new Pride Park Stadium.

Derby was awarded city status on 7 June 1977 by Queen Elizabeth II to mark the 25th anniversary of her ascension to the throne. The Queen presented the "charter scroll" or 'letters patent' in person on 28 July 1977 on the steps of the Council House to the then Mayor Councillor Jeffrey Tillet (Conservative). Until then, Derby had been one of the few towns in England with a cathedral but not city status.

Derby holds an important position in the history of the Labour movement, because it was one of two seats (the other being Keir Hardie's in Merthyr Tydfil) gained by the recently formed Labour Representation Committee at the 1900 general election. The MP was Richard Bell, General Secretary of the Railway Servants Union. Bell was succeeded in 1910 by Jimmy Thomas and he in turn by the distinguished polymath and Nobel Laureate Philip Noel-Baker in 1936.

Despite its strategic industries (rail and aero-engine), Derby suffered comparatively little damage in both world wars (contrast Bristol and Filton). This may in part have been due to the jamming against the German radio-beam navigations systems (X-Verfahren and Knickebein, camouflage and decoy techniques ('Starfish sites') were built, mainly south of the town, e.g. out in fields near Foremark (ref. Kirk, Felix & Bartnik, 2002, see talk; see also ).

Derby has also become a significant cultural centre for the deaf community in the British. Many deaf people move to Derby because of its strong sign language-using community. It is estimated that the deaf population in Derby is at least three times higher than the national average, and that only London has a larger deaf population. The Royal School for the Deaf on Ashbourne Road provides education in British Sign Language and English.

Local government
By traditional definitions, Derby is the county town of Derbyshire, although Derbyshire's administrative centre has in recent years been Matlock. On 1 April 1997 Derby City Council became again a unitary authority (a status it had held, as a county borough, up until 1974), with the rest of Derbyshire administered from Matlock.

UK Parliament
Derby was a single United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency represented by two members of parliament until 1950, when it was divided into the single-member constituencies of Derby North and Derby South.

National HQ
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has its headquarters in The Wharf, a facility in Derby. RAIB has one of its two operational centres in Derby.

Geography
Derby is split into 17 Wards.

Industry
Derby's two biggest employers, Rolls-Royce plc and the Toyota Motor Corporation are engaged in engineering manufacturing. Other companies of note include railway systems engineering firm Bombardier Transportation who manufacture railway rolling stock at the Derby Carriage and Wagon Works, HeroTSC, who deal with much of Sky's telephone support, and Alstom who manufacture large power plant boilers and heat exchangers.

Derby was for many years a railway centre, being the former headquarters of the Midland Railway, with both British Rail workshops and research facilities in the town. Although much less important than in years gone by, limited train manufacture still continues in Derby and Derby railway station retains an important position in the railway network. The city is favoured as a site for a national railway centre.

From 1922 Sinfin Lane was the home of the 62 acre site of International Combustion, originally manufacturers of machinery for the automatic delivery of pulverised fuel to furnaces and boilers, and later producing steam-generating boilers for use in electrical generating plant such as used in power stations. In the 1990s the firm was bought by Rolls-Royce plc and then sold on again to ABB Group.

Derby was the home of Core Design (originally based on Ashbourne Road), who developed the world famous video game Tomb Raider. When Derby's inner ring road was completed in 2010, a section of it was named 'Lara Croft Way' after the game's heroine Lara Croft.

One of Derby's longest-established businesses is Royal Crown Derby, which has been producing porcelain since the 1750s.

Landmarks
Derby Cathedral tower is 212 feet (68.6 meters) tall to the tip of the pinnacles. This has been home to a pair of breeding peregrine falcons since 2006. Three webcams monitor the falcons here.

Derby Gaol is a visitor attraction based in the dungeons of the Derbyshire County Gaol which dates back to 1756.

Derby Industrial Museum is situated in Derby Silk Mill and shows the industrial heritage and technological achievement of Derby, including Rolls-Royce aero engines, railways, mining, quarrying and foundries. Currently closed due to council cuts. The Silk Mill stands at the southern end of the 24 km (15 mi) stretch of the River Derwent designated a World Heritage Site in 2001.

Pickford's House Museum was built by architect Joseph Pickford in 1770. It was his home and business headquarters. Derby Museum and Art Gallery shows paintings by Joseph Wright, as well as fine Royal Crown Derby porcelain, natural history, local regiments and archaeology. Pickford also designed St Helen's House in King Street.

The skyline of the inner city changed in 1968 when the inner ring road with its two new crossings of the River Derwent was built. The route of the ring road went through the St. Alkmund's Church and its Georgian churchyard, the only Georgian square in Derby. Both were demolished to make way for the road, a move still criticised today. Thus the editor (Elizabeth Williamson) of the 2nd edition of Pevsner for Derbyshire wrote:- '...the character and cohesion of the centre has been completely altered by the replacement of a large number of C18 houses in the centre by a multi-lane road. As a traffic scheme this road is said to be a triumph; as townscape it is a disaster.'

Places of interest
Royal Crown Derby Museum and Factory Tour http://www.royalcrownderby.co.uk/visiting
 * Cathedral Quarter
 * Darley Abbey
 * Derby Arboretum
 * Derby Canal
 * Derby Cathedral
 * Derby Museum and Art Gallery
 * Derby Industrial Museum (Silk Mill)
 * St Mary's Church, Derby
 * Derby Friargate Station (of which all that remains is Handyside's bridge and the bridge across Friargate)
 * Markeaton Park Light Railway, a heritage railway
 * Pride Park Stadium (Derby County F.C.) and its predecessor the Baseball Ground (now demolished)
 * River Derwent
 * St Helen's House, Derby
 * Derby Catacombs
 * Westfield shopping centre
 * Saint Benedict Catholic School and Performing Arts College secondary school

Roads
The city has extensive transport links with other areas of the country. The M1 motorway passes about ten miles (16 km) to the east of the city, linking Derby southwards to the London area and northwards to Sheffield and Leeds. Other major roads passing through or near Derby include the A6 (historically the main route from London to Carlisle, also linking to Leicester and Manchester), A38 (Bodmin to Mansfield via Bristol and Birmingham), A50 (Warrington to Leicester via Stoke-on-Trent), A52 (Newcastle-under-Lyme to Mablethorpe, including Brian Clough Way linking Derby to Nottingham) and A61 (Derby to Thirsk via Sheffield and Leeds).

On 16 March 2011, Mercian Way, the final section of the city's inner ring road, was opened to traffic. This new section connects Burton Road with Uttoxeter New Road, and crosses Abbey Street. Abbey Street is the only road between the two ends from which Mercian Way can be accessed.

Bold Lane Car Park in Derby has been cited as one of the ten most secure places in the world.

Railways
Derby has been served by railways since 1840 with the opening of the North Midland Railway to Leeds, with a route to London via Rugby provided by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway. At the same time, a route to Nottingham and Leicester was opened by the Midland Counties Railway. In 1844, these three companies merged to form the Midland Railway who subsequently opened a direct route to London St Pancras station. The present day station, Derby Midland is on the same site as 1840 and the original platform visibly forms the sub-structure of the modern Platform 1. The Midland Railway frontage was replaced in 1985, and during 2008 and 2009 the 1950s concrete platform canopies were replaced with steel and glass structures.

Derby station is operated by East Midlands Trains and the city is served by expresses to London, the North East and South West, provided by East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry. There also remain local stations at Peartree and Spondon, although services are limited, especially at the former.

The Great Northern Railway's "Derbyshire and North Staffordshire Extension" formerly ran through Derby Friargate Station, from Colwick and Nottingham to Egginton Junction. After closure, part of the route west of Derby was used by British Rail as a test track. Today, the trackbed either side of Derby is blocked only by road development and has been converted to a Sustrans cycle track. The ornate cast iron bridge by Andrew Handyside across Friargate is still in place, as is his bridge over the river.

Railway engineering
As a consequence of the Midland Railway basing their headquarters in Derby, along with their Locomotive and Carriage and Wagon Works, the railways had been a major influence on the development of the town during the Victorian period.

However, as described above, during the 20th century, railway manufacturing developed elsewhere, while in Derby the emphasis shifted to other industries. Even though it had pioneered the introduction of diesel locomotives, new production finished in 1966. Repair work gradually diminished until, finally the locomotive works closed, the land being redeveloped as Pride Park. The only buildings remaining are those visible from Platform 6 of the station.

The Carriage and Wagon Works continues to build trains under Bombardier Transportation. The Railway Technical Centre continues to house railway businesses, including the headquarters of DeltaRail Group, formerly the British Rail Research Division.

Air
East Midlands Airport is situated about fifteen miles (24 km) from Derby city centre. Its proximity to Derby, the fact that the airport is in Leicestershire, and the traditional rivalry between the three cities (Derby, Leicester and Nottingham), meant that there was controversy concerning the airport's decision to prefix its name with Nottingham in 2004. In 2006, Nottingham East Midlands Airport reverted to its previous name. The airport is served by budget airlines, including Ryanair and Jet2, with services to domestic and European destinations.

Derby Airfield, located approximately 7 mi southwest of the city centre has grass runways targeted at general aviation.

Bus and coach


Derby's former bus station was an art deco design by borough architect C.H. Aslin. Built in 1933, it was closed in 2005 and later demolished, despite the protests of environmentalists and conservationists. The unique cafe building is planned to be rebuilt at Crich Tramway Museum. A new bus station has been built on the site as part of the Riverlights development which was opened on Sunday the 28 March 2010. Since the closure of the old bus station, services have been using temporary stops on streets around the Morledge area. Most services in Derby now terminate at the bus station. The new bus station is modern, with 29 bays, 5 for coaches and 24 for general bus services. First, the concourse area where passengers board and alight was completed. The remainder of the building has been developed as a Holiday Inn and a Hilton Hotel as well as a convenience store which opened in late 2010.

Local bus services in and around Derby are run by a number of companies, but principally Trent Barton and Arriva Midlands. The city is on National Express's London to Manchester and Yorkshire to the South West routes. A whole list of local bus routes can be viewed on the List of bus routes in Derby page.

Between 1932 and 1967, Derby Corporation operated the Derby trolleybus system. The last trolleybus ran on 9 September 1967. Several Derby vehicles have been preserved at Sandtoft and the East Anglia Transport Museum.

Music
The annual open-air concert at Darley Park is one of the biggest free concerts of its kind. It is one of many performances given throughout the year by Sinfonia ViVA, a professional chamber orchestra based in Derby. The Derby Jazz group caters for the jazz interest in the city and is regarded as one of the UK's leading live jazz organisations.

In rock music, the blues singer-songwriter Kevin Coyne comes from Derby, as does the three piece rock band LostAlone, who are signed to Warner Brothers Records. The ska punk band Lightyear also hail from the city, naming their second album Chris Gentlemens Hairdresser and Railway Book Shop after a shop in Macklin Street.

The pop band White Town is from Derby, and their video "Your Woman" features many scenes from the city centre.

One of Derby's most successful bands is Anti-Pasti, whose debut 1981 album The Last Call reached the top 40 in the UK album charts. The band are planning a reunion tour for 2012.

A full-scale programme of orchestral and other concerts is presented at the Assembly Rooms. A thriving amateur classical music scene includes two choral societies, Derby Bach Choir and Derby Choral Union, smaller choirs, including the Derwent Singers and Sitwell Singers, and Derby Concert Orchestra. Derby Chamber Music presents an annual series of chamber music concerts at Derby University's Multifaith Centre. A series of organ recitals is presented every summer at Derby Cathedral, featuring leading international performers.

An active folk-music scene includes the annual Derby Folk Festival.

Music venues in the city include the Assembly Rooms, The Venue on Abbey Street, Ryans Bar in the St Peters Quarter and The Victoria Inn.

The VoiceBox, a converted former industrial building near the centre of Derby, is a performance, teaching and rehearsal venue concerned with a wide range of vocal and choral music.

Theatre and arts
Derby Playhouse regularly received acclaim in the national press for its productions, particularly, for its staging of shows by Stephen Sondheim. After a lengthy period of financial uncertainty, the theatre closed in February 2008. It was resurrected in September of that year after a new financing package was put together but forced to close again just two months later because of further financial problems. The lease was later bought by Derby University and the building was renamed Derby Theatre. Along with the Assembly Rooms and Guildhall Theatre, it was operated by Derby LIVE, the cultural arm of Derby City Council. In 2012 Derby University took over as sole operator of Derby Theatre; Sarah Brigham was appointed Artistic Director, and has been in post since January 2013.

QUAD is a centre for art and film which opened on in 2008. The building has two cinema screens showing independent and mainstream cinema, two gallery spaces housing contemporary visual arts, a digital studio, participation spaces, digital editing suites, artists studio and the BFI Mediatheque. QUAD organises the FORMAT international photography festival, the largest photography festival in the UK, held every two years in Derby.

The Robert Ludlam Theatre is a 270 seat venue with a programme of entertainment including dance, drama, art, music, theatre in the round, comedy, films, family entertainment, rock and pop events, workshops and provides a home for many of Derbyshire's amateur production groups.

The critically acclaimed theatre company Oddsocks is based in Derby and stages a number of productions in the city and surrounding area.

Among Derby's many amateur theatre groups, Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company has received critical acclaim for its often innovative productions, and is regularly invited to appear at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall.

Derby Festé is a spectacular weekend street arts festival held every September.

John Dexter the theatre director and the actor Alan Bates were from Derby.

Sport
Derby is home to several sports clubs.

Derby County, the city's football team, were FA Cup winners in 1946, Football League champions in 1972 and again in 1975. They are members of the Football League Championship. They have played at Pride Park Stadium since 1997, having been previously based at the Baseball Ground, a stadium originally built in 1890 to house Derby's short-lived baseball team (one notable baseball player and famous footballer was the Derby legend Steve Bloomer). Derby County moved there in 1895 after the baseball team folded. Former Derby County managers include Brian Clough, Arthur Cox, Jim Smith, John Gregory and George Burley. Former players include Colin Todd, Roy McFarland (who both later had brief and unsuccessful stints as manager at the club), Dave Mackay, Peter Shilton, Dean Saunders, Craig Short, Marco Gabbiadini, Horacio Carbonari, Steve Bloomer and Tom Huddlestone. The club's most recent spell as a top division (FA Premier League) club ended in May 2008 after just one season, during which the club won just one out of 38 league games and finished with just 11 points, the lowest in the history of the Premier League.

There are three senior non-league football clubs based in the city. Mickleover Sports play at Station Road, Mickleover and are members of the EvoStik Northern Premier League (the seventh level of the English football league system). Graham Street Prims and Borrowash Victoria are both members of the East Midlands Counties League (level ten) and play on adjacent grounds at the Asterdale complex in Spondon.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club are based at the County Ground in Derby and play almost all home matches there, although matches at Chesterfield were re-introduced in 2006. One of the designated first class county sides, they have won the County Championship once, in 1936.

Derby has clubs in both codes of rugby. In rugby union, Derby RFC play in Midlands Division One East (the sixth level of English rugby union) at their Haslams Lane ground. Rugby league team Derby City RLFC were formed in 1990 and compete in the Midlands Premier Division of the National Rugby League Conference. From 2008 they are ground sharing with Derby RFC at Haslams Lane.

The city is represented in the English Basketball League Division One by Derby Trailblazers, who play at the Moorways Sports Centre. They were formed in 2002 following the demise of British Basketball League side Derby Storm.

Local industrialist Francis Ley introduced baseball to the town in the late 19th century, and built a stadium near the town centre. The attempt to establish baseball in Derby was unsuccessful, but the stadium survived for some 100 years afterwards as the home of Derby County Football Club. It was demolished in 2003, six years after County's move to Pride Park.

Professional golfer Melissa Reid was born in Derby in 1987. She plays on the Ladies European Tour, and was a member of the victorious European Team in the 2011 Solheim Cup.

Arthur Keily the marathon runner and Olympian was born in Derbyshire in 1921 and has lived his whole life in Derby. In Rome in 1960 he broke the English Olympic record, recording a time of 2 hours 27 mins.

Recreation
Derby Arboretum was the first public park in the country and is thought to have been one of the inspirations for Central Park in New York. Although it suffered from neglect in the 1990s, it has been renovated.

Markeaton Park is Derby's most used leisure facility. It is the venue for the city council's annual Guy Fawkes Night firework display and contains its own light railway. Other major parks in the city include Allestree Park, Darley Park, Chaddesden Park, Alvaston Park, Normanton Park and Osmaston Park.

Derby has a number of public parks, many Victorian in origin. It is also believed to be one of the country's highest, if not the highest, ranking cities for parkland per capita. Darley and Derwent parks lie immediately north of the city centre and are home to owls, kingfishers and other wildlife. Derby Rowing Club and Derwent Rowing Club are located on the banks of the river. There is also a riverside walk and cycle path from Darley Park south to two other parks. West of the city centre is Markeaton Park, while to the north is Allestree Park and its lake.

Derby has the first public recreational park in the country to have an arboretum (Derby Arboretum), which lies to the south of the city centre. The arboretum was set up by the philanthropic landowner and industrialist Joseph Strutt in 1840. The arboretum's website states that the arboretum's design was the inspiration for the vision of great urban parks in the USA, notably Central Park in New York City.

There are four museums: Derby Museum and Art Gallery; Pickford's House Museum; The Silk Mill and The Royal Crown Derby Museum.

Shopping and nightlife
Shopping in central Derby is divided into three main areas. These are the Cathedral Quarter, Derby, the St Peters Quarter and Westfield Shopping Centre, the latter controlled by the Westfield Group. The Cathedral Quarter was Derby's first BID (Business Improvement District), and includes a large range of shops, boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants. It is focused around the Cathedral and the area around Irongate and Sadler Gate. It includes the Market place, the Guildhall and Assembly rooms along with the City Museum and the Silk Mill industrial museum.

The St Peters Quarter is Derby's second Business Improvement district brought into effect in the summer of 2011. Its boundary with the Cathedral Quarter follows Victoria Street, the ancient course of Markeaton Brook. The quarter boasts a diverse range of retail shops many of them, in Green Lane, Babington Lane, Osmaston Road and elsewhere, independent traders. St Peters Street, London Road and East Street also includes a large choice of National retailers along with pubs, restaurants, banks and offices. The quarter includes the historic St Peters church and, on St Peters Churchyard, the Ancient Derby School building. Nearby also is the Old Courthouse and several other notable buildings. At the eastern end of the quarter is the bus station along with the Hilton Hotel and Holiday Inn, part of the prestigious Riverlights Development on the banks of the Derwent.

Westfield Derby (incorporating the former Eagle Centre) is the city's main indoor shopping centre. It opened in 2007 after extension work costing £340 million. It contains a food court and a 12-screen cinema (Showcase – Cinema De Lux) which was opened in May 2008. The development was controversial and local opponents accuse it of drawing trade away from the older parts of the city centre where independent shops are located. Some of these experienced a downturn in trade and some have ceased trading since the development opened leading to the "Lanes" project which eventually became the second BID and the formation of St Peters Quarter. In Westfield itself, a combination of high rents and rising rates have made things difficult for smaller traders.

The Friar Gate area contains clubs and bars, making it the centre of Derby's nightlife, although it has seen a steady decline in recent years, like many cities, due to the current economic climate. Derby is also well provided with pubs and is renowned for its large amount of real ale outlets.

The Kingsway Retail Park is located just outside of the main city, off the A38 and has a TK Maxx, Sainsburys, Halfords, M&S Food, Homebase, Argos and other retailers. There are new food outlets scheduled to open in 2013 (Including Costa Coffee).

The Wyvern Way Retail Park is located just off the A52, by the pride park business park; stores include, Sainsburys, Maplin, McDonald's, Mother Care, KFC, among others.

The Meteor center contains a selection of retailers including Morrisons, PC World, and McDonald's.

Education
Like most of the UK, Derby operates a non-selective primary and secondary education system with no middle schools. Pupils attend infant and junior school (often in a combined primary school) before moving onto a secondary school. Many of the secondary schools have sixth forms, allowing pupils to optionally take A Levels after the end of compulsory education. For those who want to stay in education but leave school, the large Derby College provides post-16 courses for school leavers, apprentices and employer related training. It has two main campuses the Joseph Wright Centre in the centre of Derby, where its A Level courses are based. And the historical Derby Roundhouse which is the college's vocational training hub, providing a centre for apprenticeships such as engineering, catering and hair & beauty. The college also works in partnership with schools across the county to provide vocational training opportunities for students aged 14 upwards. Training for companies is undertaken through its Corporate College.

Outside the state sector, there are two fee-paying independent schools. Derby Grammar School was founded in 1994 and was for boys only, until 2007, when they accepted girls into the sixth form for the first time. They aim to continue the work and traditions of the former Derby School, which closed in 1989, one of the oldest schools in England. Derby High School is for girls-only at secondary level and for boys at primary level.

Derby has special needs establishments including Ivy House School located at the Derby Moor Coumunity Sports College (which takes pupils from nursery to sixth form) and the Light House which is a respite facility for children and parents.

The University of Derby has its main campus on Kedleston Road. There is another campus in north Derbyshire at Buxton.

In 2003 the University of Nottingham opened a graduate entry medical school based at Royal Derby Hospital. The university also has its School of Nursing and Midwifery located there, having moved from its former home at London Road Community Hospital in mid-2012.

Media
The Derby Telegraph (formerly the Derby Evening Telegraph) is the city's daily newspaper. In addition, a free newspaper, the Telegraph Lite, is delivered to households weekly. The Derby Trader, another free weekly newspaper, is no longer in print. A local edition of the daily national freesheet Metro is distributed in the city centre every morning, although this only has a very small amount of local content.

BBC Radio Derby, the BBC's local station for Derbyshire and East Staffordshire, is based on St. Helen's Street in the city and offers local, national and international news, features, music and sports commentaries. It is available on 104.5 FM and 1116 AM, on 95.3 FM in North and Mid Derbyshire and on 96.0 FM in the Buxton area, as well as being streamed on the internet. The BBC in Derby have their own local website for the area which provides news, travel and weather information, as well as other features. Since July 2007, the BBC has managed Big Screen Derby in the Market Place in conjunction with Derby City Council and the University of Derby, as part of the BBC Big Screen project.

Capital East Midlands, is the biggest commercial radio station in the city, broadcasting to Derby on 102.8 FM from the transmitter at Drum Hill, just outside the city. It broadcasts a Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) format, with Top 40 chart hits aimed at the city's under 35s.

City emblem
Derby's emblem is the Derby Ram, about which there is a folk song entitled "The Derby Ram". It is found in a number of places, most notably serving as the nickname of Derby County F.C.. The logo of the City Council's services is a stylised ram, while a ram provided by the Duke of Devonshire is the mascot of the Mercian Regiment formally the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, deriving from the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot.

Notable people

 * Alan Bates (1934–2003), actor
 * Freda Bedi (1911–1977), social worker, writer and Gelongma.
 * Ronald Binge (1910–1979), composer
 * David Brailsford (born 1964), cycling administrator
 * Rufus Brevett (born 1969), Footballer
 * Maxwell Caulfield (born 1959), actor
 * Henry Cavendish (1731–1810), scientist
 * William John Coffee (1774–1846), artist and sculptor
 * Daniel Parker Coke (1745–1825), barrister and Member of Parliament
 * Des Coleman (born 1969), actor and presenter
 * Kevin Coyne (1944–2004), singer-songwriter
 * Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), physician and philosopher
 * John Dexter (1925–1990), theatre director
 * George Benjamin Dodwell (1851–1925), Derby born merchant, who founded the British-Asian trading company Dodwell & Co.
 * Ralph Downes (1904–1993), organist, designer of the organ in the Royal Festival Hall, London
 * John Flamsteed (1646–1719), first Astronomer Royal
 * James Fox (1780–1830), engineer
 * Peter Hammill (born 1948), singer-songwriter and founding member of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator
 * Bobby Hassell (born 1980), footballer
 * Andrew Handyside (1806–1887), iron founder
 * Geoff Hoon MP (born 1953), politician
 * William Hutton (1723–1815) historian, poet and bookseller
 * Michael Knowles, actor
 * Stephen Layton (born 1966), choral conductor
 * Duncan Lloyd, musician
 * Kevin Lloyd (1949–1998) actor, (Tosh Lines in The Bill TV series).
 * Terry Lloyd (1952–2003), television journalist
 * John Lombe (1693–1722), industrial pioneer
 * Edgar Longstaffe (1852–1933), landscape painter
 * Stephen Marley (born 1946), novelist
 * Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), pioneer of modern nursing
 * Jack O'Connell (actor) (born 1990), actor
 * Colin Osborne (born 1975), PDC darts player
 * Chris Palmer (born 1983), footballer
 * Ted Perry (1931–2003), founder of Hyperion Records
 * Samuel Plimsoll (1825–98), politician, Liberal Member of Parliament for Derby, inventor of the Plimsoll line, 'The Sailors Friend'
 * Melissa Reid (born 1987), golfer
 * Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), novelist
 * Chris Riggott (born 1980), footballer
 * Sir Henry Royce (1863–1933), co-founder of Rolls-Royce
 * Sir Nigel Rudd (born 1946), industrialist
 * Max Sciandri (born 1967), Professional cyclist and Olympic medallist.
 * John Smith (1813–1866), clockmaker
 * Lauren Socha (born 1990), star of E4's television series Misfits
 * Michael Socha (born 1987), actor
 * George Sorocold (c. 1668 – c. 1738), first non-military person to be described as an engineer
 * Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), philosopher
 * Jedediah Strutt (1726–1797), industrial pioneer
 * Gwen Taylor (born 1939), actress
 * Richard Turner (born 1940), artist and poet
 * Stuart Varney (born 1949) Economic Journalist for Fox News Channel
 * Damien Walters (born 1982), stuntman, gymnast and free runner
 * Lucy Ward (born 1989), folk musician and songwriter
 * Alice Wheeldon (1866–1919) pacifist and anti-war campaigner.
 * John Whitehurst (1713–1788), clockmaker and scientist
 * Dafydd Wigley (born 1943), Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalist) politician
 * Sir Henry Wilmot (1831–1901), Victoria Cross recipient
 * Joseph Wright (1734–1797), artist

Twin towns
Derby is twinned with Osnabrück in Germany. The partnership treaty between the two cities was signed on 17 February 1976.

The twinning agreement with Derby was signed in 1976 in the historical Hall of Peace in Osnabrück's Rathaus (town hall). Every year, Derby and Osnabrück each appoint an envoy who spends twelve months in the twin city. The envoy promotes the exchange of ideas between the two cities and acts as an educational and information officer to increase awareness of the twinning scheme. The envoy gives talks to local societies and schools, finds pen friends and short term host families during work placements, works to assist groups who want to get involved in twinning by identifying and approaching possible counterparts and plans the annual mayweek trip.

There is an annual exchange between the wind bands of John Port School, Etwall and its twin school Gymnasium Melle in Melle, Germany, District of Osnabrücker Land. An exchange was established in 2009 between Woodlands Community School, Allestree and the Gymnasium Angelaschule in Osnabrück. This exchange is based on a drama-project of both schools in June 2009, which contained performances in both cities with over 1600 visitors.

The exchange of envoys between two cities is very unusual. The envoy in Osnabrück changes every year and Osnabrück also sends envoys to Derby, Angers and Çanakkale. No other city in Germany participates in this exchange of envoys, and in Britain, only one other town, Wigan, receives and sends an envoy.

List of international links

 * Osnabrück, Germany
 * Kapurthala, India (friendship link)
 * Haarlem, Netherlands (friendship link)
 * Foncquevillers, France (friendship link)
 * Toyota City, Japan
 * Changzhi, People's Republic of China (Memorandum of Understanding)