Celebrating Portsmouth: Celebrating

Portsmouth has been one of the country's most important port cities for centuries. Nicknamed Pompey, as is its famous football team, it has been the home of the navy since the Middle Ages, and made a Royal Dock by Henry VII, and the majority of the Royal Navy's fleet is still based in Portsmouth. Famous seafarers and military commanders that passed through Portsmouth include Nelson, Captain Cook and Bligh of the Bounty, the court martial of the mutineers being carried out in Portsmouth.

The city is built on an island, heavily fortified through the ages, much of which is still standing including the Palmerston forts around Spithead inland. In recent years the area around the harbour has been revitalised with the Spinnaker Tower in Gunwharf Quays. Famous people born in Portsmouth include Charles Dickens and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, whose father Marc Brunel ran a block-building factory that was the largest industrial complex in the world at the start of the 19th century.

Much of the city suffered in the Blitz in World War 2 but it was still able to be a major embarkation port for the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy. Today visitors come to visit the resort of Southsea, on the tip of Portsea Island, as well as its two cathedrals, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, Henry VIII's Mary Rose in the Historic Dockyard and explore the historic city. Celebrating Portsmouth chronicles the proud heritage of Portsmouth, its important moments and what draws so many to this diverse city today.

Illustrated throughout, this fascinating book offers a marvellous and refreshingly positive insight into Portsmouth's rich heritage, its special events and important moments. Celebrating Portsmouth will be a valuable contribution to the history of the city and provide a source of many memories to those who have known it well over the years.