The city of Hull, UK, is where I grew up. I lived here all my life and moved away when I was 20. Hull was the starting point of my journey when I set off around Europe in a van with my two friends in 2014 (see the tracker map) and it’s where I go back to when I’m in the UK.
I’ve shown you all the other places I’ve been in Europe so now I’ll show you where I came from…
Hull is here
Our annual fair (Hull fair) that is the biggest travelling fair in Europe and the oldest – since 1278
Hull University gave us the LCD display
It was the groundbreaking discoveries led by Professor George Gray that led to the development of the LCD screen at Hull University
The houses go from this…
To this…
We call this a ‘tenfoot’
It’s the 10′ wide strip of land between the backs of houses stretching hundreds of metres. It’s pretty much where you spend most your time as a kid, ‘larking out’ in the tenfoot
William Wilberforce was born here
He was the main guy who stopped the slave trade
So now we have an annual festival in the streets: The Freedom Festival
Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia was from Hull
We gave the world Lemsip, Bonjela and Gaviscon
Our Humber bridge was the longest single span suspension bridge in the world for 17 years
You can walk, cycle or drive along here. Construction finished in 1982. It’s 2.2km long and cost £151,000,000 – I think we’re still paying that off
And our river isn’t dirty. We just have a lot of clay
Hull was the most bombed city in the UK, apart from London, during the second world war
More than half of the city centre was destroyed and nearly half of the population made homeless
But we still have a few nice buildings left
This place, The New Adelphi Club, is legendary
This is my favourite place in Hull for live music and good people. This is where all musicians start in Hull. Stone Roses, Oasis, Radiohead and Pulp even played here back in the day. Here’s a video clip (link) of John Peel talking about it with the owner, Paul Jackson.
Hull gave us The Housemartins who later became beautiful south
And the 90s music duo Everything But The Girl
They kind of took their name from the slogan on this shop in Hull
We have many good buildings to explore
Getting to the top of this building was one of the many memorable things I did as a teenager in Hull. I wanted my pirate radio station to reach across the whole city. You make your own fun.
Philip Larkin, the world famous poet and novelist, lived here.
I think what he said about Hull is perfect…
Now here’s a guy drinking a pint on top of a bus stop
And here are two grown men feeding a whole shopping trolley of bread to the ducks
Did you know we have white telephone boxes? The rest of the UK has red
That’s because we have our own telephone infrastructure – Kingston Communications. We can’t have BT, It’s KC or nothing.
But now we also have a gold one
They painted gold it to honour Luke Campbell (he’s from Hull) who won a gold medal at the 2012 olympic games.
Hull was once voted worst city to live
You could confuse that with Solihull, which was voted the best
But that’s in the past. Hull is going to be the UK’s city of culture in 2017
We also have the greatest football team, the world has ever seen….. allegedly
Brilliant write up Mike, well done. About time you told the world where you’re from.
Cool city. I did my degree there from 1990 so lived around the area for three years. I visited again for a weekend earlier this year for a little nostalgia.
That’s the best thing I’ve ever read about Hull, great post! And I learnt a lot of stuff I didn’t know.
I’m originally from Solihull and I’ve found better places to live, who votes for these places!
Nicest article I’ve ever read about Hull
Awesome blog post! I’ve never been, neither have I ever heard of Hull – but you do make sure it sounds magical with your words! I must say, I feel quite compelled to check out this city now, even though I bet it would remind me a great deal about my home town in Norway. I will make sure to check it off my list of where to go when I move to England in January! I’m madly in love with your blog by now, after reading it up and down all night! Can’t wait to read more and follow your adventures.
Elizabeth wait for another year their is to much work going on in and around the city centre it looks like a building site at the moment but will look good when finished.
Nice Blog mate, missed a few things off there that were worth mentioning, The Deep, The Marina, The littlest window in the UK, One of the top 10 bridges in the world (Scale Lane Bridge), Beverley Gate (the true place where the English Civil War started which then led on to birth of modern day democracy). Ebenezer Cobb (who created the rules for the modern game of football) was from Hull, and The Bounty, Capt Cooks ship was made in Hull. There’ll be more which I haven’t mentioned but when you look at the list of things, you’re (like me) right to be proud from Hull. Keep spreading the word! 🙂
Nice one. That’s what this comment section is for 🙂
loved seeing your home town..