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Leicester Leasing

Did You Know?

Leicester was also the birthplace of the father of the package holiday, Thomas Cook – and the first ever package tour took place from Leicester to Loughborough in 1841. (Rumour has it that the train journey was even quicker than it is today!)

The name of Leicester comes from Old English. It is first recorded in Latinised form in the early ninth century as Legorensis civitatis and in Old English itself in an Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 924 as Ligera ceastre

You’ll soon cotton on to the fact that the Leicester dialect is unique with its clipped vowels and ‘ey up me ducks, ‘Les-tohs’ and ‘oo-yors’ - but we bet you never knew that our fine city is the birthplace of the English language we use today.

Experts believe that 1,000 years ago in Leicester – the heart of England - the warring Anglo Saxons and Vikings set aside their differences and the two communities started sharing their trades and languages and helped to shape modern standard English.

Leicester’s main water course – which runs alongside the DMU campus – used to be known for its strange pink hue. This was all down to the city’s industrial heritage when it was famous for its textiles. Water was an essential part of the manufacturing process so textile mills were all built on the riverside. Unfortunately, the waste was flushed back into the Soar creating the pink colour.

Situated across Oxford Street from DMU’s Clephan Building is the first consecrated Jain Temple in the western world. Originating in India, Jainism is one of the world’s oldest religions. Jains believe in equality in all living things and swear a vow of non-violence, are vegetarian, care for the environment and are tolerant of all other faiths. The first followers of Jainism in Leicester arrived from India and Kenya.

Now we’re not quite sure how this one started but according to…well…everyone who drives, Leicester has more traffic lights than any other city in the UK.

Leicester-born Donald L Hings developed the walkie talkie during the Second World War as a way to help the military keep in touch. It was such a success that it went commercial and became a must-have toy for kids

Leicester Market has been based in the same place for 700 years and is thought to be the biggest covered market in Europe. You need to know about Leicester Market because you can buy a week’s worth of fruit and veg for about a fiver. It’s a bargain hunter’s idea of heaven.

Did you know that Walkers’ Crisps has been frying potatoes in Leicester for 71 years and now runs the largest crisp factory in the world. The factory produces seven million packs of crisps a day. That’s right. A day. And it scrubs, washes and slices 40 tonnes of potatoes every hour