Promoting Leicester - A City of History and Progress

About the Talk 

When the broadcaster, Ray Gosling visited Leicester in the 1960s he said that if he had to show an American in one day what England was all about he would take them to Leicester as 'it has all of old England, our heritage, well-kept and cared for but without the olde charm of a Canterbury.' Yet he also bought a postcard featuring an image of the newly opened Lee Circle car park, which represented a very modern up-to-date city. This session will consider how the balance of the history and progress of Leicester has been promoted to visitors and residents since the council established its Publicity and Development Committee in the 1930s.

This is an in-person event. There will be tea and cake before the talk from 6.15 pm. The talk will start at 6.30pm and finish by 7.45pm. Venue TBC.

About the Presenter

Sally Ann Hartshorne completed her doctoral thesis ‘City of History and Progress’: Heritage and Urban Development in Leicester 1934 to 2010' in the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester. She is the author of 'Urban history ‘on the go’: Discovering and developing Leicester's cultural quarter', published in Urban History (2020) and a Trustee for Leicester Civic Society.

This event is part of the Vaughan Forum series hosted by Leicester Vaughan College