About Southampton

A bustling port and popular sailing spot on the Hampshire coast, Southampton built it's fortune from the sea in it's history - this was, after all, where the ill-fated Titanic set sail from on it's maiden voyage, and earlier it was also where the Mayflower set sail from, carrying the Pilgrim Fathers over to the New World.

The city still relies heavily on maritime pastimes to this day: such illustrious visitors as the QE2 and the all-new Queen Mary 2 have graced Southampton harbour in recent years.

Aside from the obvious income generated by the luxury liners that dock in Southampton, there is also a busy marina development with a variety of retail and entertainment on offer.

It is a very green city with many parks and gardens, the largest of which being Southampton Common which has it's own small zoo and is also utilised by the council in it's staging of the Southampton Festival every summer.

The city's most famous sporting establishment is it's once-Premiership football club, Southampton FC - based at St Mary's stadium - who have had something of a torrid time in recent years, getting relegated from the top division at the end of last season.

This has been all the tougher to bear for the average Southampton fan because their great local foes Portsmouth FC, with whom they share one of the more passionate rivalries in football, remain in the Premiership while 'The Saints', as they are known, languish in the Championship beneath them.

Southampton has something of a comedy heritage in that two giants of British mirth-making lived in the city: Benny Hill was born in Southampton and raised locally and, as if that weren't enough, Tommy Cooper was also a long-time resident.

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