1. Bristol was home to an estimated 430,000 residents back in 2009 making it Britain’s sixth most populous city.
2. Archaeologists claim to have evidence of human activity in the Bristol area over 60,000 years ago.
3. Bristol was named Britain’s first ‘Cycling City’ in 2008 thanks to its efforts to accommodate and encourage cycling.
4. The dog on the HMV logo was born and bred in Bristol
5. The city was crowned the best in the UK and Ireland by the Academy of Urbanism in 2008.
6. Bristol became the first city to twin with a German partner following the second war when it twinned with Hanover in 1947
7. Bristol was recently voted for by NME readers as the best location for night clubbing as well as having the ‘fittest girls’
8. Many natives from Bristol like to use the word ‘to’ instead of the word ‘at.’
9. Psychologists recently concluded that Bristol was the smiliest city in the UK by smiling at residents of every UK city and measuring how many smiled back.
10. Bristol City has beaten Bristol Rovers 43 times compared to 29 wins for their rivals in competitive football matches.
11. The Theatre Royal Bristol is the oldest continuously working theatre in Britain
12. The oldest dinosaur discovered in Britain was found laying dead in Bristol
13. The world’s first commercially produced chocolate bar was created in Bristol
14. Little Britain character Vicky Pollard was inspired by a youngster that Matt Lucas and David Williams met in Bristol
15. Bristol Harbour Festival is thought to be the largest free city-based festival in Europe
16. The notorious pirate, Blackbeard, was believed to have been born in Bristol.
17. Gloucester Road in Bristol contains to the longest stretch of independent shops in Europe.
18. Bristol Zoo is the world’s oldest provincial zoo.