Dictionary of Meaning

<<Back
Please select a letter:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9

Luton

*** Shopping-Tip: Luton
{{otheruses|Luton (disambiguation)}} {| class=infobox width=300 |- !colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|Borough of Luton |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:EnglandLuton.png |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography |- |width="45%"|Status:||Unitary, Borough |- |Regions of England Region:||East of England |- |Ceremonial County:||Bedfordshire |- |Surface area Area:
- Total||List of English districts by area Ranked 311th
1 E7 m² 43.35 square kilometre km² |- |Admin. HQ:||Luton |- |ONS coding system ONS code:||00KA |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics |- |Population:
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density.html">List of English districts by population Ranked 78th
184,000
4,245 / km² |- |Ethnicity:||71.9% White
18.3% S.Asian
6.3% Afro-Carib. |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics |- |Local government in England#Councils and councillors Leadership:||Leader & Cabinet |- |Executive:||Liberal Democrats (UK) Liberal Democrats |- |MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 MPs:||Kelvin Hopkins, Margaret Moran |} '''Luton''' is a town and local government Districts of England district in England, located 50km north of central London. Historically it was part of the county of Bedfordshire, but since the 1990s it has been an administratively independent unitary authority. However it remains part of Bedfordshire for ceremonial counties of England ceremonial purposes. It is in the East of England region, but was formerly in South East England region, and in common usage is still often considered to be in the South East. Luton is the home town of the Luton Town F.C. football (soccer) football club. Their nickname, "The Hatters", dates back to when Luton had a substantial hat-making industry. London Luton Airport is situated to the south-east of the town. The main campus of the University of Luton is located in the town centre. From 1905 until 2002 the town had a Vauxhall Motors Automobile car factory. Dunstable is situated to the west of Luton. The M1 motorway (England) M1 motorway runs between Luton and Dunstable though it does not form the border as parts of Luton are to the west of it. Luton has a Site of Special Scientific Interest at Warden Hills on the outskirts of the town.

History
Settlements have existed on the site since the paleolithic paleolithic era, most notably the henge monument now called Waulud's Bank, which dates from 3000BC. The Roman settlement in the area was concentrated at Durocobrivis and Verulamium. The foundation of Luton is usually dated to the 6th century when a Saxon outpost was founded on the river Lea, Lea tun. Luton is recorded in the Domesday Book as Loitone, its population was 700. The town had a market for surrounding villages and grew steadily, if slowly. By the 14th century, the town had two fairs each year. The agriculture base of the town changed in the 16th century with a brick making industry and in the 17th century when the hat making began. By the 18th century the hat making industry, especially straw hat manufacture, dominated the town as its only significant industry. Hats are still produced in the town on a smaller scale. Luton Hoo, a nearby large country house, was first built in 1757. The town grew strongly in the 19th century, in 1801 the population was 3,000; by 1850 it was 10,000 and by 1901 it was almost 39,000. This rapid growth was fuelled by the arrival of the railway in 1858, which bypassed Dunstable, a nearby market town, which until then had overshadowed Luton. The town had its first town hall opened in 1847 and had a complete water and sewerage system by the late 1860s. Luton was made a borough in 1876 and the current football club was founded in 1885. In the 20th century, the hat trade severely declined but was replaced by newer industries. Vauxhall Motors opened a car plant in the town in 1905, along with an Electrolux household appliances plant, followed by other light engineering businesses. The town had a tram system from 1908 until 1932 and the first movie theater cinema was opened in 1909. By 1914, the town's population reached had 50,000. The original town hall was burned down in 1919 during the victory celebrations at the end of the First World War; local people including many ex-servicemen, had been refused the use of a local park to hold celebratory events, and so made a bonfire of the town hall (''See article on the Luton riots in External links, below''). A replacement town hall was completed in 1936. Luton Airport was opened in 1938, owned and operated by the council. In World War II, the town suffered a number of air raids, although only 107 people died there was extensive damage. Post-war, the slum clearance continued and a number of substantial estates of council housing were built, notably at Farley Hill, Bedfordshire Farley Hill, Stopsley, Limbury and Leagrave. The M1 motorway (England) M1 passed just to the west of the town from 1959 and a substantial covered shopping centre, the Arndale Centre, was opened in 1972. The Arndale Centre has had a major refurbishment, including a new glass roof, which has transformed the area. Flights from the airport increased substantially from the 1960s as new charter airlines (e.g. Court Line) flew from there rather than the London airports. Despite problems in the 1970s, a new terminal was added in 1985. The airport was renamed London Luton Airport in 1990, just before Ryanair took its business to London Stansted Airport Stansted. The growth of new low cost flights rejuvenated the airport and passenger numbers more than doubled from 1992 to 1998. In 1999, a new terminal was added and a new railway station, Luton Airport Parkway, was opened. Luton enjoys good rail connections via its three stations (Luton railway station Luton, Luton Airport Parkway railway station Luton Airport Parkway and Leagrave railway station Leagrave) to London and through to Brighton and Sutton on First Capital Connect's Thameslink line and north to Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and other cities on the Midland Mainline route provided by Midland Mainline. There are plans to re-introduce 24 hour rail services to Luton and Luton Airport Parkway [http://www.firstgroup.com/corpfirst/press/pressreleasestory.php?id=213]. In 2000, Vauxhall announced the end of car production in Luton; the plant closed in March 2002. At its peak it had employed around 35,000 people. In 2004, Luton was voted as the 'crappest' town in the U.K. in the book ''Crap Towns Crap Towns II'' (edited by Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran) beating previous winners in ''Crap Towns'' (eds Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran) of Kingston upon Hull. It was said to have won due to its abundance of abysmally ugly architecture, abundance of chain stores and lack of heart

Economy
*Luton's gross domestic product for 2005 was estimated at £3,540 million

Famous people from Luton
* Punk rock band UK Decay * The poet John Hegley * The singer Paul Young * The composer David Arnold * Rock guitarist Mick Abrahams (guitar) Mick Abrahams of Jethro Tull (band) Jethro Tull and Blodwyn Pig * Sir Alec Jeffreys * The stuntman, writer and motivator Dan Earthquake * The novelist Arthur Hailey (1920-2004) * The BBC scriptwriter David Renwick * John Gosling, former member of the pop group The Kinks * Colin Salmon, actor, in films such as Resident Evil, AVP: Alien Vs. Predator and The World Is Not Enough. * Singer/Actor Edward Tudor-Pole of band Tenpole Tudor * England cricketer Monty Panesar

External links

- Luton Borough Council
- Luton - 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article
- A defense of Luton, the crappiest city in England in ''The Guardian''
- Libcom.org/history: The Luton Riots 1919
- Luton pubs Customer ratings and reviews of pubs in Luton * {{placeopedia|id=3527|title=Luton}} {{East of England}} Category:Towns in Bedfordshire Category:Local government in Bedfordshire Category:Luton Category:Unitary authorities in England de:Luton eo:Luton fr:Luton nl:Luton no:Luton pl:Luton pt:Luton sv:Luton {{catmore}} Category:Bedfordshire

*** Shopping-Tip: Luton