Things you didn't know about... Bristol

Though Wallace and Gromit are from the north of England (either Wigan or Preston, depending on who you believe), the film company that created the characters, Aardman Animations, has been based in Bristol since its founding in 1976.

Links between the tobacco trade and the city of Bristol have been strong since 1497. The Wills family donated large amounts of money to set up Bristol University. HO Wills was its first Chancellor, and the 215 ft university tower that dominates the Bristol skyline is called the Wills Tower.

The design of all modern ships is based on Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain, now a tourist attraction and museum moored in Bristol's Western Dockyard.

His name is Rich Ranklin and every day he checks on and feeds the swans in Bristol Harbour. According to Ranklin, watching the swans fly under the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge is "better than a firework display".

The Seven Stars pub in Bristol has a close historical link to the abolition of slavery. The landlord helped William Wilberforce gather evidence in his campaign against the slave trade.

Bristol has recently acquired a giant new shopping complex called Cabot Circus, after explorer John Cabot, who sailed to America in 1497. Cabot was originally from Genoa, but settled in Bristol in 1490.

The actor, real name Archie Leach, was born and grew up in the Horfield district of Bristol.

Notorious pirate Blackbeard (real name Edward Teach) was born in Bristol in 1860. He once shot one of his own crew in the knee so that his men wouldn't forget who he was!

On the Isle of Uist, in Scotland, hedgehogs were eating birds' eggs and were going to be culled. But scientists at Bristol University proved that the hedgehogs could be safely transported to the mainland—and that's what they did, saving the eggs and the hedgehogs.

...he left an indelible mark on the city, leaving it with magnificent monuments to the age of engineering, such as the majestic Clifton Suspension Bridge.