Things you didn't know about... Derby

Derby has the smallest cathedral in England
Its area is about 11,000 sq ft. And another entry in the Guinness Book of Records: the tower of the cathedral is a nesting place for peregrine falcons, which are the world's fastest animal (there's a webcam of the nest).

Dr Johnson got married in Derby
And every year the marriage is re-enacted at the same church, St Werburgh's.

The Plimsoll Line was thought up in Derby...
Although Derby is about as far from the sea as you can get in England, in the 1800s it made a crucial contribution to marine safety through its MP, Samuel Plimsoll, inventor (or at least sponsor) of the eponymous Line. He also campaigned against a law which said that seamen (once they had signed a contract) were obliged to complete a voyage even if they thought the ship was unseaworthy!

... and land-locked Derby produced a super sailor
Yachtswoman and all-round hero Ellen MacArthur grew up in the charmingly named Whatstandwell, about 15 miles north of Derby. She says that when she's at sea, she misses the fields of Derbyshire.

Derby was the first Labour Party seat in the Commons
Equal first, really, with Merthyr Tydfil. It was at the 1900 General Election that the Labour Party (then called the Labour Representation Committee) won its first two seats.

Derby is ghost capital of the UK
Over 1,000 paranormal sightings! A terrace house complete with spirit lodger! Trousers that levitate! Derby's got them all.

A car park in Derby is as safe as houses
What do the bank vault at Fort Knox, Saddam Hussein's Baghdad bunker, and the Bold Lane Car Park in Derby have in common? They are all in the top ten safest places in the world, according to the science magazine, Focus. The multi-storey car park has a sophisticated system of sensors, CCTV cameras and ticketing to protect car owners.

Famous Derby residents include...
Alan Bates, actor, who was born in Derby. Florence Nightingale, whose family had a house nearby. And Judith Hann, long-standing presenter of Tomorrow's World, was born in Littleover, near Derby.

A mad game takes place near Derby
On Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, the good folk of Ashbourne near Derby take part in the unique Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football Game, which has been described as the "one of the world's oldest, largest, longest and maddest football games". It takes place over several miles with several thousand players.