Things you didn't know about... Portsmouth

Sherlock Holmes was created in Portsmouth
After setting up a medical practice in Portsmouth, Arthur Conan Doyle began writing what would become A Study in Scarlet, the novel that would introduce the world to Sherlock Holmes. Since 2007, Portsmouth's City Museum has been home to an important collection of Doyle memorabilia.

Portsmouth is connected to Richard the Lionheart
Portsmouth's coat of arms includes an eight-pointed gold star above the points of a gold crescent, two elements of the coat of arms of Richard the Lionheart, the crusader king who granted the town a royal charter in 1194.

Portsmouth has a famous Round Tower
After the French had raided Portsmouth six times during the Hundred Years War, King Henry V sought to defend it with a purpose-built structure. So he commissioned the Round Tower in Portsmouth Harbour, which was built in 1415.

Old Portsmouth was known as Spice Island
In the 19th century, Portsmouth was the main port of entry for spices from the Caribbean. It was a heady time: public houses were open 24 hours a day, the city was full of sailors, and press-gangs roamed the streets.

Brunel was a Portsmouth man
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, arguably Britain's greatest 19th-century engineer, was born in Portsea in 1806. He was responsible for the construction of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Paddington Station in London and the SS Great Britain, the first iron liner with a screw propeller.

The Mary Rose was built and sank in Portsmouth
The Mary Rose, commissioned in 1511 and built in Portsmouth, was one of Henry VIII's greatest ships and served for more than 30 years, although she is best known for sinking on 19 July 1545 on her way to engage the French just off the Portsmouth coast.

Portsmouth paid taxes to Southampton for 1,000 years
It was not until the Reform Act of 1835 that Portsmouth Harbour was officially removed from the authority of Southampton, to which it had been paying taxes for one millennium.

The first convicts sent to Australia left from Portsmouth
In 1787, at Sally Port in Old Portsmouth, the first convicts to be transported to Australia were sent to Botany Bay, in a flotilla of 11 ships carrying nearly 800 prisoners.

Portsmouth FC held the FA Cup for seven years
Portsmouth Football Club held the FA Cup longer than any other team. They won it in 1939 and, because the competition wasn't held during the Second World War, they were the holders until 1946, when it was won by Derby County.

HG Wells worked in Portsmouth as a young man
The author and social commentator was apprenticed to a draper in Southsea, Portsmouth, in 1880. The creator of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds also wrote Kipps, the story of a young man apprenticed to a draper.