Things you didn't know about... Ipswich

Ipswich Town FC sports a horse favoured by Henry VIII
The badge of Ipswich Town FC, otherwise known as The Tractor Boys, features a Suffolk Punch horse, known since Henry VIII's time for its sporting prowess.

Chaucer's family came from Ipswich
Although his father and grandfather were vintners in London, Geoffrey Chaucer's family came from several generations of Ipswich merchants. Merchants, of course, are merrily lampooned in his Canterbury Tales.

Ipswich's artistic pedigree
Born and educated in Sudbury, Thomas Gainsborough spent many of his formative years in Ipswich, at 32 Foundation Street. One of the finest collections of his work outside of London can be found in the town's Christchurch Mansion. John Constable also worked in Ipswich for a time.

Sir Alf Ramsay proved his footballing pedigree in Ipswich
Sir Alf Ramsay, the only England football manager to win the World Cup—in 1966—had previously taken Ipswich Town FC from relative obscurity to First Division champions in just seven years. In Ipswich he is remembered with a statue in Sir Alf Ramsey Way.

Ipswich, still not quite a city
Ipswich has applied for city status twice, the first time just prior to the millennium and the second time for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. It has yet to be successful.

Admiral Lord Nelson was High Steward of Ipswich
Horatio Nelson, perhaps the greatest officer in the history of the Royal Navy, moved with his wife to Ipswich in 1797. He was High Steward of the town from 1800 to 1805, the year he was killed in battle by a sniper's bullet at Trafalgar.

Ipswich cleans up
Ipswich won the Cleanest Town category in the British Cleaning Council—Clean Britain Awards for 2007. In the same competition, Birmingham won Cleanest City, while Mendip won Cleanest District.

Ipswich launches first petrol lawnmower
Ipswich-based Ransomes, founded in 1789, was responsible for a number of design firsts, notably an advanced cast-iron ploughshare in 1803, the first steam plough in 1856, the world's first petrol-powered lawnmower in 1902, and the first battery-powered electric truck in 1920.

Henry VIII's confidant was born in Ipswich
Thomas Wolsey, the son of a well-to-do butcher and more famously Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, was born in Ipswich. It was Wolsey who built Hampton Court Palace on the River Thames in Richmond, and helped steer the king through his many marriages.

Ipswich-born Trevor Nunn hugs the spotlight
In 1968 theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn became the youngest-ever artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was just 27. Since then he's been knighted (2002) and won nine Olivier Awards.