Wolverhampton, England

Wolverhampton is an industrial and commercial city in the West Midlands, England. Wolverhampton became a city in the year 2000. In 2003 the city has a population of 256,000. The city was named after the Lady Wulfruna[?].

Wolverhampton lies north west of its larger, neighbouring city Birmingham, and forms the second largest part of the West Midlands conurbation[?]. However, it also borders the Staffordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire countryside, making a walk in the countryside only a short (less than five mile) drive away.

A most common abbreviation of the city's name is W'ton and Wolverhampton lends it's name to the surrounding area's postcodes, which begin with WV.

The rock group Slade and the one hit wonder Babylon Zoo[?] came from Wolverhampton, as does soul / R&B singer Beverley Knight[?]. Wolverhampton has a number of live music venues[?]: the biggest is technically the Molineux stadium, but the biggest indoor venue is the Wolverhampton Civic Hall[?][1] (http://www.wolvescivic.co.uk), with a capacity of 3,000. Second to that is the Wulfrun Hall[?] which has a capacity of just over 1,100 and which sits on the same block as the Civic. There are also a number of smaller venues with capacities between 100 and 250: the Little Civic[?] and the Wolverhampton Varsity being the most longstanding of these.

Wolverhampton is represented in the English Premier League by Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

The area around the city is also known as the Black Country because for a short period during Victorian times the output of the coal mines in the area was greater than the rest of the world combined.

Wolverhampton was represented politically in Victorian times by the Liberal MP Charles Pelham Villiers, a noted free trade supporter, who was also the longest serving MP in parliamentry history. He was followed in more recent times by Conservative mavericks Enoch Powell and Nicholas Budgen.

External link

• City council website (http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk)
• Express & Star town and city guide: Wolverhampton (http://www.expressandstar.com/es/features/community/townguides/wolves.shtml)
• Wolverhampton City PCT (http://www.wolverhamptonhealth.nhs.uk), Wolverhampton's NHS Primary Care Trust[?]
• The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals (http://www.royalwolverhamptonhospitals.nhs.uk/), Wolverhampton's acute hospital
• Wolverhampton Linux Users Group (http://www.wolveslug.org.uk)