Architecture, art and a celebration of diversity - our definitive A to Z of Bradford

A is for ALHAMBRA - This Bradford theatre celebrated its centenary in 2014 and remains a hugely popular venue for touring productions, which regularly fill all 1,400 seats. Coming up this year is Chicago, Billy Elliot, Wicked and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins. And the 18th pantomime presentation by Billy Pearce. What’s not to like?

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B is for BROADWAY - This £260m retail and leisure complex in the heart of the city centre was opened last year after almost a decade of delay but its presence has gone a long way to overcoming the sense of embarrassment at the ugly hole that was the butt of jokes for far too long. Locals now have fewer excuses to do their shopping in Leeds.

C is for CURRY - West Yorkshire is immensely proud to host the curry capital of the UK, with Bradford boasting a wider (and superior) range of Asian-inspired cafes and restaurants serving delicious authentic cuisine than anywhere else. Naming the best is difficult, because the quality is so consistently high, but if we were pushed...no, we’re not saying, go find out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

D is for DUKES - For many years the Bradford Dukes were one of the UK top speedway teams before folding in 1997. The Dukes’ home venue was Odsal Stadium, which hosted a crowd of 40,000 people for the 1985 Speedway World Championships. The club’s most successful rider was Gary Havelock, who was crowned world champion in 1992.

E is for EMILY BRONTE - The third eldest of the world’s most celebrated literary family will forever be remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights. Emily, whose pen-name was Ellis Bell, was born in Thornton but raised in Haworth along with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, and brother Bramwell. The Bronte’s legacy continues to draw millions of visitors to their former home at the Haworth parsonage, which is now a museum.

F is for FIRE - On May 11, 1985 football endured one of its darkest days when 56 people perished in a tragic fire at the Valley Parade home of Bradford City. A cigarette butt is believed to have ignited decades of litter beneath an ancient wooden grandstand. The incident led to sweeping reforms of ground safety regulations at UK sports grounds.

G is for GRAMMAR SCHOOL - Located in Frizinghall, this seat of learning founded in 1548 has an exemplary examinations record with 99 per cent of pupils achieving Grades A*-C at GCSE. Its alumni include composer Frederick Delius, former supermarket chairman Ken Morrison, Labour MP Denis Healey, Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer David Moorhouse and triathletes Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee.

H is for HOCKNEY, DAVID - The son of a conscientious objector, David Hockney was educated at Bradford Grammar before studying at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2009 one of his works, Beverly Hills Housewife, sold for a record £5.2m. Many of his works continue to be exhibited at Salts Mill, Saltaire. Now 78, Hockney has followed the example of generations of West Yorkshire senior citizens by retiring to Bridlington.

I is for IMMIGRATION - Bradford’s rise as an industrial powerhouse in Victorian times owed much to its readiness to harness the skills and labour of migrant workers from Germany and Ireland and the city has continued to be a haven for immigrants. After the Second World War an influx of workers from the old Empire, particularly Pakistan and Bangladesh, began arriving in Bradford to fulfil the demand for textile and engineering workers. Bradford is now one of Yorkshire’s most culturally diverse cities

J is for JOWETT - Set up by brothers Benjamin and William Jowett, Jowett produced a range of cars and light commercial vehicles from their factory at Idle between 1906 and 1953. The cars were famed for their ruggedness and Jowett was the first car brand to have its own enthusiasts’ club. Its post-War models, the Javelin and Jupiter, won awards at Le Mans and Monte Carlo but the marque folded due to production problems in 1953. Late Jowett Jupiters in showroom conditions currently change hands for around £22,000, 20 times the original price of £1,100.

K is for KIMBERLEY WALSH - Twenty consecutive Top 10 singles by Girls Aloud testify to the success of talent show TV, with Kimberley Walsh being one of five girls plucked from obscurity in 2002 to form the band on Popstars: The Rivals. Walsh, a former pupil at Beckfoot Grammar School, will marry her long-time partner Justin Scott later this month, when fellow Girls Aloud singers Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Nicola Roberts will be bridesmaids.

L is for LISTER PARK - Hailed in 2006 as Britain’s most popular park, Lister Park is named after Sir Samuel Cunliffe Lister, who sold it to the council in 1870. Seven of the buildings within the park have Grade II listing, including the Cartwright Hall art gallery.

M is for MILLS - Bradford boasted more than 350 mills in the mid-19th century when it was the most important textile centre in the British empire. Many fortunes were amassed by Bradford’s Victorian mill owners, few of whom showed any regard for the downtrodden and oppressed mill workers. One notable exception was philanthropist Titus Salt, who built a massive mill around a model village, Saltaire, five miles from the city centre. Saltaire is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

N is for NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM - This award-winning and hugely popular museum is spread across seven floors near the city centre and includes an IMAX cinema screen. Its permanent exhibits celebrate the story of TV and film, whilst visiting exhibitions focus on all other aspects of the media.

O is for ODSAL - The home of rugby league club Bradford Bulls sits high on a hill above the city and is an evocative sports stadium within a sunken bowl on the site of an old municipal tip. It was formed when a glacier ran out of steam millennia ago and you can still feel its ghostly chill, even at the height of summer. The biggest crowd ever at a rugby match in the UK gathered here in 1954, when over 102,000 people (police estimates were 120,000) watched a Challenge Cup final replay between Halifax and Warrington.

P is for PALS - In response to a call to arms by General Kitchener, many communities boosted the First World War effort by forming their own battalions, known as Pals. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, 1,060 Bradford Pals were cut down as they left their trenches. Kitchener and his fellow Generals weren’t particularly strong when it came to cunning plans.

Q is for QUEENSBURY - One of the highest parishes in Britain, Queensbury is home to the world famous Black Dyke Mills brass band, who were crowned European champions for a record 13th time in 2015. Contrary to popular belief, the Black Dyke Mills band do not play castanets: that’s just the musicians’ teeth chattering. It gets cold in Queensbury.

R is for RIOTS - On July 8 and 9, 2001 Bradford witnessed two dark shocking in the history of a city which had previously regarded its ethnic diversity as a source of celebration when over 1,000 white and Asian youths clashed on the streets. Millions of pounds of damage was caused to property, including the firebombing of the Manningham Labour Club and the city’s BMW dealership. Following the riots 200 jail sentences totalling 604 years were handed down.

S is SUPERMARKET - Bradford is famously home to the supermarket chain Morrisons, which was founded in 1899 by William Morrison as an egg and butter stall on Rawson market. The grocer has had a hard time in recent years and last week announced plans to axe 680 jobs. In December 2015 it fell out of the FTSE 100 but reported strong sales over the Christmas period.

T is for TROLLEYBUS - In 1911 the first trolleybus service in Britain began with a route between Laisterdyke and Dudley Hill. The service, which involved electric buses drawing power from overhead cables, was scrapped in March 1972. Ten Bradford trolleybuses are still on display in a transport museum at Sandtoft, Doncaster.

U is for UNDERCLIFFE CEMETERY - This Grade II-listed Victorian cemetery has been the resting place of many of the great (and not-so) good citizens of Bradford since it was opened in the mid-19th century. The cemetery features six graves with listed building status, including a monument to William Mawson, the architect whose firm designed St George’s Hall, Salts Mills, Saltaire village, Bradford town hall and the city’s Wool Exchange.

V is for VERVIERS - Bradford has been twinned with the Belgian city of Verviers since 1970. Both cities have a rich heritage of textiles and have often shared the title ‘Wool capital of the world’. Bradford is also twinned Roubaix, the destination of a famous French cycling race; Galway in Ireland; Skopje in Macedonia; and Mönchengladbach, Germany.

W is for WORST (OR BEST) PLACE TO LIVE - In October 2015 Bradford was labelled the UK’s least desirable place to live based on 26 factors which included employment rates, house prices, crime rates, life expectancy, average gross incomes and hours of sunshine. Yet a month earlier a survey by the Office for National Statistics concluded that people living in Bradford had higher levels of life satisfaction than the national or regional averages and the highest level in West Yorkshire. Must have been raining in October...

X is for AN-X - Based in Sunbridge Road, An-X has been kitting out young men (and a few silver foxes) in Bradford with top fashion labels since 1991. The shop, and its busy online department, enjoy great brand loyalty from customers.

Y is for YORKSHIRE RIPPER - Between 1975 and 1980, Bingley-born lorry driver Peter Sutcliffe wrought terror across the streets of West Yorkshire with a murder spree that claimed 13 victims, whose bodies were gruesomely mutilated. Sutcliffe was also found guilty of the attempted murder of seven other women and was sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences.

Z is for ZAYN MALIK - Eight years after Kimberley Walsh was plucked from obscurity to star in a made-for-TV pop group, former Tong High School student Zayn Malik followed in her footsteps to become a member of the boy band One Direction. With Malik in their line-up One Direction sold 50 million record. He left the group last March and is scheduled to release his first solo album in the next few months.

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