Belfast facts
Cotton on
Explore the weft and weave of the Belfast linen industry.
Museum of the citizens
A counterblast to mainstream, stuffy institutions, join us for a tour of Glasgow's People's Palace.
On the line
The transport revolution changed South Wales, Cardiff and the railways.
Twenty things you never knew about Belfast:
1. Titanic was built in Belfast
2. Tourism brings £123 million to Belfast every year
3. Belfast Zoo is home to the only group of purple-faced langurs in Europe
4. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast
5. Liam Neeson first trod the boards at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre
6. Napoleon’s nose overlooks the city
7. Queen’s University taught both Protestants and Catholics from 1845
8. Poet Seamus Heaney, David Trimble and Irish President Mary MacAleese are all alumni of Queen’s University
9. James Murray invented Milk of Magnesia in Belfast
10. Belfast’s famous cranes are called Samson and Goliath. Some women think they should be called Samson and Delilah Cranes
11. One third of the population of Northern Ireland lives in Belfast
12. Women could hold any office at Queen’s University in Belfast, twelve years before they could study at Oxford
13. Belfast has the world’s largest dry dock
14. Oscar Wilde thought that there was only one beautiful building in Belfast. It is now home to Marks and Spencer
15. Led Zeppelin’s 'Stairway to Heaven' was first played live in the Ulster Hall
16. The Albert Clock is Ireland’s leaning tower of Pisa
17. One and a half million tourists visit Belfast every year
18. Lord Kelvin came up with the 2nd law of thermodynamics in Belfast
19. The Glass Jar is the narrowest bar in the city
20. There are 3000 acres of park in Belfast
Take it further
Interested in finding more out about society and social issues, see the taking it further page?
Content last updated: 26/07/2008
