Uniquely Portsmouth
Hardback with 160 pages including over 200 photo's taken on and around Portsmouth - interviews with local artists, residents, politicians even Lord Mayors - the great and the good of this island city.
Admiral David Steel, Second Sea Lord, was second in command of HM Royal Navy, 2012–2015. A considerate and caring man, it is evident when you meet him that you are in the company of a person with gravitas as he works to ensure your comfort, while eager to show and share his passions.
READ MOREBorn and bred in Portsmouth, David is passionate about the city and its people. It is for him, he explains, a city made up of villages that meld and work together and where its populous live together harmoniously. Each village is discrete, with its own definitive identity, but they all come together as ‘Pompey’. Portsmouth, he says, is a place that is equal to the sum of its parts.
David is very proud to be from Portsmouth and very proud of the Royal Navy and what it brings to the city. While the navy has gone from an organisation that employed people on an industrial scale to a much-reduced outfit, it continues to keep Portsmouth firmly on the tourist map. The naval dockyards is home to its impressive historical fleet that includes HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Mary Rose, the only 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world.
With a population of just over 200,000, this makes Portsmouth the most densely populated city in the UK, outside London. Despite that, it doesn’t always feel so. Maybe because the coast is never more than three kilometres away, with its big sky, clear horizons and iridescent light. The relatively few high-rise buildings in the city also help to create a feeling of openness and space.
With 25.3 kilometres of coastline, the Island of Portsea is separated from mainland UK and greater Portsmouth by Portsbridge Creek to the north, Portsmouth Harbour to the west and Langstone Harbour to the east; it has three road bridges and one rail bridge providing access.
Being so well positioned on the coast, it is no wonder that Portsmouth has a long history of ships, sailing and the Royal Navy, one that has had a profound and lasting effect on the culture, economics, character and heritage of the city.
