Events that have altered Leeds

• Leeds suffered one of its worst ever disasters in December 1975 when fire ravaged Kirkgate Market.
• Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe – the Yorkshire Ripper – butchered 13 women during a reign of terror that began in 1975.

• The miners’ strike of 1984 and 1985 put Yorkshire at the heart of a titanic struggle between Margaret Thatcher’s government and union leader Arthur Scargill’s pitworkers.

• The eyes of the entertainment world repeatedly turned to Leeds during the 1980s as Roundhay Park played host to some of the biggest names in music. Acts hitting the stage included The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Genesis and Madonna. U2 and Robbie Williams also rocked Roundhay Park in 1997 and 2006 respectively.

• Thousands of well-wishers packed Leeds’s Millennium Square in 2001 to greet former South African leader Nelson Mandela during his first official trip to the north of England.
• First ever M&S

• Developed the x-ray

• Last gas lit cinema (Hyde park picture house)

• Leeds United played the first black FA Cup finalist

• First ever film 

• Leeds is the inspiration behind pudsey bear 

• Sir Edmund Happold was born in Leeds in 1930

• Leeds is home to the longest running West Indian carnival in Europe
• Hosted the worlds biggest wedding
• Kaiser Chiefs 
• 100,000 people pass through Leeds train station everyday 
• Live at Leeds by the who
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