Category Archives: Leicester

Thinking of renting a holiday home in Leicester?

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Sunday Mirror

Stuart Hall, 48, a digital marketing all-rounder with an entrepreneurial streak lives with his partner Shirley Prudencio, 46, an accountant, in a former Cotton Mill converted apartment in Leicester. To help pay for their holidays, they’ve decided to rent their home out whilst they are away.

“We live in a Grade II listed converted textile factory right in the centre of Leicester. We have one bedroom, a bathroom and a huge living area with the original Victorian wooden floors.

“Shirley is from Brazil and the idea first came about because we are saving up to go to Brazil for the World Cup next year. Shirley suggested we look into renting our place out to provide some extra income whilst we’re away.

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“Then a couple of days after seeing the King Richard III discovery, I saw an ad on the Tube whilst I was in London, promoting the fact that Holiday Lettings is encouraging people to think about renting out their home whilst they’re away, so after the discovery we decided to go for it and list our home on the site as we believe it is one of the best places to stay in the centre of the city.

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“We had a look at the other properties on the Holidaylettings.co.uk site to gauge what to charge for our place. We realised we are not as posh as the country cottages on there and so we made this place cheaper than those and settled on £45 a night, all included.

“We’re super excited it’s already been rented out for three weeks in June, a French professor has taken it for a month whilst he’s lecturing at the university and another lady has taken a week next January.

“We’re going to try and ensure that we don’t spend as much as we are being paid on holidays that we take when this place is rented so that we can put some of the money towards our Brazil trip next year. And, my parents live nearby so if someone wants to rent here and we don’t want to go away at that time, we can always stay with them for a few days.

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Spotted the Back to the Future film poster?

“It’s been fun getting the place ready for letting out. We’re writing up a guide to using everything here and we aim to be here to give the tenant a key and walk them around the place.

“We’re a bit nervous about letting a stranger stay here, and we may lock a few of our more personal items away, but I think sharing your belongings is part of the fun of it. We’ve got a huge bookshelf of books and videos and I’d be happy for our guests to browse through it. It will help to give them a flavour of the people they are renting from and hopefully this will mean that they are more likely to treat the place well if they feel like they know us.

“The Holiday Lettings site website is really helpful and it has advice for property owners on how to prepare your home for paying guests, insurance implications, etc. We already have a handy man who will be on call whilst we’re away if any problems occur with the property. We think we have everything covered. So we’re really looking forward to welcoming our first paying guests.”

To find out about renting Stuart and Shirley’s apartment, either as a holiday apartment or for business, when you stay in Leicester please visit http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/330258 or email me at stuarth [at] stuart [dash] hall [dot] com

Written by: Anna Tobin
Published: The Sunday Mirror May 12, 2013

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Images of Richard III’s grave and skeleton

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It’s official, the body is that of King Richard III. Congratulations to the team at the University of Leicester. Plus congrats, to Philippa Langley who persuaded Leicester City Council to go ahead with the excavation in the first place, and the Richard III Society (who’s website is being updated, no doubt to take account of the tremendous news).

The Mayor Peter Soulsby also confirmed the remains will be interred in Leicester Cathedral, which is likely to be early next year. There will be a temporary exhibition in the Leicester Guildhall on 8th February.

Key to establishing the identity beyond reasonable doubt was the results of the DNA test. Dr Turi King, project geneticist, said there had been concern DNA in the bones would be too degraded:

“The question was could we get a sample of DNA to work with, and I am extremely pleased to tell you that we could.”

She added: “There is a DNA match between the maternal DNA of the descendants of the family of Richard III and the skeletal remains we found at the Greyfriars dig.

“In short, the DNA evidence points to these being the remains of Richard III.”

Note: It was suggested by Jo Appleby, an osteologist at Leicester (pictured below), that King Richard III lost his helmet in battle, due to wounds to his head, and wounds also included post-mortum ‘humiliation injuries’. This included wounds to the buttocks, maybe to his body as carried by horse to the city of Leicester from the Battle of Bosworth. Here are a few pics taken live from the press conference, but you can also see the University of Leicester pics in full on Owly.

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I played a very small part in this process, after being contacted by the Leicester Civic Society I was one of many who contacted Channel 4 to suggest they run with an idea for a documentary, which they eventually agreed to, and which shows tonite as a “world exclusive” at 9pm. Oh, and in true #thinslicing manner I set up the FourSquare check-in for ‘Body of King Richard III’ before the dig was announced. Though that hasn’t got much traction as yet, that may change once the visitor centre is open.

My email with reference to my own documentary attempt with a more modern historical figure (Dr Martin Luther King), above and the story of how the site of his death and it’s use as a means of urban regeneration become a controversial story in itself in Memphis.