Transcript Of Narration
2012 marked the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens and Portsmouth hosted many events and readings from his books to help celebrate the author who was born in the city. The festivities this year took the theme of Great Expectations to help celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens.
In 2012 the United Kingdom hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Games with Portsmouth playing its part in the huge events and celebrations. On 15th July the Olympic Torch came to Portsmouth and wound through Portsmouth s streets, through Guildhall Square which was an official Live Site and onto Southsea Common where a huge evening celebration took place. Then early on Monday 16th July the Olympic Torch left Portsmouth Football club where an event for Schools took place and made its way out of the city.
In 2014 Portsmouth helped mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day with a special amphibious landing on Southsea beach and arena events on Southsea Common. Also in 2014 the Royal Marines celebrated their 350th anniversary and the Royal Marines Museum held a variety of events ranging from lectures to 'Sea Soldiers' an event showing the history of the marines and culminating in a battle.
HMS Queen Elizabeth one of the new aircraft carriers entered Portsmouth for the first time on 16th August 2017 and was commissioned on 7th December 2017 in Portsmouth.
On Wednesday 5th June 2019 Portsmouth hosted the national commemorations for D-Day 75 with events running until Sunday 9th June 2019. On the morning of 5th June Southsea Common hosted the national commemorations which were attended by invited guests including senior Royal, political and military representatives from around the world. The event told the story of the build-up to D-Day through a programme of live music, performance and testimonials.
On Saturday 16th November 2019 HMS Prince of Wales entered Portsmouth for the first time. On Monday 16th December at Portsmouth the F35 jet took off for the first time in the UK from the new carrier series of ships.
So lets wait to see what the future has got in store for Portsmouth, lets hope the new millennium will allow Portsmouth to be as great a success as the last millennium.
