Preston is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding district obtained city status in 2002, becoming England's 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Preston has a population of 114,300, the City of Preston district 132,000 and the Preston Built-up Area 313,322. The Preston Travel To Work Area, in 2011, had a population of 420,661, compared with 354,000 in the previous census.
It is the place where Nick Park, the creator of Wallace & Gromit, was born and raised. In 2021, a statue bench based on The Wrong Trousers of Wallace (in the Techno Trousers) and Gromit was installed at the entrance to the covered market. In 2025, following the release of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, a statue of Feathers McGraw with his remote control was put nearby.
Trivia[]
- Wallace was named after an overweight Labrador retriever which Nick Park encountered while boarding a bus in this city; Park stated he thought it was "a funny name to give a dog".
- The antagonist Preston, from A Close Shave, is named after this city. He worried this would be received negatively by them, but it was not.[1]
- In the Cracking Contraptions episode "The Soccamatic", Wallace asks Gromit "How do you like my Preston North End Soccamatic?".
- In A Matter of Loaf and Death, the newspaper read at the beginning mentions "WIGAN TO MEET PRESTON IN CUP TIE".
- In the Jacob's commercial "Cracking", the newspaper being read by Gromit has the headline "MAN. UTD. - 0, PRESTON - 10.".
References[]
- ↑ A Close Shave commentary.