Curtain To Rise On UK's First City Of Culture

To nationalists on one side of the River Foyle, it is Derry. To unionists on the other, it is Londonderry. Now, they are uniting around one name: the UK City of Culture.

Northern Ireland's second largest city beat off stiff competition for the inaugural title - Birmingham, Norwich and Sheffield were shortlisted.

Those behind the successful bid had a rich heritage to draw on.

Martin Bradley, City of Culture chairman, said: "When you look at the prominent people who left the city - Nobel Peace Prize winners, Eurovision Song Contest winners, a Poet Laureate, Field Day, Peter Cunnah, The Undertones - the list is absolutely endless."

Changing the image will not be easy. The place is synonymous with 'The Troubles'. In 1972, British soldiers shot 13 people dead during a civil rights protest on the streets here.

John Kelly, whose brother Michael died on Bloody Sunday, said: "We're in a much better place after the public inquiry. It helped heal our people and heal the city.

"The Saville Report and (Prime Minister) David Cameron's apology helped move things forward."

For others, the war will never be over. Hard-line republicans are still making their presence felt. Terrorist attacks and paramilitary-style "punishment shootings" remain part of the culture in some areas.

Eamon McCann, Derry Journal columnist, said: "The ideology being promoted by what are called 'dissident republicans' is part of what we are in Derry. Are we not to admit that there are these tensions, that there's still this incipient murder?"

For the most part however, things have changed. Protestants and Catholics, previously separated by the river flowing through the centre of the city, have been connected by a peace bridge.

The British army barracks is now a concert venue and the year-long programme is diverse - from Britain's Royal Ballet to the All-Ireland Fleadh, the world's largest festival of Irish culture.

Derry, Londonderry or #Legenderry - the promotional hashtag on Twitter - it certainly has no shortage of names. Most residents would prefer that their city had only one reputation: culture, not conflict.