ABSTRACT
When the Golden Jubilee competition was announced in July 2001, a Scotland Office press release quoted the Scottish Secretary, Helen Liddell, as urging Scottish towns to 'think big' since this was 'a golden opportunity for a Scottish town to gain the prestige, confidence and identity that city status brings. The awarding of city status is a great honour, and hope that towns throughout Scotland will "think big" and put themselves forward.' Ayr, Paisley and Inverness Stirling reapplied, and Dumfries joined the queue. The results of the competition were announced on 14 March 2002 in a written answer to the House of Lords from the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, and a concurrent press release. The successful towns were Preston in England, Newport in Wales, Stirling in Scotland, and–the major surprise –Lisburn and Newry in Northern Ireland. Among the applicant towns there were celebrations and commiserations. The successful towns were all convinced that they were worthy of their new-found status.
