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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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city
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The term applies officially in Britain only to those towns which have been incorporated as cities by royal charter. In the past all such cities had cathedrals, and by extension it became the informal custom to describe any town with a cathedral as a city. The first large town without a cathedral to be granted the status of a city was Birmingham, in 1889.
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