Attic Attack: Base Ten

On Friday February 18, starting with cake and tea at 4:30 and then down the pub after the talk ends at 6, The New History Lab will join forces with The Attic to talk about the role of material culture in the study of history. To illustrate some approaches, we've set the theme for the session as "A History of Leicester in 10 Objects."

Base ten in a convenient array for counting: most of us have ten fingers and ten toes. This denary or decimal notation has been used by museums of late: we admit to having been inspired by the BBC and British Museum's joint project "A History of the World in 100 Objects". More locally, there have been other take-offs: "Leicestershire Revealed," which ran a subsidiary poll called "A History of Leicestershire in Ten Objects," and most recently, an architectural history slideshow called "The ten ages of Leicester buildings".

We have come up with our own list, and we guarantee you will be surprised at our shortlist. But we want to know what would be on your personal list of historic Leicester objects, and why? Are they iconic? Ephemeral? Historic or esoteric? Local or global?