Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate between the towns of Luton, Bedfordshire and Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The unusual name "Hoo" is a Saxon word meaning the spur of a hill, and is more commonly associated with East Anglia.
Luton Hoo is not mentioned in the Domesday book, but a family called de Hoo occupied a manor house on the site for four centuries, until the death of Lord Thomas Hoo in 1455. The manor passed through many notable Someries' families through the centuries, from the family de Hoo, to the family Rotherham, to the family Napier. Successive houses on the site seem to have changed hands several times until in 1762 the then owner, Francis Hearne (MP for Bedford), sold the estate for £94,700 to John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. Following an unhappy period as Prime Minister from 1762 to 1763, Bute decided to concentrate his energies on his Bedfordshire estate at Luton Hoo.
Luton (i/ˈluːtən/ LOOT-ən,local /ˈluːʔən/) is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire, England. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. It is located 20 miles (30 km) east of Aylesbury, 14 miles (20 km) west of Stevenage, 30 miles (50 km) north-northwest of London, and 22 miles (40 km) southeast of Milton Keynes.
Luton is home to League Two team Luton Town Football Club, whose history includes several spells in the top flight of the English league as well as a Football League Cup triumph in 1988. They play at Kenilworth Road stadium, which has been their home since 1905.
London Luton Airport, opened in 1938, is one of England's major airports. During the Second World War it doubled as an RAF base.
The University of Bedfordshire is based in the town.
The Luton Carnival, which has traditionally been held on the Whitsun May bank holiday, is the largest one-day carnival in Europe. It has for the past two years been held on the Sunday instead. In 2012, it was moved to July to coincide with the Olympic Torch Relay and celebrations.
Luton is a large town in Bedfordshire. It may also refer to the following.
Luton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.
The Bedfordshire Southern or Luton constituency was created for the 1885 general election as a county division of Bedfordshire, when the former Bedfordshire county constituency was abolished.
Luton became a borough constituency in 1950 ().
At the February 1974 general election the Borough constituency was abolished, and replaced by two new borough constituencies: Luton East and Luton West.
1885-1918: The Municipal Boroughs of Dunstable and Luton, the Sessional Divisions of Leighton Buzzard, Luton, and Woburn, and part of the Sessional Division of Ampthill.
1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Dunstable and Luton, and the Rural District of Luton.
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Luton except the wards of Leagrave and Limbury.