Short answers, pulled from the story.
The city was renamed Kirov in December 1934 after the Soviet Bolshevik politician Sergey Kirov, who was assassinated on the 1st of December 1934. Notably, Kirov was born in nearby Urzhum and never visited the city that now bears his name.
The city's first written mention dates to 1374, when Novgorodian ushkuyniks plundered it. The "Tale of the Vyatka Country" places the founding in either 1181 or 1199, while archaeological evidence points to the middle-to-end of the thirteenth century.
The Dymkovo toy is a handmade clay figurine originating in the settlement of Dymkovo, now within the city limits of Kirov. Each toy is made by a single artisan from start to finish, and the Dymkovo ornament motifs were featured at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
Alexander Herzen, Alexander Vitberg, and the satirist Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin were all sent to Vyatka as places of internal exile during the tsarist period. The city later named a library after Herzen and a house-museum after Saltykov-Shchedrin.
The Assumption Cathedral, completed in 1689 during the reign of Alexis of Russia, is the town's oldest surviving monument. It is surmounted by five globular domes and remains a landmark in the historic center.
Rodina is Kirov's bandy club and competes in the highest division of the Russian Bandy League. Their home arena holds 7,500 spectators and hosted the national bandy final in 2013.