For a long time, while I was at uni, my film of choice has been HP5, a classic 400 iso emulsion by Ilford.
To be totally honest with you, it wasn’t so much of an informed choice, as I only knew about FP4 and HP5 and I chose the latter simply because it was faster (FP4 is 125 iso speed) and I was shooting in available light, needing the extra speed.
At university we only had a kind of developer, ID11, and for three years I just shoot HP5 developed in ID11, happily ignoring the existence of whole of world of other films and developer combinations.
When I finished university and moved to London, I felt the urgency to do some research to be able to still shoot black and white film and to develop it at home.
It's beautiful here, isn't it? 