Of course, today you’re more likely to find a skinny-jeaned hipster singing odes about the perils of eating meat in Piccadilly Gardens than a priest preaching about it. The more things change… Alan Turing I am someone, as you might have realised, who likes looking at water (canals or river, not the water I am supposed to drink or bathe in). Hence one of my favourite places to walk is along the canal in Castlefield, near Albert’s Shed and Dukes 92. If possible, I tend to take my friends there when they visit Manchester. It feels so peaceful even if there are people around. People’s History Museum: “ the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future.“ The success of Queer As Folk in turn made RTD one of the most powerful writers in British television. When the BBC were courting him, the Manchester resident and lifelong fan used his bargaining power to broker a deal that would see Doctor Who return to TV screens. Chemistry Some of the other fun ones I have been to are The Courtyard, Twenty Twenty Two (where you can also play ping pong!) and The Paramount, although, it’s very important for me to mention that The Paramount belongs to the Wetherspoons chain, and several people, including me, are boycotting Wetherspoons due to their absolute horrible treatment of their employees during the Covid 19 pandemic. I am not actually going to pubs during this pandemic in a city as crowded as Manchester, but if I do, Wetherspoons is definitely not going to be one of them.

The city centre itself is wonderful stretching from Ancoats to Castlefield along a grubby street and canal network with architecture that marries modernity and history. It has the Northern Quarter awash with independent shops with Fred Aldous and Unitom at its epicentre in the surprisingly photogenic Stevenson Square. An NME writer who covered the Madchester scene at the time and then later wrote And God Created Manchester. David Burgess and I had a bit of an exchange of conversation about The Venue (The Olden days! ha) and he passed onto you a little hello from me on Saturday, Nonetheless, while it lasted, the sense of creative possibility was real and intense. Oakenfold remembers Spike Island fondly, from his vantage point in a DJ booth up on a tower: “It was electric, a sea of people. It came right in the middle of something that was changing music - and we knew it. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m part of this!’” Squelching 303 basslines and rattlesnake high-hats to the long-haired baggy sound of “Madchester” and twisted melons.Kagoules, practical necessities in rain-drenched Manchester, became fashion accessories nationwide. Like the lists above, this list gives a glimpse of the several restaurants that Manchester offers. One of my favourite restaurants is Zouk Tea Bar and Grill. It is an Indian and Pakistani restaurant that is delightful and I cannot recommend it enough. Indian food is not cheap in the UK, at least in most Indian restaurants, so it may not be ideal if you are looking for somewhere casual and cheap to eat at. But I promise, the food in Zouk is amazing and totally worth the price. Another favourite authentic Indian restaurant is Indian Tiffin Room, which specialises in street food and serves both North Indian and South Indian food, a rare thing to see in the UK. I had my Maharashtrian cravings satisfied when I had a vada pav here! You can also get pani puri. Yummm. Mughli Charcoal Pit and Dishoom are two other fantastic Indian restaurants in the city.

On assignment with the group, Walsh planted the seeds of his future success. It wasn’t until he began to shoot Manchester’s clubs and venues that his niche was unearthed, with a memorable wide-angle shot of the Hacienda and a picture of the club door. After refining his skills on the course, it was when he took his photos to City Life magazine (the equivalent of London’s Time Out magazine) that everything started to fall into place. They hired him, and so initiated his shift from shooting the dance floors to shooting the artists on stage. in the widest pair of flares we had ever seen, we all looked at each other and just burst out laughing to which you said "Ay everyone will be wearing these soon" John Rylands Library: Another place I always take my friends to if they are visiting! With architecture based on neo-gothic style, this beautiful library was officially opened to public on 1st January 1900! It was founded by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her husband John Rylands. It is a wonderful city and one I still love, 27 years after leaving and one month after returning to it.

Here’s an illustrated shortlist of a few things we have gifted the world. Votes For Women Photo: Pankhurst Trust Walsh defines the turning point in his career as being assigned to go and shoot a Wednesday club night at the Hacienda called “Hot”, where he recalls looking around and thinking “What the hell is going on?”. The club dynamic had seemingly changed overnight, everyone in the club was absolutely going for it and were off their heads, the music had changed and everyone was wearing baggy sweatshirts, t-shirts, and dungarees. Walsh contrasts the style with an earlier picture he’d taken at the club; three boys standing on a podium wearing ties, waistcoats, and Ted Baker shirts. Kevin Godley spoke of 10cc’s “all for one and one for all” attitude and “very northern work ethic” as the principles that enabled the band to develop as both top-tier producers and ultimately as internationally acclaimed songwriters and artists. So that was it, I was on the stage and I was about six feet away from Shaun Ryder. I remember processing the pictures and one of them was Shaun with a joint in his hand looking straight at the camera, all I could think was “Wow these are actually alright.” So I sent the pictures down to the NME, and to my surprise, I got a call a few days later from the live editor Helen Mead: “Do you want to work for us up North?” If not for the pop-flavored tunes, sweet vocal harmonies, and camp Mancunian accents that have always carried their songs, the Bee Gees would probably have been just another pop or disco group. However, by harnessing both of these genres simultaneously — thanks to their own upbringing in the midst of the Brit-beat scene, as well as the influence of soul producer Arif Mardin who introduced disco rhythms to their writing — the Gibb brothers were able to craft a fusion of forces that shook up the music world and continues to have seismic after-effects to this day.

A once-dominant source of entertainment in the Manchester area, Music Hall music and humor continued to linger on into the 20th century, morphing into new forms and arenas. Lancastrian George Formby emerged from this tradition. His ukulele-driven comedic songs brought him super-stardom on film screens and stages in Britain, while establishing musical aesthetics that the nation would inherit into its subsequent home-grown popular music. I remember you wouldn't take anything off me for the tape, so I bought you a little rag doll that you hung up behind you in the dj booth, the memories are endless, another Formed from two already established songwriting teams, Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman accounted for the “pop” side of the creative equation while Kevin Godley and Lol Creme brought the “art” quotient. All multi-instrumentalists, singers, writers, and producers, from their pool of eclectic talents emerged a body of songs that greatly impacted British music throughout the seventies. It’s not all kitchen sink inventions; luxury gets a look-in too. Manchester is also the city in which Henry Royce created the first model of his world famous car. The Football League The oldest library in the English speaking world opened in Manchester. The year was 1653. VegetarianismBootcut jeans and cords were essential. Clarks Wallabees in suede, Adidas Gazelles and shell-toed Superstars were go-to footwear. Yogi shoes with negative heels filtered through in the late 1990s. Another recurrent feature of Manchester music has been a sense of humor that has likewise defined the larger city’s recognized personality. This wit — irreverent, rude, raw, sarcastic, subversive — again has its roots in the consolidation of the working class bloc during the industrial revolution. Serving to provide a relief escape from the long working hours and urban squalor were the Music Halls, which offered satirical songs and skits that spoke to these hardships while they also often commented upon the exploitations of the ruling classes. While the 10cc boys used Strawberry Studios to record such local notables as Herman’s Hermits and Wayne Fontana, they also used the space to work on their own burgeoning material. Kevin Godley has spoken of their “all for one and one for all” attitude and “very northern work ethic” as the principles that enabled the band to develop as both top-tier producers and ultimately as internationally acclaimed songwriters and artists.

It was a penny and pill drop moment and Walsh knew that whatever it was that was happening, he wanted to be there with his camera.Opened in 1761, the Bridgewater Canal was the first artificial waterway fully independent of natural rivers. Don’t get us started on Liverpool. Railway Certainly the warmest, most down-to-earth accent in the UK. If not; the world. Manchester City Airport insist that their call centre staff speak to customers in an authentic Mancunian accent. For those that are not au fait with typical Northern dialect, a linguistics specialist is on hand to help newbies with the local accent. Presumably operators are able to answer the phone with “alright our kid are you sorted?” The Sixth Day Weatherall would produce Primal Scream’s cornerstone album Screamadelica. “There were no boundaries,” Gillespie remembers. Weatherall also remixed My Bloody Valentine’s Soon for Creation (“I forced that one on the band,” laughs McGee, “and I was right to”) as well as James, Saint Etienne and many more. Farley connected with such bands as the Soup Dragons, from the Glasgow suburbs, and Scousers the Farm. Peter Hooton, Farm frontman, says Farley’s touch made them “the toast of London”, while Farley says: “It was the Farm reaching out to me that got my career off and running.” Barry Gibb’s patented falsetto trills can be heard in Fischerspooner, Har Mar Superstar, Ladytron, while pop acts like the Scissor Sisters and provocateurs like Peaches have used the Bee Gees as a reference point in their wry deconstructions of gender and sexual identities.