by Malcolm Pheby | Aug 14, 2019 | Manchester, TV
The much-loved TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine may have been set in West Yorkshire, but most of its stars were born and bred in Manchester. No less than seven of the major characters, ranging from the redoubtable Nora Batty to war veteran Walter ‘Foggy’ Dewhurst,...
by Malcolm Pheby | Jul 24, 2019 | History, Manchester
This week in July 1858, an extraordinary woman was born in the Manchester suburb of Moss Side. A clue to her future lay in the political backgrounds of her parents, Sophia and Robert Goulden. A Manx woman, Sophia was steeped in the social unrest that characterised the...
by Malcolm Pheby | Jul 17, 2019 | Manchester, Music
Who would have thought that two of the most memorable one-hit wonders of all time would come out of Manchester? And that a children’s choir from a Stockport primary school would be heavily involved in both of them! The two singles were There’s No One Quite Like...
by Malcolm Pheby | May 8, 2019 | 1950s, Manchester
Belle Vue, the North West’s premier entertainment park, was going through a rough patch in 1954. The post-war boom, which saw crowds of 250,000 people at holiday weekends, was well and truly over. Attendances had declined and the zoo suffered bouts of vandalism and...
by Malcolm Pheby | Mar 20, 2019 | Football, Manchester
A little bit of history was made at Manchester City’s Hyde Road stadium when the Blues lined up to face Liverpool in March 1920. Football had just returned after the First World War – and the 35,000 crowd were expecting a very important visitor. The match officials...
by Malcolm Pheby | Mar 13, 2019 | 1960s, Manchester, Royals
The world was dazzled when Princess Margaret married photographer Antony Armstrong Jones at Westminster Abbey on May 6th 1960. It was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on TV – and more than 300 million people across the globe tuned in to watch it. At the time,...
