by Malcolm Pheby | Oct 10, 2018 | Celebrity, Manchester
Belle Vue has a special place in the heart of every Mancunian lucky enough to ride the Bobs, make a splash on the water chute or enjoy an ice-cream or two on a hot, sunny afternoon. It was the undisputed entertainment centre for the North West for more than 150 years,...
by Malcolm Pheby | Oct 10, 2018 | 1970s, Manchester, Music
It’s fair to say there was a seismic shift in the Manchester music scene during 1968. Freddie and the Dreamers split up after a lack of chart success, Graham Nash left The Hollies and The Mindbenders folded after their latest album and single flopped. A potent mix of...
by Malcolm Pheby | Oct 3, 2018 | Manchester, Theatre
Playwright Noel Coward was in exceptionally high spirits when his play of the same name opened at Manchester’s Palace Theatre in October 1964. It was a double celebration for the legendary impresario as another of his plays, Hay Fever, had started its run at the Opera...
by Malcolm Pheby | Sep 19, 2018 | Manchester, Music
Few would mention Manchester group Simply Red in the same breath as the Sex Pistols. One was renowned for polished, soulful vocals – the other for raw, rasping power. But the lineage of Simply Red, like so many Manchester bands of the 1970s, can be traced directly...
by Malcolm Pheby | Aug 1, 2018 | Football, Manchester
Manchester United and Liverpool are old hands at playing each in the annual curtain-raiser to the season – the Community Shield. The close rivals have notched up five memorable clashes between them – in 1965, 1977, 1983, 1990 and 2001. Liverpool won in 2001, United in...
by Malcolm Pheby | Aug 1, 2018 | 1960s, Manchester, Music
It had to be one of the oddest encounters of the 1960s… Wacky Manchester pop group Freddie and the Dreamers rolled up at Longleat House in August 1965 to a play a gig for the aristocratic Marquess of Bath. Lead singer Freddie Garrity, all five foot three of him, went...
