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Manchester doesn’t seem to be a city of history in the same way as places such as York or Canterbury. It’s not very old and only really grew up in the last two hundred years. Yet this city contains a number of historical secrets: the victory of people over the King, world revolution and the Cold war, the right to vote and the creation and spread of modern rock music all owe a debt to Manchester. Ben Worthy explains why…
Charles The first
In 1644, Charles the First gathered his army to fight the decisive battle of the civil war on the site where East Didsbury library now stands. The army then marched off to Naseby, where it was destroyed by Cromwell's army. Charles escaped but he had lost the war and five years later he was publicly beheaded. So Didsbury library now stands as the first site in a chain of events that led Britain to be the first country to execute its own monarch `chosen by God', and attempt government by Parliament.
Marx and Engels
Karl Marx and his co-writer Friedrich Engels used information from Manchester's industrialisation to develop the historical theories that resulted in Marxism and later Communism during the mid to late nineteenth century. Engels lived on the site of what is now Whitworth Park. Karl Marx used the old John Rylands library for research and the books he annotated can still be seen. Later, Engels used the post box outside Whitworth Park to post Marx further research results. The Cold War, Lenin, Stalin, nuclear standoff and all the other events that shaped the modern world all, in a sense, stem from research carried out by Marx and Engels in Manchester.
The Free Trade Hall
The site of the free trade hall on Peter Street in Deansgate has been home to three different historical and cultural turning points.
Before the Free Trade Hall was built the so-called `Peterloo Massacre' occurred on the field that used to stand there. In 1819, a group of workers demanding the right to vote marched from nearby Rochdale and gathered on the site. Mounted troops supposed to guard the procession and keep order panicked and charged into the protestors. Although the number of deaths and injuries are open to dispute, the event became a key milestone and defining event in the British people obtaining the right to vote.
For this reason a group of wealthy merchants built upon the site the `Free Trade Hall' as a forum for social and political functions to promote fairness and equality.
In 1966, Bob Dylan and his backing band, The Hawks, played here as part of one of the most controversial and influential tours ever. Dylan, the `darling' of the left wing folk scene had recently gone electric, rejecting protest music for symbolism and solo acoustic performances for an electric band. The `folk' sections of his fan base were outraged. Matters came to a head at Manchester Free Trade Hall. A member of the audience shouted `Judas' and Bob Dylan, calling the fan a liar launched into “like a rolling stone' ordering his band to play “fu cking loud”. Thus, Bob Dylan's successfully drowned out the opposition, merging sophisticated poetic language with electric guitar and shifting popular music to a new level, as his methods and direction were copied by the Beatles, the emerging Rolling Stones and a wave of new bands.
In 1976, the sex pistol's played their first gig outside of London to a poorly attended crowd in the Free Trade Hall. Yet, this thin showing contained the members of a wave of future bands such as Joy Division, The Fall, The Buzzcocks and the Smiths. These bands subsequently turned Manchester into the second city of punk, leading to a host of independent record companies and a reputation for musical innovation that continues to this day.
Urban Myths
Given Manchester's influence upon modern culture and history, a huge number of `urban myths' continue to circulate in Manchester. Here are two of the most interesting:
The Clash
The Clash recorded one of their greatest singles in a now closed studio located on Oldham Street. During the recording two cheeky scally kids talked their way into the studio and were allowed by Joe Strummer to sit in on the session. The two boys were named Ian Brown and John Squires. They went on to form one of the most innovative bands in Manchester history, The Stone Roses who helped launch the so-called “second summer of love” in 1990 and whose influence continues to be felt to this day. It is said that Joe Strummer recalled these two boys and became one of the Stone Roses first supporters, speaking about them on, of all places, Wogan in 1989.
There is little hard evidence for this story but the Stone Roses music does owe a debt to the Clash and The Clash had a reputation for welcoming and recalling visits by fans.
Adolf Hitler, The Midland Hotel and Rochdale town hall.
This is without doubt one of the most curious and compelling urban myth's connected to Manchester.
The story is that Adolf Hitler greatly admired the Midland Hotel in St. Peter's square. Following the successful invasion of Britain, he personally ordered that the hotel serve as the head quarters for the Nazi occupation forces in the North-West. Hitler's admiration for the Midland hotel is nothing, it is said, compared to his obsession with Rochdale town hall, which, he thought to be one of the most striking buildings in the world. Indeed, the myth claims that once Hitler had conquered Britain he intended to move Rochdale town hall, brick-by-brick, to pride of place in the radically redesigned German capital of “Germania”, where it was to sit alongside 200 foot high statues and vast floodlit victory arches.
There is no evidence for this story whatsoever but it is, perhaps, so odd that it may be true. Adolf Hitler did have a bizarre taste in architecture and both the Midland hotel and Rochdale town hall fitted the dictator's rather grandiose tastes. He also would have been quite prepared to move entire buildings across continents.
This myth continues to circulate and change. I told this story to a Mancunian who looked surprised and said that he had heard a different story, that the University of Manchester's architecture building was based upon a design by Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and only true friend.
Manchester is a historic city. Like the city itself, the stories it creates are weird, wonderful and contradictory. It is these contrasts and contradictions that make Manchester such an interesting, lively, and sometimes weird, place to live.
Charles The first
In 1644, Charles the First gathered his army to fight the decisive battle of the civil war on the site where East Didsbury library now stands. The army then marched off to Naseby, where it was destroyed by Cromwell's army. Charles escaped but he had lost the war and five years later he was publicly beheaded. So Didsbury library now stands as the first site in a chain of events that led Britain to be the first country to execute its own monarch `chosen by God', and attempt government by Parliament.
Marx and Engels
Karl Marx and his co-writer Friedrich Engels used information from Manchester's industrialisation to develop the historical theories that resulted in Marxism and later Communism during the mid to late nineteenth century. Engels lived on the site of what is now Whitworth Park. Karl Marx used the old John Rylands library for research and the books he annotated can still be seen. Later, Engels used the post box outside Whitworth Park to post Marx further research results. The Cold War, Lenin, Stalin, nuclear standoff and all the other events that shaped the modern world all, in a sense, stem from research carried out by Marx and Engels in Manchester.
The Free Trade Hall
The site of the free trade hall on Peter Street in Deansgate has been home to three different historical and cultural turning points.
Before the Free Trade Hall was built the so-called `Peterloo Massacre' occurred on the field that used to stand there. In 1819, a group of workers demanding the right to vote marched from nearby Rochdale and gathered on the site. Mounted troops supposed to guard the procession and keep order panicked and charged into the protestors. Although the number of deaths and injuries are open to dispute, the event became a key milestone and defining event in the British people obtaining the right to vote.
For this reason a group of wealthy merchants built upon the site the `Free Trade Hall' as a forum for social and political functions to promote fairness and equality.
In 1966, Bob Dylan and his backing band, The Hawks, played here as part of one of the most controversial and influential tours ever. Dylan, the `darling' of the left wing folk scene had recently gone electric, rejecting protest music for symbolism and solo acoustic performances for an electric band. The `folk' sections of his fan base were outraged. Matters came to a head at Manchester Free Trade Hall. A member of the audience shouted `Judas' and Bob Dylan, calling the fan a liar launched into “like a rolling stone' ordering his band to play “fu cking loud”. Thus, Bob Dylan's successfully drowned out the opposition, merging sophisticated poetic language with electric guitar and shifting popular music to a new level, as his methods and direction were copied by the Beatles, the emerging Rolling Stones and a wave of new bands.
In 1976, the sex pistol's played their first gig outside of London to a poorly attended crowd in the Free Trade Hall. Yet, this thin showing contained the members of a wave of future bands such as Joy Division, The Fall, The Buzzcocks and the Smiths. These bands subsequently turned Manchester into the second city of punk, leading to a host of independent record companies and a reputation for musical innovation that continues to this day.
Urban Myths
Given Manchester's influence upon modern culture and history, a huge number of `urban myths' continue to circulate in Manchester. Here are two of the most interesting:
The Clash
The Clash recorded one of their greatest singles in a now closed studio located on Oldham Street. During the recording two cheeky scally kids talked their way into the studio and were allowed by Joe Strummer to sit in on the session. The two boys were named Ian Brown and John Squires. They went on to form one of the most innovative bands in Manchester history, The Stone Roses who helped launch the so-called “second summer of love” in 1990 and whose influence continues to be felt to this day. It is said that Joe Strummer recalled these two boys and became one of the Stone Roses first supporters, speaking about them on, of all places, Wogan in 1989.
There is little hard evidence for this story but the Stone Roses music does owe a debt to the Clash and The Clash had a reputation for welcoming and recalling visits by fans.
Adolf Hitler, The Midland Hotel and Rochdale town hall.
This is without doubt one of the most curious and compelling urban myth's connected to Manchester.
The story is that Adolf Hitler greatly admired the Midland Hotel in St. Peter's square. Following the successful invasion of Britain, he personally ordered that the hotel serve as the head quarters for the Nazi occupation forces in the North-West. Hitler's admiration for the Midland hotel is nothing, it is said, compared to his obsession with Rochdale town hall, which, he thought to be one of the most striking buildings in the world. Indeed, the myth claims that once Hitler had conquered Britain he intended to move Rochdale town hall, brick-by-brick, to pride of place in the radically redesigned German capital of “Germania”, where it was to sit alongside 200 foot high statues and vast floodlit victory arches.
There is no evidence for this story whatsoever but it is, perhaps, so odd that it may be true. Adolf Hitler did have a bizarre taste in architecture and both the Midland hotel and Rochdale town hall fitted the dictator's rather grandiose tastes. He also would have been quite prepared to move entire buildings across continents.
This myth continues to circulate and change. I told this story to a Mancunian who looked surprised and said that he had heard a different story, that the University of Manchester's architecture building was based upon a design by Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and only true friend.
Manchester is a historic city. Like the city itself, the stories it creates are weird, wonderful and contradictory. It is these contrasts and contradictions that make Manchester such an interesting, lively, and sometimes weird, place to live.
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Manchester doesn’t seem to be a city of history in the same way as places such as York or Canterbury. It’s not very old and only really grew up in the last two hundred years. Yet this city contains a number of historical secrets: the victory of people over the King, world revolution and the Cold war, the right to vote and the creation and spread of modern rock music all owe a debt to Manchester. Ben Worthy explains why…
Charles The first
In 1644, Charles the First gathered his army to fight the decisive battle of the civil war on the site where East Didsbury library now stands. The army then marched off to Naseby, where it was destroyed by Cromwell's army. Charles escaped but he had lost the war and five years later he was publicly beheaded. So Didsbury library now stands as the first site in a chain of events that led Britain to be the first country to execute its own monarch `chosen by God', and attempt government by Parliament.
Marx and Engels
Karl Marx and his co-writer Friedrich Engels used information from Manchester's industrialisation to develop the historical theories that resulted in Marxism and later Communism during the mid to late nineteenth century. Engels lived on the site of what is now Whitworth Park. Karl Marx used the old John Rylands library for research and the books he annotated can still be seen. Later, Engels used the post box outside Whitworth Park to post Marx further research results. The Cold War, Lenin, Stalin, nuclear standoff and all the other events that shaped the modern world all, in a sense, stem from research carried out by Marx and Engels in Manchester.
The Free Trade Hall
The site of the free trade hall on Peter Street in Deansgate has been home to three different historical and cultural turning points.
Before the Free Trade Hall was built the so-called `Peterloo Massacre' occurred on the field that used to stand there. In 1819, a group of workers demanding the right to vote marched from nearby Rochdale and gathered on the site. Mounted troops supposed to guard the procession and keep order panicked and charged into the protestors. Although the number of deaths and injuries are open to dispute, the event became a key milestone and defining event in the British people obtaining the right to vote.
For this reason a group of wealthy merchants built upon the site the `Free Trade Hall' as a forum for social and political functions to promote fairness and equality.
In 1966, Bob Dylan and his backing band, The Hawks, played here as part of one of the most controversial and influential tours ever. Dylan, the `darling' of the left wing folk scene had recently gone electric, rejecting protest music for symbolism and solo acoustic performances for an electric band. The `folk' sections of his fan base were outraged. Matters came to a head at Manchester Free Trade Hall. A member of the audience shouted `Judas' and Bob Dylan, calling the fan a liar launched into “like a rolling stone' ordering his band to play “fu cking loud”. Thus, Bob Dylan's successfully drowned out the opposition, merging sophisticated poetic language with electric guitar and shifting popular music to a new level, as his methods and direction were copied by the Beatles, the emerging Rolling Stones and a wave of new bands.
In 1976, the sex pistol's played their first gig outside of London to a poorly attended crowd in the Free Trade Hall. Yet, this thin showing contained the members of a wave of future bands such as Joy Division, The Fall, The Buzzcocks and the Smiths. These bands subsequently turned Manchester into the second city of punk, leading to a host of independent record companies and a reputation for musical innovation that continues to this day.
Urban Myths
Given Manchester's influence upon modern culture and history, a huge number of `urban myths' continue to circulate in Manchester. Here are two of the most interesting:
The Clash
The Clash recorded one of their greatest singles in a now closed studio located on Oldham Street. During the recording two cheeky scally kids talked their way into the studio and were allowed by Joe Strummer to sit in on the session. The two boys were named Ian Brown and John Squires. They went on to form one of the most innovative bands in Manchester history, The Stone Roses who helped launch the so-called “second summer of love” in 1990 and whose influence continues to be felt to this day. It is said that Joe Strummer recalled these two boys and became one of the Stone Roses first supporters, speaking about them on, of all places, Wogan in 1989.
There is little hard evidence for this story but the Stone Roses music does owe a debt to the Clash and The Clash had a reputation for welcoming and recalling visits by fans.
Adolf Hitler, The Midland Hotel and Rochdale town hall.
This is without doubt one of the most curious and compelling urban myth's connected to Manchester.
The story is that Adolf Hitler greatly admired the Midland Hotel in St. Peter's square. Following the successful invasion of Britain, he personally ordered that the hotel serve as the head quarters for the Nazi occupation forces in the North-West. Hitler's admiration for the Midland hotel is nothing, it is said, compared to his obsession with Rochdale town hall, which, he thought to be one of the most striking buildings in the world. Indeed, the myth claims that once Hitler had conquered Britain he intended to move Rochdale town hall, brick-by-brick, to pride of place in the radically redesigned German capital of “Germania”, where it was to sit alongside 200 foot high statues and vast floodlit victory arches.
There is no evidence for this story whatsoever but it is, perhaps, so odd that it may be true. Adolf Hitler did have a bizarre taste in architecture and both the Midland hotel and Rochdale town hall fitted the dictator's rather grandiose tastes. He also would have been quite prepared to move entire buildings across continents.
This myth continues to circulate and change. I told this story to a Mancunian who looked surprised and said that he had heard a different story, that the University of Manchester's architecture building was based upon a design by Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and only true friend.
Manchester is a historic city. Like the city itself, the stories it creates are weird, wonderful and contradictory. It is these contrasts and contradictions that make Manchester such an interesting, lively, and sometimes weird, place to live.
Charles The first
In 1644, Charles the First gathered his army to fight the decisive battle of the civil war on the site where East Didsbury library now stands. The army then marched off to Naseby, where it was destroyed by Cromwell's army. Charles escaped but he had lost the war and five years later he was publicly beheaded. So Didsbury library now stands as the first site in a chain of events that led Britain to be the first country to execute its own monarch `chosen by God', and attempt government by Parliament.
Marx and Engels
Karl Marx and his co-writer Friedrich Engels used information from Manchester's industrialisation to develop the historical theories that resulted in Marxism and later Communism during the mid to late nineteenth century. Engels lived on the site of what is now Whitworth Park. Karl Marx used the old John Rylands library for research and the books he annotated can still be seen. Later, Engels used the post box outside Whitworth Park to post Marx further research results. The Cold War, Lenin, Stalin, nuclear standoff and all the other events that shaped the modern world all, in a sense, stem from research carried out by Marx and Engels in Manchester.
The Free Trade Hall
The site of the free trade hall on Peter Street in Deansgate has been home to three different historical and cultural turning points.
Before the Free Trade Hall was built the so-called `Peterloo Massacre' occurred on the field that used to stand there. In 1819, a group of workers demanding the right to vote marched from nearby Rochdale and gathered on the site. Mounted troops supposed to guard the procession and keep order panicked and charged into the protestors. Although the number of deaths and injuries are open to dispute, the event became a key milestone and defining event in the British people obtaining the right to vote.
For this reason a group of wealthy merchants built upon the site the `Free Trade Hall' as a forum for social and political functions to promote fairness and equality.
In 1966, Bob Dylan and his backing band, The Hawks, played here as part of one of the most controversial and influential tours ever. Dylan, the `darling' of the left wing folk scene had recently gone electric, rejecting protest music for symbolism and solo acoustic performances for an electric band. The `folk' sections of his fan base were outraged. Matters came to a head at Manchester Free Trade Hall. A member of the audience shouted `Judas' and Bob Dylan, calling the fan a liar launched into “like a rolling stone' ordering his band to play “fu cking loud”. Thus, Bob Dylan's successfully drowned out the opposition, merging sophisticated poetic language with electric guitar and shifting popular music to a new level, as his methods and direction were copied by the Beatles, the emerging Rolling Stones and a wave of new bands.
In 1976, the sex pistol's played their first gig outside of London to a poorly attended crowd in the Free Trade Hall. Yet, this thin showing contained the members of a wave of future bands such as Joy Division, The Fall, The Buzzcocks and the Smiths. These bands subsequently turned Manchester into the second city of punk, leading to a host of independent record companies and a reputation for musical innovation that continues to this day.
Urban Myths
Given Manchester's influence upon modern culture and history, a huge number of `urban myths' continue to circulate in Manchester. Here are two of the most interesting:
The Clash
The Clash recorded one of their greatest singles in a now closed studio located on Oldham Street. During the recording two cheeky scally kids talked their way into the studio and were allowed by Joe Strummer to sit in on the session. The two boys were named Ian Brown and John Squires. They went on to form one of the most innovative bands in Manchester history, The Stone Roses who helped launch the so-called “second summer of love” in 1990 and whose influence continues to be felt to this day. It is said that Joe Strummer recalled these two boys and became one of the Stone Roses first supporters, speaking about them on, of all places, Wogan in 1989.
There is little hard evidence for this story but the Stone Roses music does owe a debt to the Clash and The Clash had a reputation for welcoming and recalling visits by fans.
Adolf Hitler, The Midland Hotel and Rochdale town hall.
This is without doubt one of the most curious and compelling urban myth's connected to Manchester.
The story is that Adolf Hitler greatly admired the Midland Hotel in St. Peter's square. Following the successful invasion of Britain, he personally ordered that the hotel serve as the head quarters for the Nazi occupation forces in the North-West. Hitler's admiration for the Midland hotel is nothing, it is said, compared to his obsession with Rochdale town hall, which, he thought to be one of the most striking buildings in the world. Indeed, the myth claims that once Hitler had conquered Britain he intended to move Rochdale town hall, brick-by-brick, to pride of place in the radically redesigned German capital of “Germania”, where it was to sit alongside 200 foot high statues and vast floodlit victory arches.
There is no evidence for this story whatsoever but it is, perhaps, so odd that it may be true. Adolf Hitler did have a bizarre taste in architecture and both the Midland hotel and Rochdale town hall fitted the dictator's rather grandiose tastes. He also would have been quite prepared to move entire buildings across continents.
This myth continues to circulate and change. I told this story to a Mancunian who looked surprised and said that he had heard a different story, that the University of Manchester's architecture building was based upon a design by Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and only true friend.
Manchester is a historic city. Like the city itself, the stories it creates are weird, wonderful and contradictory. It is these contrasts and contradictions that make Manchester such an interesting, lively, and sometimes weird, place to live.