Issue 4 - Manchester Historian

Issue 4 February 2012

first prize! p.6

shameless gladstone behaviour vs.

a tale of our city p.6

p.5

disraeli p.12

The

Manchester Historian

bankers

mo’ money mo’ problems?

At a time when protesters occupy St Paul’s Cathedral in opposition to today’s morally corrupt financial institutions, and when Barclays’ chief executive bonus of £9.5 million is declared ‘a victory for greed’, it may come as a surprise to learn that there was a time when bankers were not dominated by the ‘greed is good’ mantra; but were instead popular institutions, whose charitable actions did not go unmissed by the general

public. In 1809 the Morning Chronicle wrote of the founder of Barclays Bank:

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the concentration camp at Auschwitz as a representative of my college on the Lessons from Auschwitz Project.

The LFA Project aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust for young people and to clearly highlight what can happen if prejudice and racism become acceptable.

I found the experience to be harrowing and moving,

I don’t think anyone could ever possibly be prepared to come face to face with the sight of the genocide.

“We cannot form to ourselves, even in imagination, the idea of a character more perfect than David Barclay. Distinguished by his talent, his integrity, his philanthropy, and his munificence. No man was ever more active than David Barclay in promoting whatever might ameliorate the condition of man.”

Continued on page 3

dark tourism a necessary evil?

Whilst on the LFA Project I was disgusted to see recent advertisements of two British travel agents who are offering tours of Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland to stag parties.

Continued on page 9

the victorian penal code In 1844, on investigating a slum area barely a mile and a half away from our present day University campus, Engels described the scene: “Heaps of refuse, offal and sickening filth are everywhere interspersed with pools of

stagnant liquid... A horde of ragged women and children swarm about the streets and they are just as dirty as the pigs, which wallow happily on the heaps of garbage and in the pools of filth.”

Continued on page 10

Contents Page 3

Current Affairs When Bankers were good Page 4 to 5

University History Red Ellen and the Jarrow Crusade Whitworth? Precisely Young, Shameless Meat

Editors’ note.

Welcome to Issue 4! A big thank you to everyone who participated in the facebook event we used to give out articles - it was a huge success! We will be using this method for all future issues so if you missed out, become a fan at: www.facebook.com/themanchesterhistorian to subscribe to all future updates and events.

If you want to get even more involved, keep your eyes peeled for information about applying for editing roles for next year... We need someone to fly the Manchester Historian flag for us next year - could this be you?

Happy reading!

Florence Holmes, Juliette Donaldson and Frankie Williams

Page 10 to 12

Page 6 to 7

Spotlight on Your City What the Dickens?

Nobel Prize City Review your Boozer

The Manchester Victorians Get your Ankles out for the Lads Top GentleMan Gladstone vs. Disreli Page 13

History Society Page 8 to 9

Hidden Past

Ich bin ein Berliner

Where was the Gap Yah Bornio?

Dark Tourism

Page 14 ro 16

Reviews

Birdsong The Help Iron Lady J. Edgar The People’s History Museum

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Current Affairs When Bankers Were Good

By William de la bedoyere Continued from page 1

At the turn of the nineteenth century when the Industrial Revolution was transforming Britain’s economy, manufacturing and commercial enterprises needed credit and investment; hence the proliferation of financial institutions across the country. Lloyds and Barclays were but a few of the banking giants that began in the nineteenth century and still exist to this day.

What many banks had in common were Quaker origins, which celebrated virtues of hard work and modesty, and were told to beware the deceitfulness of riches. Whilst it may seem a contradiction for the religiously devout to pursue wealth, the historian A.N Wilson is of the opinion that the combination of a Quaker lifestyle in a time when capitalism was coming into growth made their affluence inevitable.

As a religious quest, many bankers involved themselves in philanthropic activity in order to redeem themselves from the folly of money.

No truer was this than in the case of the almost embarrassingly rich Gurney family, who dominated the financial sector of Norwich; indeed the phrase’ to be as rich as the Gurneys’ was contemporary shorthand for ‘being completely loaded’. Samuel Gurney and his two brothers were all bankers; their two sisters also married bankers.

The Gurney family gave away substantial amounts of money to poverty relief and the anti-slavery campaign, but most notable was the work of Samuel’s sister Elizabeth Fry, whom may be recognizable to many as the lady on the back of five pound notes. Unhappy with the frivolity that her well-to-do banking life gave her, Elizabeth was determined to use her wealth to do good. For example, horrified by the conditions

she saw at Newgate prison, Elizabeth introduced education and paid work for the prisoners, determined to give inmates the habits of order, industry and sobriety that were hallmarks of her Quaker upbringing.

the poverty problem. With the Liberal reforms of the early twentieth century, the state stepped in to carry on the work of charitable bankers, which proved to make the twentieth century a great leveler of wealth across the classes.

Although some felt she was neglecting her duties as wife and mother, her reputation was mostly positive and Robert Peel and Queen Victoria were great admirers of her work, with Victoria even gave money to her cause.

Now the state is rolling back benefits and cutting public sector salaries in an effort to undo the mistakes of modern day banks, making many struggle to make ends meet; banks on the other hand, continue to make stupendous profits and reward themselves with tax-free bonuses. Perhaps it is time for them to take look at their Victorian predecessors and give back more to society in a period of economic duress.

As the great-grandson of Nathan Rothschild, Jacob asks ‘Why not?’

To be a charitable banker was not exclusively a Christian occupation; for example, the Jewish Nathaniel Rothschild (of the great banking dynasty) provided new cottages and free medicine for his estate employees, and at his bank created a department solely responsible for charity. In doing so, Rothschild was following Jewish concept of Tzedakah, which in English translates as ‘charity and justice’, so for Rothschild as well as the Gurneys, being charitable was part of a religious and moral enterprise to improve the lot of those less fortunate than them.

Despite all the work of these philanthropic bankers, the gap between the rich and poor grew wider, making it increasingly clear that no amount of charity could solve

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University History Red Ellen and the Jarrow Crusade By Rosie Webster The Jarrow Crusade remains one of the most evocative emblems of the interwar period. It captures something of the resilience of the interwar British population in the face of unemployment, hunger and depression. In October 1936, 207 hungry and bedraggled marchers travelled to London from Jarrow in the North East to protest against the terrible circumstances they faced daily due to the strain of poverty, unemployment, and hunger. There they presented parliament with a petition demanding the creation of jobs and improved conditions.

With levels of unemployment recorded at 80%, Jarrow was England’s worst affected constituency. Yet the plight of the marchers represents that of so many from Britain’s industrial north, where years of economic depression had achingly taken their toll. It was in this period when the divide between the old industrial towns of the north and the more prosperous areas of the south became firmly defined. This north-south divide continues to characterise Britain today, inevitably widening in our own

current years of economic gloom.

It was Ellen Wilkinson, one of Manchester University’s very own students, who was the Labour MP for Jarrow and led the March. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as an MP and her legacy has not been forgotten by the University, with one of its most prominent buildings named in her honour. She was initially a founding member of the Communist Party in the early 1920s, thus gaining a reputation as ‘Red Ellen’.

However, the Jarrow March as a political expression is notable for its lack of extremism. John Stevenson, in his article Britain in the Depression, contends that Jarrow has in fact become legend particularly because the marchers ‘obeyed the rules’. They rejected violence, communist involvement and extreme political intentions. The Jarrow March, therefore, contrasted greatly with other unemployment marches of the period that were often much bigger in size but were rendered unpopular in public opinion due to their more riotous nature.

Thus the popularity of the Jarrow March in society at the time and within British history since is perhaps indicative of Britain’s disinclination from extremism and violence within politics. This is a significant point to consider, especially given the tumultuous situation in Europe at the time march’s close chronological proximity to the Second World War. Yet the march itself achieved very little, perhaps even because of its so moderate tone. The ship industries remained closed and the marchers were given £1 each, just enough for them to get the train home.

Wilkinson, however, used the march’s public success to launch further campaigns for social equality, with the most important culminating in the Education Act implemented in 1944.

Whitworth? Precisely. By Beth Gent Arguably one of the greatest mechanical engineers of the late Industrial Revolution, was born in Stockport in 1803 to a congregational minister. Sir Joseph was developing his knowledge of machinery and engineering during an age of great technological advancements, alongside his renowned civil engineering contemporaries, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and George Stephenson.

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One great innovation of his was

created in 1840, a measuring technique called ‘end measurements’ that used a precision flat plane and measuring screw, a system which enabled precision of one millionth of an inch.

This momentous design was displayed at Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition in 1851. Shortly after, he devised the first nationally standardised system for screw threads, which was adopted by the railway companies. Whitworth was also commissioned by the War Department of the British government to design a replacement for the Enfield rifle. Whitworth’s design was superior in every way to the Enfield except in cost, and eventually wasn’t picked up by the British but was instead adopted by the French Army.

The name ‘Whitworth’ should be recognisable to most of the University of Manchester’s students, as the prominent Whitworth Park and Art Gallery, serve as memorials to Sir Joseph, established through his financial bequest to Manchester upon his death in 1887. Whitworth’s keen interest and strong belief in the value of technical and scientific education is evident, not only in his backing of the Mechanics’ Institution in Manchester in the first half of the 19th century, but also in the founding of the Whitworth Scholarship in 1868 for the advancement of mechanical engineering.

Whitworth Building is named in his honour as recognition of his achievements and contributions to education in Manchester.

Whitworth’s philanthropic gesture has stood the test of time, as by the mid 1960’s the Whitworth Art Gallery had acquired the reputation as ‘The Tate of the North’. Since the 1980s it has also

reached out to the wider community with education and events programmes to enhance public engagement with it’s collections and exhibitions.

Young, shameless meat By Harriet Chery

Manchester University may have produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other non-Oxbridge city, yet we can also make a claim no less necessary in retaining the peace and happiness of the human race; the university has produced a veritable bundle of comedy greats over the last 30 years. Where would TV comedy be without the comedic revolutionaries of the late 1970’s? Chances are we’d all still be stuck watching re-runs of The Good Life if it weren’t for Ben Elton’s wonderfully anarchic The Young Ones, a series which simultaneously broke with Britain’s Carry On tradition of sitcom; retaining the Python’s surreal take on the everyday and giving it a punky, 80s ‘youth’ makeover.

This was TV emerging as countercultural, ready to both comment on and sneer at Thatcherite Britain.

The shouty, idiotic and absurd nature of Elton’s creation can be seen as Manchester’s answer to Fry and Laurie and their Cambridge Footlight’s gang of the same era. Indeed, the Cambridge pair even make a cameo appearance in the second series when Edmonson and Mayall and their fellow housemates are put up against “Footlights College” on University Challenge, a team of insufferable posho’s, comprising of Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Ben Elton himself.

The Young Ones may perhaps now seem somewhat dated, but the lasting influence that the show had on comedy, and on TV in general, has been profound. The two series follow the lives of four dislikeable social inadequates; self-proclaimed anarchist Rik; punk medical student Vyvian, suicidal hippy Neil and Mike “The cool person”; each ostensibly

studying at “Scumbag College”.

Elton’s time living in East Didsbury whilst reading drama at the University with Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson was where they gained much of their material.

The set; a deeply squalid Victorian semi-detached house which over the course of the series gets progressively annihilated, is no doubt familiar to anyone residing in Manchester’s student accommodation.

This template of student squalor is one obviously referenced in last year’s Fresh Meat, a show directed and starred in by UoM alumni; its writers, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong (also of Peep Show fame), and star on the rise, OP veteran Jack Whitehall.

As Armstrong and Bain themselves said recently, it seems odd that the format has not been used more often.

With around 45 per cent of young people now attending university, they relished in finding comedy in the notion of disparate types of people being forced to cohabit. “We always felt that Manchester was the right place, partly because it’s so huge and you get all these different people from very different backgrounds.”

As well as churning out comedic writing talent, Manchester also provides the setting for some of the best comedy of recent years. Perhaps

most popular is Shameless, managing to make the grimmest of sink estates brim over with a quintessentially Mancunian tongue-incheek humour. The show manages to provide a direct antidote to the glossy finesse of modern sitcoms of this, the Desperate Housewives era. Writer Paul Abbott describes it as “The Waltons on acid”. Shameless follows a precedent set by the Royle Family in depicting the funnier side of Northern English working class life and family.

Is this because Manchester particularly makes a good comedic setting, or is there a sense of socio-economic tourism going on here? Shameless’ immense popularity amongst the chattering classes suggests the latter.

Yet the show is equally popular with readers of The Sun as it is with the literati. The brilliance of the series is perhaps its combination of complete lunacy amongst total normality.

Abbott knows first hand the reality of living somewhere like the (fictional) ‘Chatsworth Estate’, having grown up parentless with seven siblings in Burnley. His experience gives him the ability to create humour within a setting others would not dare to attempt.

With the immense popularity of shows like Shameless, now in its eighth series, we can hope to see more controversial shows being commissioned, that show the humour within diversity which Britain, and Manchester in particular, seems to excel at. With the movement of the BBC up to Salford, here’s hoping we’ll be seeing the fruits of many more Manchester student’s labours on the small-screen before long.

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spotlight on your city What the Dickens? By Carmel Tamarah Godfray

On the 7th February 2012, Britain celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of one of the greatest literary figures; Charles John Huffam Dickens.

Dickens’ work resonates throughout British popular culture; with Oliver Twist’s famous words of “Please Sir, can I have some more?” and the iconic character of Ebenezer Scrooge symbolising those who lack the festive cheer with the renowned statement “Bah Humbug”.

Dickens’ popularity can further be explained through his role as a social commentator of his time, as his novels display the severity of poverty and despair of the working classes in the 19th century. In addition, the assumption that Dickens’ social commentary was limited to the crime and violence embodied by characters such as Bill Sykes in the East End of London is misinformed; Dickens was also attracted to other areas of England that were also affected by the Industrial Revolution, such as Manchester.

Dickens’ novel Hard Times (1854), is set in the fictitious northern English mill-town of Coketown, and

was based upon Dickens’ own Mancunian experiences. In a similar vein as the rest of his novels, Dickens’s intention was to educate readers about the working conditions of some of the grim factories that had been spawned during the Industrial Revolution, outside of London.

He wrote in Hard Times that he saw Coketown or rather Manchester as: “a little world of labour” “It contained several large streets, all very like one another, inhabited by people equally like one another...all went in and around the same hours, with the same pavement, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow.”

Has Manchester really changed all that much?

It may not be a morally corrupt factory owner who is the villain in our modern tale, but could it not be said that the social ills of inequality and poverty are still very much present in our society?

Nevertheless, Dickens’ connection with Manchester is not confined to a novel. His Mancunian

Nobel Prize City By Rosie Baulcombe

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In 2010 Professor Andre Geim and his protégé Professor Konstantin Novoselov won the Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of the ‘wonder material’ twodimensional graphine.

Their achievement means that the University of Manchester now boasts more Nobel Laureates on its current academic staff than any other UK institution. At four, we have now accomplished the target set by the previous Vice Chancellor, historian Alan Gilbert, five years earlier than he predicted.

Amongst Geim and Novoselov’s contemporaries is Joseph Stiglitz who obtained the prize for economics in 2001 and currently heads the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) at the University.

He is also an incredibly popular guest lecturer in the politics of globalization and the international political economy. Stiglitz joins John Hicks and Sir Arthur Lewis as laureates in this category in the past forty years, placing Manchester at the forefront of current economic research.

experiences stemmed from the fact that his own sister Fanny lived in Ardwick. Dickens, a huge celebrity of his time, was eager to involve himself in the opening of Manchester’s first free city library in 1852.

In his speech Dickens announced his delight that such a source of pleasure was to be made available to the lower classes of society.

Our cultural perception of Dickens is that he was a man who illuminated the deprivation of the lower classes to the higher classes.

However, one can also detect a personal belief in wanting to provide said lower classes with greater opportunities to educate themselves.

Charles Dickens was a literary genius and social commentator who provided an insight into the working class population. Victorian England and its upper classes condemned the working classes as diseased, violent and morally corrupt; Dickens, however, provided a gateway into the sphere of working class life that still provides a powerful insight today.

Despite a solid reputation in the area, Sir John Sulston, the Chair of the newly founded Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation is only our second winner in the area of physiology and medicine. His prize in 2002 for ‘genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death’ followed on from the work of Archibald Vivian Hill in 1922; specifically his discoveries on the production of heat in muscle.

Since its establishment of the Nobel Prize in 1901, academics from UoM have claimed twenty-five prizes between them, predominantly in the areas of chemistry and physics.

In chemistry winners include Earnest Rutherford in 1908, the ‘father’ of nuclear physics who worked on splitting the atom here in Manchester in the early twentieth century. More recently, he is succeeded by Michael Smith for his contributions to protein studies in 1993. Sir James Chadwick, whose discovery of the neutron particle earned him the prize in physics in 1935, is also amongst ten winners in his category, a tradition continued by Geim and Novoselov.

Manchester’s history of academic excellence spans a range of subjects

including many not recognised within the Nobel Prize categories. Humanities can claim Ludwig Wittgenstein, considered one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, and Academy Award winner Robert Bolt amongst its associates. With the largest number of full time students in the UK, there is immense potential within our university to add to this impressive legacy. For anyone hoping to become the next ‘Manchester first’, the category of Nobel Peace Prize is still up for grabs!

Review your boozer - Old Wellington

By Priya Changilla

With Lonely Planet naming the half-timbered pub ‘a Manchester institution’, the Old Wellington Inn, as Manchester’s oldest holding, represents the heart of the city. The building plays a significant role in the development of Manchester as its past inhabitants have been known to have founded its first bank, developed its cotton industry and built its first quay.

The atmosphere is a representation of this since the ground floor remains a small, homely pub with hanging wooden beams, flagstone flooring and a writing board with a great, changing selection of real ales. The second and third floors house a restaurant with hanging tapestries, candles and undeniably delicious pub food. The eclectic mix of people visiting, from locals, students, tourists and businessmen establish that

the building still remains a notable hub in the city centre, particularly in the summer season with outdoor seating in the beer garden.

Originally built in 1552 beside Market Square, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the upper floors are known to have been a fishing tackle shop conveniently named ‘Ye Olde Fyshing Tackle Shoppe’ as well as an area where mathematical and optical instruments were made. Having been a draper’s shop in 1554 and finally a licensed public house in 1830, the building has housed a historic mixture of characters. John Byrom, inventor of the Phonetic Shorthand was born in the building, and Sir Winston Churchill became a visitor of the public house in 1941 after the Christmas Blitz of Manchester the previous year.

The building’s survival pays a true testament to the long standing history of the city, having been relocated twice, once to make way for the Arndale in the 1970s and later in 1996 to its current location near Manchester Cathedral after an IRA bombing.

My friend and I couldn’t help but notice amongst the framed photos and plaques describing and illustrating the pub’s history, the lineup of familiar guilty pleasures playing through the speakers. One local man was intently drinking, listening and exclaiming how much he loved The Temptations. In the same vein, and with its distinct history, The Old Wellington gives the impression of a place where anyone can piece the past back together over a homely pint.

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Hidden Past

Where was the Gap Yah Bornio? By Rebecca Stevens It is the truth universally acknowledged that all students must watch the infamous ‘Gap Yah’ video.

If you have ever laughed along to one of your flatmates’ jokes about how they, ‘chundered everywharr’ the night before, but had no idea what it was that everyone found so funny, then you have failed yourself.

However, even for those who may not have heard the wonders of vomiting over various areas of the developing world, we are all familiar with the student’s rite of passage; the gap year. But where exactly did it come from? Why do so many of us choose to travel, sometimes thousands of miles, for no apparent reason? And why exactly do parents across the country permit their adolescents to venture out to potentially, sometimes definitely, dangerous lands?

The origins of the gap year can be found in the 17th Century with the ‘Grand Tour’. The first recorded use of the term was by Richard Lassel in his book The Voyage of Italy, and technically the experience often lasted more than a year, extending to up to three or four in some cases.

It was a traditional tour of Europe, which was undertaken by wealthy, young, upper-class gentlemen.

The exposure to both the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the innovating Renaissance was an aim of those who embarked from England to warmer climates. Many returned with crates of arts, books, pictures, sculptures and items of cultural value which would be displayed in homes, as well as galleries, which were built specifically for their exhibit.

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By the 1840’s, the Grand Tour had evolved into a large-scale rail transit, and the experience may have been

akin to that of the InterRail gapyear-ers of today. Travel of this sort rendered European excursions much more available to women, and subsequently it became a part of a woman’s education to travel to Italy.

Furthermore, (and importantly!) the railroad enabled travel to be extended to the middle classes, as it became less of a burden not simply in terms

“And I just chundered everywharr” -Gap Yah Guy of cost, but also of safety and effort.

The development of the railroad, both in England and abroad led to the success of a name that is instantly recognisable to us; that of ‘Thomas Cook’, the now high-street holidaymaker. During his lifetime he did more for middle class travel, and indeed for the gap year than is commonly known. He decided to offer excursions through the rail companies, who would charge for the train ticket and food, in exchange that he would conduct a tour. His first real success came when he arranged for 165,000 people to attend the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, and following this he began grand, circular tours of Europe, establishing the idea of ‘inclusive independent travel’. Extending across the Americas, Africa and Asia, his tours soon increased both in scope and greatness.

The evolution of the gap year continued in the post-war world, in the midst of the Swinging Sixties, where the wide-eyed youth of the exciting new, (seemingly) more liberal generation departed to India on hippie trails, building on the idea of ‘independent travel’ begun by Cook.

The growth of the gap year industry continued throughout the succeeding decades, and the demand for the quintessential gap year adventure is clear through the sheer number of companies who organise trips across the Globe today.

But how do we define a 21st century gap year? Certainly the European destinations of the Grand Tour do not limit the traveller of today, though of course, this is still a popular option. With the ease of flight travel, countries such as Australia, Thailand and Vietnam have garnered a fashionable reputation with gap year travelling. Perhaps this can be attributed to the great history and rich cultures offered by these countries.

Or indeed, the mysteries of countries such as Vietnam, which has only been open to tourists for just over 20 years, provides students with the sense of adventure to which they are so starved at home. Or perhaps, and most likely, it’s the sun, sand and sea that we crave; mythical sights for those familiar with the tropical climate of Manchester.

“And then I just chundered everywharr’” -Thomas Cook

Dark Tourism By Wesley Davidson

Continued from page 1

One of the packages includes a bar crawl through Krakow, a visit to a lap dancing club, followed by a tour of the former concentration camps sites the next day. I was astonished at how disrespectful this would appear to be to the victims of the atrocity. One states “If you want to tick the culture box at least once on your visit to Krakow, there can be no better place to do it than the site of Auschwitz concentration camp.

It’s a full-on three hour museum and site tour and it blows your mind.”

My motivations, and those of the others visiting Poland, couldn’t be further apart from the motivations of those coming to the country with stag parties to Auschwitz. This particular example got me thinking a lot at the time, is it right that the site is even open for visitors or should it be destroyed and be resigned to the past? I personally lean towards the viewpoint that the site must remain open to serve as a reminder of the Nazi atrocities whilst also serving as a memorial to all victims of the Holocaust.

On the site a memorial exists with the following moving inscription: “For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe.”

For me this quote best sums up why Auschwitz must be preserved to remember the Holocaust, but I can understand why the viewpoint exists that the camp should be destroyed, and perhaps it would have already been forgotten without the visitors each year. This is because each year approximately 5 million Euros are needed to maintain the site. Most of this is covered by the Polish state and revenues from publications and guided tours. In 2009 Germany donated 60 million Euros to the global fund which aims to ensure the future of the World War II site as a permanent memorial to the Nazis’ victims, whilst the British government in the past has also made sizeable donations to the fund.

In the case of Auschwitz, remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust must surely be the primary motivation to any visitors of the concentration camp site. Whilst an unhealthy morbid fascination may drive many towards Auschwitz and other sites of atrocities around the world, it is perhaps through the medium of film that the Holocaust is best explained and contextualised to a wider audience. Films such as Schindler’s List, The Pianist and more recently The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas are widely available to the general public and present the facts in such a way that ensures the Holocaust remains in the collective public memory.

Auschwitz is only one such site around the world which serves as an example of a site for ‘Dark Tourism’ which includes any site associated with the personification of death.

The main draw to these locations for many is the historical value rather than their association with death and suffering. Millions of tourists flock to both sites of natural disaster such as the island of Pompeii and sites of human atrocities like Auschwitz or the secret prisons of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia each year. In January 2011 the Ukrainian government legalised tours of the site of Chernobyl and the purpose built Soviet town of Pripyat built to house workers and their families. This may not come as much of a shock but in the summer the Ukraine is co-hosting the 2012 European Championship. The Euro’s are expected to attract 1.4 million people to the country for the football with the nation hoping to capitalise on the influx of tourists by directing them towards the tour of the site of the nuclear reactor’s explosion.

Whether this is a good or bad thing is not for me to judge, but there is no doubt that dark tourism is more than a historical phenomenon, sadly it seems to be a profitable venture attracting tourists to parts of the world which are off the beaten track and will always remain to do so.

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The Manchester Victorians Get your ankles out for the lads!

By Sam Alwyine-Mosley Continued from page 1

Such conditions worried the early Victorian state immensely. Emerging social research confirmed that the environment as well as the physical and moral habits of a locality’s inhabitants stimulated disease and ensured its spread. The belief proliferated that sexual debauchery was at once a product of material squalor and a causal factor in the decline of the urban environment.

Sex, or more accurately workingclass sex, was now a public issue.

The logic that twinned sexual immorality and poverty was made through a specific language, the discourse of early social medicine, with one clear intention: greater surveillance and control of the working classes. We are accustomed to seeing medicine and health advice as objectively good, a source of well being that allows us to live our lives as free and healthy beings. Yet, it also serves to normalize our behaviour, to control rituals of the everyday. As such the early Victorian state utilised the growing medical profession in order to bring about public health improvements that weren’t wholly about improving public health. The system of regular inspection and detention put in place following the cholera epidemic of 1832, for example, was as much to do with isolating and eradicating disease as it was to do with controlling working

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The average family

class behaviour and sexual habits.

What brought about this statist putsch vfor control of the lower classes everyday lives? The first half of the nineteenth century is marked by on going mass urbanisation and industrialisation, which brought about the growth of the cities and effected new forms of social relations. The metropolis had created distinctive and degraded forms of mass commercial culture, which the elite believed required unprecedented levels of surveillance. The bourgeois became increasingly fearful of working class culture; it corrupted working class men, it eroticised middle class women, it left young girls in a vulnerable daze, and it would lead to the destruction of those family values so very important to the Victorians.

But the desire to effect greater control of the sexual lives of the Victorian working class was not purely brought about by a culture clash between bourgeois and proletariat as they arrived in the nascent industrial cities of Europe. Social reformers and members of the medical profession increasingly shared the utilitarian belief that population was the key to good government and the basis for maintaining the social order.

Indeed, William Farr’s appointment as the head of the General Register Office’s statistical branch in the 1830s marked the moment when moral hygenics entered official discourse.

Not amused

Farr believed that greater control of individual health, or more accurately working class health, would raise the strength of the nation. He hoped that controlling working class sexual habits, in addition to improving birth management, would bring about an increase in marriage and legitimacy rates thus ensuring the reproduction of middle class power.

And this is it. Victorian sexual discourse is pervaded by the struggle for power at every turn. Sexual regulation, be it through propaganda which condemned working-class men and women as moral pollutants and called for self-restraint, through health inspection in slum areas designed to stop the spread of disease, or through Farr’s plan for greater population management, always necessitated greater control of the proletariat.

On the one hand moral intervention and close personal observation of the poor served to confirm the absolute separation of middle class culture from the habits and morals of the working class. An act of bourgeois self-definition. And on the other hand the proliferation of sexual discourse allowed the bourgeois to systematise, analyse and ultimately marginalise those working-class sexual habits that they perceived to be dangerous to the social order and Victorian middle-class values.

Top Gentleman By Sigourney Fox Manchester’s Arndale covers 1,500,000 square feet of retail floor space, making it Europe’s largest city-centre shopping mall. How Manchester’s streets see over 750,000 shoppers flocking to the city centre on a weekly basis, a step backwards into history is necessary. Mass consumerism as we know it developed from the late Victorian period, in which the first departmental stores were spectacles and viewed as significant tourist sites.

Many Victorians fainted when they first entered a department store, a complete contrast to the modern day chaos of shoppers. This portrays the significance of the evolution of mass consumerism.

billboard as a means of advertisement.

The middle classes and the labouring poor found themselves living in areas which integrated them into national markets. The rising incomes of the middle classes enabled them to take full advantage of this new found integration into market. However, it is without a doubt the development of transport through the industrial revolution that significantly added to the increase movement of people

Throughout history, fashion and clothing have acted as representations of not only the status of an individual but also as gender divisions.

However, Victorian society sought to question whether the difference in status and wealth should result in an emulation between classes.

With the Victorian period bringing a boom in the purchasing of textiles and clothing the term ‘consumer revolution’ was coined.

This revolution saw a growing divide between social classes, each aspiring to the habits and consumption patterns of their superiors. The recurring theme seen throughout history of the use of clothing as a means of communicating one’s position in society is again seen. Yet what is unique and individual to the Victorians was that the demand for the ever-changing fashion stimulated new forms of marketing and retailing products.

Thus urban villages and shops used window displays, newspapers and

to the new city department stores that emerged from the 1880s.

The historian Neil McKendrick has explored the idea that the consumer revolution from the later 18th century and into the Victorian period was driven by social emulation. In many ways it becomes apparent that a change from the upper classes driving the economy had shifted to the middling classes. An increasing desire for the middle classes to consume, coupled with their ability to afford products resulted in an increased supply of goods. Without this growth

in middle-class consumerism it is questionable whether it would have taken off with as much success as it did in the Victorian period. The work of Dave Haslam states how crowds of shoppers and sightseers packed the streets on Saturday evenings.

With the shops being lit up and open in the evening, and the added bonus that food became cheaper at midnight drew the crowds in.

Not only should we credit the Victorians with their contribution to consumerism, but we should be grateful that they recognised the need for late night food. Furthermore, our desire for food after nights out would not have been satisfied!

It would be too bold a statement to claim that mass consumerism as we know it today solely derived from the Victorian period. But, with the middle and lower classes of society playing a more definitive role in the purchasing of goods, the growth of industry at such a pace would not have incurred.

This coupled with the industrial revolution not only brought consumerism to the masses but also a divide in social emulation. Wide transport links from the north to south ensured fashion was available to many members of society. Thus fashion as a product of increased consumerism resulted in it’s prominence within in the Victorian period.

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Gladstone vs Disraeli: Clash of the Titans

By William Jones

Victorian parliamentary politics is remembered for its great reforms and ideological battles. William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli have come to define this period. This was no age of the soundbite and there was certainly no ‘call me Tony’ culture in the corridors of power, Gladstone’s first speech as Chancellor went on for almost five hours (though by all accounts it was a good one).

In their long careers Gladstone and Disraeli were to clash frequently, though they both entered Parliament as Conser vatives they quickly fell apart over the issue of protectionism.

The Irish Famine of the 1840’s and the

subsequent repeal of the protectionist corn laws by the Prime Minister Robert Peel caused the Conservative Party to split. With the ‘Peelites’ went Gladstone and most experienced Conservative politicians to form the Liberal Party, left behind were Disraeli and the remainder of the Conservative Party. This ideological split would resonate throughout their careers.

that Mr Gladstone may perspire.”

Disraeli’s beliefs were based upon the assumption that the upper classes were best suited to run and maintain the interests of the country, this paternal ‘One-Nation’ Conservatism laid the groundwork for the modern Conservative Party.

Though he is remembered proudly

by Conservatives, in his lifetime he was subjected to insults and gossip based upon his scandalous past, his Jewish descent, his flamboyant appearance and his policies.

Where Disraeli promoted the interests of the ruling classes Gladstone championed the rights of the individual.

Gladstone’s impact on politics was mirrored in his nicknames, ‘GOM’ the ‘Grand Old Man’ by his supporters –‘ God’s Only Mistake’ by Disraeli.

In contrast Gladstone was the picture of straight-laced Victorian masculinity.

When he wasn’t engaged in marathon speeches he could be found chopping down trees on his country estate. One critic observed “his amusements, like his politics, are essentially destructive.

Every afternoon the whole world is invited to assist at the crashing fall of some beech or elm or oak. The forest laments in order

In his four terms as Prime Minister Gladstone was to pass some of the most significant acts of the Victorian era. The 1884 Reform Act extended the vote to 6 million more men, and he enshrined in law property rights for Irish tenants during a period of great social turbulence.

“Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence.

Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear” -Gladstone

The Romans were nothing more than Barbarians.

There never was a ‘renaissance’.

Winston Churchill cannot be a modern British hero.

History students, you have opinions. Launch them into orbit now at www.opinionorbit.co.uk.

This is a new site set up by students, for students and aims to give more coverage to opinion blogging. Get feedback on your writing and see the debate circulate around your views.

From politics and economics to sport and travel, whatever the issue, don’t shy away from controversy.

Launch the debate now!

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History Society

Ich Bin Ein Berliner! By Jamie Lawlor

With the headaches of revision and hangovers of Pangea still strong in the memory 100 students set off for the History Society’s weekend away to Berlin. Whilst some were after a weekend to forget their January blues, others were keen to celebrate the ending of the dreaded exam period with 5 days of the packed cultural, social, historical sights and sounds emanating from the German capital. Being early February the weather was decidedly Baltic, but as it turned out nothing could keep the groups’ spirits down…..

from the hostel in a spiders-web of routes, taking in the wonders of this truly cosmopolitan and diverse city.

With such a large group descending upon the palatial Generator Hostel, the reception was kept constantly busy. Whether it was queries over transport routes to the tourist sights of the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Alexanderplatz Tower or directions to the best bars and clubs that Berlin had to offer, the reception continued to hand out maps and useful directions in equal measure for the 3 days we were there. Each day in Berlin saw groups of students branching off

Whilst Berlin enthralled us with its sights and sounds by day, the nightlife proved to offer an entirely new perspective on the city. Initial impressions after visiting the ‘Matrix Club’ on Friday night were that we had travelled a long way across Europe to have entered Deansgate Vodka Revs. The mix of open redbrick walled rooms and large bar displays felt worryingly similar and lacking in identity. However, this all changed on Saturday night.

After another busy day of nursing

Whilst some decided to walk along stretches of the Berlin Wall, others tried their hand at sampling the local delicacies of wheat beer and sausages in the warm cafes that provided such relief to the weather outside. Indeed, an intrepid few soles managed to find their way right across Berlin to the Olympic Stadium to witness a Bundesliga tie between Hertha Berlin and Hannover.

hangovers descended quarter for publicised

and sight-seeing we into Berlin’s artisan a sample of the much hedonistic nightlife.

With a stretch of over 50 bars on one road, each with individuality and vibe different to so much else, this area catered for everyone. All those in attendance thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere, music and energy of the night; which came as some form of relief to the grimness of boarding the coaches for 24 hours of executive travel back to Manchester the next morning.

The group found Berlin had left an impression. Some tried their hardest to miss the coach departure time, others wistfully wished for more time when boarding the ferry.

All had a fantastic time, and without a doubt many will be heading back in the not too distant future.

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R

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Birdsong By Gabriella Pounds

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For a fully fledged Faulks lover the 20 years it took for their cherished novel to finally reach television screens were most likely spent anticipating the disappointment they would inevitably feel. How could a TV adaptation of a tale that pushes all human emotion to the very brink of despair, embodied in the charming Stephen Wraysford (played by Eddie Redmayne), ever replicate the brilliance of Faulks’ pen, let alone his imagination itself?

an already raging hell – is impossible for TV to achieve effectively. A significant tunneling scene that Faulks described, involving just Wraysford and Jack Firebrace (Joseph Mawle), was intended to be set in total darkness. For television this was evidently a critical challenge, which unfortunately makes the scene slightly disappointing. It would never be as powerful in the eyes of the viewer as it is in the mind of the reader.

It was never going to be easy for television to do Birdsong great justice. Depicting World War One, whether it is soldiers pouring onto the bloody soil of No Man’s Land between the pieces of their exploding friends, or the shell-shocked frenzy of man, is unthinkable in itself. To then dig deeper, into the tunnels beneath No Man’s Land - a hell within

It is understandable that screenwriter Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady) has dismayed fans. Morgan has radically rearranged the narrative and, to rub salt in the already stinging wound, cut significant chunks of the plot out. Yet, this does not mean that the production shouldn’t be praised. In fact, Morgan has successfully taken the addictive nature of the novel and

Nominated for four Academy Awards at this year’s Oscars, The Help, based on a novel by Kathryn Stockett, is a story of the racism experienced by black maids working for white households in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. Their plight takes place in the era of the Jim Crow laws and the subsequent push for Civil Rights, with the plot kick-started by the return of budding journalist Eugenia (played by Superbad’s Emma Stone), who seeks to highlight the pervasive discrimination by writing a book based on the experiences of the women she befriends.Unfortunately, while promising much from the outset, Tate Taylor’s film fails to deliver, falling down in several areas.

really able to break free from the restrictiveness of her role as ditzy trophy wife Celia with an emotional vulnerability that seeps through in the second half of the movie.

The Help By Michael Madden

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There is a strong ensemble cast present, but many of the roles inhabited are those of stock characters. Jessica Chastain is only

Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly plays the sort of stuck-up middle class housewife seen time and time again, only here it is with a racist twist. As for the black ‘help’, Viola Davis gives a poignant performance as Aibileen, but there are obvious similarities between her and her colleagues with Hattie McDaniel’s Mammy in Gone With the Wind, which arguably serves to perpetuate the stereotype of the African-American matron.

Just as McDaniel won the Best Supporting Actress gong in 1939, Davis could deservedly walk away with a Best Actress statuette, but it also begs the question as to how

W

S

transformed it for a living room TV set. Morgan’s narrative involves two tangled time periods that flicker back and forth between shuddering experiences of Wreysford’s life. The viewer is repeatedly flung between two intrinsically linked dark tales of love and loss, which prove to be an exciting way to consume each.

The production has also helped to elucidate an aspect of trench warfare that is often overlooked: tunneling.

In this respect Birdsong sits on a comfortable pedestal above other WW1 adaptations, as it is totally distinctive. This could explain why critics allege that Birdsong has outshone Speilberg’s War Horse, and why others acclaim its magnificence for refreshing a generation’s outlook on WWI. Despite the frustration of Faulks lovers, this is surely a noble legacy for a two-part drama to uphold.

far Hollywood depictions of black woman have really been allowed to progress over the past seventy years.

As well as many of the characters, the film’s comedic elements serve to detract from its overall effectiveness as a tale of prejudice. While it is at times heartfelt it often borders on the saccharine. The historical setting is skimmed over with only fleeting references to the bigger picture, for example the 1963 assassination of activist Medgar Evers, and so what we are left with is a watereddown tale of domestic racism.

Davis’ performance makes The Help watchable, but at nearly two and a half hours long its predictability and frivolity prevent it from hitting the lofty heights the potentially powerful subject matter could have allowed it to.

The Iron Lady By Heather Louise Whitaker 1980s Britain saw her, particularly the working classes. And I have to agree with these critical sentiments, after I cried for the 15th time during the film.

For most people who go see ‘The Iron Lady’, there are a couple of questions that they probably wanted to ask before hand: how will Thatcher be portrayed in this? And why couldn’t they wait until she had died to make a movie about her? People have said they believe she will not be portrayed in the correct light whilst still alive, with producers not wanting to show her the way people saw her during

‘The Iron Lady’ is not so much a political story about Margaret Thatcher as a story of her demise in recent years, with a bit of history about herself thrown in the background.

The film’s opening is essentially a preview of what is to come in the rest of the film, with Thatcher talking to her dead husband after she has made him breakfast (tear number 1).

movie perfectly, showing Thatcher as an old woman, remembering her glory days, her children, husband and friends and picturing her dead husband still with her, talking to her as if he was still there. This is where the movie, for me, should have been left just a few more years. Portraying a woman as a senile old bat who talks to her dead husband, cooks his dinner and picks out his suit for him is not the way the only female Prime Minister in Britain should be shown, regardless of what people thought of her and her actions during her 11 years.

Meryl Streep though deserves all the awards they throw at her as she is absolutely fantastic in her role as Margaret Thatcher. To the royal blue suits, the bouffant hair, the voice and the innate ability to make men run away scared, she has Thatcher down to a tee. Furthermore, she grasps the sadder, more sympathetic side of the

I personally feel that the film included the right amount of history to keep audiences from becoming bored and making the film easily watchable to the masses, while dragging at your heart strings and making you think ‘oh she wasn’t that bad was she really’. Note: everyone who hasn’t got an iron heart, bring Kleenex.

J. Edgar By Lewis Gordon J. Edgar Hoover was the Director of the Bureau of Investigation from 1924 until his death in 1972, a period in which he played the key role in shaping an institution that came to be known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1935 onwards. Clint Eastwood’s treatment of the man attempts to shed light on one of the most notorious political figures of twentieth century America, known as much now for his persecution of innocent political activists (regardless of affiliation) and illegal means of evidence gathering as he is for his alleged affair with Clyde Tolson (played by Armie Hammer).

Yet Eastwood ultimately fails in doing the subject material the justice it deserves due to an unfocused script and one- dimensional pacing.

The film is presented as a series of flashbacks as Hoover (Leonardo Dicaprio) retells his life story to a series of young agent stenographers.

It jumps back to the early days of his career before it was known as the FBI, through to the Lindbergh-

baby kidnapping case, taking in brief conversations with Nixon, up until the final weeks of his life. The film, told from Hoover’s point of view, provides insight into the careful manipulation of the public image of Hoover and the fudging of facts (or downright lies) he promoted in order to further the name of both himself and the institution he created. These include the capture of Dillinger and the Bureau’s work with Warner Bros to promote the agency in the 30’s in order to balance the slew of gangster films it had released.

And yet, in attempting to incorporate so many of the controversies that Hoover was involved in, the film loses focus mainly due to the stagnant pacing throughout. Couple this with the flashback structure of the film between present day and 1919 and one becomes exhausted yet strangely apathetic towards the man and the events. This is all before the relationship between Hoover and the handsome Clyde Tolson, his long time companion who went on to inherit his estate,

is even mentioned to the audience.

Despite this there are good things to be said for the film. The costumes, props and set design are first rate and do a masterful job of taking the viewer through the decades. The performances, particularly from Leonardo Dicaprio are all strong, although Naomi Watts’ character, Helen Gandy, is strangely unwritten, her unerring support for Hoover never fully explained. However, the script, penned by Dustin Lance Black (who won an Oscar for his Harvey Milk work), depicted the relationship between Hoover and Tolson in a suitably nuanced manner giving insight into Hoover the conflicted moralist. Eastwood has created a stodgy, well acted, beautiful looking, but ultimately flawed biopic of J. Edgar Hoover that fails to do justice to either the complexity of character or the significance of events that he was involved in.

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The People’s History Museum By Sahand Razavi Manchester’s continual architectural and cultural makeover has offered a few surprises over the past decade (the controversial design of the Hilton Tower splitting Mancunian opinion in particular) yet whilst that particular building has proved divisive, the redevelopment of The People’s History Museum (PHA) has received a far more positive reaction from the public.

Manchester has a rich history with Working Class culture, resulting not only from the impact of Industrialisation on the city and the national landscape, but from a cultural perspective as well (as any selfrespecting Smiths or Oasis fan will tell you), yet the key question remains: does class really matter in the present day?

Located on Bridge Street in the trendy area of Manchester, and close to John Rylands library Deansgate site, the newly refurbished museum makes a striking impression on first viewing.

With the historically significant River Irwell running just behind the building, Salford in the near distance and the stunning design of the new Crown Court Centre and the museum itself, you get the sense that this is a new building for a modern era, yet still aware of the importance of the past.

I will be honest: I was sceptical before visiting the museum. Would it be a giant concrete homage to the virtues of Socialism? Would I find statues of Lenin and Trotsky towering in the reception area? Even worse, would I find Billy Bragg handing out copies of the Morning Star outside the entrance?

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First impressions certainly did not show any glimpses of these pre-visit views. From the student perspective, I guess the words FREE ADMISSION are always welcome, and this feature of free and universal access plays a major role in the Museum’s attempt to paint “the struggle for Democracy” in Britain. The entrance area is wide, clear and open, whilst the staff are warm and friendly, ready to help and advise on where is best to start the

tour. There isn’t much need for a map as the size of the museum itself is relatively small, but they are available at reception if needed, as is any further assistance with any access requirements.

Admin aside, the main point of the museum as mentioned above, is to highlight the process of greater democratisation in Britain, looking at the key events from the eighteenth century to the present day. The museum is split into three levels: level one acts as the entrance floor, with two large exhibition halls dedicated to print culture and the impact of propaganda over the last two hundred years. Both rooms are certainly worth a look, particularly the fantastic Community Gallery, which manages to fuse the more contemporary aspects of Manchester’s reconstruction, with the collection on offer, whilst never feeling out of place.

Levels two and three are where the real purpose of the museum is best exemplified. The story of the ‘beginning’ of the struggle for the vote from the turn of the nineteenth century, and for greater participation in society and government is explained concisely and effectively from the 2nd floor. It is clear that the museum wants to appeal to everyone, and it succeeds in this respect by keeping the textual explanations to the minimum, and allowing visitors to learn interactively thanks to the technological facilities on offer. In a sense, you are invited to ‘trace your own history’ within the galleries and the information they supply. What was most interesting for me was that the PHA managed to reconcile the Mancunian story of democratic involvement with the wider national process. Key moments are continually signposted such as the Peterloo massacre of 1819, and the more recent miners

strikes of the 1980’s under Margaret ‘Iron Lady’ Thatcher’s government.

The other important thing to mention is that with Thesis deadlines fast approaching, the museum has an onsite archive centre, which stores a vast quantity of primary source material relating to the history of working people, and would therefore by a useful point of contact to get any relevant research conducted.

Going back to the question posed before, ‘does class really matter anymore’, that is a question that is left entirely up to the visitor at the PHA, but the museum does show how past events have shaped the structure of modern day society. How far have we come and how far do we still need to go down the route of democracy?

THE PAST COMES ALIVE! MANCHESTER HISTORIES FESTIVAL Did you hear about the German prisoner of war who played in goal for Manchester City… with a broken neck?

Had Scott of the Antarctic taken a wrong turn when he signed the Manchester Museum guest book?

What can pervasive gaming bring to the exploration of history?

Find out the answers to all these teasers and more at Manchester Histories Festival, 24 February to 4 March 2012.

A digital treasure hunt, a rock and roll walking tour, the original plans for the Mancunian Way, a family vintage bike ride, community archeology projects, a football pub walk and the city heliport that never was are just some of the 100+ events that are jostling to reinvigorate public perceptions of history.

From anarchic 19th century street gangs with brass-tipped clogs and soaped-down fringes to Turing’s work on the Enigma Code, the tenday festival takes a challenging new approach to the familiar and lesser explored histories of the region.

You simply need to know why hundreds of Sioux Indians set up camp on the banks of the Irwell in Salford and how it felt for 19-yearold celebrity wannabe Frances Lockett from Hyde to be crowned Britain’s first Cotton Queen.

Saturday 3 March is Celebration Day and provides a focus for the second Manchester Histories Festival. Spend the day immersed in the history of Greater Manchester at Manchester Town Hall, Friends’ Meeting House and at venues across the city.

and community groups across Greater Manchester have helped to create the event, delivering the activity and sharing their knowledge and experience.“ Other highlights of the festival, which is a partnership between University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Renaissance North West, include: - The chance to climb 280ft to the top of Manchester Town Hall’s 134-year-old clock tower (25/26 February and 3/4 March) - A family cycle ride alongside penny farthing and other vintage cycles (26 February, starting from Bolton and Stockport) - A debate about the overseas ownership of the city’s two football clubs (2 March), featuring Gary James, author of ‘Manchester A Football History’, Andy Walsh from FC United and Dave Wallace, former MCFC fan-on-the-board

The first Community History Awards, chaired by BBC’s Ranvir Singh, will recognise and reward successful partnerships exploring Greater Manchester history between schools and community groups and an archive, gallery, library, museum or university.

The first Manchester Histories Festival took place in March 2009.

Over 4,000 people demonstrated their enthusiasm for Greater Manchester’s history at Manchester’s Town Hall.

To see the whole programme, visit: www. manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk T: 0161 306 1982 E: info@ manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk Find Manchester Histories Festival on Facebook and on Twitter @mcrhistfest

- Cult theatre group Lip Service’s comedic and cake-fuelled tribute to the women who made Manchester (4 March), part theatre, part walking tour Claire Turner, festival director, said: “Manchester Histories Festival brings a new, radical approach to exploring history and is not afraid to use cutting edge technologies to engage people of all ages and historical experience, from school pupils and college students to family history enthusiasts and museum curators. ”Partnership is key to our success.

Museums, galleries, academics, archives, local and family history societies, cultural organisations

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