Matt Busby - Jim Al-Khalili TV - Mark Williams TV - Britain's Underworld TV - Jimmy The Weed Donnelly - Mark Austin TV - Britain's Biggest Heists TV - Gary & Martin Kemp TV - Manchester’s Serial Killer TV - Panorama TV - Manchester: 100 Days After the Attack TV - Crimes that Shocked Britain TV - Mary Beard TV - Manchester: The Night of the Bomb TV - Control 2007 - The Stone Roses: Made in Stone TV - Michael Buerk TV - 60 Days on the Streets TV - Manctopia: Billion Pound Property Boom TV - Jonathan Foyle: People’s Palaces: The Golden Age of Gothic Architecture TV - Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV - The United Way TV - World Collide: The Manchester Bombing TV - The Hacienda: The Club that Shook Britain TV -
Manchester is my heaven. Matt Busby
Two of the most extraordinary men in the history of science worked here in the Physics Department of Manchester University between 1911 and 1916: they were Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr. Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Atom: The Clash of the Titans, BBC 2007
By the middle of the eighteenth century Manchester is a boom town ... The cotton industry is booming. It’s not mechanised yet. But it’s attracting lots of workers. Mark Williams, Industrial Revelations s1e1: Boom Time, Discovery 2002
Cotton was the first industry to be revolutionised. ibid.
In 1961 the government legalised betting shops in an attempt to take gambling off the streets. Ironically, it led to an explosion in the number of casinos. Manchester became an entertainment capital. Britain’s Underworld: Manchester, 2010
A unlikely combination of cops and criminals had scuppered any chance the Krays had of making an assault on the Manchester underworld. ibid.
Allegations of corruption went as high as Manchester’s deputy chief constable John Stalker, who was accused of having links to the QSG (Quality Street Gang). ibid.
The underworld took a new and deadly turn: it was about hard drugs, big money and a brutal battle for control ... A new drug had arrived: heroin. ibid.
Gun crime became so commonplace in Manchester that the city was given a new name by the press. These were violent streets where hooded gang members began wearing body armour under their track suits. And gang battles were fought out on hospital corridors. Britain’s Underworld: Bringing Down The Gooch aka Real Crime with Mark Austin
Moss Side – the west of the estate was the turf of the Gooch Gang, centred around Gooch Close, which was to become one of the most notorious streets in Britain. The Gooch Gang’s bitter rivals were the Doddingtons from the other side of the estate. ibid.
The Longsight Crew – an offshoot of the Doddington gang. ibid.
Detectives now had a second drive-by shooting to investigate. ibid.
Forensics had tied the Gooch Gang to another murder. ibid.
The trial of the Gooch Gang began ... The longest and the largest in the history of Greater Manchester police. ibid.
Gun crime in the city has fallen by almost 60% in two years. ibid.
No money. No food. And robbing was the only way round getting a few quid. Jimmy ‘The Weed’ Donnelly
In the summer of 1995 a gang of masked men viciously attacked a security van in Salford Greater Manchester. Over £6,000,000 was stolen when the van was dramatically ambushed at a security depot. Britain’s Biggest Heists II: The Midland Bank Robbery, 2010
This major breach of protocol [not pushing panic button] threw Graham Huckerby [van driver] straight into the frame. ibid.
A drive-by shooting in broad daylight which brought about the downfall of one of Britain’s most dangerous gangs. Gangs of Britain with Gary and Martin Kemp: Manchester, CI 2013
For over a hundred years Manchester has had a deep-rooted gang culture. ibid.
The Scuttlers – a name that sent fear through the streets of Manchester for over a hundred years ago. ibid.
The Gooch: their supremacy was challenged by other local outfits like the Doddington gang and the Longsight Crew. ibid.
With the Gooch gang now broken, gun crime in the city fell by almost 60% over the next two years. ibid.
For years a disturbing rumour has swirled around Manchester: a serial killed dubbed The Pusher is stalking the city’s canals. January ’15 the story went global when a disturbing statistic came to light: 85 bodies, most of them men, have been pulled from the water since 2008. 28 of these deaths returned an open verdict and the inquest remained unexplained. Manchester’s Serial Killer, Channel 4 2016
Resilience and solidarity can’t be the only response to the worst attack this city has seen but right now it’s what they need. Panorama: Manchester Attack: Terror at the Arena, BBC 2017
It’s now a week since thousands of young girls were looking forward to another concert – American superstar Ariana Grande. The Manchester arena was packed with more than 20,000 fans. ibid.
A bomb had been detonated in the foyer of the arena. ibid.
22 people died in the Manchester arena on May 22nd, the youngest was 8 years old. 116 people were injured. ibid.
On 22nd May 2017 a bomb exploded at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. 22 people were murdered. 8-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos was the youngest victim. Panorama: Manchester Arena Bombing: Saffie’s Story, BBC 2022
100 days ago a suicide bomber attacked children and parents leaving a pop concert in Manchester. 22 were killed, 59 seriously injured. Manchester: 100 Days After the Attack, ITV 2017
The Manchester terror attack was a crime that shook Britain. On the night of 22nd May 2017 at a little after 10.30 p.m. pop singer Ariana Grande had just finished her performance at the Manchester Arena … The realisation that this could only have been a bomb. Crimes that Shook Britain s8e1: Manchester, CI 2017
Ford Madox Brown, The Manchester Murals 1879-93: to celebrate the history of their proudly mercantile industrial civilisation. Mary Beard, Civilisations on Your Doorstep, BBC 2018
The bomber was a man called Salman Abedi born in Manchester … For a young man he would have had some sort of instruction on it. Manchester: The Night of the Bomb, rozzer, BBC 2018
‘I saw my legs on fire and then I was unconscious.’ ibid. victim
‘A few bodies, body parts, a pile of muscle or fat or something.’ ibid.
Many casualties were parents waiting for their children. ibid.
The bomber Salman Abedi was found dead at the scene. ibid.
Existence – well, does it matter? I exist on the best terms I can. Control 2007 starring Sam Riley & Samantha Morton & Alexandra Maria Lara & Joe Anderson & Toby Kebbell & Craig Parkinson & James Anthony Pearson & Harry Treadaway & Andrew Sheridan & Robert Shelley & Matthew McNulty & Ben Naylor & John Cooper Clarke et al, director Anton Corbijn, opening monologue
Warsaw – now we’re Joy Division. ibid. Ian
First gig in London and nobody there. ibid.
Who’s Anik? … I don’t deserve this. ibid. her to him
I never meant for it to grow like this … I’ve no control any more. ibid. Ian
‘We want to be the biggest band in our street.’ The Stone Roses: Made of Stone ***** 2013, band member, 2013
‘The Roses became embroiled in a dispute with their record company.’ ibid. news
‘Our plans are to shake up the world.’ ibid. Ian Brown
1986: After a disagreement with manager Gareth Evans guitarist Andy Couzens walks out of the band. ibid.
June 1987: bassist Peter Garner also leaves the band. ibid.
After years building up a loyal Manchester following suddenly they’re darlings of the music press and number one in the independent charts. ibid.
Parr Hall, Warrington, capacity 1,100. ibid.
Stone Roses Amsterdam Bust-Up. ibid. headline
It just never was the same. ibid. second album
We found out a lot of money had gone missing. ibid. band
Cotton changed the world … The fearless team of engineers and industrialists brought the sea to landlocked Manchester. How the Victorians Built Britain s1e4: The Birth of the Machines, Channel 5 2018
Manchester: It was packed full of dark Satanic mills, churning out cotton by the millions of square metres. ibid.
Cotton could now be transported from Liverpool docks to Manchester in two hours … The world’s first intercity railway. ibid.
Huge feats of engineering were needed to conquer an unforgiving route. The Manchester to Liverpool railway was the first to tunnel beneath the city, the first to have signals, the first to have a timetable, the first to carry mail … It had to transport all that cotton to and from Manchester’s factories and mills. ibid.