Sixty to ninety minutes of entertainment, information and superb imagery.
FREE
(although contributions very welcome)
THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
24 NEW THEMES FOR 2021
Most popular
6pm Manchester Town Hall, 'a classic of its age' – Zoom tour
A virtual tour around one of the greatest Victorian buildings in the world. This tour includes the story of its design, its construction and the activities that have taken place within it. There are lots of people stories, a few ghosts involved and of course superb pictures.
Recording now available for £5
THE NEXT ZOOM TOUR IS:
So how will these unique tours work?
It's simple. Email me which Zoom tour you want to join and I'll get an alert. I will then send a secure invitation. The good news is that even if you can't make the live broadcast, then the presentation will be recorded so you can visit it, or revisit it, as many times as you want. The sessions will last an hour to an hour and a half, but of course nobody will be obliged to stay a minute longer than they wish.
The 'intimate history' of Manchester series will form the basis for a book on the history of the city later in 2021.
THESE ZOOM TOURS ARE FREE WHEN WATCHED LIVE BUT CONTRIBUTIONS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED. CONTIBUTION DETAILS ARE INCLUDED AFTER THE LIST OF TOURS. RECORDED ZOOMS ARE £5 EACH AND AVAILABLE ON REQUEST.
Zoom tours up to August 2021 - look beneath this list for the Zoom tours already recorded (there are 22 themes).
ZOOM TOURS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2021
6pm Saturday 7 August
6pm More Lost Buildings and Streets of Manchester and Salford – Zoom tour
Another look at some of disappeared Manchester, the buildings, streets and squares. There will be spectacular buildings with stirring history but also some of the smaller and charming losses that tell a different story.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 10 August
6pm The Manchester Ship Canal Story – Zoom tour
The epic story of an engineering marvel that brought the sea to Manchester. This Zoom tour will be filled with dramatic images old and new of the buildings, the ships and the people. It will tell a memorable tale of inspiration, activity, decline and rebirth.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 24 August
6pm Prestwich & Heaton Park - Zoom tour
Prestwich is a fascinating place as its neighbour Heaton Park. This Zoom tour will tell the stories of the pair through wonderful imagery of the past, present and maybe even the future. Prestwich has ancient origins, on the line of a Roman road with one of the most prestigious regional parish churches. It has a rich Victorian and 20th century story to tell as well. Heaton Hall is one of the most important neo-Classical houses in the country while the surrounding estate has stirring story to tell.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 7 September
6pm Ten top North West places part one – Zoom tour
A personal choice of the best of the North West of England big and small, manmade and natural. Beautiful pictures and entertaining commentary with choices that will surprise people.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 14 September
6pm Folklore, tall stories and crazy early sport – Zoom tour
This is the stuff of legends you might say. This tour looks at the myths and folktales associated with the Manchester area but also includes some of the madcap games and pastimes people enjoyed from chasing greased pigs, playing clout ear, treacle loaf eating, nude male racing. In superstitious times people worried about spirits, faeries and sprites lurking in canals, under bridges or in leafy dells. This is an amusing excursion into a past where the urban and natural landscape was alive with supernatural and also the people’s playground.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
6pm Manchester Town Hall, 'a classic of its age' – Zoom tour
A virtual tour around one of the greatest Victorian buildings in the world. This tour includes the story of its design, its construction and the activities that have taken place within it. There are lots of people stories, a few ghosts involved and of course superb pictures.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday 12 January
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 1 Manchester: An Intimate History
Celts, Romans, Saxons, Vikings – Prehistory to 1066
Recording available
Thursday 14 January
6pm Mayfield Baths & Mayfield Depot
A 'special' in view of the recent national coverage of Mayfield Baths. This tour looks at the stirring history of Mayfield from pre-industrial rural idyll to the archetypal industrial suburb. There are tales of famous scientists, unrest and murder, plus the remarkable link, via the baths, with Olympic Gold. With great photographs and fascinating stories this tells a deeper story of an area undergoing fabulous reinvention through the Mayfield Partnership.
Recording available
Friday 15 January
6pm Manchester Music - A Zoom tour
A Zoom swoop through the popular music scene of the city from the 1960s to the present day, examining the huge range of inspirational sounds that have moved the musical world. This Zoom tour takes in venues too and follows the route of the walking and coach tours of Manchester’s music around the city centre and suburbs. There are loads of daft anecdotes too. None of Manchester’s famous bands and acts are missed and many less well known are included.
Recording available
Tuesday 19 January
6.30pm The Secrets of Chapel Street and Peel Park - A Zoom tour
Three amazing churches, great pubs and one glorious park. Chapel Street to Peel Park covers an area of outstanding history, of invading armies, dole protests, novelists and songwriters, of elegant generals, important newspaper editors and 21st century re-invention. There are love stories, ghost stories and stories of atomic bunkers and, of course, penalty shoot-outs.
Recording available
Friday 22 January
6pm The Manchester Skyline - A Zoom tour
Manchester has had the most dynamic skyline in the UK, outside the capital, over the last 200 years. This is a Zoom swoop over the city examining how the city has built up, fallen down and raced up again. It's not just about bricks and mortar either but also about the people who have changed the city's physical profile and what they thought as they did so. So from the first human interventions into the heavens above the city to the ones still to come, this Zoom tour will give you, forgive the pun, some real perspective.
Recording available
Tuesday 26 January
6pm Lost Manchester Part II - A Zoom tour
The second in the series of buildings and places, big, little and in-between that have disappeared in the distant, middling, fairly recent and very recent past. There are vast monuments to behold and modest but meaningful disappearances. They all tell a story of a city in permanent transition which sometimes forgets what is important in the pursuit of progress. This was a tremendously popular Zoom tour in October and looks set to be again. Some of the buildings will be revisited from the first of these but there will be plenty of fresh material as well.
Recording available
Friday 29 January
6pm The Secrets of Oxford Street/Oxford Road Part One - A Zoom tour
From St Peter’s Square to the Mancunian Way
This street is ridiculously busy in terms of incidents, architecture and showbiz. With glorious imagery of fabulous buildings, plus old images too, the tour reveals stirring stories of significant people, eccentric people and some silly people. The commentary is entertaining and shows off a street which scaled the heights of wealth and also the depths of poverty where textile warehouses built as palaces mingle with archetypal dark satanic mills. Big street, big past, present and future.
Recording available
Tuesday 2 February
6pm Manchester's Tunnels
Let's get down into the dark, get a bit mucky and maybe a bit scared. We'll need waders too - metaphorically speaking. This Zoom tour takes you to places you never see with superb pictures from lost rivers, a turn around a sinister atomic bunker, a stroll through bomb shelters in a hugely dramatic underground canal and many other strange and wonderful subterranean locations.
Recording available
Friday 5 February
6pm Greater Manchester's sporting life - A Zoom tour
This tour takes in the crazy games of pre-industrial Greater Manchester such as shinning up Maypoles to get legs of lamb and chasing pigs down the street. It recalls attempts to beat the bells by racing around Manchester Town Hall at midnight and even races between short-legged men and Yorkshire terriers. Of course, we talk about City, United and Lancashire Cricket Club too, while taking in a virtual game on the unique Manchester dartboard. Expect lots of surprises.
Recording available
Tuesday 9 February
Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 2 Manchester: An Intimate History
Medieval Manchester, a new church and hints of things to come – Years 410 to 1485
Recording available
Friday 12 February
6.30pm The Ridiculous Life of a Manchester Tour Guide – A Zoom tour
This Zoom tour recalls some of the madcap tales from a quarter century of guiding in Manchester and the NW of England. There have been good times, amusing times, startling times and the daft times. I have often been confused and bemused on tours by the questions and requests thrown my way but also charmed and delighted. If you want a laugh in equally confusing and bemusing times then this Zoom tour is for you.
Recording available
Tuesday 16 February
6pm Dark Manchester: terrible deeds, murder, rebellion and execution - A Zoom tour
Manchester and Greater Manchester have a dark side. At times the city and region has witnessed acts of terrible violence followed by swift and brutal retribution. On this Zoom tour we examine some specific cases from deep in the region's history, hundreds of years ago, right up to the last hanging in the UK in Strangeways Prison in 1964 of Gwynne Evans. His, and many other stories, will be told on this tour. It is not for the faint hearted.
Recording available
Friday 19 February
PLEASE NOTE THIS HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO NOT HAVING ENOUGH IMAGES - WAITING FOR THEM TO ARRIVE
6pm Greater Manchester's sporting life Part 2 - A Zoom tour
More of the crazy sports of Manchester and area with this time an emphasis on the big names of Manchester United and Manchester City with rugby, cycling and cricket featuring too.
Tuesday 23 February
6pm River and Canal Tales of Manchester – A Zoom tour
From epic achievement and startling success to disasters and farce, plus the oldest British horse (ever), it’s all here on a riparian excursion around the city. I intend to make a splash with this one and also question why we aren’t using the waterways so much anymore. These were the highways of the past and fundamental to the Manchester story.
Recording available
Friday 26 February
6pm Drunken Manchester – A Zoom tour
The demon drink has been at the centre of British history for millennia. This Zoom tour takes a rollicking, rumbustious, riotous rumble through Manchester's deep association with booze, the fun moments, the mad moments and the bad moments. We'll virtually visit some of the surviving pubs, some of the lost pubs, and tell tales of the silly and, sometimes, tragic things that have happened there, and in the streets and squares.
Recording available
Friday 5 March
6pm The Tour of Uninteresting Objects – A Zoom tour
Of course all the uninteresting objects featured on the tour will be interesting, yet so often they are bypassed without another thought. Included there will be madcap sculptures, concrete monsters, wooden paving, lost towpaths, terrible spelling, big holes, awful setbacks, fingers that have grown back, oh, and tripe and opium - in a manner of speaking.
Recording available
Tuesday 9 March
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 3: Tudors, enchanters and Civil War - Years 1485 to 1688
Recording available
Friday 12 March
6pm Imagined Manchester – A Zoom tour
A Zoom tour looking at some of the sensible and silly schemes that have been dreamt up in Manchester and area but never delivered. These cover projects such as one plan to knock down and rebuild the whole of the city centre, a Chester-type ‘Rows’ for where the Arndale presently stands, a sort of Eiffel Tower for Piccadilly Gardens and the Invasion of Manchester (weird one that) amongst many others. This is a tour that reveals how cities have imagined themselves and made plans even though none of them might have worked out.
Recording available
Wednesday 17 March
6pm Irish in Manchester - A Zoom tour
This St Patrick's Day we take a look at the stirring story of one of Manchester's key communities who have been making their mark on this city for centuries. This is a tale of poverty and pride, of success and achievement. It involves the rough and the smooth, the rogues and the heroes. It also reveals a disturbing link with the 1916 Easter Rising.
Recording available
Friday 19 March
6pm Manchester's statues – A Zoom tour
A robust examination of the most significant Manchester city centre statues. There is a review of the city's statues currently taking place so the time seems opportune for this virtual tour. Meanwhile Liverpool University has decided to rename its Gladstone Building and Manchester has a prominent statue of William Gladstone in Albert Square. Gladstone's life and other's will be portrayed with reference to the artists who crafted their statues and the circumstances that led to their commemoration. Some conclusions might be controversial.
Recording available
Wednesday 24 March
6pm This is Manchester - A Zoom tour
This will not only look at the history of Manchester but also the contemporary city. It aims to knit together key characteristics and facts about the city region in a lively and often amusing manner. Unlike my other Zoom tours this has no specific theme so I can give a broader picture of what makes and has made the city tick. I'm really looking forward to conducting it and of course there will be great images.
Recording available
Friday 26 March
6pm Irish in Manchester Part two - A Zoom tour
This St Patrick's Day we take a look at the stirring story of one of Manchester's key communities who have been making their mark on this city for centuries. This is a tale of poverty and pride, of success and achievement. It involves the rough and the smooth, the rogues and the heroes.
Recording available
Thursday 1 April
6pm The April Fool's Day – A Zoom tour
This will take place only if the April Fool's Day walking tour still can't go head due to Covid-19 - let's hope the restrictions don't extend that far into the year. The tour will be a competition for guests. I'll tell more than twenty absurd stories and guests will have to guess which four stories are fibs. Manchester and Greater Manchester have played host to some ridiculous people and events, you can learn all about them here and win a prize if you identify all four fibs.
Recording available
Tuesday 6 April
6.30pm Oxford Road Part II: the A34 series - A Zoom tour
After a rollicking start in February we got as far as All Saints although we may have to nip back to another couple of places before we continue past MMU, the University, the RNCM. This tour will cover scientific breakthroughs, artists, hugely important politics and impressive buildings. The action on the A34 never lets up so there'll be another coming along pushing further south to Wilmlsow Road and Fallowfield.
Recording available
Friday 9 April
6pm The Tour of Uninteresting Objects – A Zoom tour
Of course all the uninteresting objects featured on the tour will be interesting, yet so often they are bypassed without another thought. There will be madcap sculptures, concrete monsters, lost towpaths, big holes, awful setbacks, fingers that have grown back, rubber seals oh, and tripe and opium - in a manner of speaking.
Recording available
Tuesday 13 April
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 4 Manchester: An Intimate History
Insurrection, executions, crazy characters and a canal - Years 1649 to 1783
Recording available
Wednesday 21 April
6pm Manchester in fourteen speeches Part One – Zoom tour
This city has been the focus or the location of some great speeches (and writings) down the centuries. This Zoom tour looks at the politics from anti-slavery through free trade and female emancipation to the pursuit of social justice and representation. Speakers and writers featured include Lydia Becker, John Bright, Anthony Burgess, Thomas Clarkson, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglass, Friedrich Engels, Elizabeth Gaskell, Ulysses S Grant, Henry Hunt, Hilary Mantel, Emmeline Pankhurst, Woodrow Wilson.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 27 April
6pm Chorlton-cum-Hardy – Zoom tour
Chorlton-cum-Hardy has a rich history and some stirring stories along with some frankly ridiculous ones. This tour traces the history, the buildings (remaining and lost), the music, the literature and the personalities associated with this most mercurial of suburbs. There will be superb images both old and new, lots of laughs and entertainment.
Recording available
Tuesday 11 May
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 5 Manchester: An Intimate History
Steam power, slavery and the attack on the Exchange - Years 1780 to 1812
Recording available
Tuesday 18 May
6pm Totally, Madly, Brutal. A Zoom tour
Modernism, the International Modern, Streamline Moderne, Brutalism, concrete, glass, steel. With superb imagery this tour takes a look at the pre-war and post-war buildings that have often been derided yet speak also of optimism in design from the Daily Express Building through the CIS Tower to the statement architecture of the Imperial War Museum North. As usual the commentary will be entertaining as well as informative. This tour ties in with BRUTAL, an exhibition exploring similar themes at the superb Saul Hay Gallery in Castlefield which begins on 14 May.
Recording available
Tuesday 8 June
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 6 Manchester: An Intimate History
The Industrial machine, Peterloo, railways and reform - Years 1812 to 1832
Tuesday 15 June
6pm Didsbury – Zoom tour
This tour will bring Didsbury to life – virtually. It will tell the story of the village that became a suburb through cracking images, old and new, and with a sparkling commentary. From an ancient church through civil wars, daft celebrations, music and literature to the posh commuting suburb with its centre of axis moved by the arrival of the railway, there will be lots to reveal. There’s even a Les Dawson joke about Didsbury.
Tuesday 22 June
6pm New Manchester Buildings – the good, the average and the ugly. A Zoom tour
In the last 25 years the central area of Manchester and Salford has been transformed. It is now easily the tallest urban area outside London and it hasn’t finished yet with many more towers are planned. There have also been lots of lower new build across these areas at the same time. But are the buildings any good, will they last, are they something to look up too or are they slums of the future, is there anywhere near enough social housing being built. Join this feisty and opinionated Zoom tour and bring you own opinions.
Tuesday 20 July
6pm Folklore, tall stories and crazy early sport – Zoom tour
This is the stuff of legends you might say. This tour looks at the myths and folktales associated with the Manchester area but also includes some of the madcap games and pastimes people enjoyed from chasing greased pigs, playing clout ear, treacle loaf eating, nude male racing. In superstitious times people worried about spirits, faeries and sprites lurking in canals, under bridges or in leafy dells. This is an amusing excursion into a past where the urban and natural landscape was alive with supernatural and also the people’s playground.
Tuesday 24 August
6pm Prestwich & Heaton Park - Zoom tour
Prestwich is a fascinating place as its neighbour Heaton Park. This Zoom tour will tell the stories of the pair through wonderful imagery of the past, present and maybe even the future. Prestwich has ancient origins, on the line of a Roman road with one of the most prestigious regional parish churches. It has a rich Victorian and 20th century story to tell as well. Heaton Hall is one of the most important neo-Classical houses in the country while the surrounding estate has a stirring story to tell.
Already recorded Zoom tours
Suffragettes, Significant Women & Manchester
Recording now available
Peterloo: The reality and the drama
Recording now available
The Pan-African Congress, Slavery & Thomas Clarkson Tour
Recording now available
The Secrets of the Refuge Building (Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel)
Recording now available
200th birthday: Friedrich Engels, a German Communist in Manchester
Recording now available
60s & 70s Manchester
Recording now available
Manchester's Amazing Tunnels
Recording now available
The Secrets of London Road Fire Station
Recording now available
Understanding architecture part 1: Gothic styles
Recording now available
Chetham's Extraordinary Medieval Buildings
Recording now available
The Secrets of Cross Street
Recording now available
The Secrets of Old Trafford
Recording now available
Understanding architecture part 2: Classical and related styles
Recording now available
The Secrets of Oxford Street and Road part I
Recording now available
The Secrets of Oxford Street and Road part II
Recording now available
The Secrets of Chapel Street
Recording now available
The Secrets of Castlefield & St John's
Recording now available
Peterloo Massacre: The Reality & The Drama
Recording now available
80s Manchester: from Joy Division to Happy Mondays
Recording now available
The Pubs & Lost Pubs of Manchester
Recording now available
Understanding architecture part 3: post WW2 architecture
Recording now available
Manchester: The American Link
Recording now available
So how will these unique tours work?
It's simple. Email me which Zoom tour you want to join and I'll get an alert. I will then send a secure invitation. The good news is that even if you can't make the live broadcast, then the presentation will be recorded so you can visit it, or revisit it, as many times as you want. The sessions will last an hour to an hour and a half, but of course nobody will be obliged to stay a minute longer than they wish.
The 'intimate history' of Manchester series will form the basis for a book on the history of the city later in 2021.
THESE ZOOM TOURS ARE FREE WHEN WATCHED LIVE BUT CONTRIBUTIONS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED. CONTIBUTION DETAILS ARE INCLUDED AFTER THE LIST OF TOURS. RECORDED ZOOMS ARE £5 EACH AND AVAILABLE ON REQUEST.
Zoom tours up to August 2021 - look beneath this list for the Zoom tours already recorded (there are 22 themes).
ZOOM TOURS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2021
6pm Saturday 7 August
6pm More Lost Buildings and Streets of Manchester and Salford – Zoom tour
Another look at some of disappeared Manchester, the buildings, streets and squares. There will be spectacular buildings with stirring history but also some of the smaller and charming losses that tell a different story.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 10 August
6pm The Manchester Ship Canal Story – Zoom tour
The epic story of an engineering marvel that brought the sea to Manchester. This Zoom tour will be filled with dramatic images old and new of the buildings, the ships and the people. It will tell a memorable tale of inspiration, activity, decline and rebirth.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 24 August
6pm Prestwich & Heaton Park - Zoom tour
Prestwich is a fascinating place as its neighbour Heaton Park. This Zoom tour will tell the stories of the pair through wonderful imagery of the past, present and maybe even the future. Prestwich has ancient origins, on the line of a Roman road with one of the most prestigious regional parish churches. It has a rich Victorian and 20th century story to tell as well. Heaton Hall is one of the most important neo-Classical houses in the country while the surrounding estate has stirring story to tell.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 7 September
6pm Ten top North West places part one – Zoom tour
A personal choice of the best of the North West of England big and small, manmade and natural. Beautiful pictures and entertaining commentary with choices that will surprise people.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 14 September
6pm Folklore, tall stories and crazy early sport – Zoom tour
This is the stuff of legends you might say. This tour looks at the myths and folktales associated with the Manchester area but also includes some of the madcap games and pastimes people enjoyed from chasing greased pigs, playing clout ear, treacle loaf eating, nude male racing. In superstitious times people worried about spirits, faeries and sprites lurking in canals, under bridges or in leafy dells. This is an amusing excursion into a past where the urban and natural landscape was alive with supernatural and also the people’s playground.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
6pm Manchester Town Hall, 'a classic of its age' – Zoom tour
A virtual tour around one of the greatest Victorian buildings in the world. This tour includes the story of its design, its construction and the activities that have taken place within it. There are lots of people stories, a few ghosts involved and of course superb pictures.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday 12 January
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 1 Manchester: An Intimate History
Celts, Romans, Saxons, Vikings – Prehistory to 1066
Recording available
Thursday 14 January
6pm Mayfield Baths & Mayfield Depot
A 'special' in view of the recent national coverage of Mayfield Baths. This tour looks at the stirring history of Mayfield from pre-industrial rural idyll to the archetypal industrial suburb. There are tales of famous scientists, unrest and murder, plus the remarkable link, via the baths, with Olympic Gold. With great photographs and fascinating stories this tells a deeper story of an area undergoing fabulous reinvention through the Mayfield Partnership.
Recording available
Friday 15 January
6pm Manchester Music - A Zoom tour
A Zoom swoop through the popular music scene of the city from the 1960s to the present day, examining the huge range of inspirational sounds that have moved the musical world. This Zoom tour takes in venues too and follows the route of the walking and coach tours of Manchester’s music around the city centre and suburbs. There are loads of daft anecdotes too. None of Manchester’s famous bands and acts are missed and many less well known are included.
Recording available
Tuesday 19 January
6.30pm The Secrets of Chapel Street and Peel Park - A Zoom tour
Three amazing churches, great pubs and one glorious park. Chapel Street to Peel Park covers an area of outstanding history, of invading armies, dole protests, novelists and songwriters, of elegant generals, important newspaper editors and 21st century re-invention. There are love stories, ghost stories and stories of atomic bunkers and, of course, penalty shoot-outs.
Recording available
Friday 22 January
6pm The Manchester Skyline - A Zoom tour
Manchester has had the most dynamic skyline in the UK, outside the capital, over the last 200 years. This is a Zoom swoop over the city examining how the city has built up, fallen down and raced up again. It's not just about bricks and mortar either but also about the people who have changed the city's physical profile and what they thought as they did so. So from the first human interventions into the heavens above the city to the ones still to come, this Zoom tour will give you, forgive the pun, some real perspective.
Recording available
Tuesday 26 January
6pm Lost Manchester Part II - A Zoom tour
The second in the series of buildings and places, big, little and in-between that have disappeared in the distant, middling, fairly recent and very recent past. There are vast monuments to behold and modest but meaningful disappearances. They all tell a story of a city in permanent transition which sometimes forgets what is important in the pursuit of progress. This was a tremendously popular Zoom tour in October and looks set to be again. Some of the buildings will be revisited from the first of these but there will be plenty of fresh material as well.
Recording available
Friday 29 January
6pm The Secrets of Oxford Street/Oxford Road Part One - A Zoom tour
From St Peter’s Square to the Mancunian Way
This street is ridiculously busy in terms of incidents, architecture and showbiz. With glorious imagery of fabulous buildings, plus old images too, the tour reveals stirring stories of significant people, eccentric people and some silly people. The commentary is entertaining and shows off a street which scaled the heights of wealth and also the depths of poverty where textile warehouses built as palaces mingle with archetypal dark satanic mills. Big street, big past, present and future.
Recording available
Tuesday 2 February
6pm Manchester's Tunnels
Let's get down into the dark, get a bit mucky and maybe a bit scared. We'll need waders too - metaphorically speaking. This Zoom tour takes you to places you never see with superb pictures from lost rivers, a turn around a sinister atomic bunker, a stroll through bomb shelters in a hugely dramatic underground canal and many other strange and wonderful subterranean locations.
Recording available
Friday 5 February
6pm Greater Manchester's sporting life - A Zoom tour
This tour takes in the crazy games of pre-industrial Greater Manchester such as shinning up Maypoles to get legs of lamb and chasing pigs down the street. It recalls attempts to beat the bells by racing around Manchester Town Hall at midnight and even races between short-legged men and Yorkshire terriers. Of course, we talk about City, United and Lancashire Cricket Club too, while taking in a virtual game on the unique Manchester dartboard. Expect lots of surprises.
Recording available
Tuesday 9 February
Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 2 Manchester: An Intimate History
Medieval Manchester, a new church and hints of things to come – Years 410 to 1485
Recording available
Friday 12 February
6.30pm The Ridiculous Life of a Manchester Tour Guide – A Zoom tour
This Zoom tour recalls some of the madcap tales from a quarter century of guiding in Manchester and the NW of England. There have been good times, amusing times, startling times and the daft times. I have often been confused and bemused on tours by the questions and requests thrown my way but also charmed and delighted. If you want a laugh in equally confusing and bemusing times then this Zoom tour is for you.
Recording available
Tuesday 16 February
6pm Dark Manchester: terrible deeds, murder, rebellion and execution - A Zoom tour
Manchester and Greater Manchester have a dark side. At times the city and region has witnessed acts of terrible violence followed by swift and brutal retribution. On this Zoom tour we examine some specific cases from deep in the region's history, hundreds of years ago, right up to the last hanging in the UK in Strangeways Prison in 1964 of Gwynne Evans. His, and many other stories, will be told on this tour. It is not for the faint hearted.
Recording available
Friday 19 February
PLEASE NOTE THIS HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO NOT HAVING ENOUGH IMAGES - WAITING FOR THEM TO ARRIVE
6pm Greater Manchester's sporting life Part 2 - A Zoom tour
More of the crazy sports of Manchester and area with this time an emphasis on the big names of Manchester United and Manchester City with rugby, cycling and cricket featuring too.
Tuesday 23 February
6pm River and Canal Tales of Manchester – A Zoom tour
From epic achievement and startling success to disasters and farce, plus the oldest British horse (ever), it’s all here on a riparian excursion around the city. I intend to make a splash with this one and also question why we aren’t using the waterways so much anymore. These were the highways of the past and fundamental to the Manchester story.
Recording available
Friday 26 February
6pm Drunken Manchester – A Zoom tour
The demon drink has been at the centre of British history for millennia. This Zoom tour takes a rollicking, rumbustious, riotous rumble through Manchester's deep association with booze, the fun moments, the mad moments and the bad moments. We'll virtually visit some of the surviving pubs, some of the lost pubs, and tell tales of the silly and, sometimes, tragic things that have happened there, and in the streets and squares.
Recording available
Friday 5 March
6pm The Tour of Uninteresting Objects – A Zoom tour
Of course all the uninteresting objects featured on the tour will be interesting, yet so often they are bypassed without another thought. Included there will be madcap sculptures, concrete monsters, wooden paving, lost towpaths, terrible spelling, big holes, awful setbacks, fingers that have grown back, oh, and tripe and opium - in a manner of speaking.
Recording available
Tuesday 9 March
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 3: Tudors, enchanters and Civil War - Years 1485 to 1688
Recording available
Friday 12 March
6pm Imagined Manchester – A Zoom tour
A Zoom tour looking at some of the sensible and silly schemes that have been dreamt up in Manchester and area but never delivered. These cover projects such as one plan to knock down and rebuild the whole of the city centre, a Chester-type ‘Rows’ for where the Arndale presently stands, a sort of Eiffel Tower for Piccadilly Gardens and the Invasion of Manchester (weird one that) amongst many others. This is a tour that reveals how cities have imagined themselves and made plans even though none of them might have worked out.
Recording available
Wednesday 17 March
6pm Irish in Manchester - A Zoom tour
This St Patrick's Day we take a look at the stirring story of one of Manchester's key communities who have been making their mark on this city for centuries. This is a tale of poverty and pride, of success and achievement. It involves the rough and the smooth, the rogues and the heroes. It also reveals a disturbing link with the 1916 Easter Rising.
Recording available
Friday 19 March
6pm Manchester's statues – A Zoom tour
A robust examination of the most significant Manchester city centre statues. There is a review of the city's statues currently taking place so the time seems opportune for this virtual tour. Meanwhile Liverpool University has decided to rename its Gladstone Building and Manchester has a prominent statue of William Gladstone in Albert Square. Gladstone's life and other's will be portrayed with reference to the artists who crafted their statues and the circumstances that led to their commemoration. Some conclusions might be controversial.
Recording available
Wednesday 24 March
6pm This is Manchester - A Zoom tour
This will not only look at the history of Manchester but also the contemporary city. It aims to knit together key characteristics and facts about the city region in a lively and often amusing manner. Unlike my other Zoom tours this has no specific theme so I can give a broader picture of what makes and has made the city tick. I'm really looking forward to conducting it and of course there will be great images.
Recording available
Friday 26 March
6pm Irish in Manchester Part two - A Zoom tour
This St Patrick's Day we take a look at the stirring story of one of Manchester's key communities who have been making their mark on this city for centuries. This is a tale of poverty and pride, of success and achievement. It involves the rough and the smooth, the rogues and the heroes.
Recording available
Thursday 1 April
6pm The April Fool's Day – A Zoom tour
This will take place only if the April Fool's Day walking tour still can't go head due to Covid-19 - let's hope the restrictions don't extend that far into the year. The tour will be a competition for guests. I'll tell more than twenty absurd stories and guests will have to guess which four stories are fibs. Manchester and Greater Manchester have played host to some ridiculous people and events, you can learn all about them here and win a prize if you identify all four fibs.
Recording available
Tuesday 6 April
6.30pm Oxford Road Part II: the A34 series - A Zoom tour
After a rollicking start in February we got as far as All Saints although we may have to nip back to another couple of places before we continue past MMU, the University, the RNCM. This tour will cover scientific breakthroughs, artists, hugely important politics and impressive buildings. The action on the A34 never lets up so there'll be another coming along pushing further south to Wilmlsow Road and Fallowfield.
Recording available
Friday 9 April
6pm The Tour of Uninteresting Objects – A Zoom tour
Of course all the uninteresting objects featured on the tour will be interesting, yet so often they are bypassed without another thought. There will be madcap sculptures, concrete monsters, lost towpaths, big holes, awful setbacks, fingers that have grown back, rubber seals oh, and tripe and opium - in a manner of speaking.
Recording available
Tuesday 13 April
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 4 Manchester: An Intimate History
Insurrection, executions, crazy characters and a canal - Years 1649 to 1783
Recording available
Wednesday 21 April
6pm Manchester in fourteen speeches Part One – Zoom tour
This city has been the focus or the location of some great speeches (and writings) down the centuries. This Zoom tour looks at the politics from anti-slavery through free trade and female emancipation to the pursuit of social justice and representation. Speakers and writers featured include Lydia Becker, John Bright, Anthony Burgess, Thomas Clarkson, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglass, Friedrich Engels, Elizabeth Gaskell, Ulysses S Grant, Henry Hunt, Hilary Mantel, Emmeline Pankhurst, Woodrow Wilson.
FREE but contributions are very welcome.
Tuesday 27 April
6pm Chorlton-cum-Hardy – Zoom tour
Chorlton-cum-Hardy has a rich history and some stirring stories along with some frankly ridiculous ones. This tour traces the history, the buildings (remaining and lost), the music, the literature and the personalities associated with this most mercurial of suburbs. There will be superb images both old and new, lots of laughs and entertainment.
Recording available
Tuesday 11 May
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 5 Manchester: An Intimate History
Steam power, slavery and the attack on the Exchange - Years 1780 to 1812
Recording available
Tuesday 18 May
6pm Totally, Madly, Brutal. A Zoom tour
Modernism, the International Modern, Streamline Moderne, Brutalism, concrete, glass, steel. With superb imagery this tour takes a look at the pre-war and post-war buildings that have often been derided yet speak also of optimism in design from the Daily Express Building through the CIS Tower to the statement architecture of the Imperial War Museum North. As usual the commentary will be entertaining as well as informative. This tour ties in with BRUTAL, an exhibition exploring similar themes at the superb Saul Hay Gallery in Castlefield which begins on 14 May.
Recording available
Tuesday 8 June
6pm Manchester: An Intimate History by Zoom
This is the story of Manchester (and Salford) in twenty Zoom tours and talks. It is an ‘intimate history’ because it doesn't just examine dates and episodes but explores the people behind the stories.
Part 6 Manchester: An Intimate History
The Industrial machine, Peterloo, railways and reform - Years 1812 to 1832
Tuesday 15 June
6pm Didsbury – Zoom tour
This tour will bring Didsbury to life – virtually. It will tell the story of the village that became a suburb through cracking images, old and new, and with a sparkling commentary. From an ancient church through civil wars, daft celebrations, music and literature to the posh commuting suburb with its centre of axis moved by the arrival of the railway, there will be lots to reveal. There’s even a Les Dawson joke about Didsbury.
Tuesday 22 June
6pm New Manchester Buildings – the good, the average and the ugly. A Zoom tour
In the last 25 years the central area of Manchester and Salford has been transformed. It is now easily the tallest urban area outside London and it hasn’t finished yet with many more towers are planned. There have also been lots of lower new build across these areas at the same time. But are the buildings any good, will they last, are they something to look up too or are they slums of the future, is there anywhere near enough social housing being built. Join this feisty and opinionated Zoom tour and bring you own opinions.
Tuesday 20 July
6pm Folklore, tall stories and crazy early sport – Zoom tour
This is the stuff of legends you might say. This tour looks at the myths and folktales associated with the Manchester area but also includes some of the madcap games and pastimes people enjoyed from chasing greased pigs, playing clout ear, treacle loaf eating, nude male racing. In superstitious times people worried about spirits, faeries and sprites lurking in canals, under bridges or in leafy dells. This is an amusing excursion into a past where the urban and natural landscape was alive with supernatural and also the people’s playground.
Tuesday 24 August
6pm Prestwich & Heaton Park - Zoom tour
Prestwich is a fascinating place as its neighbour Heaton Park. This Zoom tour will tell the stories of the pair through wonderful imagery of the past, present and maybe even the future. Prestwich has ancient origins, on the line of a Roman road with one of the most prestigious regional parish churches. It has a rich Victorian and 20th century story to tell as well. Heaton Hall is one of the most important neo-Classical houses in the country while the surrounding estate has a stirring story to tell.
Already recorded Zoom tours
Suffragettes, Significant Women & Manchester
Recording now available
Peterloo: The reality and the drama
Recording now available
The Pan-African Congress, Slavery & Thomas Clarkson Tour
Recording now available
The Secrets of the Refuge Building (Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel)
Recording now available
200th birthday: Friedrich Engels, a German Communist in Manchester
Recording now available
60s & 70s Manchester
Recording now available
Manchester's Amazing Tunnels
Recording now available
The Secrets of London Road Fire Station
Recording now available
Understanding architecture part 1: Gothic styles
Recording now available
Chetham's Extraordinary Medieval Buildings
Recording now available
The Secrets of Cross Street
Recording now available
The Secrets of Old Trafford
Recording now available
Understanding architecture part 2: Classical and related styles
Recording now available
The Secrets of Oxford Street and Road part I
Recording now available
The Secrets of Oxford Street and Road part II
Recording now available
The Secrets of Chapel Street
Recording now available
The Secrets of Castlefield & St John's
Recording now available
Peterloo Massacre: The Reality & The Drama
Recording now available
80s Manchester: from Joy Division to Happy Mondays
Recording now available
The Pubs & Lost Pubs of Manchester
Recording now available
Understanding architecture part 3: post WW2 architecture
Recording now available
Manchester: The American Link
Recording now available
Suggested contributions below, any amount would be more than welcome. You don't have to follow these suggestions but can choose your own amount and pay on Paypal via jgschofield@icloud.com. Or you can email me and I will send you account details for a bank transfer.
If you are unable to make a contribution you are still more than welcome to attend.
If you are unable to make a contribution you are still more than welcome to attend.
“Every year, students flock to Manchester from across the UK (and the globe) to experience the city; Jonathan’s tour was easily the best and most diverting ‘welcome week’ introduction to it I can imagine. Over two hours, he took us on a detailed survey of the physical, social, cultural and temporal landscape of a settlement with Roman origins but that only really came to the world’s attention as the first purpose-built capitalist city, with all that entails. Jonathan wears his learning lightly – he is always very accessible – but shows a real depth and breadth of knowledge; I learned a huge amount despite being something of a local history buff myself, and you get the feeling that he has at least another half-days’ worth of material to tailor to the audience’s needs. He speaks at a good pace and frequently checks back to answer questions. I could listen to him all day!” Jon Shute, 28 November 2020
"BRILLIANT Jonathan. I had a smile on my face most of the time. That was great." Lesley, 2 June 2020.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and now I'm going to invest in the package." Neil, 26 May 2020.
"Many thanks for this evening's Zoom tour. SO interesting and great photos." Judith, 2 June 2020.
"We watched the Cross St tour last night - fascinating. I’m originally from Prestwich and did not know that the columns in Heaton Park were the old town hall facade." David, 5 June 2020
Absolutely fascinating zoom tour of the Underground tunnels, thank you very much. Having done a tour with you previously face to face I knew it would be brilliant. Will absolutely be joining more of the zoom tours. Gareth. 9 June, 2020
"BRILLIANT Jonathan. I had a smile on my face most of the time. That was great." Lesley, 2 June 2020.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and now I'm going to invest in the package." Neil, 26 May 2020.
"Many thanks for this evening's Zoom tour. SO interesting and great photos." Judith, 2 June 2020.
"We watched the Cross St tour last night - fascinating. I’m originally from Prestwich and did not know that the columns in Heaton Park were the old town hall facade." David, 5 June 2020
Absolutely fascinating zoom tour of the Underground tunnels, thank you very much. Having done a tour with you previously face to face I knew it would be brilliant. Will absolutely be joining more of the zoom tours. Gareth. 9 June, 2020