Author Archives: ed

Fri 24 May Marx & Engels pub walk: Drinkers of the World Unite!
Meet St Ann’s Church, 6pm.

Sat 25 May Manchester Music: The Hacienda Years
Meet HOME, 11am.
Sat 25 May Secrets of the Northern Quarter
Meet Queen Victoria Statue, Piccadilly Gardens, 2.30pm.

Sun 26 May Salford Quays & the Old Docks
Meet Salford Quays Metrolink stop, 11am.
Sun 26 May Secrets of the Northern Quarter
Meet Queen Victoria Statue, Piccadilly Gardens, 2.30pm. Continue reading →

It was today 40 years ago, the 18th of May, that one of Manchester’s greatest talents, Ian Curtis, took his own life at his Macclesfield home. We pay tribute. Ian Curtis was a tortured soul, a visceral, troubled mind with a voice that echoed Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop and Matt Monro. Curtis briefly led Joy Division, the finest flower of the early days at Manchester’s Factory Records, shaking sensibilities and sending shivers down the spine on an all too brief catalogue… Continue reading →

They’re going to let Ed Glinert out for the day so that he can take you on a barely legal tour of hangings, executions, escapes involving the worst names in British criminal history – Harold Shipman, Ian Brady, Ian Brown, “Mad” Frankie Fraser, Joey Barton.

Please register with Eventbrite.

We start at Victoria Station Wallmap. No slags, no privileges! Continue reading →

JUNE
• Mon 6 June, Royal Manchester, Zoom talk for Trafford Libraries, 2pm.
• Thu 9 June, Cottonopolis, 12 noon, HOME.
• Fri 10 June, Southern Cemetery, 12 noon, main entrance.
• Sat 11 June, The IRA Bomb 1996, 11am, Selfridges.
• Sat 11 June, Manchester Music, The Hacienda Years, HOME, 2pm. Continue reading →

That’s your Christmas present sorted then: New Manchester Walks’ gift vouchers which can be redeemed on any tour. No time limit for use. Just make sure the tour is taking place before you set off from Stretford, Salford or Spitzbergen. To buy a gift voucher, please click “Continue reading” here to go to Eventbrite. Continue reading →

How wonderful that Alan Turing, a man vilified in his lifetime by the establishment and unknown to the public on account of the secrecy surrounding his war work, has just been named the BBC’s Icon of the 20th century. Noting that the BBC’s own website on the subject wrongly claims that Alan Turing invented the computer, here’s the ideal opportunity to learn the true story…on our tour.

Next tour from the Manchester Museum Reception:
* Sun 11 July 2021 at 12 noon. Continue reading →

Today, 5 May, is the birthday of one of Britain’s greatest political activists – Sylvia Pankhurst. She was imprisoned for her beliefs more than any other woman in British political history. She led the campaign for women to have the vote on the same terms of men, in contrast to her more celebrated mother, Emmeline, who was content just for middle class women to have the vote. She was also a gifted artist and an evocative writer, and came from Manchester (well, Old Trafford, near enough; her birthplace has gone unfortunately).

When a group of women sold out… Continue reading →

Today is the 202nd birthday of Karl Marx. Unfortunately our unique “Karl Marx’s Manchester” will have to wait awhile. Meanwhile, here are some wonderful descriptions of the great man, for your enjoyment.

A description of Marx given to Princess Victoria by Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, Liberal Under-sec of State for India. Duff met Marx in 1879.

“He is a short, rather small man with grey hair and beard… Continue reading →

What an opportunity this is, given that you can’t tour the Midland Hotel in person because of Covid and building works, and even when you can go in on a tour you find half the rooms booked out for conferences and meetings, and the guide telling you nonsense like “this is where Rolls met Royce”. Continue reading →

He called himself a “simple man”, but he was the strangest of fellows. He never left the British Isles, enjoyed no sexual relations, and made his will over to a much younger woman, whom he befriended simply because she shared his surname. Yet he became Britain’s best-loved 20th century painter.

Ed Glinert, official Manchester tour guide and author of Penguin’s Manchester Compendium, leads this tour around the places Lowry painted and passed time in. Continue reading →