Author Archives: ed
What Shall We Do With the Manchester Statues?
It’s not just Bristol (and London as Sadiq Khan has just discovered) that have the wrong statues. Manchester is full of them. First of all, the most glaring anomaly, is that in a city that prides itself as one of the most left-wing in the country there are more statues of Tories than socialists: 3-2 at the last count.
Funnily enough the people, yes, we the people, are to blame for this in one respect. When the public was asked a few years ago to choose a new statue that had to be of a woman, under-represented in the city’s statuary, there was huge support for Emmeline Pankhurst at the expense of her more deserving daughter, Sylvia. It was hardly surprising…
Continue reading
MANCHESTER’S GREATEST PAINTING: WORK by FORD MADOX BROWN
Today’s Manchester painting dissected, discussed and dismembered is “Work” by Ford Madox Brown (1852-65). Ed Glinert reveals all behind Manchester Art Gallery’s most complex and epic painting.
No painting in Manchester Art Gallery attracts more viewers than “Work”. Hordes of people make for it as if by magic, and when they get there they are astonished at the breathtaking panoply of figures, ideas and stories.
On first inspection
Continue reading
THIS WEEK’S PAINTING: THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Today’s Manchester picture to enjoy while the Gallery is closed and we can’t take you on art tours: “The Light of the World” by William Holman Hunt (1851-53).
Manchester Art Gallery owns one of three versions of William Holman Hunt’s 1856 Pre-Raphaelite work “The Light of the World”. The others are in Keble College, Oxford, and the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral. Yes, it may be unusual to have more than one version of a painting, but what is even more unusual about the Manchester one is that it may well not be by Hunt, but by his pupil Fred Stephens.
Continue reading
Entertaining, Expert, Exciting Guiding: Why Be Bored On a Tour?
New Manchester Walks is the only official, trained, expert group of guides operating commercially in the Manchester area. Our mission is to open up Manchester history to as many people as possible though our tours, walks, talks, articles and books. It’s a bit of a battle, given that Manchester’s history has been severely mistreated for …
Continue reading
How To Improve the Tourism Experience in Manchester (6 new ideas and what I’ve done about them).
• BUILD A METROLINK LINE TO FACTORY Work is underway to create a remarkable new arts centre, the Factory, on the old Granada TV site, amidst thousands of new flats. But how will people get there once it all opens? The walk from the Deansgate stations or St Peter’s Square is so long it will …
Continue reading
The Worst Ten Manchester Attractions. Tourists and Visitors: Avoid!
We at New Manchester Walks have been at the forefront of getting more people to visit and stay in Manchester. Customers have come from the Midlands, London, Holland – the record is New Zealand; beat that! – to go on our tours. But we want you to enjoy your visit, whether it be an afternoon away from regular golf in Northenden or a once in a lifetime city break. So when you’ve been on our tours and want something else to do here are the top ten things it’s best not to avoid or be wary of, from No. 10, the least worst of the ten, to No. 1, the pits.
The Gay Village – The Trafford Centre – Curry Mile – Rylands By Yourself –
Rolls Met Royce Tours of the Midland – Corrie Cobbles – Sightseeing Bus Tour –
Inside Man Utd – Christmas Markets – Science and Industry Museum
10. The Gay Village
Once it was revolutionary, now it’s passé. The pubs play deafening crap music, the restaurants are over-priced, the place is overrun with chavs, and no one has made any attempt to get to grips with its history.
Continue reading
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT
Just over a hundred years ago, on 1 December 1919, something unprecedented happened in British politics: a woman entered Parliament for the first time. American socialite Nancy Astor had just won a by-election in Plymouth Sutton for the Tories, replacing her husband, Waldorf Astor, who had just been ennobled ironically.
Continue reading
GREAT REVIEWS KEEP COMING IN!
This from St Paul’s School of London after a Literary Manchester tour
Dear Ed,
I wanted to say a very warm thank you for the tour you gave our students on Thursday 17 October. It was a brilliant introduction to the city and to Manchester’s literary and cultural history. Great for the kids to hear about some of the less heralded figures like Ainsworth and Spring as well as the bigger names. The kids were really buzzing afterwards and you gave them some great hints for further reading.
Continue reading
Ed Glinert’s Hard-Hitting Blog – What Nobody Else Will Say
1. What’s gone wrong at the John Rylands Library
As the most opinionated, most confident (and best-researched) writer in Manchester, it’s time for me to share some critical thoughts with people who will appreciate them. I’ll start with one of Manchester’s best-loved attractions, the John Rylands Library on Deansgate.
This is one of the world’s greatest libraries, with a remarkable collection that includes the personal papers of such luminaries as John Dalton, Elizabeth Gaskell and John Wesley. It is also home to the oldest piece of the New Testament ever found, the St John Fragment. So what a shame that the library is run like a cross between Theresa May’s Brexit deal committee and Man Utd’s transfer target working group…
Continue reading
COMING TO MANCHESTER? BOOK A TOUR WITH THE EXPERTS!
If you’re in Manchester for a few days, a day, an hour or two, contact us to be taken round with an expert guide who will make the city come alive.
We are New Manchester Walks, a walks, talks and tours outfit, open to all guides who want to promote the history of Manchester, the world’s first industrial city – THE industrial strength city.
We provide an unrivalled and unmatchable programme of historical trips and tours in and around Manchester: from the Gothic glories and cotton palaces of central Manchester to the gleaming new dock side towers of Salford Quays; from the coal face of industrial Eastlands to the winding alleyways of Knutsford in leafy Cheshire.
Continue reading
