This is why Stoke-ontrent ‘needs a Tony Wilson’
WHEN I lost my father back in 2007 I was working in Manchester, and despite not being a religious person, I would occasionally visit St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church,
Manchester’s Hidden Gem, tucked away on Mulberry Street just off Deansgate, offered a little peace and contemplation during what was a very difficult time for my family.
St Mary’s is a beautiful church, a stone’s throw from the John Rylands Library, Albert Square and Manchester’s stunning town hall and the Central Library, and though I never got to grieve properly for my dad, the time spent there helped in that it got me away from the office and the hustle and bustle of the city for a time and helped me to get my head together.
What I didn’t know is that this is a little something that I shared with professional northerner, entrepreneur, and – in the words of his biographer Paul Morley – ‘broadcasting revolutionary’, Anthony H. Wilson, who used to visit the Hidden Gem regularly despite being a professed atheist.
When people talk about Manchester’s modern history, Wilson’s name is one that will pop up regularly. He was one of Granada TV’S best known journalists, one of the five co-founders of Factory Records, and the man behind the Haçienda, known variously as Anthony H. Wilson, Anthony Wilson, or Tony Wilson, depending on the gig and situation.
And as well as his ‘official’ names, Wilson was also dubbed ‘Mr Manchester’, which was reflective of his passion for the city and his promotion of its culture.
Indeed, Wilson loved Manchester and its spirit (‘this is Manchester, we do things differently here’) but that love was also spread far and wide to the Greater Manchester area, its hinterland, and the wider North West – Granadaland.
Wilson was born in the dirty old town (city) of Salford on February 20, 1950, but spent much of his childhood in Marple, a few miles east of Stockport on the edge of the Peak District.
He was to return to Salford following his 11-plus when he secured a place at the De La Salle Grammar School, where he developed a love of literature and language.
At 17, he was teaching English and drama at Oldham’s Blue Coat School, before graduating from Cambridge’s Jesus College having studied English.
His broadcasting career began following his graduation in 1971, when he secured a post with ITN.
He returned to the North West in 1973 when he took a role with Granada TV presenting their music and culture programme So It Goes, and anchoring Granada Reports.
It was while presenting So It Goes that Wilson developed an involvement in the music industry, becoming the manager of numerous bands including A Certain Ratio and the Durutti Column.
He went on to co-found Factory Records which helped New Order rise from the ruins of Joy Division, and establish the Haçienda and Dry Bar, all of which collapsed in the late 1990s as the ‘Madchester’ era came to an end.
As well as being a cultural powerhouse, Wilson was also a political animal, identifying as a socialist, and was a vocal supporter of regionalism.
In fact, if he’d still been around, I reckon that Wilson would have been a decent bet to have become the Greater
Manchester Metro Mayor ahead of Andy Burnham, if he’d have stood.
Tony Wilson passed away on August 10, 2007, aged 57 after developing renal cancer and following a failed course of chemotherapy.
He is buried in Manchester’s Southern Cemetery, his granite headstone designed by fellow Factory Records cofounder, graphic designer Peter Saville, while his coffin was given a Factory catalogue number (FAC 501).
A few years back, one of the Manchester-based entrepreneurs that followed in Tony Wilson’s wake – Tom Bloxham of regenerators Urban Splash – passed through the Potteries and commented that ‘Stoke-on-trent is where Manchester was 30 years ago’, and I opined that our city was in need of similar urban pioneers.
And one such urban pioneer would be a Tony Wilson.
Someone to both campaign for and challenge our city in much the same way Wilson did in Manchester.
Someone who will not be afraid to be ‘not on message’ but will instead create their own message.
Someone who will both create and enable. Someone who will be a ‘cultural catalyst’, as Wilson’s headstone describes him.
There are many great people in the Potteries doing great things, and their stories need to reach a wider audience. And this is why Stoke-on-trent needs a Tony Wilson.