Greatest Mancunians

two-time heavyweight world champion from Wythenshawe

The TV newsman and presenter made history when he branched out into music management, launching the careers of Joy Division/New Order and the Happy Mondays and co-founding cult nightclub The Hacienda

Fearless in face of violence. After witnessing the shooting of a friend, this Moss-side based peace activist co-founded CARISMA charity that provides alternatives to street & gun crime.

This Withington-born woman was a prominent mathematician, politician and Mayor of Manchester. She was deaf from the age of 8. She taught at Manchester Uni, raised her children, was involved in politics & helped create RNCM

Olympic Gold and Bronze Medal winning English field hockey player. She was capped a record 375 times for her country and was the England and Great Britain Captain for 13 years.

Burnage-raised former roadie churned out hit after hit during the Nineties and Noughties, and along with brother Liam, created one of Britain's greatest-ever rock bands

tending to the sick and fighting for the needy - Registered nurse & anti-racism campaigner. Although born in Jamaica, she became Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Manchester.

Born in Ardwick, he was a British Mountaineer and a pioneer of rock climbing - also known as the Human Fly & The Master

Gandalf was from Manchester? The famous actor starring in Lord of the Rings was born in Burnley. (HIs grandfather attended CHS!)

English professional footballer from Wythenshawe who plays for Manchester United and the England national team. Most recently he has successfully campaigned for England's free school meal voucher scheme to be extended

One of the world’s most influential computer pioneers & World War Two codebreaker, this amazing mathematician has a rather tragic story

This Chadderton-born floppy-haired former popstar has sent the popularity of physics soaring astronomically as the presenter of BBC shows like Wonders of the Universe and Stargazing Live.

Creating his own scientific instruments and the foundation for modern thermodynamics, This man is quite simply one of the most influential physicists of all time

Stretford-born artist depicted the crowded streets of Manchester and Salford with no small amount of love and humor. His 'matchstick men' are among the most-recognisable in history

Born in Clayton, Manchester was an English professional middle/light heavyweight boxer of the 1920s & 30s. He was denied the opportunity to fight for championships in Great Britain because of the colour bar. He was anti-racist activist

Born in St Lucia. He was an economist, Nobel Prize winner and Britain’s first black professor (who taught at Manchester University)

Arguably the world's most famous and successful living architect, This Stockport-born man has designed the London Gherkin, New York's Hearst Tower and restored Berlin's Reichstag.

Middleton-born actor and comedian has been prolific in a career now spanning more than three decades. His list of comic characters - headed up by the hapless Alan Partridge

English campaigner for the suffrage and suffragette movement, a socialist and later an activist in the cause of anti-fascism. She spent much of her later life campaigning on behalf of Ethiopia

Another brilliant Manchester scientist, whose theory of the atom and its structure laid the foundations for modern physics and chemistry. A true polymath, his curious mind also led him to discover and diagnose 'colour blindness'.

Raised in Wythenshawe - one of the largest council estates in Europe, which was later home to her creation The Royle Family. She began as a standup, then voice of Gogglebox

Radcliffe-born director won over the world with his spectacular 2012 Olympic opening ceremony – a quirky hymn to all things British. He’ scooped Best Director for 'Slumdog Millionaire'

this great British PM was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock in 1863, the son of a schoolmaster. He went on to lead the country through the First World War and laid the foundations for the welfare state.

Born and raised in Moss Side, the leader of the British suffragette movement helped shape the battle for women's votes. Along with her family she organised meetings and protests which prepared the way for the eventual spread of the vote

Salford Lads Club will forever be associated with the band The Smiths.

The Victorian novelist was born in Chelsea but settled in Ardwick and wrote some of her finest works here. YOu can visit her beautiful former home and its gardens;

the poet who speaks for the people. People’s poet and broadcaster is currently Chancellor of Manchester University. The young poet emerged from Hulme’s legendary 1980s counterculture, having grown up in the care system in Wigan.

This Salford-raised Welshman has been a constant fixture at Old Trafford - and stands unique in British football for his longevity and commitment.