Portal:Greater Manchester/Selected biography
David Beckham OBE (born 2 May 1975) is an English professional footballer, who plays in midfield. He currently plays for and captains Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy and is also a member of the England national team. He earned his 100th cap for England against France in March 2008.
Beckham's career began when he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17. During his time there, United won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He left Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where he remained for four seasons. While at Madrid, Beckham became the first British footballer to play 100 Champions League matches. In his final season, Real clinched the 2006-07 La Liga championship title (Beckham's only major trophy with the club) in the final game of the season on 17 June. In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would leave Real Madrid and sign a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Duncan Edwards (1 October 1936 – 21 February 1958) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the mid 1950s, and one of eight players who died as a result of the Munich air disaster.
Born in Dudley, Edwards signed for Manchester United as a teenager and went on to become the youngest player to play in the Football League First Division and the youngest England player since the Second World War. In a professional career of less than five years he helped United to win two Football League championships and reach the semi-finals of the European Cup. Although he survived the crash of the team's aeroplane at Munich in February 1958, he died as a result of his injuries 15 days later.
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris.
Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences, to develop a sound and style that pioneered the post-punk movement of the late 1970s. According to music critic Jon Savage, the band "were not punk but were directly inspired by its energy." Their self-released 1978 debut EP, An Ideal for Living, caught the attention of the Manchester television personality Tony Wilson. Joy Division's debut album, Unknown Pleasures, was released in 1979 on Wilson's independent record label Factory Records, and drew critical acclaim from the British press. Despite the band's growing success, vocalist Ian Curtis was beset with depression and personal difficulties, including a dissolving marriage and his diagnosis with epilepsy.
In May 1980, on the eve of the band's first American tour, Curtis, overwhelmed with depression, committed suicide. Joy Division's posthumously released second album, Closer (1980), and the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" became the band's highest charting releases. After the death of Curtis, the remaining members reformed as New Order, achieving critical and commercial success.
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, logician and cryptographer.
Turing is often considered to be the father of modern computer science. Turing provided an influential formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine. With the Turing test, he made a significant and characteristically provocative contribution to the debate regarding artificial intelligence: whether it will ever be possible to say that a machine is conscious and can think. He later worked at the National Physical Laboratory, creating one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE although it was never actually built in its full form. In 1948 he moved to the University of Manchester to work on the Manchester Mark I, then emerging as one of the world's earliest true computers.
During the Second World War Turing worked at Bletchley Park, the UK's codebreaking centre, and was for a time head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine.
Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann, OBE (born 22 October 1923 in Bremen, Germany) is a German football goalkeeper who played for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. Trautmann joined the Luftwaffe early in the Second World War, serving as a paratrooper. He fought at the Eastern Front for three years and later in the war he was transferred to the Western Front, where he was captured by the British. He was transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire. Trautmann refused an offer of repatriation, and following his release in 1948 he settled in Lancashire, combining farm work with playing as goalkeeper for local football team St Helens Town.
Performances for St Helens gained Trautmann a reputation as an able goalkeeper, resulting in interest from Football League clubs. In October 1949 he signed for Manchester City, a club playing in the highest level of football in the country, the First Division. The club's decision to sign a former Axis paratrooper sparked protests, with 20,000 attending a demonstration.
Trautmann continued to play for Manchester City until 1964. After ending his playing career he moved into management. In 2004 he was appointed an honorary OBE for promoting Anglo-German understanding through football.
Hannah Beswick (1688 – February 1758), of Birchin Bower, Hollinwood, England, was a woman with a pathological fear of premature burial. Following her death in 1758 her body was embalmed and kept above ground, to be periodically checked for signs of life. Beswick's mummified body was eventually bequeathed to the Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society, where she was put on display and acquired the soubriquet of the Manchester Mummy, or the Mummy of Birchin Bower.
The museum was subsequently transferred to Manchester University, when it was decided, with the permission of the Bishop of Manchester, that Beswick should finally be buried. Her burial took place at Harpurhey cemetery on 22 July 1868; her grave is unmarked.
Oasis are an English rock band that formed in Manchester in 1991. They have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, have had eight UK number-one singles and have collected 15 NME Awards, 5 Brit Awards and 9 Q awards.
The band initially gained prominence performing on the Manchester club circuit. They were signed to independent record label Creation Records and afterwards released their debut album Definitely Maybe in 1994. The following year, the band recorded (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, and at the height of their fame, Oasis released their third album, Be Here Now (1997). It became the fastest-selling album in UK chart history, but lost much of its long-term appeal after the initial hype. The band suffered a notable decline in popularity in America and lost three long-time members between recording and releasing Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (2000) and Heathen Chemistry (2002).
Their sixth album Don't Believe the Truth (2005), despite turbulent recording, became their best-selling and best-received album in a decade. In February 2007, Oasis received the BRIT Award for outstanding contribution to music. Dig Out Your Soul, the seventh studio album by the band, is set to be released on October 6, 2008.
Ronald Wallwork (born 10 September 1977), commonly known as Ronnie Wallwork, is an English professional footballer who can play as either a defender or a midfielder. An England under-20 international, he began his career at Manchester United, where he made his professional debut in 1997. He never fully established himself in the United first team however, and was loaned out to Carlisle United and Stockport County. During a further loan spell at Royal Antwerp, he was banned from football for life for attacking a Belgian referee, although the ban was later substantially reduced.
In 2002, Wallwork moved to West Bromwich Albion, where he was the Player of the Year for 2004–05. He was not always a regular in the side however, and spent time on loan at Bradford City, Barnsley and Huddersfield Town. His spell at Barnsley was cut short when he was stabbed in a nightclub, causing him to miss more than two months of the 2006–07 season. Wallwork was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2008, but was released just four months later and has since been without a club.