Mick Middles is a British music journalist. He has written for many newspapers and magazines and is the author of many books about music, several relating to Factory Records, Tony Wilson, Joy Division and Ian Curtis, and he is the authorised biographer of Frank Sidebottom. [1]
In the 1970s and 1980s he was the Manchester correspondent for Sounds. He has also written for The Face, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Mail on Sunday and The Daily Express. [2] As well as music biographies, he has written books about comedians Les Dawson [3] and Frankie Howerd. [4] He lives in Flixton with his wife, Vicky. [5] [6]
Middles's work includes:
Francis Alick Howard, better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian.
James Martin Hannett was a British record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, Magazine, John Cooper Clarke, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Happy Mondays. His distinctive production style embraced atmospheric sounds and electronics.
Paul Robert Morley is a British music journalist. He wrote for the New Musical Express from 1977 to 1983, and has since written for a wide range of publications and written his own books. He was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Records and was a member of the synthpop group Art of Noise. He has also been a band manager, promoter, and television presenter.
Somewhere in Time is the sixth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 29 September 1986 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. It was the band's first album to feature guitar synthesisers.
Killers is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was first released on 16 February 1981 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and on 11 May in the United States by Harvest and Capitol Records. The album was their first with guitarist Adrian Smith, and their last with vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who was fired after problems with his stage performances arose due to his alcohol and cocaine use. Killers was also the first Iron Maiden album recorded with producer Martin Birch, who went on to produce their next eight albums until Fear of the Dark (1992).
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 11 April 1988 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. Like The Number of the Beast (1982) and later Fear of the Dark (1992), The Final Frontier (2010), and The Book of Souls (2015), the album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. The lead single "Can I Play with Madness" was also a commercial success, peaking at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart.
Timperley is a suburban village in the borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is approximately six miles southwest of central Manchester. The population at the 2011 census was 11,061.
Manchester's music scene produced successful bands in the 1960s including the Hollies, the Bee Gees and Herman's Hermits. After the punk rock era, Manchester produced popular bands including Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths and Simply Red. In the late 1980s, the ecstasy-fuelled dance club scene played a part in the rise of Madchester with bands like the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays. In the 1990s, Manchester saw the rise of Britpop bands, notably Oasis.
Norweb, originally the North Western Electricity Board, was a British electricity supply and distribution company. It supplied electricity to about 4.7 million industrial, commercial and domestic customers in the North West of England, although Merseyside and parts of Cheshire were instead covered by Manweb.
Martin Jackson is a British drummer who has played with several bands from Manchester, although his most successful roles were with Magazine in 1978 with the release of the influential Real Life album, and Swing Out Sister in 1986, with the hit song "Breakout".
Christopher Mark Sievey was an English musician, comedian and artist known for fronting the band the Freshies in the late 1970s and early 1980s and for his comic persona Frank Sidebottom from 1984 onwards.
Rhodri Marsden is a London-based writer and musician.
Cissie and Ada, in full Cissie Braithwaite and Ada Shufflebotham, are a comedy drag act featuring two fictional housewives from Northern England. The act was created and played by the comedian Les Dawson and the comic actor Roy Barraclough on television in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ashton upon Mersey is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 9,693 at the 2011 census. It lies on the south bank of the River Mersey, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Manchester city centre.
The Freshies are an English punk rock band, formed in Manchester in 1978. The band was founded by singer-songwriter and comedian Chris Sievey, whose best-known creation – comedy character Frank Sidebottom – originated as a mascot for the group.
Alan Clayson is an English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. He gained popularity in the late 1970s as leader of the band Clayson and the Argonauts. In addition to contributing to publications such as Record Collector, Mojo and Folk Roots, he subsequently established himself as a prolific writer of music biographies. Among his many books are Backbeat, which details the Beatles' early career in Germany, Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker?, and biographies of Jacques Brel, the Yardbirds, Serge Gainsbourg and Edgard Varèse. Clayson has also contributed to The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent and Rock 'n' Reel.
Further Up the Creek is a 1958 British comedy film written and directed by Val Guest and starring David Tomlinson, Frankie Howerd, Shirley Eaton, Thora Hird and Lionel Jeffries. It served as a follow-up to Up the Creek (1958), with Peter Sellers not reprising his role because it clashed with the filming of The Mouse That Roared (1959). Frankie Howerd replaced him.
Frank is a 2014 independent black comedy film directed by Lenny Abrahamson, produced by David Barron, Ed Guiney and Stevie Lee and written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan. It stars Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, and François Civil.
Graham McCann is a British author and historian who has written extensively on film and television stars and British comedy series. He is a former lecturer and fellow at the University of Cambridge where he taught social and political theory. McCann has become noted for his biographies on figures such as Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, John Le Mesurier, Woody Allen and Terry-Thomas, and books about British television comedy such as Dad's Army, Yes Minister, Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers. He also contributes to various newspapers.