|
Wigan is a large town in Greater Manchester,
in north west England. It was settled in Roman times, and was then known as Coccium. It is the biggest town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan.
Wigan was an important centre of coal mining
and cotton textile production during the
Industrial Revolution. Two important canal systems join there, and the main unloading point for charging coal to canal barges was
known as Wigan Pier. This small jetty became known as a music hall joke. It bore no physical resemblance whatever to the seaside
piers at resorts like Blackpool, Southport, Brighton etc., and in any case Wigan is approximately 25
miles inland. It became world famous after George Orwell titled a book of
social commentary The Road to Wigan Pier. The
book was not well received in the town, as residents felt it painted an unrepresentatively grim picture of life there, and was
based on relatively little experience of the place. The Pier is today surrounded by an award winning heritage museum.
Wigan's main sports teams are Wigan Athletic (Association football) and Wigan Warriors (Rugby League). The two teams now share a single stadium, League being played in
summer and soccer in the winter. Athletic are a lower division team who have had patchy success over the years. Warriors, by
contrast, were for many years in the eighties and nineties undisputably the best Rugby League team in the world. At their peak, Wigan's rugby league team was superior
not only to any club side in the world, but regularly played and beat the national teams of mighty rugby playing nations such as
Australia. While still a potent force in the game, recent changes to the
structure and organisation of the game have diluted their dominance.
Wigan is one of relatively few towns in the UK to have an international-standard swimming pool in the town centre. The resident swimming club, Wigan Wasps, has produced Olympic standard swimmers, including medal winner June Croft.
The town has the very first ever branch of Marks and Spencer,
the clothing and food store, and was for three years its headquarters. JJB, the sporting goods retailer, also originated in the town.
Sir Ian McKellen, the Shakespearean actor most recently famous for portraying Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, grew up
in Wigan.
One of Wigan's most successful exports are "Uncle Joe's Mintballs", refreshing boiled sweets with a mint flavour which the
producers claim "keep you all aglow". The town is also associated with pies and pasties which were traditionally popular with
coal miners in the area.
Wigan is geographically set almost exactly between Manchester and Liverpool, and its contribution to the music scene stood in
the shadow of these two powerhouses of rock and pop for many years. Having produced George Formby Snr, and his son
George Formby Jnr, the film and music hall star, the town produced a number of successful acts in the 1980's including Limahl from Kajagoogoo, indie band The Railway Children, Kate Garner from Hayzi Fantayzee and Rick Astley (arguably not actually from Wigan at all, but close). More recently, the
town has produced The Verve and Starsailor. The city has its own radio station, Wish FM.
Probably Wigan's most important contribution to musical culture was as the home of Northern Soul. Wigan Casino was the location for many Northern Soul all-nighters until it was demolished
after being gutted by fire in the early 1980s.
|