Deriving its name from the Roman Mamacium, meaning ‘breast-shaped hill’, Manchester has long been a city unafraid to speak its mind. From its loud-mouthed musicians down to its even louder football fans, the red-bricked capital of the north continues to challenges the status quo with its untamed spirit.

Manchester’s avant-garde energy can be traced back to the industrial revolution. As the first city in the world to modernise, it emerged as the centre of the global textile trade in the 18th century, with bustling green canals and wispy cotton mills.

It was a place in flux, a city of innovation. Soon, the streets of Manchester became a hotbed of radical political thought, with bearded duo Marx and Engels convening for chats at Chetham’s library in the 1840s. These meetings would form the basis for The Communist Manifesto.

Manchester and free thinking go hand in hand. As music impresario Tony Wilson put it, ‘This is Manchester. We do things differently here…’

And the proof is in the pudding. What does vegetarianism have in common with Emmeline Pankhurst? What unites Sir Alex Ferguson with the world’s very first computer, and Noel Gallagher with the splitting of the atom? You guessed it.