Someone physically makes almost everything.' Salford's DeFelice & Co talk to Northern Soul about their hand-crafted bag ...

The late Irish singer, songwriter and activist Sinéad O’Connor was, and remains, a heroine to many, not least to this show’s director and choreographer, Sonya Tayeh. O’Connor was loved (and loathed by ...

Whether they know it or not, Manchester-based readers of Northern Soul are already likely to be familiar with the work of Brian Fell. Serving as the gateway to Trafford Park, his Skyhooks – an ...

It’s been 20 years since BBC Three debuted Ideal, the left-field sitcom written by Graham Duff. Made at the Beeb’s (now gone) studios on Manchester’s Oxford Road, for seven series it starred Johnny ...

When Bonnie Raitt was a young girl, she was enthralled by the power and charisma of such blues and folk greats as John Lee Hooker and Sippie Wallace, modelling her own music and guitar-playing on them ...

For the British Textile Biennial 2025, artists and makers filled spaces – which previously, directly or indirectly, powered Lancashire’s cotton industry – with stories of innovation in textile ...

As we approach the end of 2025, we’re looking back at the things that have brought us immense comfort during the year. For the team at Northern Soul, books were once again a source of great joy, and ...

As a man who, throughout my teens and student years in Manchester, argued passionately that The Who were simply the best live band in the world and that their 70s’ albums were pretty close to perfect ...

For those of us – and there are a fair few – with Irish ancestry, cornerstones of Irish culture hold a special appeal. Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel’s poignant play inspired by his own family’s ...

As I explain the plot of The Pied Piper of Hamelin to my 13-year-old niece, I watch her expression turn to horror. “Well, there’s this piper who is asked to rid a town of a rat infestation. He plays ...

In early 1998, musician and songwriter Mark Tranmer built a makeshift set-up for recording his song ideas at home. Once completed, though, the song was officially titled Between Two Points. The ...

In the run-up to Christmas 2023, Molly McGuinness came down with tonsillitis. Before long, she was rushed to hospital with chest pains. The infection had developed into a rare case of Lemierre’s ...