IT'S safe to say that most people have heard of Anthony Wilson. If you live anywhere near Manchester, as I do, you can't avoid seeing him.
And thanks to the Steve Coogan film 24 Hour Party People, which chronicles the history of Factory Records, which Wilson created to marke the likes of the Happy Mondays, most people know the legend, if not the man.
For a long time I thought he was a jumped-up self-publicist who kept cashing in on his trend-setting past to turn himself into some sort of TV presenter turned regeneration guru.
And lets be honest, anyone who calls themself Tony H. Wilson is inviting such comments.
I finally met him last year, when he arrived to work on a project to rebrand East Lancashire. Towns like Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley are currently saddled with the dark-mills-and-cloth-caps image, he argued. He's right, I've worked there. His solution? Rebrand the area 'Pennine Lancashire' and cash in on its biggest asset - the rolling countryside.
My misguided thought prior to meeting him was that here was a man, like so many others these days, ready to come up with a plan just to cash in on Government money meant for regeneration projects.
But unlike the many other people I have met of that ilk - and they are everywhere - he spoke so passionately and was so frank that it became obvious he wasn't some regen bullsh*tter. And as for the arrogant Tony H image - I'm pretty certain that's more to do with the people who have hung around him, hoping for a scrap of his glory, rather than the man himself.
And this week, it was sad to see him in the pages of the Manchester Evening News talking about a fight he's currently having with kidney cancer. I know loads of celebrities regularly rock into town and talk about their illness.
Not many, however, do it the way Wilson does. There's was no 'I'll be back for the fans soon,' or similar such PR clap trap. Nor was there any hiding away in a posh hospital getting the sort of treatment which is actually readily available on the NHS.
And it wasn't about telling people about his big op to get some media attention.
Instead, he'd broken his silence because he wanted to praise the quality of care he had received ... on the NHS.
He said: The sheer quality of the care provided to me by the nursing staff and doctors has been fantastic," he said.
"It's funny that everyone has a moan about the NHS except for people who actually use it."
And do you know what, he's spot on. Get well soon, Anthony.
And thanks to the Steve Coogan film 24 Hour Party People, which chronicles the history of Factory Records, which Wilson created to marke the likes of the Happy Mondays, most people know the legend, if not the man.
For a long time I thought he was a jumped-up self-publicist who kept cashing in on his trend-setting past to turn himself into some sort of TV presenter turned regeneration guru.
And lets be honest, anyone who calls themself Tony H. Wilson is inviting such comments.
I finally met him last year, when he arrived to work on a project to rebrand East Lancashire. Towns like Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley are currently saddled with the dark-mills-and-cloth-caps image, he argued. He's right, I've worked there. His solution? Rebrand the area 'Pennine Lancashire' and cash in on its biggest asset - the rolling countryside.
My misguided thought prior to meeting him was that here was a man, like so many others these days, ready to come up with a plan just to cash in on Government money meant for regeneration projects.
But unlike the many other people I have met of that ilk - and they are everywhere - he spoke so passionately and was so frank that it became obvious he wasn't some regen bullsh*tter. And as for the arrogant Tony H image - I'm pretty certain that's more to do with the people who have hung around him, hoping for a scrap of his glory, rather than the man himself.
And this week, it was sad to see him in the pages of the Manchester Evening News talking about a fight he's currently having with kidney cancer. I know loads of celebrities regularly rock into town and talk about their illness.
Not many, however, do it the way Wilson does. There's was no 'I'll be back for the fans soon,' or similar such PR clap trap. Nor was there any hiding away in a posh hospital getting the sort of treatment which is actually readily available on the NHS.
And it wasn't about telling people about his big op to get some media attention.
Instead, he'd broken his silence because he wanted to praise the quality of care he had received ... on the NHS.
He said: The sheer quality of the care provided to me by the nursing staff and doctors has been fantastic," he said.
"It's funny that everyone has a moan about the NHS except for people who actually use it."
And do you know what, he's spot on. Get well soon, Anthony.
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