Just reading the 4 page pull out in todays Manchester Evening News about the Urban Heroes awards ceremony we attended to celebrate the great work of the Message Trust got me feeling great about the city and hopeful for a fantastic future for people like Steph the overall winner and many more.

So here’s a quiz.

How many of these statements are true about the city I love to live in?

Vegetarianism was founded in Manchester

Suffragettes were founded in Manchester

The TUC was started in Manchester

The First Law of Thermodynamics was discovered in Manchester

The world’s first Industrial Estate was built in Manchester

The first computer was built in Manchester

The first canal was made in Manchester

The first Railway was in Manchester

Rolls Royce started in Manchester

The first submarine was made in Manchester

The first British aeroplane was designed and flown in Manchester

The first Transatlantic flight was from Manchester, by Mancunians

The first permanent professional orchestra was in Manchester

Top of the Pops started in Manchester

Roget’s Thesaurus started in Manchester (bonus point – what’s another word for Thesaurus?)

The first football league was set up in Manchester

The first gas supply was in Manchester

The first municipal parks were in Manchester

The first reservoirs were in Manchester

The first free public library was in Manchester

The first British matador was from Manchester (what a lot of bull!)

The first UFO landing pad is in Manchester

Answer? All of them (and many more) are true.

Innovation is in the water!