MACCLESFIELD’S FAMOUS NAMES
Glancing through the pages of a book dedicated to illustrations of Macclesfield’s past, I came across a picture of Wilfred Pickles. One of the first BBC personalities to be allowed to present programmes in his native Yorkshire accent (rather than the “posh” BBC English) His most significant work was as host of the BBC Radio show Have A Go, which he took to church halls across the country including here in Macclesfield. Seeing his picture stimulated the old grey matter as I recalled some famous names that have graced our locality.
There was a time when Macclesfield had six cinemas and a theatre with its own reportary company. It was here that Jean Alexander (Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street and Auntie Wainwright in Last of the Summer Wine) learnt her trade. John Mills was the star of the 1947 film “So Well Remembered” filmed exclusively in the town – and indeed the Majestic Cinema hosted the world premier of the film. It is said that The Beatles played the old Liberal Club that once stood on the site of the present Aldi Store. Freddy Garrity (lead singer of the 1960s group Freddy and The Dreamers) was regulary spotted at Jones’ Music shop on Queen Victoria Street whilst in recent times, Noddy Holder (Slade) has been known to grace the aisles of at least one of our local supermarkets. In more recent years we have seen Aled Jones visit the King’s School to film for the BBC choir of the year.
Macclefield has, of course, been home of celebrities of stage, sport and politics. Former head of Channel 4, Michael Jackson, although now part of the American world of media, was a pupil at King’s School as were Alan Beith MP; Christian Blackshaw (pianist); C N Booth (Director, Oxford Brookes University); Steve Smith (rugby international); Graham Turner (journalist); Prof Sir Edward Wrigley (Master, Corpus Christi, Cambridge).
Former cricketer and current radio commentator Jonathon Agnew and Peter Crouch of Liverpool Football club are both former Maxonians and remember Johnny Maxfield, alias John Heywood, (sadly no longer with us) in his roles in television soaps and as Granddad in the Heinz soup adverts?
All goes to prove that Macclesfield has shared with the rest of the world a huge amount of talent. I can’t help wonder whether any of our famous names check out the Maccweb Scoops site. Who knows, maybe one day we might be able to persuade one of our famous names to make a contribution.
Ian Storer
storerian@aol.com
