Portal:North West England

Oldham /ˈoʊldəm/ is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Rochdale, and 7 miles (11.3 km) northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, which had a population of 237,110 in 2019.

Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, and with little early history to speak of, Oldham rose to prominence in the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and among the first ever industrialised towns, rapidly becoming "one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England." At its zenith, it was the most productive cotton spinning mill town in the world, producing more cotton than France and Germany combined. Oldham's textile industry fell into decline in the mid-20th century; the town's last mill closed in 1998.

The demise of textile processing in Oldham depressed and heavily affected the local economy. The town centre is the focus of a project that aims to transform Oldham into a centre for further education and the performing arts. It is, however, still distinguished architecturally by the surviving cotton mills and other buildings associated with that industry. (Full article...)

Damon Gough (nicknamed Badly Drawn Boy), was born 2 October 1969, in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. He grew up in the Breightmet area of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. He is a Mercury Prize-winning indie singer/songwriter.

Damon Gough chose his stage name from the title character in the show Sam and his Magic Ball, which he saw on TV at a party in Trafford, Manchester in 1995. Before he thought of using this name he made some business cards, each one unique, with a printed picture of a drawing by his nephew, and a small collage by Gough. This was then laminated and given out to friends and people at clubs in Blackburn and Manchester.

A chance meeting with Andy Votel at the Generation X bar in Manchester, where Gough's friends Scott Abraham and Damon Hayhurst were contributing to an exhibition by the Space Monkey Clothing Company and Votel was DJing, led to the foundation of Twisted Nerve Records. Badly Drawn Boy's first seven-inch single, EP1, was pressed the following year to critical acclaim, although only 500 copies were made.

In 2002, Q magazine named Badly Drawn Boy in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way" on account of Goughs tendency to talk and tell stories for extended periods rather than playing songs.