Growing up near Manchester I saw Tony Wilson on the local
television regularly – on Granada Reports,
arts/discussions programmes, interviews with well-known people. He didn’t move
to London like many did and was often called “Mr Manchester” for promoting its throbbing
culture.
Tony was a
record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario
and journalist for Granada Television and the BBC. He was one of the
co-founders of Factory Records and The Haçienda nightclub (being a geek I never went to such
places.) He was married twice, having a son and daughter with his second wife. In
1990 he started a relationship with Yvette Livesey, a
former Miss England and Miss UK, who was his girlfriend until his death.
In
2007 he developed renal cancer and had to have a kidney removed. This didn’t
stop the spread of cancer and though he was being treated for at Christie’s
Cancer Hospital (where my mum died) he died of a heart attack. After his death
the Union Flag on Manchester Town Hall was lowered to half-mast. His estate was
worth £484,747.
There’s a
biography available called You're
Entitled to an Opinion. He was portrayed by Steve Coogan
in Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film 24 Hour Party People and by Craig
Parkinson in Anton Corbijn's 2007 film Control.
In keeping
with his Factory empire Tony’s coffin was also given a Factory catalogue
number: FAC 501.
Here I am at his impression granite
headstone. There’s a small quotation on it (in Rotis
serif font) chosen by Wilson's family from the novel The Manchester Man:
“Mutability is the epitaph of world/Change alone is changeless. People drop out
of the history of a life as of a land though their work or their influence
remains." No I don’t really understand it either.
His grave is
about one brisk minute’s walk from that of Rob Gretton’s.
I also visited
in the summer of 2015…
Not sure what the
clock means…
On a visit in
April 2019...
At the Christie cancer
hospital where Tony died…
Tony Wilson and
Rob Gretton should have been buried next to one
another. The distance between the graves is about 80m…
Photos
from the funeral...
Tony's son hugs Peter Hook...
Tony's partner Yvette Livesey
with Peter Saville...
Tony's son Oliver helps carry his dad...
Tony's daughter Isobelle
in the centre...