A distant relation of mine, one Patrick Branwell, has set off to seek his fortune in the wild, wandering, adventurous, romantic, knight-errant-like capacity of clerk on the Leeds and Manchester Railroad. Leeds and Manchester - where are they? Cities in the wilderness, like Tadmor, alias Palmyra – are they not?

The Bronte family had six children, out of which three – Charlotte, Anne and Emily – gained eternal fame as writers. They started writing imaginative stories during their childhoods, and as they grew older, their writings progressed . Charlotte's first novel, ‘The Professor’, although at first refused for publication, was eventually issued posthumously in 1857. Her second novel, entitled ‘Jane Eyre’ (1847), immediately recognised as an outstanding piece of work, is still Charlotte's most famous book. She wrote two more novels, ‘Shirley’ (1848) and ‘Villette’ (1853). All of her writings, including several volumes of poetry, were published under the male pseudonym, Currer Bell. Charlotte Bronte died of tuberculosis at the age of 39.

As the leader of the British women's rights movement, Pankhurst is a symbol of the fight that women undertook at the dawn of the 20th Century - a fight that led to their enfranchisement in 1918. By 1889, Pankhurst and her husband Richard Marsden, a radical politician, established the Women's Franchise League. In 1903, she set up a new, more agressive organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union. With slogans such as “Votes for Women” and “Deeds not Words”, Pankhurst and her followers, protested and paraded in the streets, during which Pankhurst was arrested a number of times. During World War I, the suffragettes halted their campaign and organised aid. In 1918, women over 30 were given the right to vote. Pankhurst continued fighting for women's rights until 1928, when they gained equal voting rights as men.

In those days [pre-World War II] for a Mancunian to visit [London] was an exercise in condescension. London was a day behind Manchester in the arts, in commercial cunning, in economic philosophy... Manchester was generous and London was not.” Burgess in his autobiography, ‘Little Wilson and Big God'

Above all, Burgess was a highly prolific novelist. His first novel, ‘A Vision of Battlements’ was published in 1965; however, it was not until 1956 and the publication of the first tome in his Malayan trilogy, ‘Time for a Tiger’, that his career was formally launched. The additional novels in the series include ‘The Enemy in the Blanket’ (1958) and ‘Beds in the East’ (1959). ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1962), Burgess's most widely-known novel, was made even more famous in 1971 by its film version, which was directed by Stanley Kubrick. Included among his other novels are ‘Earthly Powers’ (1980) and ‘The End of the World News’ (1981). Though less known as a musician, Burgess composed upwards of 150 pieces, varying from chamber works to symphonies; he also authored a musical, ‘Blooms of Dublin’ (1986) and was a short story writer, playwright, essayist, scriptwriter, editor, translator and teacher.

Accomplished as both a stage and film actor, Donat began his career in 1921 in a theatre production of ‘Julius Caesar’. Donat first caught the public’s attention when he starred in ‘The Private Life of Henry VIII’ (1933). He quickly rose to fame and, in addition to acting, devoted himself to directing plays, finding that his greatest success was a revival of Oscar Wilde's ‘An Ideal Husband’ (1943 – 44). A steady succession of film roles came his way, notably in ‘The Thirty-Nine Steps’ (1935), ‘Knight Without Armour’ (1936) and ‘The Magic Box’ (1951). He is best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in ‘The Citadel’ (1938) and for his role in ‘Goodbye, Mr. Chips' (1939). The latter brought him an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Before becoming a world-renowned children's writer, Hodgson Burnett made her debut in 1868 with two stories: ‘Hearts and Diamonds’ and ‘Miss Carruther's Engagement’. Her first novel, entitled ‘That Lass o' Lowrie's’ (1877), had already won her recognition as a serious literary figure. Her subsequent works – among them ‘Haworth's’ (1879), ‘Louisiana’ (1880), and a play, ‘Esmeralda’ (1881) – were not as successful. Hodgson Burnett's first book for young readers was ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ (1886), which appealed so greatly to mothers that they started clothing their sons in velvet suits with lace collars, like the main protagonist. The novel was screened in 1921. Other, yet equally famous books by the author include ‘Sara Crewe’ (1888) (rewritten as ‘A Little Princess’ for the dramatic version) and the magnificent story, ‘The Secret Garden’ (1909).

This English chemist and physicist was made famous for his atomic theory, as well as his research into colour blindness, from which he and his brother personally suffered. He was born in Eaglesfield, in the shire county of Cumbria. In 1793, he moved to Manchester, where he worked as a teacher of mathematics and natural philosophy at the Manchester Academy. In 1800, Dalton was appointed secretary of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. A year later he was ready to present his ‘Experimental Essays’ on the constitution of mixed gases, on the force of steam and other vapours at different temperatures, and on the thermal expansion of gases. This empirical law is known as Dalton's Law of partial pressures. The Atomic Theory, first proposed in ancient Greece and re-introduced by Dalton, stated that every matter is made up from tiny atoms. The scholar died in Manchester in 1844 of paralysis.

The British engineer was a pioneering car manufacturer, who, along with Charles Stewart Rolls, founded the automobile company known worldwide as Rolls-Royce. He was born in Alwalton near Peterborough and was the youngest of five children. The family moved to London, but Royce's father died in 1872 and young Royce, after receiving only one year of formal schooling, went to work selling newspapers. In 1878, he began an apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway company. Six years later, with only 20 GBP of savings, Royce, together with his friend Ernest Claremont, started a business located in a workshop in Cooke Street, Hulme in Manchester, called F H Royce and Company, where they made domestic electric fittings. Years later, Royce was introduced to Charles Rolls, a man who owned a car showroom in London, and the historic meeting between Rolls and Royce was arranged at the Midland Hotel Manchester, which was a beginning of the gentlemen’s cooperation. The first Rolls-Royce car was produced by the end of 1904 and in 1906, they officially joined forces to become ever famous company, Rolls-Royce Ltd.

Twins Robin and Maurice (born in 1949) and their older brother, Barry (born in 1946), were known for over three decades in the music business as the Bee Gees. They all were born in Douglas, Isle of Man, and brought up in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, a suburb of Manchester. In 1958, the family moved to Redcliffe, Australia shortly after their youngest brother Andy was born. They started their musical career in Australia and gained more even more popularity upon their return to England in 1967. A decade later in 1977, their ‘Saturday Night Fever’ Soundtrack, which included such hits as ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, ‘Stayin' Alive’, and ‘Night Fever’, sold more copies than any other soundtrack and made the Bee Gees superstars. What's more, the group received multiple Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Acheivement Award and the Grammy Legend Award in 2003. They became members of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1997. Sadly, Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly at a hospital Miami Beach, Florida on 12 January 2003, which officially put an end to Bee Gees. From then on, Barry and Robin have worked on independent projects, both releasing recordings with other artists.