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Bolton Leasing

Did You Know?

Never mind Britannia...Bolton rules the airwaves. The town has the unique distinction of breeding many of the BBC's top radio DJs -- from Sara Cox and Vernon Kay to Mark Radcliffe. And if that's not enough, keen Wanderers fan Victoria Derbyshire is a Radio Five star. 

Boltonians are officially the friendliest people in Britain. An internet-based survey once carried out by the British Society for the Advancement of Science put us top for warmth, care and consideration.

We are no slouches in the literary stakes either. Former Bolton School pupil Monica Ali narrowly missed out on the Booker Prize with bestselling debut novel Brick Lane. Other noteworthy scribes include Alfie author Bill Naughton and nostalgic novelist Ruth Hamilton.

Bolton Wanderers are helping keep the town in the Premiership. As one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888 and winners of the first Wembley FA Cup Final in 1923 the Whites have been a proud part of the history of the game. Even if they are having a wonky season.

Bolton's own Bank Top Brewery has won plaudits with its prize ales such as Golddigger and Flat Cap. The Howcroft Inn also hosts Britain's largest pub-based beer festival.

The town has also been a hotbed for acting talent. Pick of the crop is the man now known to millions of film fans as Gandalf, former Bolton School pupil Sir Ian McKellen.

Playing host to badminton and mountain biking events in 2002's Commonwealth Games and the great World Champion boxer Amir Khan fights at Bolton Arena show we can rise to the occasion to host world class sport.

Bolton-born Sir Harry Kroto won the 1996 Nobel Prize for inventing Carbon 60 - a substance which revolutionised civil engineering because it is both stronger and lighter than steel.

Down-to-earth Fred Dibnah helped put Bolton on the map with his infectious television musings on all things industrial. And his memory lives on with the ace statue in Newport Street.

Bolton is one of a handful of towns whose roundabouts were featured on a cult calendar which sold thousands. We shared the 'honour' with the likes of Milton Keynes and Swindon.

We were at the heart of the industrial revolution which propelled Lancashire to world significance. The cotton industry in Bolton was so thriving that the prospectus for the Manchester-Liverpool railway even talked about "that most prosperous of towns, Bolton.