Ex-Financial Times Assistant Editor. Ex-editor Scotland on Sunday. Author of 'These Isles', 'Northerners: A History' and 'Made in Manchester'.
Joined March 2010
- Tweets 77,950
- Following 9,906
- Followers 36,576
- Likes 250,202
8,316 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
Feb 28
OUT NOW: 'These Isles: A People's History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' (@HarperNorthUK). Previous books 'Northerners: A History' (2022), 'Made in Manchester: A People's History of the City That Shaped the Modern World' (2024).
7
46
112
20,221
Thursday evening, all welcome.
May 21
I'll be talking about 'These Isles: A People's History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' at Castleton Historical Society, Derbyshire, Thurs June 18th 7.30pm. Peveril Centre, Methodist Church, Buxton Road. Visitors welcome, £3. castletonhistorical.co.uk/
1
2
8
825
Brian Groom retweeted
Margaret Traherne's glass in the Manchester Regimental chapel of Manchester Cathedral was installed as a memorial to the Blitz. It was destroyed in the IRA bombing of the city centre #OTD 15 June 1996. She remade it as a new memorial to the rebirth of the city after the bomb.
The IRA detonated a 3,300lb lorry bomb on Corporation Street, Manchester, at 11.20am on this day 1996, the biggest bomb detonated in Britain since WW2. Four coded warnings meant that no one died, but 220 were injured and damage to the retail and commercial core was extensive.
13
50
1,777
Brian Groom retweeted
Roy Hattersley reflects on the poverty in Sheffield in the 1950s that shaped his socialism - after spending the Summer as a milkman’s mate.
“It was my first confrontation with the idea of the underserving poor. I rejected it then and I reject it now”.
3
93
268
20,019
Mussdenden Temple, County Londonderry, painting by Emma Colbert, Northern Ireland artist.
3
41
889
Brian Groom retweeted
Jun 7
Signed copies of ‘These Isles’, ‘Made in Manchester’ and ‘Northerners’ for Father’s Day sales at the wonderful Waterstones Oldham.
1
22
79
3,149
Brian Groom retweeted
Apr 14
THESE ISLES: Dublin-born novelist, poet and literary critic James Joyce (1882-1941) was a celebrated modernist writer who lived largely in self-imposed exile in Trieste, Zurich and Paris. 1/10
2
10
53
3,788
Brian Groom retweeted
15 Jun 2022
Early morning, Tyneside, 1952, by Harry Morrison.
7
41
239
Brian Groom retweeted
15 Jun 2024
Beresford Street, Moss Side, Manchester, 1969, photo by Michael Ward.
1
16
160
7,602
Brian Groom retweeted
15 Jun 2025
A Ticket To Ride, by Sandra Ford, Liverpool artist who now lives in Florida. #WomensArt #NorthernArt
5
20
171
6,552
Brian Groom retweeted
15 Jun 2025
2
23
172
3,188
The IRA detonated a 3,300lb lorry bomb on Corporation Street, Manchester, at 11.20am on this day 1996, the biggest bomb detonated in Britain since WW2. Four coded warnings meant that no one died, but 220 were injured and damage to the retail and commercial core was extensive.
8
28
106
7,120
Ministers are considering handing over billions of pounds raised by business rates to England's regional mayors. - @kiranstacey theguardian.com/politics/202…
3
1
4
2,848
Display by Drake The Bookshop @drakebookshop, Stockton, at my event yesterday at Crossing The Tees book festival @CrossingtheTees in Norton Library. The bookshop now has signed copies of 'These Isles' and 'Northerners: A History'.
6
25
1,093
Jun 14
Next Sunday, all welcome.
May 20
I'll be talking about 'These Isles: A People's History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' at Lowdham Book Festival, Nottinghamshire, on Sunday 21st June, 12-1pm, Lowdham Village Hall. thebookcase.co.uk/wp-content…
4
8
1,241
Jun 14
From the Castle to the Calton Hill, Edinburgh, 1929, painting by James Paterson, Scottish artist, 1854-1932 (Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture).
1
11
40
1,141
Jun 14
I'll be talking about ‘These Isles: A People’s History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' at Stretford Library, @TraffLibraries, 6.30pm Thurs July 2nd. This was my childhood library, I joined at age seven. Free to book: eventbrite.co.uk/e/these-isl…
4
19
1,094
Brian Groom retweeted
Apr 13
THESE ISLES: Nicola Sturgeon, former solicitor, was Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party 2014-23, the first woman to hold either post, succeeding Alex Salmond after Scots rejected independence by 55.3% to 44.7% in a 2014 referendum. 1/10
6
3
19
2,621
Brian Groom retweeted
14 Jun 2023
Summer 1940, by Sheffield artist Harry Epworth Allen, 1894-1958 (Glynn Vivian Art Gallery).
3
24
122
6,323
Brian Groom retweeted
14 Jun 2024
Quality Time, by Geoff Butterworth, Rochdale-based artist. #NorthernArt
2
20
141
4,943