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Lucy Meacock breaks down on air during tribute to Tony Morris

She did him proud.

The Manc The Manc - 3rd August 2020

The sad news of the passing of legendary broadcaster Tony Morris has gone viral this evening.

The much loved Granada Reports presenter, who has been a staple on TV sets across the North West for 17 years, sadly succumbed to kidney cancer on Saturday after bravely fighting the disease head on.

Tonight, a special Granada Reports tribute aired across the Greater Manchester region fronted by his on air partner in crime Lucy Meacock – who has been by his side for almost two decades. Together, Tony and Lucy made Granada News what it is today, a respected, seasoned news programme loved by millions.

Lucy held it together beautifully during the tribute segment, which featured a poem called ‘Clocked Off’ by Argh Kid’s David Scott, who Tony was a huge fan of.

The special segment of the show also featured tributes from friends, colleagues and even random people on the street, who all had amazing things to say about Tony, described by many as the smiling face of tea time telly.

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And while Lucy Meacock did a grand job of holding down the fort during this tough segment of Granada News, she broke down during her sign off – something she has done alongside Tony for almost 20 years.

Granada Reports

Tony Morris was a seasoned professional who had an unmatched rapport with his viewers. He could mess up on live television and the audience would accept that he’s human – because he was just one of us.

Granada Reports will never be the same without him.

News

Mancunian has been named one of the ‘most attractive’ accents in the UK

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Manchester is, once again, celebrating what we already know – our accent is one of the “most attractive” in the UK.

In case you missed it, earlier this year, Manchester welcomed in 2023 with the news that our city’s accent had been named the “sexiest” the country has to offer – with a survey of 2,500 people by casino comparison site Best Casinos discovering that over half of respondents ranked it the most pleasing regional accent to the ear.

And now it turns out that that survey wasn’t a fluke, because a new study has called the Manchester accent one of the “most attractive” in the UK.

On a top 10 list compiled from the findings of a new survey of 2,000 people aged 18 to 55+ by online language tutoring service Preply, the Mancunian accent has claimed a pretty respectable fifth place.

But while there’s no doubt we can hold our heads high and be proud of claiming a spot in the top 10, this title does become a bit less impressive when you realise which other regional varieties have placed higher than us.

Mancunian has been named one of the ‘most attractive’ accents in the UK / Credit: Preply | Pexels

Fellow Northern accents Scouse and Geordie have taken second and third place on the list respectably, and the Welsh capital’s Cardiff accent rounding out the top five.

For us northerners, the grim reading continues when you learn that the London accent has clinched the top spot.

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The Most Attractive Accents in the UK

  1. London
  2. Liverpool
  3. Newcastle
  4. Cardiff
  5. Manchester
  6. Glasgow
  7. Birmingham 
  8. Bristol 
  9. Leeds

According to Preply, 21% of women survey respondents voted for the London accent as the most attractive in the UK, compared with just 15% of men, while 10.4% of the population picked the unique sound of the Liverpool accent as second best.

Only 8.7% of survey respondents considered the Mancunian accent to be the most attractive.

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The results from this survey do, at least, go some way to shattering the findings from two surveys published last year that found the Manchester accent is considered to be one of the ‘least respected’ nationwide, especially in the corporate world of work, and that Northerners with strong accents are considered ‘less intelligent’.

Featured Image – Unknown

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The first bright yellow Bee Network bus has hit the streets of Greater Manchester

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Greater Manchester residents will soon start to see bright yellow double decker buses travelling the region’s streets in the coming weeks.

With exactly six months to go before Greater Manchester “brings buses back under local control”, Mayor Andy Burnham has joined a number of other local leaders in unveiling the brand-new ‘Bee Network’ co-branded buses.

In what marks the biggest change to transport in Greater Manchester for almost 40 years, according to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), bus operator Diamond – which currently runs services in Bolton – has teamed up with Go North West to run the first franchised services in Wigan, Bolton, and parts of Salford and Bury from September this year.

Diamond has agreed to start transforming their buses into Bee Network ones from this week, with more set to appear on the roads every month.

The first bright yellow double decker bus has now hit the streets of Bolton, and is serving the number 8 route – which connects Bolton and Manchester city centre via Farnworth and Salford.

As already announced by TfGM and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), when franchising is officially introduced on 24 September 2023, 50 brand-new electric Bee Network buses will hit the streets on day one, alongside new ‘Euro VI’ vehicles, and dozens more co-branded buses from the existing fleet.

A further 50 electric buses will then be introduced onto the network in March 2024, which is when the second part of franchising starts.

All of the 270 new electric Bee Network buses will be fully accessible, with wheelchair bays, hearing induction loops, audio and visual announcement systems, and anti-slip flooring.

Mayor Andy Burnham said the first Bee Network bus entering service is “very much the start of our journey”, and added that the scheme will “ultimately deliver a greener, integrated and more inclusive transport system that will transform how people travel around our city-region.”

The first bright yellow Bee Network bus has hit the streets of Greater Manchester / Credit: TfGM

Transport Commissioner Vernon Everitt also called the first bus’s introduction onto the streets as “a further significant step” towards the integration of the Bee Network and the “transformation” of public transport and active travel in the region.

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He continued: “From September we’ll also have dozens of new state-of-the-art buses serving passengers in Wigan, Bolton, and parts of Salford and Bury.

“These will be the first of many across Greater Manchester that will, alongside the new lower fares – which are already increasing ridership – and improvements to travel information, improve bus travel for everyone who lives and works here.”

Featured Image – TfGM

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