Ed Glinert began researching Manchester history in 1977, determined to root out misconceptions and misunderstandings, and give Manchester the history it deserves. In 1983 he co-founded Manchester's City Life magazine, for whom he specialised in hard news. During the 1990s Glinert worked for Private Eye and Mojo, and since 2009 has conducted more than 5,000 tours of the Manchester area, as well as giving hundreds of talks to local groups, to the Arts Society, and on cruise ships. He has written more than a dozen books for Penguin, HarperCollins and Bloomsbury, including The London Compendium and Manchester Compendium.