Made in Manchester.

'What Manchester thinks today, London thinks tomorrow' (19th century saying) This issue is dedicated to Manchester and its celebration of 60 years of academic occupational medicine. As a Mancunian myself I am particularly proud to be writing this editorial and introducing you to a special issue that has seen the people of Manchester respond to another challenge. Whether it is industry, art, music, football or academic occupational medicine, Manchester consistently produces the goods. Manchester is a young city and was only officially granted city status in 1853. The industrial revolution of the eighteenth century saw it become the 'shock city of the age' and according to Disraeli 'the most wonderful city of modern times'. The wonder lay in the way the city had changed economically and socially and had grown from a town of 90 000 people in 1800 to a city of more than two million within its greater area by 1900. When cotton was king, Manchester and its satellites spun half the cotton in Europe. A huge social revolution rode the back of the first urban product of the industrial revolution and featured significant signs of occupational health as early as 1790. An outbreak of factory fever due to typhus occurred in the Radcliffe district of the city in 1784 and proved a tipping point in conditions for workers [1]. Sir Robert Peel, then Home Secretary, declared himself aghast at the conditions in his own factories and his subsequent actions led to him becoming the father of industrial legislation. Dr Thomas Percival, a physician, polymath and friend of Voltaire, was appointed to form the Manchester Board of Health in 1795 [2]. The work of the board created the impetus that led to improved working conditions for factory workers throughout the world. When a new initiative on occupational health was taken by the Ministry of Labour in 1955, Meiklejohn argued for a revival of the 'revolutionary' ideas of Percival [3]. Strangely another Percival (Richard) a linen weaver, was the first casualty of the English Civil War in 1642 when Manchester was one of very few towns in Lancashire to support Parliament against King Charles I and suggests that Manchester's revolutionary tendencies are somewhat deep seated [4]. In this issue the more recent history of Manchester's occupational medicine is explored in a brace of articles by Andy Slovak, profiling the professors from the city and its academic work and achievements …