Tony Wilson is one of the region’s defining media figures and “Mr Manchester” is rightly remembered each year by RTS North West’s Anthony H Wilson Memorial Lecture.

Chaired by Granada News presenter Lucy Meacock – a former colleague of Wilson on Granada Reports and Granada Upfront – the lecture drew a large audience of 150 people to the Lowry Theatre, Salford in mid-October.

As well as his television work, Wilson also ran Factory Records, home to Joy Division, New Order and many other Manchester bands.

To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Wilson’s death, Salford-born comedian and actor John Thomson – best known for his role as Pete Gifford in ITV comedy-drama Cold Feet and BBC Two sketch show The Fast Show – gave this year’s lecture. In the latter, Thomson played the much-loved jazz club owner with the catchphrase “Nice!”.

“If it hadn’t been for Granada Television I would not be sitting here now,” said Thomson, who appeared as a young comic in the 1993 Granada sketch show The Dead Good Show.

The night was filled with the wit of Thomson’s wit, who described working in the north as “cheap, friendly and inclement”.