Mike Leigh
"The Rialto Cinema, Higher Broughton - my glorious alma mater!"
"Growing up in Higher Broughton, I saw a lot of films, and I used to sit there thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great if you could see a film where people were like real people'."
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Leigh was a pupil at North Grecian Street Primary School in Broughton and later Salford Grammar.
"Most of my ideas about film were formulated as an unconscious reaction to film. But I wasn't just stimulated by film, I saw Laurel & Hardy at the Ardwick Hippodrome in 1952 when they did their tour and that was pretty amazing and we used to go and see Charlie Chaplin. All those things feed in. For me, everybody is interesting whoever they are... even if they've got a few bob!”
Councillor Stephen Coen said, "We like to think that the city of Salford helped shape these creative legends that come from this city. People such as Tony Wilson, Albert Finney and Mike Leigh have had a strong Salford base. It's important for us to recognise that such world class talented people invariably come from inner cities such as Salford, we share a collective pride in celebrating his impact on the craft of story telling and acting. It's good to remind ourselves that there is no limit to what you aspire to be in Salford."