Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will be interviewed by Jon Savage, Professor of Popular Culture at The University of Manchester, and also answer questions from the audience. The conversation will be preceded by a full album playback.

Tickets for the event sold out in minutes when they went on sale on Friday, 5 April 2024.

Pet Shop Boys said: “It will be great to be in 91ֱ�� on the day our new album is released. We have many friends in the city and it’s always a real pleasure returning there.”

, John Rylands University Librarian and Director of The University of Manchester Library, said: “This will be one of the highest profile events in the history of the Library and follows the successful launch of the in 2022 and a series of events, not least the launch of Johnny Marr’s new book. We’d like to thank Parlophone Records, Crash Records, Pet Shop Boys and their management for making it happen at the Library.”

‘Nonetheless’ is Pet Shop Boys’ 15th album and was produced by James Ford. The Guardian have already described it as “gorgeous...it basks in songwriterly lusciousness”.

Jon Savage’s acclaimed books include ‘Teenage’, ‘1966: The Year the Decade Exploded” and ‘England’s Dreaming’ which is seen as the classic book about punk. His new book, ‘The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Performers Shaped Popular Music” will be published in June.

91ֱ�� City Council has approved plans to transform The University of Manchester’s (Rylands) to enhance its contribution to research, student experience and public engagement. The £7.6m project, named John Rylands Next Chapter, forms a part of the Library’s .

The proposed designs, drawn up by conservation architecture practice Donald Insall Associates, utilises a single design language that speaks to the building’s evolution through the 1890s, 1920s, 1960s and 2000s. It will deliver an updated exhibition space (designed by Nissen Richards Studio), an advanced imaging laboratory, a flexible event space and a refreshed main entrance.

The Grade I-listed Rylands is one of the finest neo-Gothic buildings in Europe, housing internationally important collections of rare books, manuscripts, and archives. The building has survived a turbulent history: two world wars, the disappearance of the Lancashire cotton industry, post-war modern planning and the changing fortunes of the city. The consented scheme aims to sensitively protect and evolve one of Manchester’s most important and best-loved buildings.

The Rylands is expected to remain open throughout the project, with areas closing as required while redevelopment takes place.

Professor Christopher Pressler, John Rylands University Librarian and Director of The University of Manchester Library, said: “The Rylands is one of the great libraries of the world. I am tremendously proud to lead this remarkable institution, as we approach our 125th anniversary in 2025. The Next Chapter project will deliver world-class facilities for research and engagement, of a quality to match our extraordinary collections and building. It will equip the Rylands to address the many challenges and opportunities of the mid-21st century, and it will reinforce the Rylands’ importance to the University, the city of Manchester, and world heritage.”

Rory Chisholm, Associate Architect, at Donald Insall Associates said: "The significance of the Rylands lies not only in its graceful architecture, but in its life as a thriving research library. We have developed a design that acts as a unifying gesture; threading together the many layers of the Rylands' architectural history, whilst also better connecting visitors with the many uses of the building.

The design language for these interventions references both the dark patina of the historic building, and the contemporary aspiration of this exciting new chapter. The most striking example of this is perhaps the upgraded modern entrance – formed of dark curved metal wings, reminiscent of book pages, that will create a distinct and welcoming arrival to the building.”

Pippa Nissen, Director at Nissen Richards Studio, said: “We are seeking to create an engaging environment with elegant displays, enhanced within the historic setting and supporting the John Rylands Research Institute and Library’s collection. The design seeks to display the collection in optimum viewing conditions as well as celebrating the existing architecture of the space.

We are proposing to reinstate symmetry and hindered vistas in the permanent gallery and the temporary gallery by careful design of bespoke showcases and furniture, keying into existing datums and proportions of the room to create clarity. This will create a truly accessible display gallery central to the visitor experience.”

New research from students at The University of Manchester has traced the wealth of five of the most significant founders and funders of the institution to transatlantic enslavement and underpins this new exhibition.  Artefacts and objects from the University’s collections tell the story of these connections.

The exhibition invites visitors to examine these rediscovered histories and help us answer the emerging question for the city of Manchester and the University: “What should we do next?”

Founding a University

Today’s University of Manchester was founded as two separate educational establishments - Owens College and the 91ֱ�� Mechanics’ Institution. 91ֱ�� Mechanics’ Institution was founded in 1824 by a group of businessmen and manufacturers, including Sir Benjamin Heywood, James McConnel and John Kennedy.

Heywood’s position as 91ֱ��’s leading banker was built on generations of his family’s profits from slave trading, while McConnel & Kennedy’s mills, the largest in 91ֱ��, spun slave-grown cotton imported from the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia.

Owens College was founded in 1851 with a gift of nearly £100,000 (over £10 million today) from the estate of Manchester businessman John Owens, who invested heavily in importing slave-grown goods from North and South America, as well as cotton manufacturing.

During their research, students discovered that the land on which the University sits was bought by Murray Gladstone, inheritor of considerable wealth from plantation ownership and enslavement of thousands of people of African heritage.

The exhibition showcases the history of the University’s cultural institutions, including the John Rylands Research Institute and Library itself, which was built using a fortune derived from the manufacturer of textiles made from cotton cultivated by enslaved people, and became part of the University in 1972.

Experiences of enslavement and treasures of the collections

Alongside letters and archival material that detail The University of Manchester’s financial and foundational connections are books and documents exploring the experiences of enslaved people linked to those locations and activities.

This includes Olaudah Equiano and Solomon Northup who published accounts of their first-hand experiences of enslavement and Jack Gladstone, an enslaved man who led a revolt of approximately 10,000 enslaved men and women known as the Demerara Uprising.

Also included are items that show how wealth derived from transatlantic enslavement continues to hold high financial and cultural value in objects owned by the John Rylands Research Institute and Library and 91ֱ�� Museum.

This includes a richly-decorated 16th century copy of Shāhnāmah (Book of Kings) by Firdawsī donated to Owens College by Samuel Robinson. Robinson inherited his wealth from his father, who manufactured textiles specifically to be traded for captives on the West African coast.

Emerging researchers uncovering hidden connections

The exhibition has been curated by a team of University of Manchester postgraduate students, academics and curators, with the support of external researchers. Core to the exhibition is research conducted by a diverse team of emerging scholars who undertook the Race, Migration & Humanitarianism: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism in the Modern World module as part of their MA History. The Emerging Scholars programme provided students with paid opportunities to develop their historical research and curatorial skills with the aim of strengthening pipelines for underrepresented and Global Majority students to participate in academic and heritage work. Blog posts written by the team are available on the exhibition website.

Dr Kerry Pimblott, Lecturer in International History said: “Founders and Funders represents the culmination of two years of research conducted by a team of postgraduate students from The University of Manchester’s History MA programme. The project began in one of our core modules – HIST64101: Race, Migration & Humanitarianism – in which students receive a grounding in the global history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and colonisation before examining the multiple and complex legacies of these world historic phenomena in the present.

“Since 2021, all students in this module have participated in a series of special workshops to critically examine the legacies of slavery and colonialism in the places they live, study, and work – 91ֱ�� and The University of Manchester. In 2022, we launched the Emerging Scholars Programme and recruited six talented postgraduate researchers, including a plurality of Black and other Global Majority students, to lead on the next stage of the research and exhibition curation.

“At the heart of the project is an acknowledgment of the longstanding structural inequalities in the discipline of History which have created barriers to access and participation for Black and other Global Majority students (see, Royal Historical Society

“The Emerging Scholars Programme aims to address this ‘broken’ pipeline (, 2019) by providing paid research positions as well as structured mentorship and support from curators and historians based at The University of Manchester as well as the University of Liverpool’s Centre for the 91ֱ�� of International Slavery and UCL’s Centre for the 91ֱ�� of the Legacies of British Slavery.

“Recent graduates from the Emerging Scholars programme have gone on to work in the education and heritage sectors and we are looking forward to recruiting more postgraduate researchers to advance this research in the years to come.”

Jeevan Kaur Sanghera, MA History graduate and student curator, said: “Working on the exhibition, Founders and Funders, as a student curator was a process of getting to grips with just how embedded enslavement, empire and colonisation were essential to the building of Manchester, 'Cottonopolis'. The social life, politics, intellectual culture, finances and kinship networks of Manchester's 19th century residents were intertwined with exploitative colonial practices. This included direct investment in slave voyages or through industry, such as cotton production which was directly linked to Transatlantic enslavement and the labour of enslaved people.

"The exhibition does not simply seek to present this research as facts about arbitrary 91ֱ�� residents who funded the foundation of The University of Manchester. It prompts its visitors to begin to understand and acknowledge how embedded enslavement was to these people's lives and their social and financial patronage of Manchester's culture and institutions.”

Professor Nalin Thakkar, Vice-President for Social Responsibility at The University of Manchester, said: “This is an important step on a journey we started with the initial research into our links to slavery, which we published last year, in conjunction with seeking the views of staff, students and alumni.

“Our University is entering its 200^th year in 2024 and it is incredibly important that our staff and students have undertaken this research, through our MA in History, and that we continue to be transparent in sharing new findings and perspectives.

“This exhibition, together with other insights, will help inform a broader response being considered by our expert group of staff and students, who are meeting over the coming year to consider how we address our past in positive ways as we enter our third century.

Another great story on the launch of the British Pop Archive! And ⁦⁩ ⁦⁩ ⁦plus ⁩ on the Today show later ☺️

— Prof Hannah Barker (@HistoryHannahB)

Hannah Barker, Professor of British History at The University of Manchester and Director of the John Rylands Research Institute, said: “The British Pop Archive is a fantastic resource for a university with strong links to the creative industries. It provides unique material for a growing range of research and teaching at the University on popular music, TV and film history, counter-cultural movements and youth culture from the twentieth century to the present day, linked to our brilliant Creative 91ֱ�� research platform.” 

Jon Savage, Professor of Popular Culture, said: “Britain’s pop and youth culture has been transmitted worldwide for nearly sixty years now. As the most fertile and expressive product of post war democratic consumerism, it has a long and inspiring history that is in danger of being under-represented in museums and libraries.  The intention of the BPA is to be a purpose-built, pop and youth culture archive that reflects the riches of the post war period running to the present day. We are launching with 91ֱ��-centric collections but the intention is for the BPA to be a national resource encompassing the whole UK: it is, after all, the British Pop Archive.” 

On 19 May 2022 the British Pop Archive will launch with Collection, a distinctively 91ֱ��-flavoured exhibition, underlining why 91ֱ�� is the perfect home for the British Pop Archive. Curated by Mat Bancroft, Jon Savage and Hannah Barker, it explores the vibrant cultural scene of a city that has driven innovation, creativity and social progress.  

The exhibition features iconic items from British pop history, many of which have never been seen by the public. Highlights include personal items relating to The Smiths, New Order, The Haçienda, Factory Records, Granada Television and Joy Division, such as Ian Curtis’s original handwritten lyrics for ‘She’s Lost Control’. 

Mat Bancroft said: “We launch the British Pop Archive with a 91ֱ�� focused exhibition full of unique and unseen artefacts. These materials tell the story of a vibrant city with art, culture and music at its heart. More than that they foreground the creative catalysts, musicians, producers, artists, designers and writers who have instigated this repositioning of landscape - to propose media as the new cultural capital of the city.”