Renaissance man

Last weekend, I found myself strolling around Manchester's Northern Quarter for the first time in a while, marvelling at how much it had changed and developed even since my last visit. The existence of the area as it is now owes an enormous debt to Jan Oldenburg, the man who established the Night & Day on Oldham Street in 1991 and thereby kickstarted the process that has transformed a run-down inner-city industrial zone into a hub for the cool and the cutting edge. The Dutch-born visionary died in October - and here, thanks to a tip-off from the fabulous Piccadilly Records, is an obituary that gives an insight into the man behind a local institution.