On the trail of a 200-year-old theatre playbill

Plus: A wild night at Piccadilly Radio

Dear Millers — if you read very old editions of the Manchester Guardian, you will begin to suspect that the original “correspondents” were not all professional newspaper journalists. They were, in some cases at least, readers of the newspaper who sent regular news from far-flung locations around the world. They corresponded with the paper, and by doing so, with its growing readership.

Well, we’re picking up that excellent tradition today. In the past week, two longtime Mill members (both, admittedly, are former national newspaper journalists) have sent in great little pieces for us to publish. These are not dispatches from the revolutionary jungles of Central America or the diplomatic cocktail parties of New Delhi — disappointingly, both of today’s correspondents live within commuting distance of Manchester. But their writing more than makes up for it.

First up is David Ward, who worked for the Guardian in Manchester for 33 years and then went to work for Theatre by the Lake in Keswic…