Laurence Stephen Lowry (1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist born in Stretford, Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years.

Lowry is famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of Northern England during the early 20th century. He had a distinctive style of painting and is best known for urban landscapes peopled with human figures often referred to as "matchstick men". He also painted mysterious unpopulated landscapes, brooding portraits, and the unpublished "marionette" works, which were only found after his death.

Because of his use of stylised figures and the lack of weather effects in many of his landscapes he is sometimes characterised as a naïve 'Sunday painter' although this is not the position of the galleries that have organised retrospectives of his works.

A large collection of Lowry's work is on permanent public display in a purpose-built art gallery on Salford Quays, appropriately named the Lowry.

Lyon Sprague de Camp (November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors. He "was widely regarded as an imaginative and innovative writer and was an important figure in the heyday of science fiction, from the late 1930's through the late 1940's."

De Camp was born in New York City, one of three sons of Lyon de Camp and Emma Beatrice Sprague. His maternal grandfather was the accountant, banker, pioneering Volapükist and Civil War veteran Charles Ezra Sprague. De Camp once noted that he rarely used pen-names, "partly because my own true name sounds more like a pseudonym than most pseudonyms do."

An aeronautical engineer by profession, De Camp earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1930, and his Master of Science degree in Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1933. De Camp was also a surveyor and an expert in patents.

Xavier Pick was born in York, England in 1972. He was brought up in Yorkshire and attended Pocklington School. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art and The Royal College of Art. He has won critical acclaim for his visual story telling. He produces thousands of sketches to produce impressive large multi-media art works that tell a story, whether it be the Iraq war, London life or corporate life. In 2000, he opened a shop cum studio in Gatley. This came after a successful exhibition of his local works at Gatley hill House. The works concerned the local shops and their staff and customers. The business closed after less than a years trading. In 2000, a feature article about him (c.4 pages) was published in the Manchester Life magazine (no longer published). In 2008, he was chosen to be an official war artist in Iraq Xavier Pick is also the resident artist of the Sanctum Hotel, Soho, London.

Xavier Pick joined the British Army's 20th Armoured Brigade (The Iron Fist) in southern Iraq in 2008 and 2009 to record the final weeks of Operation Telic. He was given 24-hour access to the Army over a 6-week period; in his own words he set out "trying to understand what we were doing for the Iraqi people". He joined the Army in their building of schools, hospitals and transport links. Xavier Pick produced sketches, photographs, and film footage.

Charles Julius Mickle (July 22, 1849 in Stratford, Canada West, now Ontario – November 10, 1919, Minnedosa, Manitoba) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a provincial cabinet minister for three years, and on two occasions served as the leader of the Liberal Party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

Mickle trained as a lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. He practiced law in Ontario for ten years before moving to Manitoba. He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature for the constituency of Birtle in the 1888 provincial election, as a supporter of Liberal Premier Thomas Greenway. He was re-elected in the 1892 campaign, and won by acclamation in 1896.

In November 1896, Mickle entered Greenway's cabinet as Provincial Secretary. He held this position until the resignation of the Greenway ministry in January 1900. The Liberals had narrowly lost the election of 1899, although Mickle was re-elected in Birtle.

Mickle was also one of only nine Liberals to be re-elected in the party's electoral debacle of 1903. The party won only nine seats, but Mickle scored a surprisingly easy victory (584 votes to 293) over Conservative John Leich. When Greenway re-entered federal politics in 1904, Mickle was chosen to replace him as parliamentary leader.