History UsefulNotes / Todmorden

[[caption-width-right:345:'' My Summer of '''{{FOG OF DOOM}}!]]''''']]

[[caption-width-right:345:'' My Summer of '''[[FogOfDoom FOG OF DOOM!]]''''']]

** As was DarthWiki/DarthVader's get-up.

** As was SelfDemonstrating/DarthVader's get-up.

It is famously the home of former actor Tony Booth, who is also former [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister]] Tony Blair's wife Cherie's father (don't hold it against them). It is also home to the woman who married UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's son, the policeman who was reportedly [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]], and factory owner John Fielden, [[{{Hypocrite}} an avid campaigner for workers' rights]]. Harold Shipman, who murdered over 200 of his patients, worked as a GP in Todmorden. A guy who made his name in the 70s by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Emerson jumping on keyboard instruments, throwing them across the stage and stabbing with knives]] - all while playing virtuoso parts - also was born in Todmorden. And his friend [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Helliwell who, also in the 70's, played saxaphone, clairinet and cracked jokes - often all at the same time. There are also Nobel Prize winners and actual celebrities from it, but these are more or less overlooked when people hear the words "{{Alien Abduction}}s". In August 2013 the [[NobodyLovesTheBassist former bassist]] for ''Music/TheSmiths'', Dale Hibbert, opened a high-end coffee shop across from the Lidl, unusual for the town and something you'd probably be more likely to see in [[BigApplesauce downtown NYC]]. The town has received a few Royal visits, is home to national biking magazine ''Singletrack Magazine'', and is on the route of ''Le grand Dèpart'', the precursor to 2014's UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance.

It is famously the home of former actor Tony Booth, who is also former [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister]] Tony Blair's wife Cherie's father (don't hold it against them). It is also home to the woman who married UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's son, the policeman who was reportedly [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]], and factory owner John Fielden, [[{{Hypocrite}} an avid campaigner for workers' rights]]. Harold Shipman, who murdered over 200 of his patients, worked as a GP in Todmorden. A guy who made his name in the 70s by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Emerson jumping on keyboard instruments, throwing them across the stage and stabbing with knives]] - all while playing virtuoso parts - also was born in Todmorden. There are also Nobel Prize winners and actual celebrities from it, but these are more or less overlooked when people hear the words "{{Alien Abduction}}s". In August 2013 the [[NobodyLovesTheBassist former bassist]] for ''Music/TheSmiths'', Dale Hibbert, opened a high-end coffee shop across from the Lidl, unusual for the town and something you'd probably be more likely to see in [[BigApplesauce downtown NYC]]. The town has received a few Royal visits, is home to national biking magazine ''Singletrack Magazine'', and is on the route of ''Le grand Dèpart'', the precursor to 2014's UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance.

It is famously the home of former actor Tony Booth, who is also former [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister]] Tony Blair's wife Cherie's father (don't hold it against them). It is also home to the woman who married UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's son, the policeman who was reportedly [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]], and factory owner John Fielden, [[{{Hypocrite}} an avish campaigner for workers' rights]]. Harold Shipman, who murdered over 200 of his patients, worked as a GP in Todmorden. A guy who made his name in the 70s by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Emerson jumping on keyboard instruments, throwing them across the stage and stabbing with knives]] - all while playing virtuoso parts - also was born in Todmorden. There are also Nobel Prize winners and actual celebrities from it, but these are more or less overlooked when people hear the words "{{Alien Abduction}}s". In August 2013 the [[NobodyLovesTheBassist former bassist]] for ''Music/TheSmiths'', Dale Hibbert, opened a high-end coffee shop across from the Lidl, unusual for the town and something you'd probably be more likely to see in [[BigApplesauce downtown NYC]]. The town has received a few Royal visits, is home to national biking magazine ''Singletrack Magazine'', and is on the route of ''Le grand Dèpart'', the precursor to 2014's UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance.

Basically, it is the [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Forks, WA]] of England[[note]]Note Creator/EmilyBlunt's "Creator/AnnaKendrick-in-''{{Twilight}}''" pose[[/note]], but with more wildlife and less infrastructure. It is the only settled tri-valley in the world (the centre of the town at the converging point of three Pennine hills), and home to the sole route from Lancashire to Yorkshire through the Pennines. It's also home to the highest beach in England, though, at Gaddings Dam! There is one other main pleasantry: [[UsefulNotes/BritishPubs a pub on]] [[MyLocal every street corner]].

Basically, it is the [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Forks, WA]] of England[[note]]Note Creator/EmilyBlunt's "AnnaKendrick-in-''{{Twilight}}''" pose[[/note]], but with more wildlife and less infrastructure. It is the only settled tri-valley in the world (the centre of the town at the converging point of three Pennine hills), and home to the sole route from Lancashire to Yorkshire through the Pennines. It's also home to the highest beach in England, though, at Gaddings Dam! There is one other main pleasantry: [[UsefulNotes/BritishPubs a pub on]] [[MyLocal every street corner]].

* The TV series ''Happy Valley''. The title is very misleading, as it's about kidnap and rape and literal ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Car vs. Cop version.

* There is also more than a suspicion that [[WebComic/ScaryGoRound Tackleford]], which its creator vaguely locates "somewhere in Yorkshire" is an Expy of Todmorden. ''Lots'' of strange things happen in Tackleford.

* There is also more than a suspicion that [[WebComic/ScaryGoRound Tackleford]], which its creator vaguely locates "somewhere in Yorkshire" is an Expy of Todmorden. ''Lots'' of strange things happen in Tackleford.

* There is also more than a suspicion that [[WebComic/ScaryGoRound Tackleford]], which its creator vaguely locates "somewhere in Yorkshire" is an Expy of Todmorden. ''Lots'' of strange things happen in Tackleford.

* ''Magazine/ForteanTimes'' periodically visits, largely because of the AlienAbduction connection and the undeniable fact this is a part of the corner of England that has [[WorldOfWeirdness claimed more UFO sightings than the rest of the country put together]]. The thing about the disproportionate number of suicides is also of interest to the right mindset. This is also one of those places where, allegedly, wallabies established themselves as an out-of-place species after escaping from captivity.

Parts of Todmorden, Saddleworth being the largest, were... ''displaced'' when Greater Manchester was created, and the Yorkshire residents of these were less than pleased with the new arrangement. To add to the confusion, before the digital switchover in May 2009 the analogue television signal was received from BBC North West, based in Salford, and afterwards Todmorden received the digital signal from BBC Yorkshire and ITV's Yorkshire Television as opposed to Lancashire and Greater Manchester's ITV Granada signal. Because of the broadcast region, some people in Walsden (nearest to the Greater Manchester border) can still receive BBC North West, allowing the channel to claim broadcast to the largest area in England: it covers Cumbria, Cheshire, ''the East Midlands'', Greater Manchester, the Isle of Man, Merseyside and ''Yorkshire and the Humber''. Two villages in North Yorkshire and a small number of houses in West Yorkshire quantify the statement of Yorkshire, which is much like Texas in being unquestionably the largest county in England.

* This town is [[ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability mainly notable]] for, if nothing else, having so much more stuff happen in such a tiny place compared to everywhere else in the country [[BritainIsOnlyLondon bar London]].

** And the Film/XMen costumes.

Basically, it is the [[TheOtherRainforest Forks, WA]] of England[[note]]Note Creator/EmilyBlunt's "AnnaKendrick-in-''{{Twilight}}''" pose[[/note]], but with more wildlife and less infrastructure. It is the only settled tri-valley in the world (the centre of the town at the converging point of three Pennine hills), and home to the sole route from Lancashire to Yorkshire through the Pennines. It's also home to the highest beach in England, though, at Gaddings Dam! There is one other main pleasantry: [[UsefulNotes/BritishPubs a pub on]] [[MyLocal every street corner]].

The town itself is a microcosm of UsefulNotes/OneLondonThirtyThreeBoroughs - despite being small itself it includes Todmorden, Walsden, Bottomley (a hamlet also within Walsden yet split into three areas of its own: Upper, Central, and Lower), Hollins (also within Walsden), Mankinholes, Lumbutts (within Mankinholes), Carr, Shade, Gauxholme, Cloughfoot, Sourhall (which Bacup tries to claim), Eastwood, Robinwood, Mons, Stansfield, Langfield, Stoodley, Cornholme, Portsmouth, Lydgate, Blackshaw, Wadsworth, Heptonstall, Erringden, Dobroyd, Ferney Lee, Castle Hill, Cross Stone, Charlestown, Centre Vale, and Cliviger (which Burnley tries to claim). Many of these areas, also, have their own churches. While some have none (like Bottomley, which admittedly hasn't got a road), [[ChurchesAliensAndAppallingWeather some have multiple]] (like Todmorden, Walsden, Mankinholes, and Ferney Lee). Large towns in England generally only have only one church covering each parish, so the excessive number in such a small town as Todmorden is unusual and can likely be attributed to the swaths of different factory owners, all who would have their own constructed for their family and workers to attend.

It is also the location of the Stoodley Pike Monument which is often mistakenly called Stoodley Pike (a lá {{Frankenstein}}), the name of the hill it is on, and is one of the symbols of Calderdale. This old burial site is prone to AlternateLandmarkHistory, describing the monument, and formerly cairns, as a TrackingDevice used by aliens. The hills surrounding the town have always been of special archaeological interest, as well as the expansive listed buildings and protected sites in Todmorden, many of special interest.

* ''Magazine/ForteanTimes'' periodically visits, largely because of the AlienAbduction connection and the undeniable fact this is a part of the corner of England that has [[WorldOfWeirdness claimed more UFO sightings than the rest of the country put together]]. The thing about the disproportionate number of suicides is also of interest to the right mindset.

It is famously the home of former actor Tony Booth, who is also former [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister]] Tony Blair's wife Cherie's father (don't hold it against them). It is also home to the woman who married UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's son, the policeman who was reportedly [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]], and factory owner John Fielden, [[{{Hypocrite}} an avish campaigner for workers' rights]]. Harold Shipman, who murdered over 200 of his patients, worked as a GP in Todmorden. A guy who made his name in the 70s by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Emerson jumping on keyboard instruments, throwing them across the stage and stabbing with knives]] - all while playing virtuoso parts - also was born in Todmorden. There are also Nobel Prize winners and actual celebrities from it, but these are more or less overlooked when people hear the words "{{Alien Abduction}}s". In August 2013 the [[NobodyLovesTheBassist former bassist]] for ''Music/TheSmiths'', Dale Hibbert, opened a high-end coffee shop across from the Lidl, unusual for the town and something you'd probably be more likely to see in [[BigApplesauce downtown NYC]]. The town has received a few Royal visits, is home to national biking magazine ''Singletrack Magazine'', and is on the route of ''Le grand Dèpart'', the precursor to 2014's TourDeFrance.

It is famously the home of former actor Tony Booth, who is also former [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister]] Tony Blair's wife Cherie's father (don't hold it against them). It is also home to the woman who married OsamaBinLaden's son, the policeman who was reportedly [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]], and factory owner John Fielden, [[{{Hypocrite}} an avish campaigner for workers' rights]]. Harold Shipman, who murdered over 200 of his patients, worked as a GP in Todmorden. A guy who made his name in the 70s by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Emerson jumping on keyboard instruments, throwing them across the stage and stabbing with knives]] - all while playing virtuoso parts - also was born in Todmorden. There are also Nobel Prize winners and actual celebrities from it, but these are more or less overlooked when people hear the words "{{Alien Abduction}}s". In August 2013 the [[NobodyLovesTheBassist former bassist]] for ''Music/TheSmiths'', Dale Hibbert, opened a high-end coffee shop across from the Lidl, unusual for the town and something you'd probably be more likely to see in [[BigApplesauce downtown NYC]]. The town has received a few Royal visits, is home to national biking magazine ''Singletrack Magazine'', and is on the route of ''Le grand Dèpart'', the precursor to 2014's TourDeFrance.