Overview
Bolton is a large town in Greater Manchester, in the North West region of England. Situated close to the West Pennine Moors, 10 miles (16 km) north west of the city of Manchester, it is the largest and most populous settlement within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, and has a total resident population of 139,403.

Historically part of Lancashire, Bolton rose to prominence during the 19th century as a mill town centred on textile manufacture and cotton spinning. At its zenith it was one of the largest and most productive centres of cotton manufacture in the world.

The town's name, (in full, Bolton-le-Moors) has been recorded over the years with many derivations of spelling including Bothelton, Boulton and Bolton-super-Moras. However, the exact origins are not totally clear from historical records.There have been three main hypotheses – one is that because of its location in the valleys of confluencing moorland rivers, it is derived from "Bowl Town", another suggesting it is a derivation from the Saxon words "bolt" and "tun", meaning "arrow" and "stockade" respectively. A final suggestion is from the words "boul" and "town", where boul means a monument or central feature, though the boul itself is unidentified. A further possibility is that "bol" derives from the Norse for farm and "ton" from the Norse for town.

According to a survey of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Boltonians are the friendliest people in Britain. Bolton is one of the more deprived boroughs in England according to the Indices of Deprivation 2000. It is the 28th most deprived in England in terms of numbers of people who are income deprived. A third of the borough's population lives in seven wards which are amongst the 10% most deprived in England. Despite this, Bolton is currently experiencing much attention and is experiencing an influx of people, leading to property prices increasing faster than most other parts of the UK. The borough already contains traditional and also increasingly affluent areas including Heaton, Horwich, Harwood and Smithills.

On 13 February 2003, Bolton was granted Fairtrade Town status. Bolton's oldest public house is Ye Olde Man and Scythe, dating from 1251 – one of the oldest remaining public houses in England.

Arts

Bolton has a theatre called The Octagon along with many small, independent groups such as Bolton Little Theatre, Farnworth Little Theatre and the Phoenix Theatre Company. Inside the town hall there is also a large theatre and conference complex called The Albert Halls, named after the Prince Consort, Prince Albert whose early death in 1861 at the comparatively young age of only 42 would eventually lead to many buildings and monuments throughout Great Britain and her vast empire being named in his memory. The Halls opened on 5 June 1873. Visual arts are also represented in Bolton via Bolton Museum and Art Gallery which has a fine collection of both local and international art.

Le Mans Crescent, (currently home to the central library, museum, art gallery, aquarium, police station, magistrates' court and town hall) is to be at the centre of a new Cultural Quarter. This area will no longer house the police station and magistrates' court; instead the library and museum are to be extended into these sections of the building, along with other new cultural projects. These works are to take place during a large-scale expansion and improvement project, which is set to more than double the size of the current town centre and improve its appearance, infrastructure and amenities.

Bolton is referenced in the famous Monty Python's Flying Circus Dead Parrot sketch, in which it is the location of the shopkeeper's brother's pet shop. The shopkeeper's brother (played by Michael Palin), incorrectly describes the town as Ipswich. On being challenged by Mr Praline (played by John Cleese), Palin's character defends himself, claiming (wrongly) that Ipswich is a palindrome of Bolton. Cleese's character retorts, "It's not a palindrome. The palindrome of Bolton would be Notlob. It don't work." As a consequence, Bolton is sometimes humorously nicknamed, "Notlob". Bolton is also referred to in Monty Python's "Blackmail" sketch, in which the host of the gameshow "Blackmail" (played by Michael Palin) announces that if a Miss Betty Teal from Lancashire sends the show 15 pounds, he will refrain from revealing her lover in Bolton.

Spring and Port Wine by Mayo playwright, Bill Naughton was filmed and set in Bolton. The Family Way based on Naughton's play All in Good Time was also filmed and set in Bolton.

More famously Peter Kay is from Bolton and much of his comedy TV series That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights are set in the town. The latter was filmed at St Gregorys Social Club in Farnworth, and an episode of the former was set at Bolton West services on the M61.

Many Bolton buildings have also stood in for other towns and cities. Bolton Town Hall stood in for an East European bank in the 1980s film Sleepers and Le Mans Crescent has featured as an upmarket London street in the Jeremy Brett version of Sherlock Holmes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton