Pictured above: Bob Scott with some of the Coronation Street cast at the Royal Exchange Theatre opening in September 1976.
In this free event in the intimate surroundings of our Event Space, Bob Scott looks back on an unusual life with several careers. A single theme has been getting things off the ground – there have been success and failure.
The son of a diplomat, he sailed through schools and Oxford mainly because he was large and noisy. Briefly an actor, then a theatre manager in Manchester, playing a leading role in building the Royal Exchange Theatre, then restoring and running the Palace and Opera House. He was the founding Chairman of Cornerhouse and still Chairs the Granada Foundation.
Bob worked with remarkable list of famous artists – Burton and Taylor, Pavarotti, Nureyev, Topol, Finney. Back-stage stories abound. Stories about the Royal Opera House, Bobby Charlton, LS Lowry and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Outside of theatre, Bob was was successful in getting the Commonwealth Games to Manchester in 2002. Bidding took him around the world, getting help from Princess Anne, Mrs. Thatcher, John Major, and many others, leading to a knighthood and awards. He followed this with work on the Millennium Dome and Liverpool’s successful bid to be2008 European Capital of Culture, where he became President of the Jury to choose and monitor future European Cultural Capitals.