“The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings.”

That was the beautiful Biblical rhetoric of John Bright in the House of Commons in opposition to the pointless Crimean War of the 1850s. It gave confidence to many others to campaign for peace.

A decade later Lydia Becker created a campaign that became the most dramatic and spectacular of the early 20th century – women’s suffrage – with a speech at the Free Trade Hall. Manchester’s main building was the setting for so much brilliant oratory, from Benjamin Disraeli and Winston Churchill amongst others.

This new tour, created by Ed Glinert, cruise ships speaker and author of Penguin's Manchester Compendium (the most important 21st century history of Manchester), recalls those impassioned words delivered by the greatest speakers.