Tribute to Cambridge graduate Tony Wilson

Wilson, who died on Friday aged 57, studied at Jesus College in the late 1960s, before going on to carve out tandem careers as a successful TV journalist and founder of Manchester's legendary Factory Records and Hacienda nightclub.

Professor Robert Mair, the present Master of Jesus, said: “Tony Wilson was a talented, independently-minded leader in his field who often spoke with pride about his time here at Cambridge. We were extremely sad to hear of his death and send our condolences to his partner and family.”

Born in Manchester's twin city of Salford on 20 February 1950, Wilson abandoned his early ambitions to become a nuclear physicist after seeing a performance of Hamlet at Stratford-upon-Avon. This sparked a life-long love of literature and language, and it was to study English Literature that he came to Cambridge in 1968.

During his University career, Wilson edited a student newspaper, and reportedly took great pleasure in the fact that some of his tutorials at Jesus were held in the same rooms once used by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. On graduating in 1971, he returned to his native north-west, but was often quick to remind others of his Cambridge education. He once told The Sunday Times newspaper that his philosophy, developed when he was an undergraduate, was “situationism and acid”.

For those who grew up in the north-west of England in the 1970s and 80s, Wilson was an unavoidable presence first on television and then within the Manchester music scene. He began his career as a news reporter on Granada TV, where he acquired a reputation for doing increasingly dangerous “and finally” pieces.

After the explosion in punk music in 1976, he launched “So It Goes” - the only television show broadcasting bands belonging to the controversial genre - then set up a series of nights dubbed “Factory”, which acted as a showcase for post-punk acts. This led to the establishment of Factory Records, which broke two of the most famous bands in British music history; Joy Division (later New Order) and the Happy Mondays.

As the Manchester music scene blossomed, Factory created the Hacienda nightclub. Wilson, its owner, named its three bars after Cambridge spies – Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess and Kim Philby. Although initially a failure, by the end of the 1980s it was one of Europe's premier venues, referred to as a “cathedral of clubbing” and the epicentre of a new sub-genre in popular music culture, known as “Madchester”.

Wilson persisted with his day job, presenting local TV news as well as often chaotic chat shows. In the 1990s his Factory empire collapsed – the label was riddled with debts while the Hacienda became a magnet for drugs and associated gangster and gun culture, and was ultimately closed by the police. By that stage, however, his reputation as “Mr Manchester” was assured and in 2002 a semi-fictional film documenting his achievements, 24 Hour Party People, was released.

Despite repeated efforts, Wilson could never rekindle the success he had enjoyed with Factory, the Hacienda, or So It Goes. Earlier this year he underwent emergency surgery to remove a cancerous kidney, but the operation failed. Faced with the prospect of death at a relatively young age, Wilson told an interviewer: “I'm very happy with my life… having this little adventure with cancer is just another part of it”. Asked if he had any regrets, he replied: “Yes. Not going to Barbados”.