As you all know, Manchester is the home of NCC Education's Head Office and can also boast Britain's largest single-site university; what you may not know is that it is a thriving, cosmopolitan city with an enormous amount of art, sporting and cultural events taking place throughout the year.

Manchester International Festival takes place every two years and is running this year throughout the summer. Leading artists from around the world, including Kanye West, Lou Reed and 0jos de Brujo are performing, and for the first time the Chinese circus production. Festival Monkey: Journey to the West is being shown to huge acclaim.

Directed by Chinese theatre director Chen Shi-Zheng, the musical score is by Damon Albarn, the show features awesome Chinese acrobats, martial arts performers, and singers retelling the epic tale of a journey to enlightenment

When talking of Manchester let's not forget what the city is probably most famous for - Manchester United Football Club. With over 50 million supporters across the globe, the club is indisputably the world's most famous football team. It is not only the most valuable club in the world, but holds the record for the most FA Cup titles with 11 under their belt. The accolades do not stop there. The 1998-99 season for Manchester United was the most successful season in English football club history as they became the first and only English team to win The Treble- winning the Premiership, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season.