Short answers, pulled from the story.
Manchester traces its origins to the Roman fort of Mamucium, established around AD 79 by the general Agricola. The name derives from a Brittonic root meaning either "breast", describing the hill's shape, or "mother", referencing a local river goddess; the "-chester" suffix comes from the Old English ceaster, meaning Roman fortification.
Manchester became the world's first industrialised city because of its dominance in cotton processing during the Industrial Revolution. Richard Arkwright began building its first cotton mill in 1780, and by 1913 the city was handling 65% of the world's cotton production. It also became one end of the world's first intercity passenger railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in 1830.
On the 16th of August 1819, a crowd estimated at between 30,000 and 150,000 people gathered peacefully in St Peter's Square to demand political representation. Cavalry charged the crowd, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 700. The event was named the Peterloo Massacre, deliberately echoing the Battle of Waterloo.
Ernest Rutherford led a team that first discovered the nuclear atom at the University of Manchester in 1919. In 1948, Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Tootill built the Manchester Baby, the world's first stored-program computer. In 2004, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov first isolated graphene there.
On the 15th of June 1996, the Provisional IRA detonated a lorry bomb on Corporation Street, the largest bomb ever detonated on British soil. It injured over 200 people and caused an initial estimated £50 million in damage, with the final insurance payout exceeding £400 million. The destruction triggered extensive regeneration of the city centre and helped propel Manchester's selection as host for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Manchester was credited as the main driving force behind British indie music in the 1980s, led by The Smiths and followed by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and James through the Madchester scene centred on the Haçienda nightclub. Oasis formed in the city in 1991. Manchester Arena, with over 21,000 seats, is recorded as the busiest indoor arena in the world by concertgoers.