Mad Ian, Heaton Moor, Stockport
The real "mad Ian" was a mischevious eccentric who hung around Heaton Moor in the eighties. He was short and skinny with a mop of curly black hair. He was about 35 but looked and acted like an 8 year old scamp. He had something Victorian urchinesque about him, and he had an artful dodger role in the community, hanging around with all the local chavs who'd dare him to do stunts. Most of the time he rode around on his bike(like tour de France Tony except on the obligatory kids BMX) and when you met him he'd start bullshitting about how his dad was James Bond or how he used to be a Commando in Vietnam, and he conveyed all this flannel with an irritating high pitch whine. More often than not he'd be spotted up to no good; there'd be a crowd of young chavs and then Mad Ian, usually on a roof of say, the supermarket near the Moor Top, and they'd all be lobbing stuff at him, or daring him to jump or fly, or break in through a skylight and nick some cheap cider (pre Alco-pop days) Mad Ian could also be spotted on Railway Lines and Motorways, up on high bridges and sometimes tied to railings.
Submitted by Mace

Cider Ken High Lane, Stockport
The Macclesfield canal is a hinterland betweeen the urban environment and the pastoral pennine hills. Many people choose to live there on boats, as I did back in the mid nineties. One of the more eccentric boat dwellers was Cider Ken. He was a pisshead who was barred from most of the locals except the conservative club (strangely!)Like with all pissheads you expect a bit of lairiness but this guy was extreme. After a night on the sauce you could see him making his way back, screaming and shouting, rolling in mud and shite. Often we would find him lying on some rutted farmtrack, or on the towpath, flat out. one time i found him sat upright against a dry stone wall, with a look of intense yet pissed concentration: "I'm studying something" he told me. Slowly I began to realise he was no ordinary pisshead, and this was confirmed when I was startled from my bed one night by Cider Ken, stood in a field shouting: "Blue, blue, it's still fucking blue!"
Submitted by Gentleman Phil

The lost Nutter film, Stockport
Back in the mid eighties, a lad I knew in Heaton Moor made a super8 film of all the local nutters, including the aforementioned tickling stick Man, Me Name's Nigel, Dirty Monkey, Mad Paddy, and loads more including a classic Dancing Bid from Mersey Square, and anonymous chap who would walk ten paces, stop look at his watch, look up in the air, then do a funny little jig then walk on, and many, many more. it was an important anthropological document of post industrial urban psychology, and it was very funny.The lad who made the film, perhaps influenced by his research, changed his surname from Simpson to YeahButWhat. (Yeah.. that's it.. that's what this site is.. an anthropological document.. Ed)
Submitted by David

The Tickling Stick man, Heaton Chapel, Stockport.
The fine line between sanity and madness runs through the centre of Stockport. There are many legendary "surrealists" who work in the region but few have surpassed the standards set by the Tickling Stick Man in the mid to late Eighties.you would see him at a distance at first, and you'd register his costume, like an ordinary businessman on his way to work, suited and booted with a bowler hat, swinging a briefcase. You'd look again and notice something out of place, his half mast Trousers for example, then you'd have a proper look and see the feather duster. His usual routine would involve wandering up and down the A6 with a fixed glare and his bared teeth gnashing. Anyone who was unfortunate enough to get in his way, like slow pensioners, would be attacked with the feather duster in the style of Ken Dodd with his tickling stick, except this guy had a malevolent edge and oftenaccompanied his assault with some hideous yelling. He was great fun.
Submitted by David

Mufti Day Santa, Stockport
This chappy frequents Stockport town centre, plays music and has cuddly toys en masse, the most celebrated being 'Ed the Duck'. He's a street entertainer, probably not mad but deserves recognition for his efforts. (More importantly, what the hell is a 'mufti'? - Ed)
Submitted by Zhenya

Mr Motivator, Stockport Town Centre
He'd mostly be seen on weekends in "Volts" he'd be dressed in full length lycra suit, cap and bum-bag (a la "mr Motivator") I'm sure he really thought he looked great, he'd always be the first on the dancefloor and would quite happily dance alone for ages. However if you started dancing anywhere near him that was his cue to to come over and dance with you, whether you wanted him to or not.
Complete basketcase!
Submitted by Jo

Tour de France Tony, Heaton Chapel
Tony rides his racer bike around heaton chapel like a mad man weaving in and out of traffic. We thought he was on drugs when we were younger but a friend told me he used to ride to work on his bike every day and had a bad accident and banged his head. Poor bloke, ive chatted to him once in the pub and he's a sound guy if a little mental (he was dressed in full army gear and he was downing pints like shots of whiskey!) Top geezer! He also likes jumping in puddles and bouncing his basket ball in the pub :)
Submitted by Paul

The Tattooed Man, Stockport
There is a man that I've seen several times round Stockport town centre who has tattoo's covering every inch of his face and head. He looks pretty scary but is probably harmless. I haven't witnessed any other strange behaviour from him, but having your whole face tattooed is strange enough! - (Not strictly a nutter but deserves a mention after all the hard work he's clearly put in to get on this site - Ed.)
Submitted by JulieMc

UPDATE - No Smoking Man, Chester to Preston
I used to work in a restaurant in Preston and he'd come in occasionally for a bowl of soup.  He was a really nice bloke, but seemed somewhat pre-occupied by something - thanks to the original poster about him, for filling me in on the details....He would not be around Preston for a while, but then you'd have a season of seeing him again. His remarkably long Beard was parted down the middle from cycling so much - I had no idea his range was so big, though...Let's hope he's still going strong, that man.
Submitted by Wedge

Chicken Mike, the man on the bike, Widnes
Widnes, is a mess of a town, therefore has many freaks to offer.
Chicken mike, is your average crazy old, bearded, drunken tramp.
3 pairs of trousers, all soaked in urine, and a flat cap.
Bags attached to his bike, filled with what can only be imagined
to be his worldly posessions (ie cans and stuff).
Submitted by Ladybird

Jack the Hat, Widnes
Ok, so Jack, once again pretty much the average white lightening drinking 3 pairs of trouser wearing tramp-o, with a flat cap (dont they all?). He sits on a small wall outside the iceland in town growling to himself into his saliva soaked beard. Likes talking to people in non human dialect, likes sliding upto other people sitting on HIS wall, like old people who need a rest, until they inevitably move.
What more can be said about Jack the hat? Except maybe that his face
has a kind of ground in motor oil look about it, years of not washing.
I think he does it for dramatic effect, but who can say?
Submitted by Ladybird

Groovy, Widnes
Ok, so Groovy, has shocking red hair, wears safari sutes and throws oranges at passing car wheels.He was a professor of science of somekind, and has been on 15 to 1, (I saw it!!)
The thin line of genious and complete mad man is thus proven.
Submitted by Ladybird

Mad Colin, Northwich
Mad Colin had a motor vehicle crash in his youth, now in his mid-fifties, he walks from Weaverham to Northwich and back twice a day, stopping in "Ye Old Chippy" for a cup of gravy. He is regularly seen in Northwich talking to the televisions in Martin Dawes'
Submitted by Thomas Catskins

No Smoking Man, Chester to Preston
He must be the most widely known of all local legends. With his bike load of plastic bags and No Smoking signs he has travelled these parts for many years. It is rumoured that he lost his wife to cancer and has since led a one man crusade to stop smoking in the North West. How far he travels I do not know but I have reports of sightings between Chester and Preston. He obviously is homeless as I know he sleeps under the Alt Bridge on the Formby bye pass. Others have seen him sleeping under the canal bridge near Bootle New Strand. May he continue for many more years in his harmless quest.
submitted by Dave White