Sheffield Obituary: Originator of famous 'City on the Move' film was 'man before his time'
The man behind Sheffield’s famous ‘City On The Move’ film - which captured the city in its heyday - has died.
Peter Wigley is credited with the idea for the promotional film, and a host of other high profile projects, which earned him the nickname ‘Mr Sheffield’.
He was hired by Sheffield City Council as its first ever publicity officer in 1969.
Two years later, City on the Move depicted a booming city of tourism and commerce.
It boasts long-gone icons like the Hole in the Road (a subterranean, pedestrianised area with shops and tropical fish tank), The Fiesta nightclub (the biggest in Europe at the time), the Sheffield Show in its heyday, the lido at Millhouses Park and Park Hill's 'streets in the sky.'
It enjoyed a second burst of publicity at the beginning of The Full Monty movie about unemployed steelworkers in 1997.
Sheffield MP Clive Betts, who was chair of the city promotions committee in the 1970s, said Peter Wigley was a “man before his time.”
He added: “Peter decided to put together a film to sell Sheffield to investors. People just didn’t do that in those days. He was on the front foot in singing Sheffield’s praises.
“The fact that people still know it today says a lot about its impact.”
When the film was launched, Peter spoke of what he hoped it would achieve.
He said: "The viewers might learn that Sheffield is not in the middle of a barren wasteland but on the doorstep of the Peak District National Park.
"They might learn that it has the cleanest atmosphere of any industrial city in Europe.
"They might be surprised at the extent and variety of the city's parks, at the housing developments, and progress in slum clearance."
Mr Wigley also played a part in the 400th anniversary celebrations of the arrival of Mary Queen of Scots into Sheffield Castle.
In November 1970 there was a huge parade with 14 bands and 70 floats and jets flew over the city.
There was also a big procession in period costume from Chatsworth House over the moors to Sheffield.