PORT Sunlight's history and architecture will be in the spotlight during a lecture in the iconic village later this month.

Michael Shippobottom, joint author of bestselling book A Guide to Port Sunlight Village will give a talk at Hulme Hall in Bolton Road, Port Sunlight on Thursday, July 17.

The lecture will look at Bolton-born businessman William Hesketh Lever, later the First Lord Leverhulme, and his creation of Port Sunlight.

Michael said: "I attended Bolton School and, having spent my childhood in Bolton, was much aware of Lever's activities from a very early age.

"On a school camp in the Wirral I still remember seeing Port Sunlight and Thornton Hough for the first time and being hugely impressed and I think that Lever’s building activities – including Rivington and the planning proposals for Bolton - really sparked an interest in me and helped influence the eventual decision to take up architecture."

Michael joined Donald Insall Associates, a leading conservation architecture practice, in 1973.

He has been involved with some major historic building conservation projects throughout his career, including the restoration of Windsor Castle following the 1992 fire, Liverpool Town Hall, and the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank in Shanghai, and is currently working on the Bank of England and the Temperance House at Kew Gardens.

His talk will also focus on current proposals for new garden cities, and the continued relevance of Port Sunlight and its successors, and will also underline the importance of that extraordinary visionary and benefactor William Hesketh Lever (the 1st Lord Leverhulme) who was the driving force behind the foundation and form of the village.

Tickets for the lecture, which starts at 6pm, are £7.50.

They are available from Port Sunlight Museum's gift shop, or by calling 0151 644 6466.