Tom Mann

Thomas Mann (1856–1941) was a noted British trade unionist. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the labour movement.

Early years

Mann was born on 15 April 1856 in Longford, now a suburb of Coventry, the son of a clerk who worked at a colliery. He attended school from the ages of six to nine, then began work doing odd jobs on the colliery farm. A year later he became a trapper, a labour-intensive job that involved clearing blockages from the narrow airways in the mining shafts. In 1870, the colliery was forced to close and the family moved to Birmingham. Mann soon found work as an engineering apprentice. He attended public meetings addressed by Annie Besant and John Bright, and this began his political awareness. He completed his apprenticeship in 1877 and moved to London, however he was unable to find work as an engineer and took a series of unskilled jobs.

In 1879, Mann found work in an engineering shop. Here he was introduced to socialism by the foreman, and decided to improve his own education. His reading included the works of William Morris, Henry George and John Ruskin. In 1881 he joined the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and took part in his first strike. In 1884, he joined the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in Battersea. Here he met John Burns and Henry Hyde Champion, who encouraged him to publish a pamphlet calling for the working day to be limited to eight hours. Mann formed an organisation, the Eight Hour League, which successfully pressured the Trades Union Congress to adopt the eight-hour day as a key goal.

Stereo Kicks

Stereo Kicks were an English-Irish boy band made up of eliminated auditionees from The X Factor audition process. Stereo Kicks consisted of; James Graham, Jake Sims, Chris Leonard, Charlie Jones, Casey Johnson, Barclay Beales, Reece Bibby, Tom Mann. The group finished fifth on the eleventh series of The X Factor in 2014. Their debut single "Love Me So" was released on 21 June 2015 and charted at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart. Just a month later, however, having been together under a year, they announced they were disbanding due to their failure to land a record deal.

History

2014: Formation and The X Factor

All eight members of Stereo Kicks originally auditioned as soloists for series 11 of The X Factor, but were all rejected at the bootcamp stage. They were formed by the judges because they felt they were too good to let them go. The group first sang together at bootcamp within hours of being put together; they performed a cover of the Snow Patrol song "Run". They received a standing ovation from all four judges with Simon saying that they were one the best boybands they've ever had on the show. As a result, they got through straight to the judges' houses stage. At that stage they sang Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors" and later got sent to the live shows. The fans suggested names through the ITV website; they received over 46,000 entries. Stereo Kicks' reception has been very favourable with Simon Cowell himself saying: "one of the best [groups] ever [to feature on the show]", also they've been compared to be "as good as One Direction" by the public, and their performance of "Run" reached 1 million views on The X Factor's YouTube channel a week after its upload on 28 September. Initially called the "New Boy Band", they later held a poll on the website to determine a new name and "Stereo Kicks" was chosen.