It’s amazing to think that seven decades have elapsed since then.
2. A Leyland Lion Wigan Corporation bus which had been taken out of service in 1956 but was being donated to help bus services in Rhodesia (these days Zimbabwe)
. Photo: UGC
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Pictures of Wigan people and events from 70 years ago in 1956
By Charles Graham
Published 6th Aug 2026, 15:45 GMT
Soviet tanks rumbled into Hungary, Britain was plunged into the Suez crisis began and the first Eurovision Song Contest was held. Meanwhile here are pictures of people making Wigan news and sporting headlines – plus official photographs – in that same year of 1956.