CIRCUSES were held there. Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin appeared on its stage. And, during the war, the Sadlers Wells Ballet found a home within its walls.

Few people would guess that the venue described is the Oldham Coliseum Theatre.

But in his book 'They Started Here!', the theatre's Marketing Director, Mark Llewellin, describes the remarkable history of the Fairbottom Street venue.

Lewellin trained as an actor, but decided to change direction and go into theatre management.

The book is clearly a labour of love and Llewellin, who has been at the Coliseum for three years, told me that there was no archive system when he started at the theatre.

He decided there should be one. This led to some fascinating discoveries and he decided there was a book waiting to be written.

Happily he was contacted by PDR Books of Runcorn who told him: "If you write it, we will publish it."

Much of the book is written from programme notes and there are photographs.

There are numerous contributions from actors who have appeared at the Coliseum. Sian Phillips, Dame Thora Hird, Roy Barraclough and William Roache are among them.

And there are anecdotes about people no longer alive, like Jessie Matthews, Dame Flora Robson, Charlie Chaplin and playwright Walter Greenwood.

"I was very pleased about the cross-section of people who contributed. But for every person who replied, I probably asked five other people who didn't."

But he said many actors felt a great warmth for the Coliseum and wanted to be involved. Coronation Street's William Roache reveals that fellow actor Brian Blessed coached him for his Oldham audition.

Eric Sykes says that if it hadn't been for the Coliseum he would have worked in a cotton mill and Dora Bryan recalls a wartime shortage of young male actors.

Llewellin admits he found it difficult to pull all the information together because there was so much of it. He worked on the book every night for seven months.

The book's colourful front cover reflects Llewellin's determination to get away from the often neutral approach of local history publications.

Already there is great interest in the book. A number have been ordered for the Canadian market.

The theatre will receive a donation for every book sold. "I think that is only fair," Llewellin said. "I couldn't have written it without the assistance of the many wonderful people who have been associated with the Coliseum."

'They Started Here', priced £9.99, is published on Thursday and available in local bookshops and at the Coliseum.