THERE'S much more to Sale than its high profile rugby club, as anyone who buys Images of England: Sale and Sale Moor, will discover.

For instance, it was the birthplace of Robert Bolt, the man whose pen brought us classic films like Dr Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter and A Man For All Seasons. There's a photograph of his parents, Ralph and Leah but, strangely enough, no photograph of Bolt himself.

A book about this area would not be complete without a mention of the scientist JP Joule, who established that units of energy can be measured. He came to live in Wardle Road towards the end of his career.

And the town you think you know like the back of your hand, was also the home of a number of important firsts.

The town saw the country's first canal steam railway and electric railway pass through it, as well as the first Roman road. Imagine if you can, climbing aboard a horse drawn bus to get to work. I was invited on board one of these vehicles at Manchester's Museum of Transport and the seats felt pretty uncomfortable when it was stationary. Goodness knows what discomfort passengers must've endured!

All aboard for another dose of pictorial time travel, back to an age when cars could still turn heads on the town's uncongested roads and there were streets of rambling, quaint shops selling curious sounding items like "garden sundries."

Looking at the pictures of the farms that used to be dotted around the area might make you think of rural Ireland rather than the sprawling, highly populated suburb of today. There's even a picture of a man shoeing a horse on Broad Road.

There's a wonderful picture of a group of Sale tenants on an outing to Blackpool in 1922. It seems that somebody is trying to smash the world record for the most people in a charabanc. Community spirit looks to be in a healthier state in the Sale of the past, with locals swarming to civic occasions like the Coronation of King George V.

Books like this are invaluable because they make you look twice at places you thought you knew. Add it to your collection.

l Images of England: Sale and Sale Moor by Jan Shearsmith, Vicki Masterson, Karen Cliff and Pat Southern is published by Tempus Publishing, priced £10.99.