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What is the significance of the Manchester Bee?

The Manchester bee has become a symbol of solidarity after the Manchester attack, but what are its origins?

Manchester writer and tour guide Jonathan Schofield told 5 live Breakfast: 鈥淭here are many stories but one is that a German architect came to Manchester and described us as a hive of activity.鈥

鈥淎fter that, with all the industry that was in Manchester, the bee was more and more adopted until in 1842 it was added to the coat of arms.鈥

He added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a worker bee not a bumble bee. The fact that it鈥檚 a worker bee, this idea of struggle and strife to get to somewhere - given the troubles we鈥檝e had in the last week - I think you couldn鈥檛 find a better symbol for that endeavour.鈥

This clip is originally from 5 live Breakfast on Friday 26 May 2017.

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