FIVE men will land in Knutsford this autumn with very different agendas - and very different messages to get across.

Among them will be Neil Armstrong, the first man to land on the Moon.

The largest audience for any single event in human history gathered before TV screens across the world to watch as Mr Armstrong hopped gingerly backwards from the ladder of the Eagle lunar capsule on July 20, 1969.

On Friday September 26 this year, he lands in Tatton Park - via helicopter - to join a former president of the Soviet Union, England's football coach, a PR guru and the founder of an FBI centre. Their challenge? To inspire and motivate some of the best brains in business in the North West.

The audience will contain 2,000 of the region's key decision makers, chief executives and senior business figures.

"It's a day of networking, client entertainment and serious business opportunities," said Malcolm Saul, director of the North West Business Convention.

The convention has been billed as the highest profile one-day business event that the region has ever seen.

Costing over £500,000 to stage, it will be held inside a specially built marquee village covering more than two acres.

In 1969 - the year that Armstrong became the most famous man on Earth - Mikhail Gorbachev, Sven Goran Eriksson and Max Clifford were still trying to make an impact. Yesterday Mr Clifford told the Knutsford Guardian that he was not interested in space travel, but said he could probably find something to talk to Neil Armstrong about.

"It is the people who matter and maybe I'll find out he is an Arsenal fan or we may be able to share anecdotes about Bill Clinton," said the public relations guru, who worked with the former US President.

Dynamic

In 1969, when the Eagle craft landed on the Moon, 38-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev's political career had only just begun.

North West Business Conference organiser Malcolm Saul, of Knutsford, said he remembered the progress and work of the dynamic politician.

"I was around when it all happened for Gorbachev," said Mr Saul, of Knutsford. "It will be a once in a lifetime experience to meet him." The future president of the Soviet Union had just graduated from the Stavropol Agricultural Institute in 1967 and was head of the Young Communist League.

His experiences a few months later as secretary of the Communist Party in Stavropol gained him a reputation that led to his rapid political rise.

Gorbachev went on to become leader of the Soviet Union and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in dismantling communist regimes in Eastern Europe, which resulted in the reunification of Germany in 1990.

Yesterday Mr Clifford told the Knutsford Guardian that he would like to quiz the former president on current events in Russia.

"I would ask Gorbachev whether there is anything he wants to tell me about Russia today because it has gone through such a transformation," he said.

In the year Apollo 11 took Neil Armstrong and his crew to the Moon, Sven Goran Eriksson, now England's football coach, was also beginning his career.

In 1969 the Swede was still a football player and he had just left his home team of Torsby to pursue a career as a reliable midfielder.

But he was anything but a superstar.

Six years later Eriksson stopped playing because of a foot injury and it was then his career as a coach and leader began to blossom.

He went on to win trophies with Swedish club IFK Gothenburg, Portuguese club Benfica and with Italian clubs Roma, Sampdoria and Lazio.

Yesterday Mr Clifford said it would not be difficult to sell the benefits of the convention at Tatton Park.

He said it would be enough just to mention the names of the guest speakers.

The conference will also feature the words and wisdom of Michael Vatis, founder of FBI National Infrastructure Protection Centre.