Sir Ian McKellen to lead Manchester Pride Parade

Sir Ian McKellen will be the Manchester Pride parade's grand marshal

Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen is to be the grand marshal at this year's Manchester Pride parade.

Burnley-born Sir Ian, who is a leading LGBT rights campaigner, leads the parade as the event marks 25 years of fundraising.

Pride chief executive Mark Fletcher said: "Sir Ian is a genuine inspiration for the global LGBT community."

This year's theme is Devotion with participants invited to celebrate who and what they are devoted to.

New route

As grand marshal of the parade, Sir Ian, who played Gandalf in Lord Of the Rings, will lead the parade through the streets of Manchester on Saturday 29 August.

The 76-year-old actor, who starred as Magneto in X-Men, was installed on the Walk Of Fame in Wigan, where he lived in the 1940s.

This year's parade takes a new route, setting off from Liverpool Road down Deansgate, turning up Peter Street, then leading on to Oxford Street, Portland Street and Princess Street.

It will then turn on to Whitworth Street ending outside Manchester's Gay Village on Fairfield Street.

This year's parade is expected to feature about 2,500 people from across Greater Manchester, with around 100 entries from small community groups to large commercial organisations, all expressing their support to the LGBT community.