Places to visit, attractions, heritage and things of interest in or about Merseyside, including Liverpool, in North West England.
I have recently wondered if there is a particular lesson for us in the old place names of North West England. Now, the interpretation of place names can be a complicated, uncertain, business and it should be stressed that I am no toponymist. That said, a lack of knowledge doesn’t deter anyone these days, and […]
Race relations and the place names of North West England Read More »
A statue of 1960s pop idol Billy Fury stares out from Liverpool’s Albert Dock, across the Mersey, where he used to work on a tug-boat. Billy was hot stuff in his day. Of course, no immediate contemporary of mine has any clear recollection of those far-off heady times, when Billy Fury made the girls swoon.Â
Halfway to paradise Read More »
The sectioned remains of a World War Two vintage German submarine, or U-boat (from Unterseeboot – undersea boat), lie next to Woodside ferry terminal at Birkenhead, on the west bank of the River Mersey. In April 1945, Hitler’s Third Reich was dying. The Allied armies were inexorably closing in, like the jaws of a giant pair
The mystery of U-534 Read More »
Ah, look at all the lonely people. A bronze statue of a woman sits alone on a stone bench in Liverpool’s Stanley Street. She appears to be middle-aged, tired, worn down by life. Her small handbag sits carelessly in her lap and she seems to be gazing down wistfully to her left at a sparrow
The story of Eleanor Rigby Read More »
John Lennon lived at Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton, Liverpool L25 from 1945 until around 1963. Paul McCartney lived at 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton, Liverpool L18 from 1955, also until around 1963. A short discourse on being a Beatles fan With some people, you’ll always remember where you were, and what you were doing, when
Lennon and McCartney’s childhood homes Read More »
‘Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields, nothing is real and there’s nothing to get hung about. On 1st June (or 26th May, depending on your source) 1967, The Beatles released Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a groundbreaking recording and one of the most famous and discussed albums ever. It is said that one in
Let me take you down… Read More »
Surely, every adult in Britain, and possibly some from other lands, has heard of the ferry across the Mersey? Many, not least those of a certain age, will also know the song, Ferry Cross the Mersey by Gerry and the Pacemakers, written by band leader Gerry Marsden and released in 1964. It made No 8
Razzle Dazzle Ferry Cross the Mersey Read More »
So there it is, then; The Cavern. 10 Matthew Street, Liverpool 2. Where Brian Epstein first heard and saw The Beatles perform their lunchtime session on Thursday 9th November 1961. You know it’s not exactly the same Cavern that the Beatles used to play in, but even so…and, anyway, it’s the closest thing you’re ever
Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club Read More »
They seemed an unlikely pair. That wise-cracking, aggressive, scruffy teddy-boy Lennon was a world away from the demure, composed, Cynthia Powell, who came from Hoylake ‘over the water’ on the Wirral and spoke posh. It started in the lettering class at Liverpool College of Art. John Lennon’s speciality was cartoons – often cruel caricatures –
When Cyn and John got it together Read More »
Once upon a time, long, long ago, my parents took me to the Rex Cinema for a birthday treat. It was a double bill of Reach for the Sky, the wartime story of RAF fighter pilot Douglas Bader, and The Cockleshell Heroes. Having been brought up on feats of derring-do, it felt like being a
Rose Garden & the Cockleshell Heroes Read More »
North West England extends from the attractive market towns of Cheshire, through the vast urban areas around Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Blackburn and Burnley, to the wilds of Cumbria in the north – the ancient kingdom of Rheged, where place names reflect its turbulent, multi-racial, past. For many, the North West means the English Lake District,
A bit about North West England Read More »
