Places to visit in Britain with a particular musical association.
Many people – mostly those that haven’t been there – believe that South East England is busy and crowded, with little remaining countryside of any note. They are right about it being busy – South East England is the most populous part of the UK – but they are wrong about the countryside. Leith Hill,
The United Kingdom has produced some extraordinarily successful musical acts over the years. I am thinking, of course, of creative combos like Black Lace (Agadoo, 1984), the Tellytubbies (Say ‘Eh-oh’ 1997) and Johnny Drip & the Bath Taps (nothing printable). So, by way of a departure from Rotten Romans, Dastardly Danes, Naughty Normans, Tyrannical Tudors
Top ten best British bands Read More »
British Stuff
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 »
North West England
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 »
North West England
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 »
North West England
‘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 »
North West England
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 »
North West England
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 »
North West EnglandPortmeirion is one of those places you hear about and think you really should visit. Or you want to go because the 1960s cult TV series, The Prisoner, was filmed there. The Prisoner was ‘No 6’, played by Patrick McGoohan, held captive in a plainly weird village from which he tried to, unsuccessfully, escape in
Before England existed, the lonely Isle of Ely lay in the territory of the Gyrwas. Around the year 652AD, Tondbert, a prince of the South Gyrwas, married the Princess Etheldreda, a descendent of the mighty Wuffingas who had united the North-folk with the South-folk. Tondbert died and Etheldreda, whose father was Anna (or Onna), King
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 »
North West England