Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The busy and fast-changing skyline in the centre of Liverpool, including the Three Graces, the new
Museum of Liverpool, the GWR port facilities, the tug
Kerne
and assorted marine equipment
.
In 2008 Liverpool was the European Capital of Culture and it has been voted the Capital
of Pop, the friendliest city and with the best nightlife in the UK. Past writing about the city
has included Elizabeth Gaskell's
Mary Barton
and Dickens'
Uncommercial Traveller
. Her-
man Melville came as a 19-year-old cabin boy, providing the basis for his
Redburn
. Mersey-
side is the setting for many romantic novels. Kilvert repeated a low opinion of the solvency
and honesty of Liverpool merchants in the 1870s. The city has been used for filming
The
Virgin of Liverpool, Between the Lines, 51st State, The Hunt for Red October, My Kingdom,
In the Name of the Father, Letter to Brezhnev, Backbeat
and
Priest
, and is the most filmed
city outside London. The Beatles, the Searchers, Cilla Black, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the
Lightning Seeds and other musicians have had 56 number one music hits, more than any oth-
er city. Local artists include Alan Bleasdale, Clive Barker, Beryl Bainbridge, Linda Grant,
Adrian Henri, Roger McGough, Jimmy McGovern, Nicholas Monsarrat, Brian Patten, Willy
Russell, Ken Dodd and Jimmy Tarbuck. Eleanor Rathbone was the first woman councillor,
fighting for better pay and conditions for Liverpool workers, votes for women and, as an MP,
the family allowance.
This is the heart of Liverpool, the fishing village of Livpool that received its charter in
1207 from King John and became Britain's largest commercial seaport in Victorian times,
handling sugar, spices, tobacco, cotton and slaves. It was the main 19th century gateway for
America. The name is from the Old English
lifer
, sludge, but the river is now being cleaned
up, following on from the appointment in 1841 of the world's first public health engineer, Dr
William Henry Duncan.
