UNIVERSITY OF MONTENEGRO

The Faculty of Philosophy

English Department

Diploma Paper:

Liverpool

(History, Culture, Character & Sport)

Mentor: Student:

Dr. Janko Andrijašević Luka Ristić

Nikšić, 2012

CONTENT:

I Intorduction ...................................................................................................................... 3

II History ............................................................................................................................... 4

1. Origins ..…………….…………………………………………………………..... 4

2. Liverpool during the Tudor Reign ...……………………………………….......... 5

3. Liverpool in English Civil War ………………………………………………….. 6

4. Slavery and Trade ……………………………………..………………………… 7

III The second City of the Empire ……………………....................................................... 9

1. The Industrial Revolution ………………………………..……………………… 9

2. Cosmopolitan Liverpool ……………………………………………………….. 12

The Liverpool-Irish …………………………………………………….. 12

The Welsh, the Scots and the Manx in Liverpool ……………………… 14

The World in One City ………………………………………………… 15

3. The Scouse Accent ………………………………..…………………………… 16

4. The World War Period …………………………………………………………. 18

IV City of Change and Challenge ……………………………………….......................... 19

1. Post War 20th Century Liverpool …………………………………………….… 19

2. The Merseybeat Era in Music ………………………………………….………. 22

3. The Merseyside Derby ……………………………………………………...….. 23

4. Liverpool FC – A Way of Life …………………………………….……...…… 25

5. Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City …………………………………………… 29

6. The European Capital of Culture …………………………………………….… 30

V Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 31

VI Bibliography ...………………………………………………………………………… 33

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I INTRODUCTION

Liverpool is an animate city of change. Dealing with many faces of the city’s character,

we will get a picture of Liverpool from many perspectives and will try to approach from different

angles and reveal a range of details.

In the first part named “History”, the origins and foundation of the city, its early history

and limited growth will be depicted. What was the status of the town in medieval times, who

ruled it and what was its range in England and the rest of the Europe of that time will be revealed

in this chapter. A shameful way of making income appeared. We will see what consequences it

would have and how it would later reflect on the town’s development.

The second part shows the progress to the level of the second city of the empire, the

effects of the industrial revolution and all that comes with it. Changes in population, language,

economy, mentality and physical environment were evident, but in a specific Liverpool way.

What was the impact of World Wars and how it influenced the city of Liverpool will be shown in

this chapter as well.

The last part reveals the post-war period. What was the economical status of the last five

decades of the 20th and the first decade of the 21th century, how it influenced some fields of

culture, what were the modern trends and interests in that period and how sports managed to

cope with everyday challenges - are some of the many questions answered in this chapter. We

will see how the city of Liverpool was recognized as a characteristic area in many aspects and

hence it received some significant acknowledgments.

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II HISTORY

1. Origins

“The name “Liuerpul”, a muddy pool, first appears in a charter of 1190-94 as one of several

vills”1, a small inlet of the River Mersey in the West Lancashire Coastal Plain. It was a very poor

and barren area with pools or creeks with muddy water. “Other origins of the name have been

suggested, including ‘Elverpool’”2, referring to the large number of eels in the Mersey, but the

definitive origin is “open to debate”.3 “A likely derivation is connected with the Welsh word

‘Llif’ meaning a flood, often used as the proper name for the Atlantic Ocean.” 4 “Pool” in place

names in England is “derived from the late British or Welsh “Pwll” meaning variously, a pool,

an inlet or a pit”.5

The Lancashire County was “marginal to the economical and political life of the pre-

industrial England”.6 The urbanization developed later and more slowly than elsewhere in

England, where Roman strong-holds and plenty of other more fertile terrains encouraged trade

and town growth. “For much of the medieval period, Liverpool barely grew beyond a largely

agricultural village”.7 Trade and manufacturing were developing slowly and “were dependent on

the economic expansion of the south-west Lancashire”.8 Preston and Wigan were “serious local

competitors for the regional produce”,9 while Chester, an international port with customs

superiority over Liverpool, was the capital of north-west Lancashire.

One of the most important moments in Liverpool’s history is the 28th August 1207, the

day when King John issued a borough charter, in which he promoted the town with certain

borough privileges and established foundations of Liverpool. He wanted a safe port where he

could embark goods from Ireland and Scotland, and a base for his military ventures in Wales and

Ireland, so he built a castle. Another charter was issued to the newly established town of

Liverpool in October 1229 by King Henry III, where it is said that the burgesses were granted 1 Jonh Belchem, Liverpool 800: Culture, Character & History, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006, p. 59.2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Liverpool3 Ibid4 Ibid5 Ibid6 Jonh Belchem, Liverpool 800: Culture, Character & History, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006, p. 59.7 Ibid8 Ibid9 Ibid

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full constitutional, legal and commercial privileges but the town was subject to the succession of

lords, the earls of Chester, the Ferrers and then the earls of Lancaster.

“In 1346 there were 196 burgess households”10, with a possible population of 800-1000.

This number would be significantly reduced by the plague to 86 taxpayers, of whom the major

part were peasant farmers, and the remaining were tradesmen. The then rising trend of selling

farm estates and investing in coastal shipping would later arise in the main economic activity

(trading in the port of Liverpool). Export of oats, barley, corn, cattle and fur to Ireland in

exchange for wine and iron was growing. Trading with Lancashire or Yorkshire woolen clothes

with the peninsula of Furness was another significant feature of Liverpool’s trade in that age.

2. Liverpool During the Tudor Reign

By the end of the Tudor period Liverpool still had only seven streets that were originally

built in the 13th century: Water St, Chapel St, Castle St, Juggler St, Dale St, More St and Milne

St. Two significant families of the Tudor era had the most influential positions in Liverpool, and

these were the Stanley’s (the Earls of Derby) and the Molyneux family (later on Earls of Sefton).

Most of the constructions of that time were being built or upgraded by these families. Except the

Tower (where the Stanley’s were) and the old Castle (where the Molyneux’s were) there were

two additional significant solid buildings, St. Mary del Key chapel and St. Nicholas chapel.

“Single storey timber and daub houses or cottages probably predominated in Liverpool: little

different from local rural housing.”11 This situation remained largely unchanged from the late

13th to the late 17th century.

Many of the employed male population in Liverpool were craftsmen. Leatherworkers, such

as tanners, skinners, shoemakers, glowers were quite numerous. A few blacksmiths operated in

the town. Forging was needed, but much of the work were repairing activities for all kinds of

necessary items. Woodworkers in Liverpool were needed more. Carpenters of all sorts were

active in construction and repair work. There is no specific mention of shipbuilding at that time,

so probably they only repaired vessels, and maybe constructed small river fishing boats. Weavers

in the nearby villages, millers (first the watermill, and then two windmills which were in control

of the Molyneux family), butchers and fishermen, merchants, farmers and other full-time or part-

10 Ibid, p. 69.11 Ibid, p. 74.

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time workers were functioning in Liverpool. One of the most significant professions in Liverpool

was seafaring. They were sailing on the ferries crossing the river Mersey or were crew of marine

ships. Since the 13th century mariners and sailors from Liverpool usually operated their trading

business over the Irish Sea with places in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man, with a

small fleet of vessels still using Liverpool port. From the 16th and 17th century, there is a raising

trend by some Liverpool traders of going further to the Atlantic Ocean and across the English

Channel to many French, Spanish and Portuguese ports. “Not surprisingly the Irish Sea remained

the focus of Liverpool’s shipping, as more distant European routes were difficult to fund and

sustain. For a small town even coastal activity remained significant. ”12

Formal education came late to Liverpool. “A limited grammar school education was

provided for some of Liverpool’s boys during the 16th century.”13 “Some boys may also have

acquired reading and writing skills while serving apprenticeships.”14

This period witnessed significant changes in religious ideas in the kingdom, but in Liverpool,

it had no wider influence on religious institutions (the two above mentioned chapels) because

there was no parish, no monastery, no friary and no convent in the town itself, so the change of

official religion and strengthening of Protestantism in the country had no significant impact on

the mainly Catholic population of Liverpool.

3. Liverpool in English Civil War

The English Civil War took place from 1642 until 1651 between Parliamentarians (Lord

Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, who were interceding for the republic) and Royalists (loyal to

King Charles I from the Stuart dynasty). When the English Civil War erupted, Liverpool was

subjected to a short period of Royalist control. Pre-war experience seemed to indicate that

Liverpool would be more prone to Parliamentarianism than to Royalism. Soon, Liverpool was

taken by Parliamentarian forces. Prince Rupert, who was one of King Charles I’s senior

commanders, led the Royalist forces in an 18-day siege of Liverpool in June 1644, where

Royalists recovered the town. Prince Rupert left soon, and by November 1644 the Royalist

garrison had surrendered to Parliamentarian forces.

12 Ibid, p. 85.13 Ibid, p. 95.14 Ibid

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4. Slavery and Trade

In the year of 1626 before the English Civil War, King Charles I issued a charter to the town

of Liverpool. “The borough was incorporated and confirmed in the exercise of its powers. The

charter vested in the burgesses full powers of legislation, granted the right to hold a court under

the Statute of Merchants and confirmed the town’s control over the waste.”15 For a port anxious

to develop its commercial status, the charter was welcome. It authorized in more modern terms

the powers of the borough, decided the controversial question of incorporation and secured all

property which had been annexed. The constitution of the borough was settled with a mayor,

bailiffs and the burgesses as the supreme authority (Liverpool was no longer under any kind of

superiority from Chester). The legal system of the town was brought into order and a commercial

court for the recovery of mercantile debts was formed.

All these happenings from the 17th century, as well as the silting of the river Dee (the river

that flows via Chester) were in no doubt signs that Liverpool was about to have large economic

expansion and to become one of the world’s most significant ports. The legislation of 1663-67

prohibited the import of Irish provisions into England, so Liverpool’s merchants ventured to

America and other colonial territories. Soon, Liverpool’s traders “easily integrated into the

American trade and the port soon rivaled Bristol and London in American and colonial

markets”.16 The construction of the first British wet dock in 1715 was another confirmation of

Liverpool’s raising power. Tobacco and sugar import and coal and salt export were prevailing

over other trading provisions.

Another type of trade had been emerging in the 1730s and the 1740s. The demand for labour

in the West Indies and North American colonies was growing so the number of Liverpool

merchants who were taking part in the “African Trade” was rising. They were bringing captured

and enslaved black-Africans from West Africa and selling them across Atlantic in West Indies

and North America. The first slave trading ship from Liverpool sailed for Africa in 1699. By the

1730s there were 15 slave traders in Liverpool, and after the collapse of the trade monopoly of

the Royal African Company (main slave trading company in London) in the 1740s, that number

increased. In the 1750s there were 101 merchants doing this kind of trade in Liverpool. Statistics

15 Ibid, p. 99.16 Ibid ,p. 110.

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show that “slavers accounted approximately one-seventh of the tonnage clearing from Liverpool,

which was to gain the dubious title of Britain’s leading slave port”.17 “Liverpool undertook

approximately 5,000 slaving voyages between 1700 and 1807”.18 Slaving vessels were being

built in Liverpool’s shipyards, provisions for exchange on the African coast were supplied by

Liverpool merchants and shopkeepers. Profits from the slave trade were being invested in the

property speculations of the growing town. Old medieval Liverpool had undergone

transformation. We have numbers that show the estimated population growth from the year of

1700, when Liverpool had 5,145 inhabitants, to the year of 1801, when that number was 77,653.

Most of the townsfolk were involved in slave trade, both directly as investors in the voyages and

indirectly as suppliers of merchandise to be traded for slaves. The old industries disappeared and

craftsmen were replaced by a mass of workers loading and carrying goods that were produced

elsewhere (mainly Manchester textile industry).

Most of the economic development in the 18th century Liverpool focuses on overseas trade.

When the British slave trade was suspended in 1807, Liverpool trading switched back to the old

provisions (sugar, salt, wine, iron, timber, coal and tobacco). As well as showing expansion of

the docks, some maps of Liverpool in 1765 show evidence of early industrial activity (a couple

of glass-houses, a salt-house and two roperies).

“The cohesion of the late-seventeenth and eighteenth century Liverpool had been a vital

factor in its phenomenal commercial success. A strong civic authority and shared values allowed

the community to focus its energies, albeit at the cost of some of the more polite aspects of the

so-called “urban renaissance”.”19

II THE SECOND CITY OF THE EMPIRE

1. Industrial Revolution

17 Ibid, p. 132.18 Ibid19Ibid, p. 166.

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During the 19th century Liverpool transformed into a larger city. With the invention of steam

engine, many other machines were constructed. Production was not manual anymore and the

machine power prevailed in almost every segment of life. The period of 19th century is marked as

an important phase in Liverpool’s history. There was an evolutionary change in the socio-

economic conditions of the people. Every economic orientation in Liverpool took a turn towards

industrialization. With growing trade relations and the appearance of machines, Liverpool

became an important industrial center of the world. The first traces of industrialization could be

found with the building of canals in the 18th century. Canals connecting Liverpool with

Manchester (built in 1721), St Helen (built in 1755) and Leeds (built in 1816) were postulates to

Liverpool’s expansion. The Sankey (St Helen) Canal was mainly built to transport coal from the

Lancashire coal mines to the growing chemical industries of Liverpool, but iron ore and corn

were also important commodities being transported through this canal. The Leeds canal served as

a transit only for coal, with over a million tons per year being delivered to Liverpool in the

1860s. Manchester was a significant textile industry center, so the building of the Manchester

canal was being beneficiary to both cities, where Manchester commodities were easily

transported to Liverpool port and later on to the rest of the world. In 1830 another way of

connection between Liverpool and Manchester emerged. It was the Liverpool-Manchester

railway, the world’s first inter-urban rail link. The railway was primarily built to provide faster

transport of raw materials, finished goods and passengers between Liverpool and Manchester.

Different kinds of warehouses, docks and factories in Liverpool were established at that time.

With growing economy, everything else grew as well: the population, buildings and housing

estates, level of education and cultural awareness, business and living standards in general.

For periods during the 19th century the wealth of Liverpool exceeded that of London itself.

“As early as 1851 the city was described as “the New York of Europe” and its buildings,

constructed on a heroic, even megalomaniacal scale stand witness to the supreme confidence and

ambition of the city at the turn of the 20th century.”20

Victorian and Edwardian eras were the main period of Liverpool’s architectural

development. Most of the current Liverpool sights were constructed during that period.

20 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool

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The Liverpool Town Hall was originally built in 1754, but it was rebuilt in 1802. It is a place

where the Liverpool City Council meets (The Council Chambers).

The Royal Liver Building was completed in 1911. It served as a head office for the Royal

Liver Group, a company that had over 6,000 employees in 1907. “The building became the first

major structure in Britain, and one of the first buildings in the world, to be constructed

using reinforced concrete, and given the building's radical design was considered by some to be

impossible to build.”21 Today, the building remains the head office for the Royal Liver

Assurance. At the top of each tower stand the mythical Liver Birds, a symbol of the city

(originally dating from 1350s, when it was used on the corporate seal of the then-town).

Popular legend has it that while one giant bird looks out over the city to protect its people, the other bird looks out to sea at the new sailors coming in to port. Alternatively, local legend states one Liver Bird is male, looking inland to see if the pubs are open, whilst the other is female, looking out to sea to see if there are any handsome sailors coming up the river. Yet another local legend, reflecting Liverpudlians’ cynicism, avers that every time a virgin walks across the Pier Head, the Liver Birds flap their wings. It is also said that, if one of the birds were to fly away the city of Liverpool would cease to exist, thus adding to the mystery of the birds. As a result, both birds are chained to the domes upon which they stand.22

The Municipal Building was built by the town council to accommodate the growing number

of administrative staff. It was finished in 1866. It is still in use today and is the main site for

public access to the council.

 The Port of Liverpool Building (more commonly known as the Dock Office) acted as the

headquarters of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board and was built in 1907. The Building is

designed in Edwardian Baroque style and is noted for the large dome that sits atop it.

The Cunard Steamship Company commissioned the construction of new headquarters for the

company, the Cunard Building. The Cunard became the largest passenger steamship company in

the world, helping to make Liverpool one of the most important centres of the British trans-

Atlantic ocean liner industry. The building was finished in 1917. Together with the Port of

Liverpool Building and the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building forms the Three Graces

(name for this waterfront Liverpool building block).

21 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_Building22 Ibid

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The Victoria Building or the University of Liverpool Building was built in 1892. It was the

first purpose-built building that will later become the University of Liverpool, with

accommodation for administration, teaching, common rooms and a library. The building was the

inspiration for the term “red brick university”. In 2008 it was converted into a museum and a

gallery.

St George`s Hall is a building in Neoclassical style which contains concert halls and law

courts, built in 1854. In 1969 the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner expressed his opinion

that it is one of the finest neo-Grecian buildings in the world.  The building is used for festivals,

meetings, dinners and concerts.

Liverpool’s first dock was the Old Dock built in 1715. Further docks were added and

eventually all were interconnected by lock gates, extending for 12,1 km along the Liverpool bank

of the River Mersey. The interconnected dock system was the most advanced port system in the

world. The docks enabled ship movements within the dock system 24 hours per day, isolated

from the high River Mersey tides. The most famous docks were Clarence, Nelson, Seaforth,

Stanley, Collingwood, Trafalgar, Victoria and Albert Dock.

Liverpool Harbour was the home port of many famous ships of that time: the Baltic,

the Tayleur, the Derbyshire, the Britannic, the Lusitania and the Titanic.

Most of the smaller south end docks were closed in 1971. Many docks have been filled in to

create land for buildings. The largest dock on the dock network, Seaforth Dock, was opened in

1972 dealing with grain and containers, accommodating the largest cargo ships of the time.

2. Cosmopolitan Liverpool

The population of Liverpool increased largely during the period of the 19 th and the first three

decades of the 20th century. Industrial bloom and economic stability caused natural increase of

population. A new modern way of living emerged. This situation was a magnet for many poor

people. There was another kind of increase in population-migrations.

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Victorian Liverpool was a city of migrants. “This in-migration both had a demographic effect

as the relatively young age structure of most migrant streams boosted natural increase of the

population, and a social and cultural effect as Liverpool absorbed people from an increasingly

wide range of locations and backgrounds.”23 Migrants to Liverpool can be divided into four main

categories: - those who moved a short distance from small towns and rural areas in South

Lancashire and Cheshire into the expanding city of Liverpool; - longer-distance migrants from

within England, mostly moving from London and other industrial towns; - migrants from within

the British Isles who brought with them distinctive cultural characteristics; - foreign-born

migrants from a wide range of countries who often moved to Liverpool because of the port’s

maritime and trade connections. Together, these created the cosmopolitan population mix that

characterizes the city. All of them left their traces, which can easily be found in modern

Liverpool culture, architecture, language and style of living.

The Liverpool-Irish

It seems difficult to define how long the Irish have been crossing the Irish Sea to settle in

Liverpool. There were Irish names among the Liverpool citizens as early as 1378. The first

important influx started after the rebellion of 1798. This marks the beginning of an unceasing

immigration until it was relieved by the beginning of mass emigration to America. By the year

1800, the population was already approaching 80,000, doubling in less than 20 years. The poor

and immigrants were crowded in the old part of the city. As Ireland belonged to the United

Kingdom, its people could very easily move to Britain and especially to Liverpool, in the same

way as the Scottish or the Welsh. They rapidly hived together in specific areas of the city. This

quick expansion contributed to the development of an unsanitary situation. Building could not

follow and in the absence of legislation, new housing did not respect the basic rules of hygiene,

being built back to back, without water supply. Irish people started playing an increasing role in

the economic, political, social and religious life of the city. In 1841, 20% of the Irish living in

England and Wales were found in Merseyside.

The second and bigger mass influx resulted from the Irish Potato Famine, which stroke

Ireland by the mid-1840s. Millions of desperate Irish people crossed the Irish Sea on dodgy

vessels called “coffin ships”. Very often these overloaded ships reached Liverpool after losing a

23 Jonh Belchem, Liverpool 800: culture, character & history, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006, p. 181.

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third of their passengers to disease, hunger and other causes. Liverpool was, for a lot of them,

only a stage before emigrating to North America. In 1846, 280,000 people entered Liverpool

from Ireland of whom 106,000 moved abroad. During the first main wave of famine emigration

from January to June 1847, about 300,000 Irish refugees sailed in the city and 130,000

emigrated. Those who stayed crowded in cellars and houses in particular unsanitary conditions,

contributing to exacerbate Liverpool’s problem of poverty and misery. In 1847 there were

35,000 people, mainly Irish, living in cellars. Some 5,341 inhabited cellars were described as

“wells of stagnant water”. Typhus, dysentery, cholera and other fevers were back. Liverpool

authorities could not cope with this influx of mouths to feed, which crippled and impoverished

the city. In June 1847, under the new Poor Law Removal Act, about 15,000 Irish were deported

back to Ireland. Despite the end of the Famine around 1849-1850, most of the Irish remained in

Liverpool and carried on integrating with the local life. They were ready to accept any job,

especially in the newly expanding seaport, working as dockers and mariners. By the end of the

century they were even not restricted to unskilled labor anymore, rising to the rank of artisans,

shopkeepers, merchants and professional classes.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, T. P. O’Connor belonged to these

important Irish personalities who played a major role in the development of Anglo-Irish relation

in Liverpool but also in Britain. Until the partition of Ireland in 1921, numerous Irish Nationalist

councilors followed one another in Liverpool.

In 1939, the Irish Immigration Investigation Bureau opened in order to tackle the unrestricted

entry of immigrants from Ireland into Liverpool and their abortion into insurable occupation

shortly after their arrival. During the two World Wars, many Irish paid with their lives their

integration in the British society.

The Welsh, the Scots and the Manx in Liverpool

In 1813, 10% of Liverpool’s population were Welsh, leading to the city becoming known as

“the capital of North Wales”. “In praising the Welsh as ‘among the most peaceable, law-abiding,

cleanly and provident of the Liverpool citizens’ the Liverpool Review noted approvingly how

‘they retain their national customs and habits, and, in the midst of this great Saxon population,

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have a little Wales of their own’. The Welsh in Liverpool looked after their own.”24 Having

acquired wealth, they did not tend to blending into the Liverpool society, but retired back to

Wales. It was a pattern of return migration that distinguished the Welsh from other Celts in

Liverpool.

Scots were skilled workers, “attracted by the port-based manufacturing sector of iron-

founding, ship-repairing and marine engineering.”25 There is recorded information about the

number of Scots in Liverpool in 1835 (2,852), and the doubling of than number in just three

years (in 1838 to 5,704). The Liverpool Scots were a very sympathetic community in the city.

Frequent charity-raising events were held traditionally during the year, where funds were often

available for non-Scottish aid, to the wider British poor masses. Liverpool Caledonian

Association organized those events, where “Scotchmen who on change and in kirk are generally

so staid and solemn, seem to throw off their ordinary day nature... your sober Scotchman is

transformed with startling rapidity into a playful, sportive, gambolling, kitten-like giant,

brandishing his mighty claymore.”26 They were always “fruitful in bawbees to relieve the distress

of the poor and aged Scotchmen – if any can be found.”27 Another factor of Scottish character in

Liverpool refers to sports. Scottish colonists brought the game of golf to the city. In the year of

1892 at the founding of Liverpool FC, nine of its eleven players were “Macs” who “looked as

likely to a lot of raw-boned Scottish laddies as ever skipped over the thistles”.28

Liverpool was a city of opportunity for the Isle of Man people. It was “a place of temporary

refuge at times of distress, and the pivot for the wider Manx diaspora”.29 The Liverpool Manx

society was formed in 1895 and it kept the Manx national spirit alive among successful

permanent settlers through organization of lectures, concerts and entertainment. The Liverpool-

born son of Manx migrants, W. H. Quilliam, was a prominent solicitor in the city and an

accomplished linguist in Celtic as well as oriental languages. He converted to Islam, having

taken the title Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam where he presided over the English Muslim community

24 Ibid, p. 345.25 Ibid, p. 353.26 Ibid, p. 355.27 Ibid28 Ibid29 Ibid

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which met at the Liverpool Islamic Institute and Mosque, opened in 1889. The first Muslim

marriage in England was celebrated there in 1891.

The World in One City

Not only the Celtic people, but many other people from all parts of the world were trying to

find a better life in the fast-growing city of Liverpool. A wide range of nationalities came as

sailors, transients, sojourners and settlers.

Many European “ethnic” communities were formed in Liverpool. Swedes, Norwegians and

Danes were the most numerous Scandinavian seamen. Then the Italians and Greeks and a

significant number of Germans had their national associations in Liverpool. Where trading

business were, plenty of Jewish people could be found, too. That was the case with Liverpool as

well. The number of Jews in Liverpool expanded considerably from 1790, and by the mid-

nineteen century it grew to the largest and most “aristocratic” British-soiled Hebrew community

outside of London. The first sermon preached in English and in a British synagogue was held in

Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation by Tobias Goodman in 1806. Plenty of Jewish merchants,

large shopkeepers and professional men were mainly of German and Russian stock.

Beside Europeans, every other continent had its representatives in the Liverpool population

of Victorian, Edwardian and the later periods (until the period between the two World Wars

when the growth of population in Liverpool reached its climax and started decreasing).

Migrations of people from all parts of the large colonial empire to England kept on. This is what

distinguished Liverpool from other provincial and industrial towns in England. Celebration of

diversity was increasingly undetermined by racist discourse. “Liverpool, the Head Constable

rued in his annual report in 1904, ‘is beginning to suffer from the presence of the undesirable

alien’.”30 The defensive and segregated quarters (China-town, Dark-town and other alien

quarters) were depicted as unwelcome territories for whites and the police. “A persistent

presence, racism took different forms at different times in Liverpool, reflecting the ambiguities,

inconsistencies and contradictions on which it was constructed.”31 A series of Alien Acts form

30Ibid, p. 368.31Ibid, p. 369.

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1905 restricted numbers of work permissions from outside the Empire, but the problem of

“British coloureds” proved to be more uncontrollable.

Liverpool is home to Britain’s oldest Black community, dating to at least the 1730s. Some

Black Liverpudlians are able to trace their ancestors in the city ten generations back. Early Black

settlers in the city included seamen (usually the children of traders sent to be educated) and freed

slaves, since slaves entering the country after 1722 were deemed free.

The first United States consul anywhere in the world, James Maury, was appointed to

Liverpool in 1790. He remained in office for 39 years.

The city is home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe. The first residents of the

city’s Chinatown arrived as seamen in the 19th century. The gateway in Chinatown in

Liverpool is also the largest gateway outside of China.

Liverpool is also noted for its large African-Caribbean, Ghanaian, Indo-Pakistanian, Latin

American, Malaysian, Somali and Yemeni communities, which number several thousand each.

3. The Scouse Accent

The Scouse accent (from lobscouse, a traditional Welsh [Cymric] classic dish, – sailor’s

stew of b e e f meat, vegetables and ‘hardtack’ bread) is an accent of English language, spoken

in and around Liverpool but in the last decades it has been widely spread throughout Merseyside.

It is traditionally stigmatized, since in England the Scouse voice is perceived as ugly and

unfriendly. Because it has many different distinguishing features from the Received

Pronunciation (RP) English (or the Queen’s English) and has a lot of similarities with Irish and

Scotch English, it is not hard to find the “origin” of this accent. It was the accent of working

classes in Liverpool in late 19th and 20th centuries (consisting of British Celts, mainly Irish). This

accent is one of most incomprehensible accents of English language. Here are some

characteristics of voices of Scouse accent (commonly known as the lenition process in English

language) from the phonological view:

Vowels

1. /æ/ is pronounced in e.g. ‘dance’, ‘daft’

2. the open-mid back vowel is centralized, therefore, there is homophony between

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words such as put/putt or luck/look both pronounced with /ʊ/; words like ‘book’ or

‘cook’ have /uː/

3. the high front vowel /i/ is pronounced as long and tense in any context; for instance,

even in words like ‘city’ and ‘pity’

4. the central open-mid vowel is fronted; no distinction between fair/fir or hair/her, both

pronounced as [ɛː] or [ɜː]

5. /eɪ/ and /əʊ/ are narrow diphthongs

Consonants

1. non-rhotic

2. /h/ usually absent

3. -ing pronounced /ɪn/; words like ‘singer’, ‘thing’ have /ŋɡ/

4. /p,t,k/ are heavily aspirated or affricated (cf. Cockney), e.g. ‘can’t’ /kx-/, ‘straight’ /-ts/

back /-kx/ (affrication); in final position they may be realized as fricatives [ɸ], [s] and [x]

(frication)

5. between vowels, /t/ may be realized as [ɾ] (lenition), e.g. ‘got a job‘

6. /r/ is a usually a flap - [ɾ]

7. /ð/ is sometimes /d/ as in ‘there’

8. general velarization (back vowel resonance)

Dialectal Features

1. multiple negation

2. COME, DONE as past tense of ‘come’, ‘do’

3. YOUS (/juːz/ when stressed, /jəz/ when unstressed) is plural ‘you’ (Irish English)

4. Some characteristic lexical items:

TARRAH = goodbye; MADE UP = very pleased; TAP = take money from; WELL AWAY =

drunk; WHERE IT IS = the thing is

Another strong feature that permits to identify a speaker as a Scouser is intonation. The

most relevant aspect of Scouse melody is probably the rising tone at the end of declarative

sentences, instead of a falling tone, like in RP.

4. Liverpool in World Wars

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During the First World War, Liverpool was the main strategic port of Britain’s “Western

Alliance”. Hundreds of convoys sailed to and from the port, facing with the deadly threat from

German submarines, U-boats, in order to keep Britain supplied with food and other essentials for

the war effort. A large number of Liverpool-owned ships were sunk and thousands of British and

allied merchant seamen lost their lives in a battle. Some of the most famous incidents involving

Liverpool ships were: the sinking of the Cape Trafalgar by the armed merchant cruiser Carmania

in 1914; the sinking by a U-boat of the Cunard passenger liner Lusitania in 1915; participation of

the Mersey ferries Iris and Daffodil in the brave Zeebrugge raid of 1918.

Liverpool’s role in the Second World War was even more crucial. Liverpool maintained a

lifeline, in particular with the USA and Canada. That was vital to Britain’s survival and eventual

victory. Much of the battle of the Atlantic against the U-boats was fought and won from

Liverpool. From 1941 the headquarters of Britain’s Western Approaches Command was

established in Liverpool. The anti-submarine war was planned from these quarters. The main

thing to the battle against the U-boats was the work of the Special Support Groups, composed of

escort vessels such as corvettes, frigates and destroyers. One of the most famous and successful

of these groups was the one based in Liverpool’s Gladstone Dock, commanded by the legendary

captain Johnny Walker. Liverpool’s importance to the allied war effort was clear to Hitler. He

ordered his Luftwaffe to destroy the port. During the war, Liverpool was submitted to more

bombing attacks (68) than any British city outside London. The worst was the terrible eight-night

“May Blitz” of 1941. Between 1940 and 1942, nearly 4,000 Merseysiders were killed and almost

4,000 seriously injured in these attacks, which caused a big damage to the port and the city.

However, despite this devastation, the work of the port continued. As well as food and war

supplies, from 1942 thousands of American and Canadian troops were transported via Liverpool

for the allied landings in Normandy, which led to the German defeat in Western Europe.

IV CITY OF CHANGE AND CHALLENGE

1. Post War 20th Century Liverpool

The Housing Act from 1919 resulted in mass council housing building across Liverpool

during the 1920s and 1930s. Thousands of families were rehoused from the inner city to new

suburban housing estates, based on pretext that it would have improved their standard of living.

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A large number of private homes were also built during this era. The process continued after

World War II, when, like many British cities, Liverpool faced this urgent problem. For the next

25 years Liverpool would be engaged in an attempt to rebuild itself, transforming the physical

environment as well as the character of the city.

The Merseyside Plan in 1944 predicted an entirely new urban infrastructure, a city of the 21 st

century with modern civic buildings, shops and transport links. The whole economic basis upon

which the city was built would be transformed. The maritime basis of the city would be

overtaken for the first time by the influence of manufacturing. This trend of new industries (such

as engineering, cement manufacture, tobacco processing, sugar refining and flour milling) and

the trend of post-war boom in shipping and sailing industries retrieved Liverpool economy and

eradicated much of the unemployment. As a result, many of the citizens of Liverpool would

experience greater affluence than ever before. Britain’s first purpose-built industrial estates were

built at Speke, Aintree and Kirby in 1936. This was the start of series of factory building in the

Liverpool suburbs. By the mid 1950s the port had recovered much of the trade that had been lost

during the depression of the 1920s and 1930s (the Great Depression of the early 1930s saw

unemployment in the city peak at around 30%). Ships filled the river Mersey, the docks

resurrected and were again crowded with merchants, ship-repairing workers and marine

engineers.

This situation was a great fertile ground for the birth of a cultural revolution in the 1960s.

Liverpool became “an icon of the new youthful age, placed centre stage by the talent, irreverence

and revolutionary dominance of the city’s musicians”32. The world of sport, television, theatre,

literature and the arts flourished as well, but not to the extent as music did.

In 1934 the Queensway Road Tunnel across the river Mersey was built and it connected

Liverpool with another industrial town Birkenhead. The Kingsway Road Tunnel followed in

1971. Meanwhile the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool was consecrated in 1967 and the

Anglican Cathedral was not completed until 1978.

The growth of standards was brief (only during the 1950s and 1960s). “Alas this confident

‘brave new Liverpool’ proved to be surprisingly brittle. Old and new industry alike was swept 32 Ibid, p. 394.

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away by the throes of international recession during the 1970s and 1980s, the spectre of mass

unemployment hung over the city once more and Liverpool assumed the status of a post-

industrial pariah.”33 Between 1966 and 1977 no less than 350 factories were closed or moved

elsewhere. By the year 1985, employment in the city fell by 33% and the downward trend further

accelerated. By early 1981, 20% of the city’s labour force was unemployed and it was reported

that there were just 49 jobs on offer for the 13,505 registered unemployed youngsters. It was no

coincidence that the “People’s March for Jobs” of May 1981 began in the city, when five

hundred brave men and women marched to London for jobs and dignity. Anxiety caused racial

conflicts which were very often in the “Iron Lady” era (Margaret Thatcher – Prime Minister of

the UK from 1979 to 1990) while the National Front strengthened in Britain. Colour prejudice

against black West Indian workers in Liverpool extended largely. Members of this community

faced long-term joblessness and many other ways of discrimination. This was partly modified by

the Race Relations Act in 1976. It was estimated that Liverpool-born black’s community

constituted 8% of all Liverpool population. Riots and protests were a common scenario during

these years. The most famous among many are the Toxteth riots (Liverpool suburb that had one

of the highest unemployment rates in the country), which arose from long-standing tensions

between the local police and the black community. The rioting lasted nine days during which 468

police officers were injured, 500 people were arrested, and at least 70 buildings were damaged so

severely by fire that they had to be demolished. Around 100 cars were destroyed and there was

extensive looting of shops.

Fundamental shifts in international transport modes and trading links occurred. The port of

Liverpool started losing its position. As air travel increased, transatlantic passenger lines suffered

an inevitable decline. The movements of manufacturing, population and wealth to the south-east,

during the war years made that region’s ports more attractive to shippers of goods. At the same

time, the decline of Commonwealth countries as trading partners left Liverpool omitted at the

wrong side of the country. “Container revolution” on the Liverpool Docks was one of the reasons

for ending thousands of waterfront-type jobs, which had been associated with the city of

Liverpool for generations. “In the two decades from 1966 Liverpool slipped from second to sixth

in the hierarchy of UK ports.”34

33 Ibid34 Ibid, p. 430.

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Previously part of Lancashire, and a county borough from 1889, Liverpool became in 1974 a

metropolitan borough within the newly created metropolitan county of Merseyside.

In recent years, Liverpool’s economy has recovered and has experienced growth rates higher

than the national average since the mid 1990s. At the end of the 20th century Liverpool was

concentrating on regeneration, a process which still continues today. Liverpool is now trying to

promote tourism using its heritage as an attraction: Merseyside Maritime Museum opened in

1980, the Tate Gallery of Modern Art opened in 1988, the Museum of Liverpool Life opened in

1993, Custom and Excise Museum opened in 1994, Conservation Centre and the Institute for

Performing Arts opened in 1996 and the National Wild Flower Centre opened in 2001. In 2007,

the city celebrated the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the borough of Liverpool. At

the 2011 UK Census the recorded population of Liverpool was 466,400.

In 2004 the Paradise Project started, a £920 million development centre on Paradise Street,

which involved the most significant changes to Liverpool’s city centre since the post-war

reconstruction. Renamed “Liverpool ONE”, the centre opened in May 2008. Led by the multi-

billion Liverpool ONE development, regeneration has continued on an unprecedented scale. This

could however soon be eclipsed by the “Liverpool Waters” project. If built, it will cost £5.5

billion and will be one of the largest megaprojects in the UK’s history. Liverpool Waters is a

mixed use project which will contain one of Europe’s largest skyscraper clusters. The project

received outline planning permission in 2012.

2. The Merseybeat Era in Music

Experiencing the retrieval of economy and general progress during the 1940s and 1950s,

Liverpudlian “younger generations” of the late 1950s and 1960s had plenty of free time for some

other “uncommon” things. “It was the unprecedented spending on leisure by Liverpool’s youth

that made the city a driving force in the post-war ‘teenage revolution’ and would afford changes

in the perceptions of Liverpool, making it a widely acknowledged centre of popular culture and

‘the world capital of pop music’.”35

Liverpool’s multiculturalism must have been the main stem that allowed this phenomenon to

emerge. Settlers from Irish, Welsh and black communities held the belief that music was one of 35 Ibid, p. 417.

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life’s necessities and retained a strong impulse to perform. Strong Celtic origin was present in the

Liverpool music. This was transformed into a love of singing either within the family home or

among friends at the pub. Liverpool’s seafaring connections reshaped its music as well. A

constant demand for entertainment from visiting seamen and connections with the USA made

Liverpool “the most American” of all the British cities and left many American effects. During

the 1950s, Liverpool was a stronghold for soul, jazz, country and western.

A fusion of pop, rock, folk, rock and roll, jazz, rhythm, blues and soul music that became

popular in Liverpool in the early 1960s, and later on wide across the globe, was called the

Merseybeat music or the Beat music. The beat movement provided most of the bands responsible

for the British invasion of the American pop charts in the period after 1964, and provided the

model for many important developments in pop and rock music, including the format of the  rock

group around lead, rhythm and bass guitars with drums.

Prestige Liverpool central clubs like the Cavern, the Mardi Gras, the Iron Door, The Blue

Angel started as jazz clubs but gradually surrendered to rock. Apart from these, there were also

numerous suburban “jive hives”, social clubs and parish halls. Many young Liverpool artists

performed in these clubs. Over two hundred semi-professionals trios and quartets with their

electric guitars, drums, voices and amplifiers performed every night. It was a tough school for

live musicians, full of people who reckoned they could do better. Ignored by the mainstream

local media, the Liverpool pop scene was even big enough to support its own weekly music

magazine, the “Mersey Beat”. Launched in 1961, it pulled all the groups together and gave the

music a name.

By the late 1962, the Liverpool sound was about to take the world by storm. “The Beatles”

had proved their ability with over 270 performances at the Cavern and had been signed by

Parlophone Records. The release of their first hit record “Love Me Do” in October 1962 would

signal the start of an extraordinary career. The city they were beginning to symbolize and the

music scene they grew from also came under the spotlight. Liverpool was located as epicenter of

a worldwide youth revolution. Hit after hit came from the city. Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy

J. Kramer, the Fourmost, the Searchers and the Big Three challenged the dominance of the

Beatles in the local scene and confirmed Merseybeat as a full-on phenomenon. Even though it

was a male scene, female artists did emerge, often getting their brake as guest performers with

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all-male bands. That was the case with Cilla Black, who took her opportunity and produced a run

of extraordinary songs to 1967. Behind these, stood a group of lesser-known artists such as the

Swinging Blue Jeans, the Merseybeats, the Undertakers and the Mojos. In 1965 Allan Ginsberg,

the influential American beat poet wrote, “Liverpool is at the present time the centre of

consciousness of the human universe. They’re resurrecting the human form divine there…”

After the Beatles charmed America in 1964, the legendary “British invasion” of American

pop began. The enormous influence of Liverpool’s musicians on later American pop music was

undeniable. Back at home, the impact on the British pop scene was revolutionary.

Before Merseybeat the native rock ’n’ roll trade was a junior branch of show business… Now it became a defining force in British culture. For the first time there was mass hysteria and media obsession and pop achieved the previously unthinkable status of cherished British export. To this day the Merseybeat formula serves as blueprint for rock bands everywhere: four or five young men on drums and guitars, keyboard optional.36

3. The Merseyside Derby

36 Ibid, p. 421.

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If the “Old Firm” is rooted in religion and “El Clasico” a matter of cultural identity, the

Merseyside derby, is football’s sibling rivalry. Liverpool FC and Everton FC are like the two

brothers, separated at birth and irreconcilable in their loyalty to their own side. The older brother

Everton was founded in 1878, while the younger one, Liverpool, was established in1892. This is

England’s longest rivalry (currently 219 derbies have been played). These two played 193

competitive matches in Premier League, Charity Shield and the FA Cup. Liverpool is more

successful in these derbies with 74 wins and 59 defeats, while 60 of these matches ended a draw.

Two clubs that once shared the same stadium, Anfield Road, (before Everton moved to

Goodison Park back in 1902) have no obvious geographical, political, social or religious

differences. Nearly a kilometer away from each other, two clubs are so connected that it is not

clear what parameters the inhabitants of Liverpool generally use when deciding for one of the

two clubs. The question is whether it is a matter of family defiance, stubbornness or has purely

sport motives.

Like all families, in hard times and in tragedy, the blood ties temporarily bring everyone back

together. At the 1984 Milk Cup Final between Liverpool and Everton rival supporters stood side

by side at Wembley. A collective chant followed, “Merseyside, Merseyside…can you hear us

now Manchester?” Five years later, the unity carried more voiced as the clubs met after the

Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Everton and Liverpool scarves were intertwined stretching across

Stanley Park (between Anfield and Goodison) and Everton fans joined the famous “Don’t buy

The Sun” boycott. Recently, after the murder of 11 year old Evertonian Rhys Jones in a gun

crime incident in 2007, LFC invited the victim’s parents and his older brother to Anfield for

a UEFA Champions League match. Johnny Todd, the song to which Everton traditionally run

out, was played for the first time ever at Anfield while the victim's family stood on the pitch

wearing EFC shirts and scarves with a standing ovation. After the complete vindication of

Liverpool fans at the Hillsborough disaster, Everton hosted Newcastle United on 18 th September

2012 at Goodison Park. The sides were lead out by two children wearing Everton and Liverpool

shirts with the number 9 and 6 on the back. The announcer read out the names of all the 96

victims while “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by “The Hollies” was played to a standing

ovation. Scousers proved that they are exceptional in their uniqueness.

The Merseyside derby rivalry has no fanatical, geographical or class connotations and, aside

from sporadic incidents, violence between Evertonians and Liverpudlians is a rarity. It is usually

Page | 24

based on verbal abuse. Between the two groups of fans there is a dose of intolerance, which does

not exceed the limits of sanity, which cannot be said for many other rivalries. There are those

who believe it is no longer what it once was and others who’ll argue it was never that friendly

from the start. Supporters of both clubs tend to agree the friendliness has been a bit exaggerated,

but any undertones of antipathy are limited. It’s rooted in the fact there is more to bond

Liverpool and Everton fans than to divide them. There is mutual respect. The Hillsborough

tragedy was felt by the City of Liverpool and that’s why they came together. No other city’s

rivalry football clubs on the planet would have done that: City for United (Manchester),

Newcastle for Sunderland (Newcastle), Celtic for Rangers (Glasgow), Atlético for Real

(Madrid), Lazio for Roma (Rome), Boca Juniors for River Plate (Buenos Aires), Panathinaikos

for Olympiacos (Athens), CSKA for Spartak (Moscow), Partizan for Red Star (Belgrade). It’s the

Scouse way, and it’s what separates LFC and EFC from the rest.

4. Liverpool FC – A Way of Life

Liverpool Football Club is the most successful English football club and one of the most

successful football clubs in the world with: 18 Premier League titles, 5 European Cups, 7 FA

Cups, 8 League Cups, 3 UEFA Cups, 3 European Super Cups, 1 Super Cup, 15 FA Charity

Shields, 4 Division Two titles, 1 Lancashire League title, 3 Carlsbegr trophies, 18 Reserve

Division One titles, 1 Barclays Reserves National trophy and 3 FA Youth Cups.

The club was founded following a dispute between the Everton FC committee and John

Houlding, club president and owner of the land at Anfield. After the defection from Everton,

Houlding and William Barclay (first ever manager of the LFC) were left with a football ground

and no team, but together rapidly and successfully created a brand new one. LFC was

successfully registered as “Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Company Limited” on

3rd June 1892. The team won the Lancashire League in its debut season, and joined the Football

League Second Division at the start of the 1893-94 season. After finishing first the club was

promoted to the First Division, which it won in 1901 for the first time. At the beginning, the

club’s shirts were blue and white quartered, but in 1984 the red colour of the city was adopted.

The official badge of the club was modified many times during the clubs history, but it always

had the Liverbird in its centre, the symbol of the city.

Page | 25

During the first 70 years of its existence, the club didn’t show some significant progress in

the European competitions but it would win domestic cups and leagues from time to time. After

getting relegated from the First Division and losing some FA Cup finals, a Scotch football

expert, Bill Shankly was appointed manager in 1959. Upon his arrival he released 24 players and

converted a boot storage room at Anfield into a room where the coaches could discuss strategy.

Shankly and other “Boot Room” members (Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett and Bob Paisley) began

reshaping the team. The club was promoted back into the First Division in 1962 and won it in

1964 (for the first time in 17 years). In 1965, the club won its first FA Cup. In 1966, the club

won the First Division but lost in the European Cup final. Liverpool won both the League and

the UEFA Cup during the 1972–73 season, and the FA Cup again a year later. Shankly retired

soon afterwards and was replaced by his assistant, Bob Paisley. In 1976, the club won another

League and the UEFA Cup. The next season, the club retained the League title and won

the European Cup for the first time, but it lost in the 1977 FA Cup final. Liverpool kept the

European Cup in 1978 and regained the First Division title in 1979. During the Paisley era,

Liverpool won 21 trophies, including 3 European Cups, a UEFA Cup, 6 League titles and 3

consecutive League Cups. Paisley retired in 1983 and was replaced by his assistant, Joe

Fagan. Liverpool won the League, League Cup and European Cup in Fagan’s first season,

becoming the first English side to win three trophies in a season.

Liverpool reached the European Cup final again in 1985, against Juventus FC at the Heysel

Stadium. Before kickoff, Liverpool fans breached a fence which separated the two groups of

supporters, and attacked the Juventus fans. The resulting weight of people caused a collapse of

the retaining wall, killing 39 fans, mostly Italians. The incident became known as the Heysel

Stadium disaster. The match was played despite protests by both managers and Liverpool lost.

As a result of the tragedy, English clubs were banned from participating in European competition

for five years. Liverpool FC received a ten-year ban, which was later reduced to six years.

Fourteen Liverpool fans received convictions for manslaughter. Joe Fagan resigned after the

disaster and Kenny Dalglish was appointed as player-manager.

With “King Keny” on the “throne”, the club won another 3 Leagues and 2 FA Cups.

Liverpool’s success was overshadowed by the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. In an FA Cup semi-

final against Nottingham Forest on 15th April, hundreds of Liverpool fans were crushed against

perimeter fencing, where 96 fans died that day. “The Sun” newspaper wrote about the accident

Page | 26

and said police are accusing drunken Liverpool fans for the incident with the headline “The

Truth”. This resulted in the famous “Don’t buy The Sun” boycott and “Justice for the 96”

campaign by the Liverpool fans. The truth was finally published in “The Report of The

Hillsborough Independent Panel” on 12th September 2012 revealing that: 41 out of the 96 victims

could have survived; South Yorkshire police and emergency services made “strenuous attempts”

to deflect blame for the crush onto victims; 116 of 164 police statements were amended to

remove or alter comments unfavourable to South Yorkshire police; Police carried out blood

alcohol readings on victims, including children, in order to “oppugn their reputations”; Prime

Minister David Cameron says he is profoundly sorry for the “double injustice” of the

Hillsborough disaster. The report ruled that the main reason for the disaster was overcrowding

due to a failure of police control.

Dalglish gave his resignation in 1991 and he was replaced by a former player Graeme

Souness. Under Souness’s leadership Liverpool won the 1992 FA Cup. Souness was replaced

by Roy Evans, and Liverpool went on to win the 1995 League Cup. Gerard Houllier became

manager in November 1998 after Evans resigned. In 2001, with Houllier in charge, Liverpool

won a “Treble” (the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup in the same year). Houllier was

replaced by Rafael Benitez in 2004. With Benitez, Liverpool won the 2005 UEFA Champions

League and the 2006 FA Cup. American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks became the

owners of the club during the 2006-07 season, in a deal which valued the club and its outstanding

debts at £218,9 million. Benitez left by mutual assent in 2010 and was replaced by Roy

Hodgson. At the start of the 2010-11 season Liverpool was on the verge of bankruptcy and the

club’s creditors asked the High Court to allow the sale of the club, dismissing the wishes of

Hicks and Gillett. American businessman John W. Henry (owner of the Boston Red Sox and

New England Sports Ventures) bid successfully for the club and took ownership in October

2010. Poor results during the start of that season led to Hodgson leaving the club and former

manager Kenny Dalglish taking over once again. After winning the Carling Cup final and

playing the FA Cup final in the 2011-12 season, Dalglish was dismissed because the club ended

in the 8th place in the Premier League. He was replaced by Brendan Rodgers on 1st June 2012.

Liverpool is one of the best supported clubs in the world, with one of the highest average

home attendances in Europe. The club states that its worldwide fan base includes more than

200 officially recognised branches in at least 30 countries. The club takes advantage of this

Page | 27

support through its worldwide summer tours. Liverpool fans often refer to themselves as Kopites

and the main terrace at Anfield is called The Kop. That name originates from the Battle of Spion

Kop in January 1900 during the Second Boer War, where a large number of Lancashire and

Liverpool men died.

Liverpool’s biggest “football enemy” in England is Manchester United FC. Manchester was

a better team during the 1990s and 2010s and won most of its trophies during this era.

Manchester United is the second most successful English team. Their match is “The England’s

Derby”. Liverpool’s rivalry with Manchester has nothing in common with the brotherly relation

with Everton. Rivalry of Liverpool and Manchester roots from the pre-industrial era, when both

the cities played a significant role in the north-west of England. Liverpool was a great port and

Manchester was a large manufacturing centre. Both cities were bound to each other and

depended on each other’s existence during the ages. A football match between these two clubs is

often marked as high-risk public event, where physical and verbal violence between the rival

supporters could easily occur. Hooliganism in these matches used to be normal phenomena

during the 1980s and 1990s. The strong rivalry of these clubs could easily be annotated by the

fact that the last player who signed from one of the clubs to the other one was Phil Chisnall, back

in April 1964, when he moved to Liverpool FC from Manchester United FC. Nowadays, both

clubs struggle to keep their fans out of violence and create friendly-competitive atmosphere.

The song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein

musical Carousel and later recorded by Liverpool musicians “Gerry & the Pacemakers”) is the

club’s anthem and has been sung by the Kopites since the early 1960s. It has since gained

popularity amongst fans of other clubs around the world. The song’s title ornaments the top of

the “Shankly Gates”, which were unveiled on 2nd August 1982 in memory of former manager

Bill Shankly. Right next to the gates is the Hillsborough memorial stone with all the names of the

96 victims of the disaster. The club monumentalized Shanks’s image with the bronze statue in

front of Anfield on 4th December 1997. The statue depicts Shankly wearing a fan’s scarf around

his neck, in a familiar pose he adopted when receiving applause from fans. Inscribed on the

statue are the words: “Bill Shankly - He Made the People Happy.” The “You’ll Never Walk

Alone” fraction of the Shankly Gates is also reproduced on the club’s crest. Amongst many of

the Shanks’s quotes, these two are the most influential:

Page | 28

If you are a member of The Kop you feel like you are a member of a society. You’ve got thousands of friends all around you and they are all united, and loyal.

Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say “We’re Liverpool”.37

5. Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City

The Maritime Mercantile City of Liverpool played an important role in the growth of the

British Empire. It became the major port for the mass movement of people, including slaves and

emigrants from northern Europe to America. Liverpool was a pioneer in the development of

modern dock technology, transport systems, port management and building construction.

Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City was inscribed by UNESCO on the 28 th session of the World

Heritage Committee in July 2004 as “the supreme example of a commercial port at the time of

Britain’s greatest global influence.”

Six areas in the historic centre and docklands of Liverpool bear witness to the development

of one of the world’s major trading centres in the 18 th, 19th and early 20th centuries. A series of

significant commercial, civic and public buildings lie within these areas, including the Pier Head,

with its three principal waterfront buildings - the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building, and

Port of Liverpool Building; the Dock area (Stanley and Albert Dock) with its warehouses, dock

walls, remnant canal system, docks and other facilities related to port activities; the mercantile

area, with its shipping offices, produce exchanges, marine insurance offices, banks, inland

warehouses and merchants houses; Ropewalks, a reference to the large number

of roperies present in the area when Liverpool was one of the busiest ports in the world during

the 18th and 19th centuries; William Brown Street Cultural Quarter, including St. George’s

Plateau with its monumental cultural and civic buildings.

Liverpool grew into a major commercial port in the 18th century, when it was crucial for the

organisation of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In the 19 th century, Liverpool became a world

mercantile centre for general cargo and mass European emigration to the New World. It had a

large significance on world trade as one of the principal ports of the British Commonwealth. Its

innovative techniques and types of docks, dock facilities and warehouse construction had

worldwide influence. Liverpool was important in the development of industrial canals in the 18 th

century and railway transport in the 19th century. Throughout this period, and particularly in the

37 http://myliverpoolfc.org/quotes.htm

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19th and early 20th centuries, Liverpool gave attention to the quality and innovation of its

architecture and cultural activities. Its outstanding public buildings, such as St. George’s Hall,

and its museums stand as a testimony of that. Even in the 20 th century, Liverpool has made a

lasting contribution.

6. The European Capital of Culture

A strong cultural heritage from previous centuries and a series of various cultural activities

and events that occurred in 21th century peaking in 2008, were the main reasons why Liverpool

was designated “ the European capital of culture for 2008” (together with Stavanger, Norway) in

2003 by the Council of Ministers of the European Union.

“Liverpool 08”, how the project was called, included every sphere of art. Many events,

including painting, drawing, literature, music, stage art, film, street carnivals and sport were

organized in many Liverpool’s halls, museums and galleries.

Especially interesting to a wide range of visitors and tourists from all around the world were

the “La Princesse” mechanical spider and the “Superlambanana” sculpture that were placed in

many public locations in the city. La Princesse is a 15 meter wide, and a few meter high

mechanical spider designed and constructed by French performance art company La Machine.

The project, which was free to the public, cost between £1.8 and £1.9 million to stage, of which

£1.5 million came from the Liverpool Culture Company. The spider roamed through the streets

of Liverpool, passing many of Liverpool’s significant sites. It was a real tourist attraction and 12

men were needed so it could move. The Superlambanana is a bright yellow sculpture. Weighing

almost eight tons and more than 5 metres tall, it is intended to be a cross between a banana and

a lamb and was designed by the Japanese artist Taro Chiezo. The sculpture is both a comment on

the dangers of genetic engineering and is also heavily influenced by the history of Liverpool

because both sheep and bananas were common cargos in the city’s docks.

The goal of the whole project was to bring Europeans closer together by highlighting the

richness and diversity of European cultures and raising awareness of their common history and

values. With its rich cultural diversity, Liverpool was the right place for it.  Liverpool managed to

fulfill these and generated considerable cultural, social and economic benefits. The project

helped raising urban regeneration, changed the city’s image and raised its visibility and profile

on an international scale.

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V CONCLUSION

A city of permanent and immense struggle, Liverpool proved to be one of the most

contrasting places in the world. From obscure medieval beginnings, Liverpool rose to become

one of the world’s greatest seaports, partly as a result of the infamous slave trade. Built basically

out of nothing, the town turned to its natural resources, to the sea and the river Mersey,

establishing its economy on trading and seafaring.

By 1907, Liverpool was the proud second city of the empire, at the culmination of fame

and fortune, as its rich cultural heritage attested. Industrial revolution brought general

development and economical stability. A large number of settlers all across the globe, in search

for a better life, flocked into the city, leaving its traces and shaping the city’s language, culture,

mentality and soul. In its Victorian heyday, as a kind of “city-state” dedicated to trade, culture

and civilization, so called “Florence of the North”, Liverpool defined itself in rivalry against

industrial Manchester and commercial London. Thanks to these rivals, despite the fact that it is

and was a real cultural attraction during the last three centuries, Liverpool was externally

misrepresented. Portrayed as different and apart, Liverpool is marked as a city of golden past but

not so bright future.

Events took a sharp turn for the worse, and Liverpool came to be disgraced as the shock

city of post-industrial Britain. World Wars brought destruction and made the situation from the

beginning of the 20th century more complicated. After a brief Merseybeat florescence in the

1960s, with large numbers of unemployed, only football was the bright spot in the city. Enjoying

a renaissance in the early years of the 21th century, the city’s past has been recognized by

UNESCO inscription of the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City World Heritage Site.

Celebrating its 800th anniversary in 2007 and promoted as European Capital of Culture in

2008, Liverpool is reinventing itself, looking forward while also learning from its remarkable

roller-coaster history.

The city’s past couldn’t be characterized in any other way but as special and exceptional.

Modest Liverpool, Civic Liverpool, Maritime Liverpool, Cosmopolitan Liverpool, Challenging

Liverpool, Modern Liverpool are only some of the faces of the city’s character throughout the

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ages. However, it’s not only the past but the present potentials of a city that makes it a nice place

to live in. Liverpool certainly does possess these and it is being proved every day. Many

megaprojects that are realised or still need to be realised witness the city’s intention to grow and

expand physically, economically, culturally and in population.

It’s that exceptionality that was the motive power for all these centuries that made this small

town to rise into a big city. It’s that special charm that kept the fire through the dark times. When

it seemed to be an impossible situation to get out of, Liverbird would fall in flame and rise from

its own ashes again.

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VI BIBLIOGRAPHY

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