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Wednesday 3 February 2016

Liverpool

King John's letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool. The monarch is said to have designed the original street plan of Liverpool near the same time. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape.

A map of Liverpool's original seven streets (north to the left)

In 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. As trade from the West Indies surpassed that of Ireland and Europe, and as the River Dee silted up, Liverpool began to grow.

"Liverpool in 1680" the earliest known image of Liverpool

Liverpool and Manchester were the first cities to have an intercity rail link. On September 15, 1830, president of the board of trade William Huskisson attended the grand opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Visitors boarded the Northumbrian, which had stopped to take on water. Against instructions, the passengers disembarked to chat. Seeing the Duke of Wellington, Huskisson walked across the adjacent line to speak to him just as another train came travelling down the line. Huskisson stumbled and fell beneath the wheels of the oncoming train. He became the world's first railroad passenger fatality.

Inaugural journey of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830

The first mail carried by train traveled between Liverpool and Manchester on November 30, 1830.

The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. It was first run in 1836.

The Albert Dock, home to Tate Liverpool, was completed 169 years ago. It comprises the largest collection of Grade listed buildings in England.

For periods during the 19th century the wealth of Liverpool exceeded that of London itself and Liverpool's Custom House was the single largest contributor to the British Exchequer.

The world's first integrated sewer system was designed and implemented in Liverpool by civil engineer James Newlands (July 28, 1813 – July 15, 1871). The sewer construction program began in July 1848 and was completed in 1869. Before the sewers were built, life expectancy in Liverpool was just 19 years, and by the time Newlands retired it had more than doubled.

James Newlands

Oriel Chambers was one of the world's first buildings (along with the 1849 Jayne Building in Philadelphia) featuring a metal framed glass curtain wall. Designed by architect Peter Ellis it was the prototype of the skyscraper.

Oriel Chambers

The UK's first purpose-built department store was Compton House, completed in 1867 for the Liverpool retailer J.R. Jeffrey. it was the largest store in the world at the time.

Everton Football club was founded as St Domingo's in 1878 so that people from the parish of St Domingo's Methodist Church Everton could play sport year round —cricket was played in summer. The club was renamed Everton a year later

Liverpool F.C. was founded on March 15, 1892 following a dispute between the Everton committee and John Houlding, club president and owner of the land at Anfield.  It gained official recognition three months later on June 3, 1892, after The Football Association refused to recognize the club as Everton.

Liverpool's team during their first season, 1892–93
Liverpool played their first match on September 1, 1892, a pre-season friendly match against Rotherham Town, which they won 7–1. The team Liverpool fielded against Rotherham was composed entirely of Scottish players – manager John McKenna had recruited the players after a scouting trip to Scotland – so they became known as the "team of Macs".

Britain's first main line electric train, operated by Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, started running between Liverpool & Southport in 1904.

Measuring 316 ft to the top of the clock tower, the first ‘skyscraper’ built in Europe was the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, which was completed in 1911.


Royal Liver Building

"Scouse" was first used to mean an inhabitant of Liverpool in 1945. "Scouser" was first seen in 1959. The word was originally an abbreviation of "lobscouse", a sailor’s dish of meat stewed with vegetables and ship’s biscuit.

All four of the Beatles were from Liverpool. John Lennon first met 15-year-old Paul McCartney at a St Peter’s Parish Church party in Woolton, Liverpool in July 1957.

The Beatles' annual contribution to Liverpool economy was valued at £82 million. A 2016 report found that the Fab Four's legacy supports 2,335 jobs.

Yoko Ono unveiled a seven-foot bronze statue of John Lennon on March 15, 2002, which overlooks the check-in area of Liverpool's John Lennon Airport. The airport's logo features a sketch of Lennon's face with the inscription, "Above Us Only Skies."

In 2004 Liverpool's St. Georges Hall was voted, by the European Architectural Commission, the finest public building constructed in Europe in the past 200 years.

St George's Hall, Liverpool. By fabiopauleri - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabiopao/520127632/, Wikipedia Commons

Liverpool's status as a port city has contributed to its diverse population. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the United Kingdom and the oldest Chinese community in Europe.

Liverpool's waterfront is a designated world heritage site.

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