by Malcolm Pheby | Dec 14, 2019 | 1950s, Liverpool, Music
A decade before Merseybeat exploded on the scene, singers Frankie Vaughan, Lita Roza and Billy Fury were putting Liverpool firmly in the national spotlight. Roza became the first women ever to top the UK singles chart in 1953 and Fury ended up matching the Beatles hit...
by Malcolm Pheby | May 29, 2019 | 1950s, Royals
It was a red-letter day for Wigan when the Queen Mother’s motorcade drove sedately through the town in June 1959. Thousands of well-wishers lined the route to the Town Hall to cheer the royal matriarch who meant so much to the North West. The Queen Mother held a...
by Malcolm Pheby | May 8, 2019 | 1950s, Manchester
Belle Vue, the North West’s premier entertainment park, was going through a rough patch in 1954. The post-war boom, which saw crowds of 250,000 people at holiday weekends, was well and truly over. Attendances had declined and the zoo suffered bouts of vandalism and...
by Malcolm Pheby | Aug 29, 2018 | 1950s, Football
The night of Wednesday November 25th 1953 changed football forever in Manchester. England, Olympic champions and top of the world rankings, were beaten 6-3 by Hungary. In fact, they weren’t just beaten – they were taken apart. Hungary outclassed them all over the...
by Malcolm Pheby | Jun 30, 2018 | 1950s, 1960s, Sport
World boxing champion Hogan Bassey wasn’t the only hard-hitter for Liverpool in the 1950s and early 1960s. His good friend, battling Labour MP Bessie Braddock, packed quite a punch herself in the tough world of politics. She always fought the city’s corner, proving...
by Malcolm Pheby | Jun 16, 2018 | 1950s, Liverpool, Sport
He may have been born on the banks of the Cross River in Calabar, Nigeria, but world boxing champion Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey was proud to call Liverpool his home. One of five children, Okon Bassey Asuquo already held the West African and Nigerian bantamweight titles when...
