by Malcolm Pheby | Sep 26, 2020 | 1940s, History, Liverpool, Wartime
On the evening of Tuesday May 14th 1940, newly appointed Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden made a vital appeal to the nation. He spoke gravely on the BBC of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries. It was a new way of fighting – and it was not going...
by Malcolm Pheby | Jul 24, 2019 | History, Manchester
This week in July 1858, an extraordinary woman was born in the Manchester suburb of Moss Side. A clue to her future lay in the political backgrounds of her parents, Sophia and Robert Goulden. A Manx woman, Sophia was steeped in the social unrest that characterised the...
by Malcolm Pheby | Jun 16, 2019 | History, Liverpool, Transport
The ferries plying their trade on the River Mersey received a rare honour from King George V in April 1918. The steamers Iris and Daffodil were awarded the title ‘Royal’ in recognition of their wartime service. Both sailed far from Wallasey to be used as troop ships...
by Malcolm Pheby | Apr 19, 2019 | History, Liverpool
Many Merseysiders will remember the King’s Regiment, which served with distinction for nearly half a century from 1958 to 2006. Formed from the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) first raised in 1685 and the Manchester Regiment, its soldiers were deployed as far afield as...
by Malcolm Pheby | Mar 2, 2019 | History, Industry, Liverpool
More than 200,000 people gathered on a fine summer day by the Mersey in July 1934 to witness a major public event for Liverpool. It wasn’t the Reds or Everton bringing back the FA Cup a few months late – or a victory parade at the end of a conflict. The big occasion...
by Malcolm Pheby | Jan 5, 2019 | History, Liverpool
Resourceful Liverpool manager Bill Shankly knew just what to do when the Big Freeze of 1963 buried the Anfield pitch under a thick sheet of ice. He called in a local tractor owner with a disc harrower to split the ice so it could be bulldozed away before a Fourth...
