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47 Beatles Locations in Liverpool and Wirral –

2021-01-09 By Aidan O'Rourke

INTRODUCTION
In this feature, we go on a tour of 47 Beatles locations in Liverpool and Wirral. In 2018 I created a video featuring 38 locations, with English and Japanese subtitles and no voiceover. I decided to make a new version of the video using the format of my AVZINE channel, launched in September 2020.

I was inspired by the Beatles in my childhood and loved Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. Through my research, I’ve learned a lot about the Beatles and the places they are associated with. I intend to do a feature about the Beatles in Hamburg. I’ve also created an audio-only podcast version of the feature in German, with original Beatles songs. It’s available exclusively to my students.

I have included a few of the photos in this article but to see all the pictures, please watch the video. As I always request, please click the ‘like’ button, subscribe to the channel and click the ‘bell’ button for notifications.

A tour of 47 Beatles locations in Liverpool and Wirral

Script of the video by Aidan O’Rourke

The familiar double decker open top tour buses will take you around most of the important sights in Liverpool.

The Magical Mystery Tour is a specialised two hour Beatles tour.

And for a personalised Beatles tour you can take one of the Fab Four Taxis. The driver will share lots of knowledge and there’s a recorded commentary in several different languages.

Our tour begins at the airport, 7.5 miles or 12 kilometres south of the city centre. In 2001 it was named Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport statue

1. John Lennon Statue, Liverpool John Lennon Airport terminal
The new terminal opened in 2002. Inside the terminal, there’s a statue of John Lennon by Tom Murphy. The nearby plaque reminds us EU funding helped to finance the terminal and the nearby business park.

Yellow Submarine, Liverpool John Lennon Airport

2. The Yellow Submarine
The Yellow Submarine stands in front of the terminal. It used to be on the waterfront and was originally constructed by shipbuilding apprentices from Cammell Laird for the International Garden Festival that was held in 1984. The song ‘Yellow Submarine’ was released in 1966, the film came out in 1968.

3. The old airport terminal
The old airport terminal was opened in 1938. In 1964 thousands of fans welcomed the Beatles after their US tour. Today, you can stay here, as it’s the Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport Hotel.

4. The 85 bus
We are now at Liverpool South Parkway station. The 86 is a local bus operated by private company Stagecoach. In the 1950s Liverpool had its own municipal buses. They were painted in a distinctive green livery that was part of the character of the city. The 86 passes close to Paul’s house. He took the 86 to school every day. It’s said that riding on the bus influenced his songwriting.

There were adverts on buses for the ‘Double Fantasy’ exhibition which was on at the Museum of Liverpool during 2018 and19. We’ll take the 86 along Mather Avenue. Paul’s house is to the left. We’ll go there later.

5. The Sergeant Pepper Bistro
We get off near the Sergeant Pepper Bistro. This building was the ‘shelter in the middle of the roundabout’ in the song ‘Penny Lane’. An extra floor was added when it became the Bistro. Unfortunately, it’s been closed for a few years. Paul, John and George often met at this former bus shelter.

Paul McCartney signature Penny Lane

6. Penny Lane
‘Penny Lane’ was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. There was controversy in 2020 when the sign was spray painted and the word ‘racist’ was written above it. The graffiti artist should have checked his facts. The name has no connection with slave-ship owner James Penny. A muddy lane out in the countryside would in any case not be named after a prominent trader in the city.
The song was written as a tribute to Penny Lane, but now Penny Lane is famous because of the song, which captivated me as a child.
In June 2018, Paul returned to Penny Lane for the Late Late Show with James Corden and wrote his autograph on the sign painted on the wall further down Penny Lane.

7. Strawberry Field gates
We’ll stop at the Strawberry Field gates, on Beaconsfield Road, not far from the house where John Lennon lived with his aunt Mimi. Fans from all over the world visit the gates and write messages. The gates are actually replica of the real ones. In the song, John remembers his childhood and this song too inspired me very much as a child.
Since 2020 it’s possible to step through the red gates and into the famous site. The visitors centre has an exhibition and many other attractions. It’s owned and run by the Salvation Army.

8. Calderstones Park
Not many people know that in Calderstones Park, there is a Japanese garden. Calderstones Park has many associations with the Beatles in their early years. I wonder if John ever imagined that one day he would marry a woman from Japan.

9. The Eleanor Rigby gravestone
We continue to St Peter’s Church the village of Woolton. Here we find the famous gravestone inscribed with the name ‘Eleanor Rigby’. The name may have inspired the famous song. Paul McCartney explains more in an interesting and spooky story. Try Googling it.

St Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool

10. St Peter’s Church, Woolton.
In 1957, John and Paul met for the first time at a village fête behind St Peter’s Church.

11. Number 9 Madryn Street
We’ll head into the city centre and on the way, we’ll visit the Welsh Streets area. Ringo Starr was born at 9 Madryn Street. The house, as well as most of the Welsh Streets district, was to have been demolished. Beatles fans came here and wrote messages on the façade. But there was a change of plan. The Welsh Streets district was renovated and today the house looks almost new.

12. Number 10 Admiral Grove
Ringo Starr’s family moved to number 10 Admiral Grove, just a short distance from 9 Madryn Street. Ringo lived here until he became famous in 1963.

13. Number 12 Arnold Grove
In 1943, George Harrison was born at 12 Arnold Grove, a small terraced house in Wavertree. His family later moved to a house in Speke.

Beatles plaque Liverpool town hall

14. Liverpool town hall
Next, we return to the city centre. In 1964, the Beatles stood on the balcony of the town hall in front of thousands of screaming fans. 20 years later they were awarded the Freedom of the City. Inside the lobby, you’ll find a plaque bearing the names of the Fab Four. Sadly John wasn’t there to experience the honour.

Now we’ll walk up through Liverpool’s Creative Quarter not far from the University.

15. Number 3 Gambier Terrace
John Lennon lived at 3 Gambier Terrace in 1960 with former Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and others including artist Margaret Chapman. They were all students at the nearby Liverpool College of Art.

16. Falkner Street
Historic Falkner Street was built in the early to mid 19th century and it often features in historical dramas. Beatles manager Brian Epstein lived on Falkner Street and he owned the ground floor flat at 36 Falkner Street. He offered it to John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia. They lived here from 1962 to 1963.

17. The Liverpool Institute
A short distance away is Mount Street where we come across a distinctive Roman-style portico. On it are the words ‘Liverpool Institute and School of Art 1825’. Paul McCartney and George Harrison went to the Liverpool Institute when it was a boys’ grammar school. Today it’s the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, co-founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty. Initial funding for the Institute was provided through Liverpool City Challenge, The European Union and the private sector.

18. The Cracke Pub
The Beatles often visited Ye Cracke pub on Rice Street. It’s filled with Beatles memorabilia and has a quaint, homely atmosphere inside.

19. The Philharmonic Dining Rooms
The Philharmonic Hall is on Hope Street. Diagonally opposite is the Philharmonic pub and it’s one of the biggest and most magnificent pubs in the city. In June 2018 Paul gave a surprise concert inside the pub for the Late Late Show with James Corden. I wish I’d been there!

Liverpool Maternity Hospital photo by Phil Nash CC by SA 4.0

20. Former Liverpool Maternity Hospital
John Lennon was born on the 9th of October 1940 in the former Liverpool Maternity Hospital. There’s an interesting plaque next to the entrance. It’s now a university residence.

21. 4 Rodney Street
Brian Epstein was born at 4 Rodney Street. A beautifully designed plaque provides information about his life and tragic death at the age of 32.

22. The Blue Angel Night Club
In the 1960s the Beatles and other famous bands played at the Blue Angel Night Club. It’s on Seel Street in Chinatown.

23. The Jacaranda
The Jacaranda is a legendary music venue closely associated with the rise of Merseybeat in the 1960s. It was opened by The Beatles’ first manager Allan Williams in 1958. The Jacaranda Twitter profile says that it’s “A re-imagining of the first place The Beatles ever played. Gig venue, Bar, Club and Vinyl Record store.”

From here, we’ll walk down to the Pier Head. It should take about 15 minutes.

24. The Museum of Liverpool
In the Museum of Liverpool, you can learn about the city where the Beatles grew up. The Double Fantasy exhibition was on here from 2018 to 2019. The Museum of Liverpool tells the story of Liverpool and it’s a major attraction in the city. It received funding from various sources, including the EU’s European Regional Development Fund and opened in 2011.

25. The British Music Experience
At the British Music Experience, you can find out all about British pop music including many other famous Liverpool bands who are perhaps overshadowed by the omnipresent Beatles.

The Beatles Statue Liverpool Pier Head

26. The Beatles Statue
The Beatles Statue was designed by Andrew Edwards and is probably Liverpool’s number one selfie opportunity. The four larger than life figures were unveiled in December 2015, fifty years after the Beatles’ final show in the city

27. The site of The Tower Ballroom
On the other side of the Mersey in New Brighton, we visit the site of the Tower Ballroom. On top of the building once stood the tallest tower in Britain. It was taken down around 1919 and in 1969, the building was damaged by fire and pulled down. The Beatles played here 27 times between 1961 and 1963.

28. New Brighton Pier
The Beatles gave just one concert on New Brighton Pier, which was built in the mid-19th century and sadly demolished in the early 1970s.

MV Royal Iris Johnragla,-CC-BY-SA-3.0,-via-Wikimedia-Commons-

29. The MV Royal Iris
The MV Royal Iris was built in 1950 and served as one of the Mersey ferries. In the 1960s, the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers played on Cavern cruises on the Mersey. Plans to turn it into a floating night club came to nothing and in 2019 she lay by the Thames in Woolwich, London, taking in water.

30. The Grosvenor Ballroom
The Beatles played at many venues on the Wirral, including the Grosvenor Ballroom in Liscard, not far from New Brighton. The hall looks the same as it did in the early sixties. It’s used for dances and community events.

31. The Apollo Roller Rink
The Beatles made one appearance at the Apollo Roller Rink in Moreton, not far from the sea. It was in 1962 and promoted by the Beatles’ poster artist Tony Booth. It’s now a dancing school.

32. The Majestic Ballroom
The Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead played an important role in the Merseyside music scene during the 1960s. The Beatles played here on 17 occasions between 1961 and 1963. The building was later used as a Chinese restaurant.

33. The Victoria Hall
Paul often came to the area near The Victoria Hall, Higher Bebington visiting relatives.The Beatles played here on the 4th of August 1962.

Hulme Hall Port Sunlight

34. Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight
Many tourists come to the model village of Port Sunlight for its art gallery and beautiful houses. Port Sunlight was built in the late 19th century by the wealthy soap manufacturer Lord Leverhulme for his employees. In Hulme Hall on the 18th of August 1962, the Beatles played their first concert with Ringo Starr as drummer.

We’ll take the train back to Liverpool city centre and we’ll go to the Cavern Quarter.

35. The Eleanor Rigby Statue
The Eleanor Rigby statue is in Stanley Street not far from Mathew Street. It was created by singer and artist Tommy Steele and presented to Liverpool in 1982.

36. Mathew Street
Mathew Street is dedicated to the Beatles, as well as other famous Liverpool stars including Cilla Black. In the evening and at weekends the street is full of people.

37. The Hard Day’s Night Hotel
The Hard Days Night Hotel is a Beatles theme hotel. The £8 million project was awarded an EU grant of £2.3 million and opened in 2004. High up on the façade, there are some slightly comical statues of the Beatles. The John Lennon statue is the best one.

Liverpool John Lennon Statue Mathew Street38. The John Lennon Statue, Mathew Street
The statue of John Lennon on Mathew Street portrays him as a young man wearing a leather jacket. Many people from all over the world stop to have their photo taken next to John.

39. The Cavern Club
Between 1961 and 1963, the Beatles played in the Cavern Club 292 times. This isn’t the original Cavern Club. The building it was in was unfortunately demolished. This new Cavern Club is a very good reproduction of the original.

40. The Grapes Pub, Mathew Street
Before they went on stage, the Beatles often went to the Grapes Pub further down Mathew Street.

41. Four Lads Who Shook the World’
Mounted high on a wall on Mathew Street is the artwork named ‘Four Lads Who Shook the World’. It was created by Arthur Dooley. John Lennon is represented as a baby.

The Magical History Museum, Liverpool

42. The Magical History Museum
The Magical History Museum contains a gigantic collection of Beatles memorabilia on three floors. It commemorates not just the Fab Four but drummer Pete Best who was replaced by Ringo Starr and bass guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe who died in Hamburg at the age of 21.

The Casbah Coffee Club, Liverpool

43. The Casbah Coffee Club
Now we’ll travel three and a half miles or five and a half kilometres from the city centre to the suburb of West Derby. In the cellar of a large house on the road named Haymans Green is the Casbah Coffee Club. Here, Paul, John, George and Pete Best played their first concerts. It’s full of fascinating photographs and memorabilia that transport you back to the late 1950s and early 1960s.The Casbah Coffee Club was owned and run by Pete Best’s mother Mona. It’s back to the city centre now for the final section of the tour.

44. The Beatles Story 
The Beatles Story in the Albert Dock is about the remarkable success story of the Fab Four and it’s an award-winning attraction. The White Room is striking and memorable.

LIverpool John Lennon Peace Monument

45. The European Peace Monument or The John Lennon Peace Monument
The European Peace Monument or The John Lennon Peace Monument was given to the people of Europe on the occasion of John Lennon’s 70th birthday. It was commissioned by the Global Peace Initiative and designed by artist Lauren Voiers when she was only 19. It was unveiled in Chevasse Park near the Hilton Hotel on the 9th of October 2010. Later it was moved to its present site in front of Jury’s Inn Hotel.

We’re going to take the National Trust minibus to visit the Beatles’ childhood homes. To get your ticket to ride, you’ll need to book in advance.

20 Forthlin Rd Liverpool

46. Number 20 Forthlin Road
Paul McCartney lived with his family at 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton from 1955 till 1964. The interior of the small terraced house is decorated with furniture and memorabilia from the 1950s. It’s easy to imagine Paul and his family sitting in the front room having a sing-song. Photos of the interior are not allowed.

251 Menlove Avenue

47. Number 251 Menlove Avenue
We continue to the last Beatles location on the tour, number 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton, where John Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi. It’s quite a large semi-detached house with gardens front and rear. The house is a time capsule of the early 1960s and please note photography is not permitted.

 

John Lennon plaque 251 Menlove Avenue Liverpool

CONCLUSION
On our long and winding tour of 47 Beatles locations in Liverpool and Wirral, we’ve coincidentally covered a distance of around 47 miles as the crow flies. and that’s about or 75 kilometres,

If you’re interested in a shorter tour, you can come on one of my Liverpool Photo Walks.

Please watch the video, click the ‘like’ button, post a comment and subscribe to my AVZINE channel for more on the subject of cities and journeys, including a feature on the Beatles in Hamburg.

So it’s Auf Wiedersehen from me and I’ll leave you with these words by an unnamed writer on the John Lennon Peace Movement website:

“John Lennon taught us to stand up for what we believe in and dream big. He protested for peace, and many people listened. This is why John Lennon will be remembered as a peace activist. His legendary ideas will be remembered forever as long as we all shall live.”

Filed Under: AVZ-EN, Liverpool, Music, Video Tagged With: beatlemania, Beatles childhood homes, Beatles Liverpool, Beatles photograph, Beatles tour, History of the Beatles, Visit Liverpool Beatles, Where to visit Liverpool

Architectural disasters in Manchester & Leipzig Video+Photos

2020-12-19 By Aidan O'Rourke

INTRODUCTION
I’m interested in cities. I love to explore them, photograph them and see how they develop. Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong.

In 1999 on my Eyewitness in Manchester website, I wrote an open letter to Manchester City Council, protesting against their plans for Piccadilly Gardens.

20 years later, it’s clear that it was a mistake and some people think it was a disaster.

I think Manchester is far too inward-looking. We need to look to other parts of Europe and the world to compare and to contrast and maybe to get some inspiration.

And so, we are going to visit another city I know well, Leipzig in eastern Germany and we’re going to find out about something that happened in the main square there, that I still find shocking even today.

Are there any parallels between Manchester and Leipzig? Please write in the comments.

For my students and the German-speaking audience, As well as the English version, I’ve also produced a German version of the video. To follow this video in English, just activate the subtitles.

I’ve waited a long time to tell this story, so please help me out by liking the video and subscribing to te AVZINE channel.

MAIN ARTICLE & VIDEO SCRIPT
From the airport, the tram will take you in 50 minutes to Piccadilly Gardens, a once beautiful open space in the centre of the great city of Manchester, which lies 180 miles or 300 km north west of London.

Its origins go back a century or so. The old infirmary was demolished in the 1900s leaving an empty space. The foundations of the hospital were turned into sunken gardens. An art gallery was planned but never built.

Manchester was badly bombed in WW2. Through demolition, the square became even wider.

Actually, it was never referred to as a square, only ‘Gardens’.

Piccadilly Gardens painting by Gary Taylor

Piccadilly Gardens had their heyday in the post-war decades. Everyone came here to relax, have lunch, read the paper or admire the lawns and flowers.

The gardens are overlooked by many interesting buildings, for example, mid-19th century warehouses and a very interesting Indian style facade that used to be Lyons Popular Cafe.

On the other side was the futuristic Piccadilly Plaza completed in 1965, with its tall tower, hotel on stilts and a smaller building, Bernard House, with a very unusual roof.

Manchester Piccadilly Plaza with Bernard House 1998

In 1992 the first part of the Metrolink tram system was built. The tracks encroached onto the gardens a little, but not too much.

Manchester City Council, unfortunately, failed to maintain the gardens or cut the trees and so the area slowly became run down, a place of drinking, drug-taking and criminal activities.

But on sunny days, the gardens still looked good.

Because the area had become run down, so Manchester City Council reasoned, it needed to be completely revamped.

And so in 1999, they announced a new plan. When I opened City Life magazine and saw it, I was shocked.

Sunken gardens would be filled in, a new office block a concrete pavilion and a wall were to be built on the green space.

Berlin Wall and Mancheste Piccadilly Wall

It immediately reminded me of the Berlin Wall. I joined others and objected. Our objections were overruled and the new gardens were built.

They seemed alien to the surroundings as if someone had unrolled a carpet onto the square, or some giant extra-terrestrial board game. It seemed like a false intrusion.

New PIccadilly Gardens seen from City Tower fmr Sunley Tower

Manchester City Council said they were sure Mancunians would love their exciting gardens, designed by leading Japanese architect Tadao Andō. I later read that he had never actually visited Manchester. His team did the work.

Other changes took place. Bernard House and the Indian style facade were both torn down and replaced with inferior structures.

The Wall was ugly and blocked sightlines. It looked best at night when you couldn’t see it properly. But at least the fountains were an attraction.

In the summer, the new gardens were well used. But there were problems with the grass and the fountains.

PIccadilly Gardens 2010

Talking to people, I heard them say: „Why on earth have they built this wall?.“

The Japanese architect Tadao Andō is world-famous. His preferred building material is bare concrete. He has designed museums in Japan, Germany and the USA. His creations probably look better in a dry climate where there is a lot of sun.

An open square in the centre of a northern English city is simply not the best place for his work.

In April 2014 the Manchester Evening News ran an opinion poll. Three-quarters of readers who responded hated it.

Six years and seven months later, in the early hours of Monday 24 November 2020, the freestanding section of the wall came down.

Piccadilly Wall just before demolition 20.11.2020

Piccadilly Wall just before demolition 20.11.2020

But the concrete pavilion and the office block remain.

The story is not over.

Now let’s fly over to the great city of Leipzig, about 150 kilometres or 90 miles south of Berlin

From the airport, it’s a 30-minute journey by train to the Augustusplatz, an open square in Leipzig city centre.

Its origins go back a few centuries. The old city walls were pulled down, leaving an open area on the east side of the old town.

Many interesting buildings appeared near the square.

Mendel Fountain Leipzig

In the 19th century, the Opera House, an art gallery and the Mendel fountain were built. The Krochhhaus from the 1920s was one of the first tall buildings in Germany.

The Paulinerkirche was built in 1231. Martin Luther inaugurated the church in 1545, when it became a part of the university., Johann Sebastian Bach was a director of music here.

Leipzig was badly bombed in WW2. Most of the older buildings were destroyed. Fortunately the Paulinerkirche survived virtually intact.

The Soviet Zone became the GDR. Gradually the city was rebuilt according to Communist principles.

A new opera house appeared on the Augustusplatz.

Paulinerkirche Leipzig before destructionPaulinerkirche

The Paulinerkirche was used for services and concerts, but on the 30th of May 1968, after a decision taken by the Communist-led city and university authorities, the Paulinerkirche was blown up.

It had to make way for new university buildings.

‘Das Ding muss weg’ – ‘That thing must go’, the East German leader Walter Ulbricht is reported to have said.

Many people came to witness the destruction. Protesters were arrested.

Old and new Opera House, Leipzig

There was shock and resignation, echoing events in neighbouring Czechoslovakia that same year, 1968

The university tower was designed by Hermann Henselmann. It was intended to look like a book, and became a symbol of Leipzig.

A new concert hall for the Gewandhaus orchestra was opened in 1988. With its large windows artwork and geometric design, it is reminiscent of Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.

Gewandhaus Leipzig Manchester Bridgewater Hall

In 1989, the Monday Demonstrations met on the Augustusplatz. Soon the Wall and the GDR fell, and on 3 Oct 1990 Germany was reunified.

New construction began. The Augustusplatz was remodelled. An underground car park was built and a pond and fountain were added. Not everyone was happy. People said the air vents looked like giant candles.

Regarding the Paulinerkirche, some wanted it to be rebuilt like the Frauenkirche in Dresden, but the university had other plans. Architect Erick van Egeraat created a building that pays homage to the Paulinerkirche but doesn’t try to recreate it.

Interior of the Paulinum Leipzig

The interior is impressive. It’s used as the university church and meeting hall.

Controversies continue. Across the Augustusplatz, there were protests in 2015 against plans for the post office building.

The story is not over. In fact, it will never be over. Cities change. Cities are changed for better or for worse by politicians and planners. Let’s hope that, despite all this, the true character of the city can shine through.

Filed Under: AVZ-EN, Manchester

Hidden facts about the Liver Building and the Liver birds

2020-12-01 By Aidan O'Rourke 17 Comments

Video embedded at 23.56 hrs on Friday 18.12.2020. Video uploaded 16.12.2020 26 views after 3 days.
In mid-2020 I wrote a new and extended version of this article, which is one of the most popular articles on my aidan.co.uk site. In December 2020 I made a new video entitled 27 Facts about the Liver Building. It appears on my AVZINE YouTube Channel.

So if you watch the video above and read the article below, you will learn a lot about this amazing building.

But there are still some questions that are unanswered, which I list at the bottom of the page. If you have any answers please leave a message. In honour of Carl Bernard Bartels, I have also produced a German-language version of the video. Many thanks for watching and please subscribe to my AVZINE channel.

The Royal Liver Building is the most famous building in Liverpool and it is admired and loved by both local people and visitors. It’s located on the Pier Head, overlooking the River Mersey. Its two clock towers, and the two iconic Liver birds standing on top of them, can be seen from all over the city. It was constructed between 1908 and 1911 and is one of the so-called Three Graces. The other two are the Cunard Building, built 1914-1917, and the Port of Liverpool building, 1904-1907.  

The Liver Building is one of the most familiar sights in Liverpool and you’ll find plenty of information about it in tourist guides and on websites. But certain facts about the Liver Building are shrouded in mystery, and there are some questions to which I’ve not found any clear answers. I will list them at the end.

Hidden Facts about the Liver Building and the Liver Birds

1. The Liver Building is made out of reinforced concrete with a granite façade.

You’ll read that the Liver Building is made out of reinforced concrete. Its use of reinforced concrete for the structure of the building was ground-breaking at the time it was built. But it’s also important to know that the exterior is clad – or covered – in granite. The granite has a pale shade of brown, unlike the white Portland stone used on the Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings. I’ve heard people say this colour is not very attractive but I don’t find that. It’s part of its unique character.

2. The Liver Building is built on one-third of a filled-in dock.

I used to wonder, why is it that on Liverpool’s Pier Head, there are three magnificent buildings, rectangular in floor plan, standing side by side? And then I discovered that all three were constructed on what used to be St George’s Dock. It was drained and the site was prepared for new buildings.

Water Street and Brunswick Street were extended across the former dock, dividing it into three. Three buildings then appeared where ships used to moor. And here’s another hidden fact: if you turned the clock back a few centuries, and looked from St Nicholas church, the Three Graces would be out in the river. The entire Pier Head and dock system is built on reclaimed land.

Liver Building clock face at dusk 22.09.1999
The Liver Building and the Tower Building 22.05.2005
Liver Building facade and clock tower 23.05.2005
The Liver Building, Cunard Building and Cunard Liner Caronia
View along the Albert Dock towards the Three Graces. The new building constructed on Mann juts in on the right, obscuring the view of the Port of Liverpool Building
The Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building reflected in the Albert Dock (Image turned upside down and flipped horizontally)

3. The inner courtyard walls have been covered with a modern glass façade.

In 2011, I visited the Liver Building to take photographs for the book ‘Liverpool Then and Now’, and I was shocked to discover that the interior facade has been covered in a glass skin similar to a 1960s office block. I didn’t take a photograph of it, as I didn’t want to spoil the image I had in my mind. Since its completion in 1911 the Liver Building, like most commercial buildings, has been altered and renovated, but I’m not sure when the glass wall was added. That’s another one of my questions at the end.

4. The riverside clock tower has three faces, the landside tower has only one.

I’ve been looking at the Liver Building for many years but had never quite fully noticed that the four clock faces are split between the two clock towers. On the west tower, there are three clock faces looking north, west and south, respectively.

On the east tower, there is only one clock face, looking east over the city centre. And here’s another hidden fact: all four clocks are controlled by the same mechanism. I don’t quite understand how that works, so that’s another question, which I’ve added to the list at the end.

5. The clock faces are bigger than those on the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster in London.

The clock faces of the Liver Building are bigger than the ones on the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, completed in 1859. These are 23 feet or seven metres wide but the Liver Building clock faces are 25 feet wide or 7.6 m.

One information source stated that the clock on the front of Shell Mex House, further down the Thames, is bigger. But it’s not a proper clock face, just a section of the façade onto which clock hands and hour markers have been fixed. The Liver Building clock faces are proper clock faces made of metal and opaque glass, and they are recognised as the biggest in the UK.

The Pier Head and Three Graces, Liverpool

The Wrigley Building, Chicago

6. It looks similar to some early skyscrapers in the United States.

The Liver Building is said to closely resemble the Allegheny Court House in  Pittsburgh, built in 1884 and Adler & Sullivan’s Schiller Theatre in Chicago, built in 1891 and demolished in 1961.

I think it looks very similar to the Wrigley Building in Chicago, but that building dates from 1924. Could the Liver Building have influenced architecture on the other side of the Atlantic, just as Birkenhead Park influenced Central Park in New York?

7. The clock faces are the largest electronically driven clocks in the UK.

The Liver Building clocks are the biggest electronically driven clocks in the UK and this is a reminder that the building brings together both traditional and modern elements. The ornamented clock tower conforms to classic architectural principles you’ll see in world architecture, including Islamic architecture, but the mechanism of the clock is pure 20th century.

Liver Building clock face at dusk 22.09.1999

Liver Building clock face at dusk 22.09.1999

8. There are no bells inside the towers of the Liver Building.

There are bell towers on town halls and cathedrals including Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, and you can often hear them ringing. But inside the clock towers of the Liver Building, there are no bells. It made no sound at all until 1953 when a chiming mechanism was installed in memory of Royal Liver staff killed during two world wars.

The chimes were made using piano wires hit by hammers and the sound was amplified using a microphone, amplifier and speaker. This device gradually deteriorated and was out of operation for around four years. But in 2016, the chimes returned, thanks to the Cumbrian Clock Company, who are responsible for the maintenance of the clocks. They recorded the old chimes and saved the audio onto a hard drive. This sound is played throughout the day and the evening through a large speaker located under the cupola of the west tower.

It doesn’t sound quite like a real bell, but it’s better than no bell at all. I was intrigued to discover that when the building was under construction, there had been plans to put real bells in the tower and some space was set aside to accommodate them. But in the end, no bells were installed for fear that they would be too heavy for the new style of construction using reinforced concrete.

Composite image showing the tallest towers in NW England (05.05.2006)

Composite image showing the tallest towers in NW England (05.05.2006)

9. The Liver Birds were designed by a German.

This fact was remained hidden from many many years. It was only in recent years that the identity of the person who created the metal cormorant-like birds was revealed. He was Carl Bernard Bartels, a German emigré artist born in Stuttgart. He came to live in England in 1887 after falling in love with the country. A competition was held to design and build the two birds that would be placed on the roof of the Liver Building, and he won.

A few years after the Liver Building was completed, the First World War began and there was a strong anti-German feeling. Carl Bernard Bartels was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien and deported in 1918. He returned to England in the mid-twenties and spent the rest of his life there. Carl Bernard Bartels created Liverpool’s most famous pair of icons, but this fact was kept hidden until the late 20th century because he was German. Inside the Liver Building, there is now a plaque in his honour.

Memorial to Carl Bernard Bartels, sculpture and designer of the Liver birds 1866-1955
Close-up of east-facing Liver Bird (Bertie)
West-facing Liver Bird (Bella)
West-facing Liver Bird (Bella) holding branch

So, those are what I believe to be the surprising facts – at least, they surprised me when I first found out about them. Let’s continue with more generally known facts.

10. The Liver Building was designed by local architect Walter Aubrey Thomas

The Royal Liver Building was designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas, a Liverpool-based architect who was born in New Brighton, Cheshire in 1864. He designed many buildings in Liverpool city centre. I was interested to discover he designed a listed building on Lord Street which has distinctive stripes and an arch.

The Liver Building and the Tower Building 22.05.2005

The Liver Building and the Tower Building 22.05.2005

I took a picture of the Liver Building from the corner of Water Street, zooming in on the clock tower. There’s another building to the right, a white building. That other building is the Tower Building, which pre-dates the Liver Building by several years. You can see it in old photos. It’s quite similar, with arches and those ‘curled’ motifs. In fact, the Tower Building was also designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas, something that is rarely mentioned, even though it stands directly opposite the Liver Building and could be seen as its precursor.

11. The Liver Building is a listed building, part of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Liver Building is a Grade 1 listed building (not Grade 1*, as one person mentioned. There is only Grade II*). A Grade 1 listed building is recognised as being of outstanding architectural merit and of national significance. That’s certainly true of the Liver Building.

It is also recognised as an important part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City. That puts the area on a par with the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids and Angkor Wat. But on the UNESCO list, it’s marked in red, because its quality and uniqueness are under threat due to proposed construction projects nearby.

The Liver Building 25.02.2009
“Festival des Flusses” am Pier Head, Liverpool , 2014
Liver Building and Moel-y-Parc transmitter
The Liver Building at dusk seen from the Mersey Ferry 22.03.2019
Liver Building clock towers at dusk 22.03.2019
Cunard and Liver Buildings seen across The Strand
Liverpool Liver Building with Isle of Man seacat

12. The clock faces have no numerals.

This may seem of little importance at first sight, but if we look at other historic clock towers, maybe ones that are slightly older, we find that most have numerals, either Arabic or Roman style, like the town halls of Birkenhead, Bradford, Rochdale and the Tower of Westminster (‘Big Ben’). With its plain clock faces, the Liver Building clocks look towards a more modern style.

13. The Liver Building clocks are called the George Clocks.

They’re called the George clocks because they were set in motion at 1.40 pm on Thursday, 22 June 1911, when George Frederick Ernest Albert Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Prince of Wales, officially became King George V. The clocks were made by Gent & Co of Leicester.

14. One of the clock faces was once used as a dinner table.

There is a photograph of one of the clock faces, which was turned into a huge banqueting table during the construction of the Liver Building. Sitting at the table are senior people from the Liver Assurance Group and Liverpool Corporation. The clock faces were later hauled up to the top of the building.

15. For many years it was the tallest building in Britain.

The Liver Building is said to be the UK’s first skyscraper, though at just 13 storeys, it doesn’t seem like much of a skyscraper. Already buildings in the United States were reaching much greater heights. But it remained the tallest building in Britain for many years. It’s 322 feet or 98.2 m to the top of the spires. It remains one of the tallest buildings in north-west England.

Composite images of the tallest towers in NW England 05.05.2006

Composite images of the tallest towers in NW England 05.05.2006

16. Each of the two Liver Birds holds something in its beak, but what is it?

The birds on the Liver Building have a wingspan of 24 feet or 7.3 metres and are 18 feet 5.5 metres high. If you look closely or zoom in with a camera, you will see that each Liver Bird is carrying something in its beak. It looks like a small twig or branch of a tree. It’s got four leaves. In most descriptions, this is identified as a piece of laver, or seaweed. The name ‘laver’ is a pun on the name ‘Liverpool’.

However, I’ve also read that it’s an olive branch. And the French language Wikipedia page states that the Liver bird holds in its beak a branch of genêt, the French word for broom, a type of bush with a yellow flower that appears in spring. Genêt is said to be a reference to the Plantagenet dynasty, who ruled England in the middle ages. Is this true? That’s another question to add to my list at the end! The Liver bird is a mythical bird, said to date back to 1207, when King John founded the borough of Liverpool by royal charter and used a bird on the seal.

17. It is named after the Royal Liver Assurance Company, but they are no longer in the building.

The building is named after the Royal Liver Assurance Company which was a friendly society.  Around the turn of the 20th century they decided to construct a new building for their 6000 staff. It remained the headquarters until Royal Liver Assurance merged with the Royal London Group in 2011. The group subsequently moved out of the building. In 2019 it’s reported to accommodate around 2000 staff working in a range of companies.

Luxembourg-based investment group, Corestate Capital, bought the building for £48 million in February 2017 along with Everton F.C. majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri. So, Liverpool’s most potent and best-loved symbol is a privately-owned office building. That’s an interesting fact. There must be very few other commercial office buildings with such an exalted status. Perhaps it’s symbolic, because Liverpool is a mercantile city whose wealth is built on business and trade (including, sadly, the slave trade).

18. The Liver Building was renovated in 2019 and also in the past.

In 2019, the Liver Building was renovated to bring it up to the standards required by today’s companies. Looking on the royalliverbuilding.com website, I see many changes have been carried out. There’s a photo of empty floor space with those semi-circular windows. But the building has not been preserved in its original state. That’s the way it is with working buildings, they have to be adapted for changing times, though seen from the outside, it looks as it did when it was first built.

Liverpool Liver Building and Pier Head with St Nicholas church

Liverpool Liver Building and Pier Head with St Nicholas church

And now we move from facts to popular legends.

19. The birds are called Bella and Bertie and if they fly away, Liverpool will cease to exist.

I’ve read from many sources, that the birds are called Bella and Bertie, but who exactly called them that? We are told that if they break away from their shackles and fly away, that will be the end of Liverpool. This story sounds like it was inspired by the ravens of the Tower of London. It’s said that if they leave the tower, the kingdom and the Tower of London will fall.

The difference is that the ravens are real birds, whereas the Liver Birds are copper sculptures weighing several tons and they’re tied down with cables. The birds face in opposite directions. It’s said that if they were facing each other, they might mate and break their moorings, causing the downfall of the city. According to another account, Bella watches over the ships and their crews while Bertie watches over the city and its people.

A variant of this is that Bella is on the lookout for handsome sailors on the arriving ships, while Bertie is checking that the pubs are open. What must he have been thinking during the 2020 Coronavirus crisis! A typically Scouse piece of humour is that the Liver Birds flap their wings every time a virgin walks along the Pier Head.

Panoramic view of Liverpool from Royal Liver 360 - 22.06.2019

Panoramic view of Liverpool from Royal Liver 360 – 22.06.2019

20. The views from the top of the Liver Building are fantastic!

There is no doubt that the views from the roof of the Liver Building are fantastic. When I wrote the previous version of this article in 2015, it wasn’t possible for the general public to enter the building and go up to the tower. Now it is! Read my review below to find out what I thought of the Royal Liver 360 visitor experience and why I was a little bit disappointed.

In 2019 Royal Liver 360 Tower Tours and Visitor Experience opened its doors. For the first time, visitors were able to go inside the building and ascend to the top of the tower. I did this in summer 2019 and I wasn’t disappointed, though I have one criticism! So here’s my quick review of the Royal Liver 360 tour and visit to the top of the building.

Liverpool City Centre seen from the top of the Liver Building-22.06.2019

Liverpool City Centre seen from the top of the Liver Building-22.06.2019

I booked in advance on the website. The ticket cost £16. The journey to the top of the building starts in the basement. The entrance is to the right of the main entrance to the Liver Building. In the reception area, there is a ticket desk and an exhibition, which is worthy of a visit in itself. There’s an impressive wooden model of the Liver Building. On the display boards, there’s information about the history of the building with many photos.

Soon it was time to start the tour. Visitors are assigned into groups and led by a friendly guide. At this point, we notice that the health and safety procedures are rigorous. There is a briefing, warning of potential hazards and telling us what to do in an emergency. This is quite different from other older attractions.

I realise it’s for our safety but it does impinge a little on the experience. The guide counts some of us into the lift and we go up. We wait for the others and then proceed out onto a balcony below the south clock face. Here we get our first glimpse of the cityscape and of one of the Liver Birds – it’s Bertie, the one facing out over the city. We can’t see Bella, she stands hidden above the tower. Our guide provides information and plenty of humorous remarks.

Next, it’s time to go up the stairs and into the interior of the clock tower, with its clock faces on three sides. In this room high above Liverpool, they’ve created an auditorium with speakers and digital projectors. Soon the lights go down.

What follows is a state-of-the-art presentation on the history of Liverpool and the Liver Building from its construction at the beginning of the century, through two world wars and up to the present day. The visuals are good, including animated 3D Liver Birds as well as many still and moving archive images. The sound is immersive and very loud. We hear the foghorns of the ships, the bombs of WW2 and finally, the song ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ by Gerry and the Pacemakers. It presents Liverpool perfectly and truly expresses the pride people have in the city.

View north from the Liver Building roof 22.06.2019

View north from the Liver Building roof 22.06.2019

Now, it’s time to go up to the top floor via a narrow staircase. Emerging into the daylight, we walk out onto the balconies and start to admire the panoramic views: the city centre to the east, the Pier Head, Albert Dock and River Mersey to the south, the view west across the river towards Birkenhead and the Welsh mountains and to the north and north-west, the docks, New Brighton and the Irish Sea. We are standing below the dome with Bella standing on top. We still can’t see her, but we can see Bertie on the other tower, standing with his back to us. He’s not being rude, he’s got an important job to do.

Many times I’ve looked across to the Liver Building from all parts of the city and from across the river.  Now it is stunning to see the view in the other direction. I start to take photos and videos, moving around each balcony and back again. I’m about to start a video shot of the city when…

Liverpool city centre seen from the Liver Building

“The tour is finished now, can you make your way back down the stairs…”

And that’s my only criticism of the Royal Liver 360 tour. You are only allowed, I think it was around 10 to 15 minutes at the top before being asked to leave. I spent a whole evening on the Shard in London and a similar amount of time and spent a few hours at the top of the Rockefeller Center in New York.

Fifteen minutes at the top of the Liver Building just isn’t enough time. I realise there are space limitations as well as health and safety considerations, but I would pay extra to spend more time up here and I’m sure a lot of other people would too. Royal Liver 360 bosses, please take note!

A few minutes later I’m back down on the Pier Head again, looking up at the iconic clock tower and hoping for an opportunity to spend a longer period up there some time in the near future.

Looking up at the facade of the Liver Building

Blick nach oben auf die Fassade des Liver Building

Personal observations and reminiscences.

The Liver Building was begun in the same year my father was born, 1908. He was christened Bertie, presumably after the popular name of George, who became King in 1911.

I remember visiting the Pier Head with my mother in the 1960s and taking the ferry to Woodside. I was captivated by the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool building. They had just been cleaned and looked as if they were made out of icing sugar. They seemed to ‘sing’, I can’t quite explain it. At that time, all the buildings in Manchester were still covered in black soot from the factories. I can’t remember much about the Liver Building, except that there were rows of green Liverpool Corporation buses parked in front of it.

Liver Building sketch by Aidan O'Rourke

Another memory from the sixties is the opening credits of the Liver Birds tv series, starring Nerys Hughes and Polly James. The grimy Liver Building can be seen from the ferry. There is an iconic shot looking up at the glamorous Nerys Hughes standing on the back of a bus, with the tower of the Liver Building behind.

In recent years I’ve followed all the changes on the Pier Head, I’ve taken photos and video of many festivals, including the Giants, I took ‘now’ shot of the building for the book ‘Liverpool Then and Now’ and went inside to capture the view of where the Liverpool Overhead Railway used to be. That’s when I saw the glass interior wall for the first time.

I’ve done some drawings too, which I am featuring on this page.

I love the Liver Building, its design, its location, the Liver Birds that stand on top of it, and all the associations it has with the history of Liverpool. I will go on admiring it and taking photos of it, like every local person and every visitor to the city. I hope to find out even more hidden facts about the Liver Building, which I will add to this page.

  • But I have some unanswered questions, some facts about the Liver Building that remain hidden, or at least not 100% clear. Can you provide any information?
  • Who exactly named the Liver Birds Bella and Bertie?
  • How are the four clocks, including one in a separate tower, controlled by one mechanism?
  • Exactly what type of branch are the Liver Birds holding in their beaks?
  • Which clock face was the one used as a dinner table?
  • Since when clock tower had an amber coloured light? I seem to remember that in the past, the light was white. Was it?
  • When was the earlier renovation carried out, during which the glass interior façade was added?
  • In what year were the Three Graces first cleaned? Was it in 1968?
  • What is the exact weight of each Liver Bird?

And here’s one extra fact: At around 11 pm on the evening of Friday 26 June, 2020, while crowds celebrated Liverpool FC’s Premier League win, someone threw a firework at the Liver Building and it started a fire on the front of the building. Mobile phone images show a blaze in front of the semi-circular window below the west tower. The fire was put out by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. Comment: Setting fire to Liverpool’s most iconic building is not the best way to celebrate Liverpool FC’s win.

Deepen your knowledge of Liverpool by watching my Beatles video launched 09.01.2021. Click ‘YouTube’ to watch on YouTube and don’t forget to ‘like’ and subscribe!

Filed Under: Architecture, AVZ-EN, Liverpool, Video Tagged With: American-style architecture, Architecture, drawings, illustration, Liver bird, Liver Building, Liverpool, Liverpool attractions, Merseyside, Pier Head

Video: Around the Manchester Airport Orbital Cycleway by electric bike

2020-11-29 By Aidan O'Rourke 1 Comment

Hello students, hello everyone! And welcome to my channel, the Audio Visual Zine. I am presenting a newer version of my video from 2019 with some extra airport scenes from 2020. It’s now in my AVZ channel format with text on screen and bilingual subtitles.

For my students, there’s a PDF file of the script with vocab and follow-up assignments. There are English and German versions, this is the English version. And do you know what this strange-looking thing is called in English?

MAN airport mock up aircraft

Watch and find out! In the video we see chilling scenes of the airport in lockdown and we look back at airlines and aircraft that have sadly gone from our skies. So let’s go now to our starting point

* * * *

We’re going to cycle around Manchester Airport and our mode of transport will be an electric bike.

Our starting point is one mile or 1.6 kilometres east of the airport.

On the way we will stop at places where you can view, photograph or video the aircraft.

Now we are standing directly under the approach to runway 23R/05L (twenty-three right zero five left).

These houses were demolished due to safety regulations. This is what it looks like today.

The name Shadowmoss Road reminds me of the Shadowmoss plane crash of 1957, Manchester’s forgotten air disaster.

Today there are about 500 aircraft movements every day at Manchester Airport. Safety standards are very high.

Aircraft land from the north-east and take off towards the south-west. When the wind blows from the east, they take off towards the north-east.

The Airport Hotel is a pub, and there’s a garden where you can watch the planes taking off.

Aer Lingus plane taking off at dusk

Here is my photo of an Aer Lingus A320, which I took in 2007.

With the iPhone we can photograph and video the planes through the fence.

This is what the scene looked like almost a year later, on Sunday the 2nd of May, 2020. No passengers. Planes parked. A silent airport.

Now back to May 2019.

At Terminal 3 Please note, there’s a charge for using the Drop Off Area.

And now again twelve months later. Terminal 3 was closed. There was an eerie silence.

Back to 2019

This block dates from 1962, when a new terminal was built.

The Air traffic controllers moved to a new tower in 2013.

I visited the airport as a child. The beautiful viewing terraces were closed in the 70s.

Manchester Airport 1971 photo by Aidan

After university, I worked at Manchester Airport at the information desk. It was an exciting job.

Over the years the terminal has been extended.

The architecture of the Radisson Blu Hotel fits well into an airport

The Business Class Lounge has a great view over the apron. Behind the hedge is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines.

This is The Station, which is used by trains, trams and buses. In the Skyline there are moving walkways that are not always working.

Parking is quite expensive at Manchester Airport. The best way to get there is by public transport or use the free drop off area.

Terminal 2 is being extended. Completion is planned for 2020. When I worked here, there were only empty fields.

Right next to the airport there is an old half-timbered house.

On the way to the cargo centre I saw this handmade road sign.

SLOW SLIPPY BEND

Slippery is “slippy” in the Manchester dialect.

We are at the World Freight Terminal. This is the new control tower.

The Romper Pub is very popular among the airport staff.

The airport was named after the neighbouring village of Ringway. It is strange that the ancient name ‘Ringway’ sounds like the modern word ‘runway’.

At Runway Viewing Park you can watch the planes. Admission is free for cyclists and pedestrians.

The biggest attraction here is Concorde. You can book a Concorde tour on the website.

Here is my photo of Concorde on the 22nd of October 2003 after her final flight.

On Sundays families come here.

Over the PA there’s is even a running commentary.

We now continue along the A538 and pass a brand new petrol station.

My first car was a Triumph Spitfire. I once ran out of petrol at exactly this point!

We are between the two tunnels. The new tunnel runs under the second runway – ‘23L/05R’ two three left zero five right.

At this roundabout, we turn left.

20 years ago, environmental activists protested in the trees and under the ground against the construction of the second runway.

At that time, this road, Altrincham Rd closed.

We can continue through the National Trust’s Styal property.

The airport is just behind the trees.

We are cycling along the gravel path by the southern perimeter of the airport.

Here we can stop and watch the planes from a small hill.

Here are some archive photos. The BMI A330. BMI ceased operations in 2019. Here an American Airlines Boeing 767 in the old livery…

…and this is the new livery. Thomas Cook Airlines went into administration in September 2019. And taxiing majestically to the runway, the ‘Queen of the Skies’

Virgin Atlantic retired the last Boeing 747s from its fleet in May 2020.

The Emirates Airbus A380 is a major attraction.

This area is not officially approved as a viewing area by the National Trust.

Here Altrincham Road continues east. On both sides are houses and farms.

And here at sunset we find a field with horses. The airport lies directly behind it.

The battery still has some power, so let’s continue. Here on the left we see the mock-up aircraft of the airport fire services.

At the end of this road, we turn left into Styal Road and soon we are back at our starting point.

We have covered a distance of 7.5 miles or 12 km.

This video was recorded and edited on the iPhone. I also used a Panasonic TZ70.

Finally a sunset over the A555, which I captured a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, my electric bike became unserviceable – kaputt in plain language – and I had to retire it. But now I have a new bike, it’s a Brompton B75! It’s fantastic.

So, what effect will the Corona crisis have on the airline industry? That’s difficult to say. Many thanks for watching the video and/or reading this article.

Filed Under: Aviation, AVZ-EN, Manchester, Travel & Transport

Building boom in Manchester – Article & video – AVZINE by Aidan O’Rourke

2020-10-26 By Aidan O'Rourke

In Manchester, for quite a few years now, a massive construction boom has been going on. From a distance, for instance from the airport some 8 miles or 13 kilometres to the south, the new towers of Deansgate Square actually look like a small Manhattan.

New buildings are appearing in many parts of the city. Everywhere you can see cranes. On every corner you can hear the sound of pneumatic hammers, power saws and drills.

The shape of the slim residential towers reminds me a lot of the Twin Towers of New York

Twin Towers + Deansgate Towers - sketch by Aidan O'Rourke

Did the designers have this idea in mind when they first drew outlines on the back of an envelope? I would like to find out!

On brownfield sites, we can see new city districts, commercial developments, office buildings with co-working spaces, apartment buildings, multi-storey car parks, shops, cafes, restaurants, gardens and infrastructure such as access roads, footpaths and pedestrian bridges being built

According to the Office of National Statistics, construction levels in Manchester in 2018 were ten times the national average.

In Manchester, building regulations are different to other major British cities. There are no height restrictions. The city’s planning department gives the project developers free rein.

Manchester CIS Tower

In the 1960s, Manchester got the CIS Tower and a few other high-rise buildings. In the 80s and 90s, development in the city remained dormant.

On the 15th of June 1996, an IRA bomb exploded on Corporation Street. It destroyed an entire city district. Fortunately, no people were killed, although around 200 were injured.

In the years that followed, a large part of the city centre was rebuilt. Unfortunately, some historic buildings were lost during this time. They were soon forgotten and the transformation of the city continued.

In 2006 the Beetham Tower became the tallest building in Manchester, overtaking the CIS building.

Now, several projects under construction will far exceed the height of the Beetham Tower.

And so we can see how Manchester is becoming ‘Manc-hattan’, even though its new skyscrapers are much smaller than those in New York! Manc-topia is the name of a BBC documentary which takes a look behind the scenes at the new ‘makers of Manchester’.

Most commercial projects are being built on the edge of the city centre on brownfield sites. Here once stood factories and industrial buildings that were demolished.

These areas were mostly used as car parks until a few years ago, when the building boom took hold.

There are several “hotspots” where new construction projects are reaching higher and higher into the sky.

The most spectacular example is located a little bit south of the city centre.
.
The Deansgate Square development consists of four towers of various heights with apartments starting at around 259,000 pounds or 280,000 euros.

In 2018 the South Tower became the tallest building in Manchester at a height of 201 metres or 660 feet, with 65 floors. The project is being developed by Renaker.

Oxford Road BBC site 2006 + 2020

On the former site of the BBC on Oxford Road, Circle Square is being built, a new district with apartment buildings, living space for students and professionals, workspaces and a new city park.

The new project contrasts with the old six-storey BBC building. Developers are Bruntwood and Vita.

There are many other projects, here are a few more examples:

The Mayfield Depot, where a new city district will emerge from a former station building and its surroundings.

On the east side of the city centre, further apartment buildings are being built next to the Ashton Canal and the new marina

Unfortunately, the renovation of the former Ancoats Dispensary has been stopped. An application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was rejected. At the moment the renovation project is being kept on ice.

I find it scandalous that while millions of pounds are being spent on new construction projects in Ancoats, this important historic building stands empty and derelict.

In my opinion, the developers should use some of their profits to help to finally bring this project to realisation.

And now a few more new projects: On Crown Street, Elizabeth Tower and Victoria Tower are under construction with 664 apartments and a swimming pool on the 44th floor.

the ‘Blade’ and Cylinder’ towers will offer 855 apartments.

Several new projects offer only rental apartments, plus facilities such as fitness centres, restaurants and communal areas.

Angel Gardens on the north side of the city centre has been completed for some time now. There are studio apartments available here from £1,000 a month. This includes access to a fitness centre, cinema, workspace, library, residents’ association and other facilities.

Affordable housing is an important issue. Manchester is a city of contrasts. Here on the street you will encounter people from all income groups from the homeless to millionaires.

Unfortunately, many of the new projects offer little or no affordable housing.

On the former site of Granada Studios, ‘The Factory’ cultural centre is under construction. The architect is Rem Koolhass from the Netherlands, and his company Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)

The largest and most distinctive project is probably Trinity Islands. It was approved in 2017 and will be built on the southwest edge of the city centre on a former car park next to the River Irwell.

The project offers almost 1,400 apartments and consists of five towers. The largest, Tower X with 67 floors, will reach to a height of 213 metres or nearly 700 feet. It will be the tallest building in Greater Manchester and the tallest in Britain outside London.

‘A vertical village with gardens and communal areas in the sky’ is how the project is described in publicity materials. Affordable apartments for city centre workers are also said to be part of the scheme, and I’m glad to hear it will offer a public observation platform.

Deansgate Square towers seen from Manchester Airport

So how will the new Manchester look? Will all income groups have a share in it? Will the new ‘Manc-hattan’ be a place where people will want to stay or will they later move out into the suburbs to live in a house?

How long will the construction boom last? What effect will the corona crisis have on the development of Manchester.

These are questions to which I do not have an answer, but I will continue – from a distance – to observe the development of Manc-hattan.

Filed Under: Architecture, AVZ-EN, Manchester

The UK and German healthcare systems compared

2020-10-08 By Aidan O'Rourke 2 Comments

I am a coach in languages and I’m keen to explore issues concerning the UK and Germany. This presentation is mostly in English but I also include some examples of German words and phrases to do with healthcare. You can’t talk about healthcare in Germany without using some German.

Following a suggestion from a fellow pro-European campaigner, she was campaigning in favour of the NHS, I decided to look at the question of how the UK’s National Health Service compares to the health system in Germany.

This is just a very brief overview of a complex subject. I’m going to give some personal opinions as well as general information based on my research. There are some statistics as well.

I’ve tried to ensure everything is factually correct, though some information may not be completely accurate and it will go out of date.

Revised version published by Aidan O’Rourke | Sunday the 30th of August, 2020

So which health system is better? The British NHS or the German healthcare system?

Es ist kompliziert! It’s complicated!

OK, so what is the fundamental difference between the UK system and the German system?
The UK’s NHS is owned and run by the state and it’s free at the point of use.

The German system is mostly free at the point of use but it’s paid for through contributions to a health insurance scheme that’s closely regulated by the state.

The money to pay for your healthcare is taken directly out of your salary. The amount appears on your wage slip. This money goes into a health fund – ein Gesundheitsfonds and then into your chosen Krankenkasse or health insurance ‘pot’. In the UK, the money to support the health system is provided by the government, mostly through general taxation.

The NHS was launched in 1948 at what was then called Park Hospital in Urmston near Manchester. Today it’s Trafford General Hospital. A blue plaque commemorates the launch.

British people are proud of their NHS and they often compare it to the US system. They like the fact that it’s free, unlike the American system which relies mostly on private health insurance.

Aneurin Bevan – he was from Wales and that’s a Welsh name – was Labour health minister from 1945 and he is credited as the father of the NHS. There’s a statue of him on Queen Street in the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

The Charité hospital, East Berlin (GDR) 1985.

The UK system is more like the old GDR system and that’s not a criticism. The East German health system provided a good, basic service, though without the expensive equipment found in the West.

After the end of Communism – nach der Wende – the West German system was introduced into the East.
The German system goes back to the late 19th century, when under Otto von Bismarck, Germany pioneered the welfare state.

That system is still in use today. Krankenkassen are non-profit making organisations that are governed by strict regulations.

The biggest state-run Krankenkasse is the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse – which you could translate as the general local health insurance organisation. It’s not easy to translate so we’ll just say Krankenkasse.

You’ll find a wide range of private Krankenkassen offering a range of health insurance packages at different contribution levels.

You are required by law to pay into a Krankenkasse. If you earn above a certain amount, you can insure yourself with a private Krankenkasse. Many cater for specific professions.

Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital

In the UK, the National Health Service is paid for by the government. The amount paid by the government varies depending on which political party is in power.

Statistics indicate that the NHS received considerably more money under Labour governments than the Conservatives, though of course, the Conservatives dispute this.

Uniklinik Köln / Cologne

Cologne Uniklinikum

It’s important to note that the UK also has a private healthcare system which people can gain access to by paying for private health insurance. People also receive private healthcare as a benefit or perk of their job.

So in theory, whether you are in Germany or in the UK, if you have a higher income and/or a better job, you can get better healthcare by paying more.

The NHS has had a funding crisis for many years – German system is not perfect but it’s well-funded.
Due to Brexit, the NHS now has a serious staffing crisis. Many staff have left and fewer people than before are being recruited from the rest of Europe.

Brexit is bad for the NHS for three reasons: The staffing problems, the effects on the NHS of a possible US trade deal and simply the fact that the NHS is paid for through ongoing taxation.

Brexit is costing the UK a huge amount. Less money from taxation means less money for the NHS.
The claim by the Leave campaign that the UK sends £350m a week to the EU and that this money can instead be paid to the NHS was false and deliberately misleading.

Which hospitals are reputed to be the best in the UK and in Germany? I don’t think it’s possible to give a reliable answer to that question, but there are certainly some famous hospitals: in the UK, Guy’s Hospital in London, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, The Christie in Manchester and more.

In Germany we would think of the Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, the Charité in Berlin, Asklepios Klinik Barmbek – Hamburg and the Uniklinikum Köln, are all highly regarded. And by the way Klinik in German can refer to a hospital, not just a small health centre, as in English.

So what are the practical differences between UK and German hospitals? To gain an impression, I went for a walk around a few hospitals in the UK and in Germany.

One thing I noticed walking around the Uniklinik in Cologne is that each department or unit functions as an independent practice. For instance I saw a Notfallpraxis – an emergency practice for children and young people.

In the UK most departments and units display the NHS logo. Healthcare services including hospitals, health centres and emergency ambulance services are organised under NHS trusts. An NHS trust is a non-profit making organisation set up to provide healthcare services.

As of April 2020 there are 217 trusts, and they employ around 800,000 of the NHS’s 1.2 million staff, information from Wikipedia.

Many hospitals in Germany are run by religious organisations, such as the Evangelische Kirche, Germany’s Lutheran Protestant church.

Fresenius Medical Care, Stockport NHS Dialysis Unit

Some medical services are provided to the NHS by outside companies, for instance Fresenius, a German-based company that provides dialysis services.

At UK hospitals you’ll see adverts for fundraising – which is often needed to pay for basic hospital equipment, such as scanners.

In Germany you just don’t see this. Pretty much all the main medical services in Germany are fully funded. This is especially true of hospices. St Ann’s Hospice near Manchester receives just over a third of its funding from the NHS. That means it needs to raise around £20,000 every day just to keep the hospice running.

They organise glamorous celebrity dinners, midnight runs and many other events. They also run charity shops, but is it right that a facility providing a basic healthcare service needs to do this to raise money? In Germany hospices are fully funded.

Here are some more differences I found: The emergency ambulances in Germany have a two-tone sound, but in the UK, they have an oscillating tone. The German siren is called the Martinshorn, named after the company that makes it.

In the UK the emergency ambulances are yellow and green and in Germany they’re red, like the trains. In both countries you’ll often see the same basic vehicle, the German-built Mercedes Sprinter.
On the side of the ambulance in the UK, you’ll see the emergency number 999 and you can dial 111 for non-emergency medical issues and advice.

Ambulances in the UK and Germany

In Germany and other mainland European countries, the emergency number for fire brigade and ambulance is 112. The 112 number also works in the UK and on any GSM phone anywhere in the world.
In recent years in the UK, smaller hospitals have closed and their services, including A&E – Accident and Emergency – have transferred to larger single-site hospitals.

At hospitals in Germany, car parking is generally free for a period, then there’s a charge. This is also the case in Britain, though some have very expensive charges, for instance Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport.

Examples of hospital parking charges UK and Germany

If you are a citizen of another EU state visiting Germany, you can receive healthcare on the same basis as German nationals

This is one of the many advantages of EU membership. The cost of any treatment is charged to the home country of the visitor.

You can travel throughout the whole of the EU plus some additional countries, and receive treatment on the same basis as nationals. It’s not necessary to take out medical insurance, as you do when travelling to the United States, for instance.

I once had a bike accident in Germany, and I was given first class treatment at the local hospital. I just showed them my British passport, the bill was charged to the UK. I didn’t have to pay anything.

The loss of this intelligent and cost-effective healthcare arrangement for the UK and its citizens, especially older people living in other parts of Europe, is one of the many dreadful consequences of Brexit.

If you’re from the UK and suffer illness or have an accident in Germany, you will, thanks to Brexit, most likely have to pay for it yourself, or buy travel insurance before you leave.

At least you’ll be able to gain first hand experience of healthcare in Germany and so you’ll be better able to answer the question of which country has the better system, the UK or Germany.
In the course of my research I found an interesting video on the BBC website with some useful information:

Waiting times for operations are shorter in Germany, typically three to four weeks. In England most people have to wait 22 months for orthopaedic operations. Orthopaedic, that’s the branch of medicine that deals with problems of bones or muscles.

  • Germany has three doctors per 1000 population. The UK has two.
  • Germany has three times as many hospital beds compared to the UK.
  • Germany spends 11.7% of its GDP on health, Britain 10%.
  • Most Germans pay 7% of their income for healthcare. Their employer pays the same.

Most people I’ve spoken to who are familiar with the German healthcare system say it offers a higher standard of service.But people in Germany have to pay for their system directly out of their salary. Some pay many hundreds of euros each month. That’s possible because of Germany’s strong economy.

The British healthcare system provides a good service, and though people don’t pay contributions directly towards the health system, the NHS is paid for through taxation and a share of National Insurance contributions.

Despite its current difficulties, the majority of people in Britain are proud of their health service and they appreciate the work done by medical professionals at all levels.

By a large majority they still support the original idea of the NHS, that is, to provide universal healthcare that’s free at the point of use.

So that’s it, a quick, hopefully informative and maybe entertaining overview of a very complex subject, which I hope will arouse your curiosity to find out more.

If you’re interested in learning German, go to www.aidan.co.uk.

If you’re visiting Germany, I wish you gute Reise! and if you’ve visiting the UK, enjoy your trip. And to all EU nationals visiting another EU country, don’t forget to bring your EHIC card!

Here’s the link to the BBC video I found.

Filed Under: AVZ-EN, German, Manchester, Popular, Stockport Tagged With: British hospitals, das britische Gesundheitswesen, das deutsche Gesundheitswesen, doctors in Germany, German health system, German hospitals, travelling in Germany, UK healthcare

The Welsh influence in Liverpool, the Scouse accent and the Welsh Streets

2020-10-07 By Aidan O'Rourke

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There are many connections between Liverpool and Wales. It’s said that Liverpool is regarded by many people in North Wales as their capital, not Cardiff. The Welsh accent has influenced the Liverpool accent, and the border with Wales is just twelve and a half miles down the road from Birkenhead. You can see the Clwydian hills from many parts of the city including Toxteth in the south.

Looking west along Althorp Street, Dingle, Liverpool with a view of the River Mersey, the Wirral and the Clwydian Hills in the distance

The view over the Liverpool region from the A55 in Flintshire, North Wales, is magnificent.

Welsh people started to migrate to Liverpool in the 18th century. In 1813 around 8000 people or 10% of the residents of Liverpool were Welsh.

They created communities around the city and Welsh was the dominant language in those places.

As in other British cities there are streets named after places in Wales such as Denbigh Road in Walton und Barmouth Way in Vauxhall.

But the most important symbol of the Welsh influence in Liverpool is the area called the Welsh streets in Toxteth, next to Princes Park, about a 10 minute bus ride south of the city centre.

The street names, and I’ll try and say them Welsh-style, include Wynnstay Street, Voelas Street, Rhiwlas Street, Powis Street, Madryn Street, Kinmel Street, Gwydir Street, Pengwern Steet, Treborth Street, Dovey Street, Teilo Street and Elwy Street.

These streets were built by Welsh building workers during the 19th century. The houses were designed by Welsh architect Richard Owens, who also designed many terraced houses in Liverpool as well as churches in North Wales.

Over the years the area became became run down. In the 2000s, there was plans to demolish the Welsh Streets, including the house where Ringo Starr was born – 9 Madryn Street. Local residents were generally in favour of refurbishment rather than demolition. The houses were vacated and prepared for being pulled down.

9 Madryn Street before 06.05.2018 renovation

9 Madryn Street 06.05.2018 before renovation

Beatles tours continued to the area, fans wrote messages on the front of the boarded up house.

The organisations SAVE Britain’s Heritage and the National Trust campaigned for the area to be renovated, especially because of its significance in the story of the Beatles.

A new plan was drawn up by Placefirst, a company based in Manchester that designs, builds and refurbishes homes for rent. Around three quarters of the houses in the Welsh Streets have been retained and renovated. Today, Ringo Starr’s old house looks almost new.

In October 2019 the Transformation of Welsh Streets by Placefirst was named UK’s Best Residential Project in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors awards.

The Welsh influence in Liverpool declined during the 20th century. According to the 2001 census, around 1.17% of the population were born in Wales, but there are plenty more people in the city who have Welsh ancestors.

For me the clearest evidence of the Welsh influence in Liverpool is the accent. The up-and-down intonation of the Scouse accent is similar to the Welsh accent in English or with the Welsh language, yr iaith Gymraeg. In the Scouse accent, we can literally hear the influence of all those people who migrated from Wales to Liverpool in past centuries.

There’s also an Irish influence on the Liverpool accent but that’s another story.

The patron saint of Wales is Saint David, or Dewi Sant in Welsh. Saint David’s Day is celebrated every year in Liverpool, in Wales and around the world, on 1 March.

Sunset over the Mersey from the Albert Dock 28.08.2020

Filed Under: AVZ-EN, E-List, Liverpool, Popular, Wirral Tagged With: accents, language, Liverpool, Liverpool Welsh, Merseyside, North Wales, scousers, Wales heritage, Welsh culture, Welsh language

The Bayreuth and Glyndebourne Festivals – Article in English and German

2020-09-28 By Aidan O'Rourke

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Article and Videopodcast in German und English

GERMAN VERSION

This feature is about two music events in Europe: Bayreuth and Glyndebourne.

Both festivals are family-run enterprises and take place every year.

On the ‘Green Hill’ in Bayreuth, the Bayreuth Festival has taken place since 1876.

On the programme are Richard Wagner’s final ten operas. Occasionally Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is also played.

The festival runs from late July to late August. Performances generally start at 4:00 pm and finish around 10:00 pm.

There are breaks of one hour each, when guests can sample the cuisine, or go for a walk in the beautiful gardens.

The premieres are attended by VIPs such as the President of Germany, the Bavarian Prime Minister and the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.

Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig in 1813. His works had a great influence on European music.
He chose the city of Bayreuth for his vision: a festival theatre with a unique design and special acoustics.

Only his works were to be performed there.

The festival was financed through certificates of patronage. King Ludwig II of Bavaria offered a loan.

The first festival began on the 13th of August 1876 with the complete Ring des Nibelungen.

Wagner died in Venice in 1883. His widow Cosima directed the festival from 1886.

In the beginning there were financial problems, but things got better over the years.
In 1908 Cosima gave her son Siegfried Wagner the management of the festival. His wife was Winifred Wagner who was born in London.

Prominent guests at this time were Thomas Mann, Igor Stravinsky and William Somerset Maugham.
After the First World War, patronage certificates were sold again.

In 1930 Siegfried Wagner died at the age of 61 and Winifred took over the management of the festival.

She was a friend of Adolf Hitler and after 1933 the festival received state funding. Later it was misused by the Nazi regime for propaganda purposes.

After the war, Winifred handed the management over to her sons Wieland and Wolfgang, grandchildren of Richard Wagner.

The festival has taken place every year since 1950, apart from 2020.

Katharina Wagner, great-granddaughter of the composer, is director today.

With its grand atmosphere, the festival is a unique experience. Visitors say that the spirit of Richard Wagner can still be felt on the Green Hill – ‘auf dem Grünen Hügel’.

And now we go to Glyndebourne in the south of England. The opera house was built in 1933 in the grounds of Glyndebourne House, a 16th century country manor.

The festival was founded by John Christie, a wealthy landowner and music lover.

In 1931 he married the Canadian soprano Audrey Mildmay. Together they visited the Salzburg and Bayreuth festivals.

They planned their own festival with a focus on the Mozart repertoire.

At this time the conductor Fritz Busch from Dresden and Carl Ebert, artistic director of the Städtische Oper Berlin, came to England.

Both were against the expulsion of Jewish musicians and therefore had to leave Germany. In addition, there was opera director Rudolf Bing from Austria, who came from a Jewish family.

Together with John Christie they founded the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1934.

The first festival opened on the 28th of May 1934 with Mozart’s The Wedding of Figaro and Così fan tutte. It was a great success. There were no festivals held in the war years.

After the death of John Christie in 1962, his son George took over as director, and from 2000 George’s son Gus.

Between 1992 and 1994 a new opera house with 1200 seats was built. The architect was Michael Hopkins.

It’s said that Glyndebourne is a very British-style musical experience. Opera fans traditionally use the long intermissions to have a picnic in the park, where there are beautiful views of the Sussex countryside.

It wasn’t until 2003 that for the first time, a Wagner opera was performed, namely Tristan and Isolde.

It was the original idea of founder John Christie to establish a British Bayreuth.

Whether in England or Germany, classical music belongs to Europe and the world.
Bayreuth and Glyndebourne are great examples of European cultural cooperation.

Filed Under: About Music, AVZ-EN Tagged With: all about music, classical music, Glyndebourne festival, Glyndebourne John Christie, music, opera, opera house glyndebourne, operas by Wagner, Richard Wagner operas, ride of the valkyries, Wagner Germany, Wagner music

The amazing history of Gander Airport, a visual Podcast

2020-09-23 By Aidan O'Rourke Leave a Comment

Article and Visual Podcast in English and German versions

CLICK TO TO GO TO THE GERMAN VERSION

Why was the airport that was once the biggest in the world built in the middle of a wilderness? The answer is actually quite simple.

Gander International Airport is situated on the island of Newfoundland in the north-east of Canada

The airport was built in the 1930s north of Gander Lake around 60 km west of the coast which is often fog-bound. There was also a railway line there.

The range of the aircraft of that time was insufficient for direct flights between Europe and North America. They had to make an intermediate stop and refuel.

Gander and also the Irish airport Shannon became important springboards across the Atlantic. Both airports lie on the route between north-west Europe and north-east America, the shortest connection between the two continents.

Building work began in June 1936. At that time, Newfoundland was a self-governing British Dominion. The town of Gander was built to house the building workers and airport employees.

The first aircraft landed on the 11th of January 1938. In November of the same year operations began. Four paved runways were built, the longest named 03/21, with a length of 10,200 feet or 3109 metres.

After it opened, Gander quickly became biggest airport in the world. In the Second World War, the Gander station of the Royal Canadian Air Force was of great strategic importance.

On the 10th of November 1940 seven American military aircraft departed on a test flight from Gander to Belfast. All seven landed there safely.

After that, more than 20,000 fighter planes flew from the USA to Europe, with a refuelling stop in Gander. Supplies were brought to Britain and to the European front.

Approximately 20,000 people from the U.S. Air Force lived around the airbase.

After the war the local authorities regained responsibility for the airport and it wasn’t long until civilian aviation started.

At that time flying was risky. The strict safety standards of today did not exist.
Despite the risks, more and more people wanted to fly. Soon the big propeller airliners of BOAC, Pan Am and TWA were making the flight across the Atlantic.

At that time the journey from London to New York could take up to 18 hours.

Gander became the hub of commercial aviation ‘Crossroads of the World’ was the slogan.

In the 1950s, 13,000 aircraft carrying 25,000 passengers landed and took off every year at Gander airport.

The passengers at this time were often privileged people, such as film stars and leading politicians.

In the boom years, the rich and famous came into the improvised departure lounge, where they drank cocktails and were photographed. Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor and Winston Churchill were visitors to Gander.

On the 29th of June, 1959 a new terminal was opened by the Queen, but the boom years were to end soon. The DC4s, Stratocruisers and Constellations of the 40s and 50s soon became outmoded.
The Boeing 707 revolutionised transatlantic air travel.

This jet aircraft had a range of 8000 kilometres and could cross the Atlantic direct from London to New York in only eight hours.

And so traffic at Gander decreased rapidly during the 1960s, but the airport was still important for military purposes.

In 1964 Jack James became Airport General Manager. He didn’t just work here, he lived here. The airport was his life and he devoted himself to the commercial success of Gander.

In the late 60s, he targeted the Eastern Block countries. Their Tupolevs and Ilyushins used too much fuel for longer flights.

Soviet Union IL62 stamp - Sowjetunion Briefmarke IL62 Flugzeug

Soviet Union stamp – IL 62 aircraft (public domain)

They flew regularly back and forth to Communist Cuba. Aircraft belonging to Aeroflot and the GDR airline Interflug became regular visitors to Gander.

Aeroflot came with around 60 flights per week. The crews were stationed at Gander. The Eastern Block airlines opened offices at the airport or in Gander.

Eastern Block heads of state such as Brezhnev and Honecker were personally welcomed by the airport director. Fidel Castro had his first ‘winter wonderland’ when as a guest of the airport management, he rode a toboggan in the snow.

Communist rulers were the new VIPs at the airport but their subjects saw an opportunity to escape.

After landing, the passengers always came into the terminal while the plane was being refuelled.

The waiting area did not officially belong to Canada, but if a passenger wanted to stay in Canada it was possible.

He or she could go to a member of the security staff and simply say the words ‘Save me’. That meant that the person was asking for political asylum.

From that moment on they were accepted by the Canadian authorities. The security police of the Communist country they had come from could do nothing.

In the documentary film ‘Gander, the airport in the middle of nowhere’ by Roland May, Wolfgang Jörn from Neubukow in the GDR describes how he and his girlfriend of that time flew from Berlin Schönefeld to Cuba.

They had however already decided that they would not be returning to their socialist fatherland.

GDR Interflug Ilyshin 62 aircraft

He describes how, on the return flight, he got off the Interflug plane in Gander and came into the waiting hall. He had brought his bag with him from the aircraft.

His girlfriend went to the security guard and said ‘Save me’.

Thankfully, he and his girlfriend were successful.

He still lives near Toronto and in 2018 he went back to his home town for the first time in thirty years.

When at the beginning of the 1990s, the end of Communism came the Eastern Block airlines had to close their offices. It was a sad time for colleagues on both sides.

The plane is the safest form of transport. We know that. The last major air crash near Gander happened in the 1980s.

On the 12th of December, 1985, a chartered Douglas DC-8 of the airline Arrow Air made a refuelling stop in Gander. It was bringing US solders who had been on a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

After take-off, the plane got into a stall and crashed. All 256 people on board were killed.

Presumed cause: Ice on the wings. Two other serious accidents took place near Gander: A Czechoslovak Ilyushin 18 in 1968 and a Sabena DC4 in 1946.

In the 1990s fewer and fewer International airlines came to Gander Airport. Its future seemed uncertain until in the north-east of the USA an unimaginable tragedy caused a crisis.

On the 11th of September 2001 after the terrorist attacks, 39 aircraft were diverted to Gander. 6122 passengers and 473 crew were stranded there and had to wait many hours in their aircraft.

Then the passengers were welcomed by the 10,000 inhabitants of the town of Gander. They were treated like members of the family. The guests and their hosts became close friends. When the time came to fly on, many parted with tears in their eyes.

In recognition of this, Lufthansa named its new Airbus 340 Gander/Halifax in 2002.

Nowadays not many aircraft land at Gander but at a height of 30,000 feet and above, around 1500 aircraft overfly Newfoundland on a normal day.

The control centre of the Canadian air traffic control for Canada and the North Atlantic, Nav Canada, is situated not far from the airport and is an important employer in the area.

Gander airport today is an airport for small passenger aircraft, private jets, regional airlines, freighters and military aircraft.

There’s an important flying school here: Gander Flight Training. It dates back to the year 1992, when its founder Patrick White bought a Cessna 150 and began as a flying instructor.

Today the school offers a wide range of flying courses. Students come from Canada and abroad to do their pilot training here.

With its long tradition in aviation, Gander is a place with a passion for flight. The people here are fascinated by planes and flying.

That makes Gander an ideal place for flight training. Newfoundland is a cold and often wet place with snow, ice and wind. Many people all over the world say, if you have learned to fly here, you can fly anywhere in the world.

But Gander like its sister airport Shannon, also has an important role as an emergency landing site for aircraft that get into difficulties over the Atlantic.

The coronavirus of 2020 brought new challenges for Gander and all other airports.

Gander International Airport has seen many highs and lows in the past.

Hopefully as the time moves on for this historic and remarkable airport, its future will remain secure.

CLICK TO TO GO TO THE GERMAN VERSION

Filed Under: Aviation, AVZ-EN, Travel & Transport, Video Tagged With: Canadian airports, cold war history, Communist airlines, gander airport, GDR Interflug, history of Gander, Interflug Berlin to Havana, Newfoundland airports, transatlantic flights

CP Lee interview on the history of music in Manchester

2020-08-02 By Aidan O'Rourke

Interview, transcript & photos, Multimedia Presentation


I recorded this interview with CP Lee on Friday the 28th of July 2006 and the recording has been available on my aidan.co.uk site ever since. For some time, I’d been planning to do an improved version with better sound quality and with a transcript.

And then on the 25th of July, 2020 came the terrible news about Chris so I decided to move ahead and complete this improved version and here it is. It’s presented using my ‘talking book’ or ‘visual podcast’ style or it could be described as Audio Visual Magazine style. Words and images are presented side by side on screen. Most of the photographs are by me. A few are from public domain sources.

Please check the subtitles for foreign language translations, and also please like the video and subscribe to the channel.

Published by Aidan O’Rourke | Sunday the 2nd of August, 2020

Told you I was missing, but I wasn’t lost

and I was walking through streets in the cold and frost of Manchester.

Looking for the place that I used to know

and then I saw some people and it started to snow on Manchester.

Manchester Anthem by James Herring

What is it about Manchester that makes it such a pre-eminent city of music?
Well that’s the question that’s bothered musicologists for quite some time. It is a city that seems to be uniquely placed in the history of popular music, because it repeatedly jumps in feet-first into great music, great scenes, and on an international level. And we can look at places like Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, we see groups come from there, but it’s never as consistent as it has been from Manchester. And I think that that’s because Manchester, if you look very closely, you can see the tracer bullets being fired throughout history.

There’s always been a tremendous musicians’ infrastructure here in Manchester that’s enabled the different movements or genres or waves of music to happen and to continue and carry on so that one builds on the other. And we can look right back into the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Mancunians demanded and devoured music at an incredible rate.

We’ve got the birth of the Hallé Orchestra, one of the great international classical orchestras. It’s here in 1855, but you go back in 1780 the Gentleman’s Concerts is the beginning of the Hallé. They would get audiences of two and a half, sometimes five thousand people wanting to hear the latest classical music, which if you think about it is very punk. This stuff, it wasn’t classical then it was contemporary but they wanted to hear it.

Also mixed in with that you’ve got the Jewish elements, you’ve got Celtic elements, you’ve got folk elements, all of them pouring into the city, devouringpeople at an astonishing rate, but also producing culture at an astonishing rate. So if you look at say The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson, he writes at length about the creation of working class culture, and music was an essential part of that. It’s not particularly radicalised or political. It’s there as a release mechanism, it’s there as a carriage system to take you away for an evening into a transport of delight.

So by the 20th century, we’ve got the dance bands, we’ve got working-class unemployed jazz bands, groups of people playing kazoos, wearing costumes, trying to outdo each other. They’d go to a football pitch or a recreation ground, then you’d get different jazz bands. Each street would have one, neighbourhoods would have them, cities would have one and by the 1930s they’d have competitions against each other. Who were the best marching jazz bands?

By the 1950s, because of the Second World War we’ve got Burtonwood Aerodrome, Burtonwood American base, which is 25 miles away Manchester and it means that every weekend we get an influx of American musicians who are based there coming into Manchester, also going into Liverpool at the same time, and feeding into the groups that exist, principally, at that time, jazz bands. And the jazz bands were not your kind of Acker Bilk trad, these were modernists, these were people who were influenced by Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, and they wanted authentic black American players if they could get them, but they’d settle for white ones if they had the chops.

A great interest began in Manchester to trace jazz back to its roots and those roots come from folk blues, from whatever. And this led to an interest in people like Muddy Waters, Chicago R&B. So that at the end of the 1950’s, you’ve got a lot of groups who’ve come up watching the emerging rock and roll scene on television or at the cinema. They’ve come through skiffle, so they’ve got instruments, they can play them, but the music that’s being developed is beat music, which essentially a kind of white English version of R&B. But it’s music with a beat, it’s music for dancing to.

And we get by 1964, we can find over 200 beat clubs in the Greater Manchester area. Some have come, some have gone, some are there for the whole period, but it’s an astonishing amount of beat clubs.
Now this mirrors what’s going on in Liverpool at the same time with what is known as Merseybeat, again the word ‘

beat’ races up there. But we get this strange separation. At one time both scenes were mutually symbiotic. It’s only 30 miles away (along) the East Lancs Road. In the early 60s groups from each city would be passing one another on the East Lancs, waving to one another, playing each other’s gigs, going backwards and forwards. People like Epstein, the promoters at Wooler at the Cavern, Danny Petacchi in Manchester, the Abadi brothers would book bands from Liverpool, Manchester, as I say, mutually symbiotic.

But then came The Beatles and The Beatles, for better or for worse, kind of destroyed that amicable relationship, because internationally, people only saw Liverpool and the Mersey poets, the Mersey scene, the Mersey beats, or whatever and Manchester, kind of, became the poor neighbour in musicological terms, so that even though Herman and the Hermit’s, (Herman’s Hermits) who were the second biggest selling English group in America after the Beatles, were from Manchester, if you asked an American, they would say that they were from Liverpool, because they thought there was only Liverpool.

Manchester began to emerge from under that shadow I would say with 10cc at the end of the 1960s, early 1970s, because they brought a studio to Stockport, and this is a major studio, and I think a very under-sung achievement. They put Manchester, Stockport on the map in terms of… “Oh yeah!”, I mean, people came from America to record there. Fascinating place.

So the next wave is created by the musicians themselves. It was in 1972 because there were so few gigs because, not a lot of people know this, Manchester is the only city that I’ve come across that had an Act of Parliament passed to stop beat clubs. They were so, I don’t know, morally outraged at the beat clubs that the 1965 Corporation Act which came into force oddly enough on the first of January in 1966, was designed specifically to stop beat clubs and crush teenage rebellion. Not that it was particularly rebellious, but there you go.

So there were very very few venues for musicians. And when I started playing in the mid-60s, I could play every night of the week in the Greater Manchester area. By 1970 you were lucky if there was one gig a week. So in 1972 Victor Brocks organised a meeting at the Bierkeller off Piccadilly and the Music Force was founded, which was a musician’s cooperative. And it was a socialist organisation which was going to be, and indeed was musicians taking control of their own destinies.

Now that meant that they had an office where they would ring up, create venues, force venues into taking Mancunian groups. They would provide the transport if it was needed, they rent out PAs, they’d do the posters. Now, all this infrastructure, they even had a newspaper called Hot Flash, a music paper, all of this infrastructure was in place when Howard Trafford, who becomes Howard Devoto, turns up in 1976 at the Music Force offices asking where he might put on the Sex Pistols. And they direct him to the Lesser Free Trade Hall and the rest, as they say, is history. Because we then get with Buzzcocks and Spiral Scratch, which set a template for the punk DIY ethos.

This is the first kind of internationally recognised Manchester music scene, which by 1983 we can lump in The Smiths, the Haçienda has opened, by 1988 we’ve got the whole Madchester scene, by 1996 we’ve got the international recognition of Oasis, by 2000 we’ve got Badly Drawn Boy, we’ve had M People, and it continues to roll. It goes on and on and on.

Manchester is a place that musicians now gravitate to. It’s a place which produces again and again consistently good acts which are capable of breaking it on an international scale.

I can’t remember who actually said this so my apologies, but it’s impossible to talk about Manchester without talking about music and it’s impossible to talk about music without talking about Manchester. I think it’s Haslam.

So it’s not just the fact that we have lots of different nationalities and it’s a place where people come to live, migrate, the point you’re making is also that there is an infrastructure there, going back a long time, that laid the foundation to organising bands and organising music and performances, that that’s also an important reason, which I wasn’t aware of.

I think that it’s definitely my take on it, that infrastructure has always enabled musicians to operate to their maximum ability. It encourages them and it doesn’t necessarily facilitate them in getting a van. I mean, nowadays we’ve got the Manchester Musicians Online, which is a kind of self-help agency. North West Arts are now very interested in… Why are all these musicians in Manchester? They’re also… North West Arts now interested in facilitating recording studios and that kind of thing, which I suppose is good.

We’ve got the Manchester District Music Archive, which I’m one of the trustees of. Even Urbis is very supportive of local musicians and the local music scene, in terms of looking at the graphic design, the posters, album covers, t-shirts, wellington boots. But, no, for me it was the I would argue it’s the fact that there was always an infrastructure there. The cultural influences, I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of that, it’s fascinating. Yes, the Irish and the Jews have a lot to answer for.

And maybe something in the water, who was it said that there was something in the water?

Peter Hook said to me, he thought that it was definitely something in the water, when I put the question to him, and we both decided that we would agree on that, which would have been a much shorter answer for you.

What about the American influence and the Northern Soul thing. First of all, maybe you could explain what Northern Soul is. You recently did an excellent BBC radio programme about Northern Soul but for people who don’t know what it is, what is Northern Soul and why was it so popular in Manchester in the north of England?

Um, gosh, that’s like asking what is it about Manchester that makes musicians? Northern Soul is a genre, it’s a musical genre and it applies specifically to a kind of urban Black, urban American dance music that’s still being produced today, but over the sixties let’s say. So a grotesque example would be Tamla, though I know that that’s anathema to most Northern Soul… People would understand that. Black dance music, good good poppy, catchy dance music.

The phrase Northern Soul was originated by writer and promoter and all round genius Dave Godin in an article in 1971, where he’d come to Manchester and seen what was happening at the Twisted Wheel, and said “If this has to have a name, let’s call it Northern Soul” because Mancunian DJs had chosen a specific avenue of Black American music that was very popular in the North West of England.

Now it goes back to 1845 when the first blackface minstrel troupe, the Christy Minstrels appeared in Manchester. Now this might sound quite bizarre but it began a fascination with Black American music. The Blackface Minstrels were playing an approximation of black American music. That strangely enough filtered into Irish traditional music in the shape of the banjo and the bones. They saw them in Dublin and within 10 years people were playing banjos in pubs in Dublin and Galway and what have you, and the bones, which are free, if you’ve killed a cow. So the people in Manchester developed it, they loved it. They couldn’t get enough of this kind of entertainment and they came back again and again throughout the 19th century.

Now in the middle of the 19th century the American Civil War was a period of a great hardship in the North West of England. We’ve survived on cotton and cotton couldn’t get through, because the Union fleets were blockading the Southern ports. Now the cotton workers of the Greater Manchester area were starving, but they marched in their thousands to support President Lincoln for the emancipation of slaves, even if it meant that they would starve.
So it there had always been this very very close affinity between… or a recognition of African Americans and the struggle for freedom, for equality, which carries through into an appreciation of the music, up to a point in the mid 20th century where it becomes almost obsessive.

I think because there was a kind of a recognition or an empathy, a feeling that if you were a white working class kid in the great Industrial North, you in your own way were oppressed and you could look towards Black American music either providing you with a voice, in terms of Blues, or an articulation of your plight, or as a point of release. Within Northern Soul dance music it’s a release. It’s an effective system for carrying you out of your physical body for three minute bursts. As long as the song lasts, you’re dancing and you’re away.

And it also, to go out in another direction, there’s a kind of exclusivity with Northern Soul where people, I think, felt that they were onto something that nobody else was aware of, and that forms a very very tight bond with all the other people who had gathered there with you. So it’s very tribal and I think in the North, whether we’ve been one generation in Manchester or twenty generations, we are very tribal about being Mancunians.

What other influences do you think or connections are between America and Manchester? You mentioned about the cotton industry and how much of an effect…?

Well the River Mersey finishes, it flows down the Pennines and it finishes in New York. So you’ve got that direct straight line across the Atlantic, and will leapfrog over Liverpool. I mean Liverpool must have been so fed up when the Manchester Ship Canal said “Well, we’ll just bring the cotton to Manchester up this big river.”
Do you know it was supposed to end in Didsbury? The original Ship Canal Company had their first meeting at Fletcher Moss and the guy lived there, and he envisaged it being like on his doorstep, so you just step onto the ship and go to America whenever he wanted to. So it would have carried on through Northenden up to Didsbury Village, which… Imagine what it would have been like!

The affinities with America, that direct line, emigration, immigration, a two-way street. Lots and lots of business was with America, particularly Cottonopolis, which we’ve already talked about. Entertainment, musicians, Stan Laurel is from here, Charlie Chaplin was in the seven Lancashire Lads clog dancing troupe, before going with Fred Karno to America.

So the Mancunian Film Studios existed in the 1920s doing silents and then gave up when sound came along. But a guy called Burt Tracy who was from Droylsden had gone to Hollywood with Stan Laurel and had worked for Mack Sennett came back to Manchester and Laurel and Hardy were coming to visit at the Midland Hotel, and he said to Johnny Blakeley from Mancunian film company: “Oh, come along and meet the lads”. And they got there and Stan Laurel said “Well why aren’t you making films any more,” and he said “Wow, it’s too expensive,” and he said, “Well just hire a studio.” So they did and they made the first George Formby movie, which is a massive hit.

All because Laurel and Hardy came to Manchester and Burt Tracy knew them, Mancunian knew them, and we get the birth of the proper Mancunian Film Company, which feeds into Granada Television and the BBC in a direct bloodline in the same way that music is feeding in, in that Steve… I can’t remember his second name… sadly he’s been dead for a long time, if you look at the logo for Band On The Wall, there’s a man with glasses and a little beard and a beret, and that was Steve who revitalised the Band on the Wall in the 1970s.

Now in the thirties he’d been in the schoolboy jazz team in Ancoats, the Little Rascals jazz band and they played at the Cotton Club in Harlem. So he’d gone from Ancoats to Harlem, as a kind of novelty act, played there, came back obsessed with jazz and we get that whole thing in the 1950s, which feeds back into a desire to discover the roots of jazz, which takes them to see people like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, who were all regular performers in Manchester. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, all these people loved playing in Manchester, and they also they used to say things like it reminded of America, probably just being nice. But Alexis Korner who’s one of the founders of the British Blues had a flat in Manchester because he played up here so much because kids wanted R&B, they wanted Blues.

Elton John when he was in Steampacket with Rod Stewart said that the greatest place on the planet to play in terms of audience reaction was The Twisted Wheel. If they liked you, that was it, you were made, you were back there every other week and you know, people had permanent residencies then, and Spencer Davis, Steampacket etcetera.

People like Neville who’s in one of my books about Bob Dylan, the first book I wrote, Like the Night, Neville worked at ABC television in Didsbury and every penny he had went on collecting Blues records. And he couldn’t believe it one night when Spencer Davis said:

“Oh, we need somewhere to stay for the night.”

He said: “You can stay at my ’ouse,”

and he lived in a council house in Wythenshawe with his mum. He took Spencer Davis group back. And he had a reel-to-reel tape recorder and they just sat in his front room all night and played Blues for him.

And you hear stories about kids in back-to-back terraced houses in the 1970s with lino on the floor paying fifty quid for a single because they’re that obsessed with the ownership, of that authenticity, of that belonging.

I’m out of the loop in a way now, but I don’t know if there’s still quite that same obsession with the authenticity and how House music pans out into Black dance music. Is Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez a black New York DJ or a white New York DJ? I wouldn’t know. But for years and years and years the white working-class kids in the north west of England were very very obsessive and very very possessive about Blues music because they had an affinity for it and they had a recognition of it.

I think I understand a bit more now actually from what you’ve been saying about why it is that Manchester has just got this magic, what I call magic about it, in terms of music. But you’ve really just scratched the surface. You’ve written… how many books have you written on music?

Specifically I’ve written, had published three books, one on Bob Dylan’s films, which we’ll forget about, even though it’s very good, but the first one is about Bob Dylan playing at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966, which is a very pivotal moment for music generally.

What’s the book called?

That’s called Like the Night and in a sense it was the pivotal moment of the documentary last year, the Scorsese documentary, the ‘Judas’ shout, and it’s one of the great climactic moments in music history.

Now the most important book relevant to this is Shake Rattle and Rain, which is a history of popular music in Manchester from 1955 to 95, and if I only have the wherewithal, I would write Shake Rattle and Rain 2, which would be the history of popular music 1855 to 1995, because I just keep discovering more and more about it all the time, and how they all interlink.

And just as a little aside, tell me about a few of the famous musicians that you’ve interviewed, maybe Manchester ones, maybe other ones.

Well, met or interviewed in my time, I met Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townsend, it’s very hard to remember … Everybody! Because I was a professional musician for years and years.

And the name of the band that you played in?

Well, the first band was Greasy Bear then the next band was The Albertos or Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, and we played our way around Europe and did the obligatory bit of America.

But in terms of interviews for the book, I got hold of as many people as I possibly could. So Peter Hook, Clint Boon, Pete Farrow, an old beat group member, yes he is old, so he’s an old beat group member.

Basically anybody I could get hold of. Bruce Mitchell, who’s been playing since 1955 and is still playing with the Durutti Column, Vini Reilly, Ed Banger, Howard Devoto, Pete Shelley, but then also other people like Richard Boon, who is essential to the history of Manchester music. He ran New Hormones, which was Buzzcocks’ management company, but they also facilitated Linda Sterling and John Savage. At the moment I’m compiling a list of people who are to do with Manchester music. Not musicians per se, because they get neglected.

And many of them are still around

Many, yeah.

But most people wouldn’t know they were.

No, no.

And yet they’re enormously influential.

Very very influential.
Can you give me an example of one of these influential people that you would see around?
Um, well, if you were in Stoke Newington, you’d see Richard. In Manchester you generally can find…

Tosh Ryan.

Tosh. Now what would we say about Tosh? I mean, the founder of Rabid Records, he was a jazz saxophonist in the 1950s. In the 1960s played with Victor Brock’s Blues Train. He’d also played with John Mayall, was a founder member of Music Force in 1972, founded Rabid Records in 1977, has been creating a massive kind of digital video archive of Manchester musicians, which we don’t currently know the whereabouts of! He’s misplaced it, but he was trying to interview every single musician he could get hold of. So there have been people trying to chronicle it and hold it together. That’s now being carried out by the (Manchester) District Archive, Music Archive.

That’s what I also wanted to ask you about, because if people are interested in finding out more about Manchester music in general, where can they find the information?

It’s on our website, which is just undergoing reconstruction, but if you do a Google for Manchester District Music Archive, you’ll find it. And it’s being relaunched at the end of September in an interactive way.

So what we want people to do, is… it’s a bit like Wikipedia, in that you can access the information we have and you can add your own information to it. And we don’t just want Jeff Davis, who played bass guitar in the Rattlesnakes, or The Denton Boomerangs, we want people who went to gigs who would say: “Yeah I used to go to Rafters and I thought it was fantastic, and I can remember Rob Gretton deejaying,” or what have you?

So we want the memories, because music can’t exist without the audience and we want their reaction just as much as we want the input from musicians. So this is the new website, which is launched at the end of this coming September, will be the springboard, it’ll be kind of virtual museum which is the springboard towards us hopefully opening up the actual physical premises.

Okay, well that was a fascinating little session there, scratching the surface…

…haha!

…of a fascinating subject so thank you very much.

Thank you very much!

Filed Under: AVZ-EN, Manchester, Music, Salford, Stockport Tagged With: 10cc, Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, Chris P Lee, history of Manchester, Howard Devoto, Manchester concert venues, Manchester music, Manchester music scene, Manchester Ship Canal, Merseybeat, music in Manchester, music scene Manchester, Northern Soul, Oasis, Strawberry Studios Stockport, The Beatles, the Hallé Orchestra, Tosh Ryan, Victor Brox and the Blues Train

George Best 1946-2005 – Article + Spoken word audio with hits from 6 decades

2020-06-20 By Aidan O'Rourke 1 Comment

George-Best-English-TN

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE GERMAN VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE

When we think about George Best, do we remember him for his football, or for his alcoholism? Many people have asked themselves this question both during his life and after his premature death. How will he be remembered?

George Best was born on 22 May, 1946 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father Dickie is a shipyard worker, his mother Annie a former hockey player. They are from a Presbyterian background and live in the residential district of Cregagh, south east Belfast, at number 16 Burren Way.

The Bests have six children, George is their first child. In every spare minute George plays football on the street and on the neighbouring sports field. At fifteen, he is discovered by Manchester United’s talent scout Bob Bishop.

At that time, the club were looking for new talent, because three years earlier, they had suffered a major blow. It happened on Thursday, 6 February, 1958 at Munich-Riem Airport. The team had played against Red Star Belgrade and were on their way back to Manchester.

Sir Matt Busby statue MUFCTheir plane, an Airspeed Ambassador, stopped at Munich to refuel. It was snowing and there were freezing temperatures. On the third attempt to take off, the plane came off the runway and exploded. Half the team died. Manager Matt Busby was seriously injured. His life hung in the balance. Nine team members survived. Matt Busby recovered and started building a new team.

And so, in 1961, talent scout Bob Bishop sends Matt Busby a telegram in which he says: “I think I’ve found you a genius“. Best comes to Manchester, but returns to Belfast after just one day. He doesn’t feel comfortable at the world-famous club and he’s homesick. Matt Busby writes to his father. His father writes back and Best returns to Manchester. Busby becomes a father figure to him.

George lives a small house on Aycliffe Avenue, Chorlton, South Manchester with Mrs Fullaway, a widow, and her son Steve, a Manchester United fan. She takes care of him as if he were her own son.

Soon his team mates start to notice his talents. “Sensational,” says Pat Crerand in the 2017 BBC documentary. He also remarks, what a nice and quiet lad Georg Best is. His first outing is on 14 September, 1963 in the game against West Bromwich Albion.

Manchester United’s main aim is to win the European Cup. In 1966 United plays Benfica in the quarter-final of the European Cup. It is 3 2 to United from the first leg. After Tony Dunne’s free kick, George Best scores the first goal with a header. Five minutes later, he dribbles past five Benfica players and scores for the second time. Manchester United win the game 5:1 but not the cup.

In the BBC documentary, goalkeeper Harry Gregg comments: “The night that George became a different person, was the night that George scored two goals against Benfica. On that night he became the legend that was George Best.”

George Best becomes the first football pop star with an extravagant lifestyle: parties, expensive cars, champagne, gambling, women. He owns two fashion boutiques, appears on tv shows and is called the ‘fifth `Beatle’.

Lisbon 1968, Best scores in the final of the European Championship against Benfica. United wins 4-1. Best is voted Footballer of the Year in Europe and England.

Ten years after the Munich Air Crash, Matt Busby has achieved his ambition. At 22, George Best has reached the peak of his career. But where to now? Unfortunately for George Best it downhill.

On the 26th of April 1969 Sir Matt Busby resigns as manager, but stays on as General Manager of the club. Several managers follow, but the good times are over for Manchester United.

Best’s alcohol escapades become more and more frequent. He turns up drunk for training or not at all. Everywhere he’s pursued by the press.

George commissions a dream house to be built on Blossoms Lane, in Bramhall south of Manchester. But the state-of-the-art bachelor pad only offers even more opportunities for parties, intimate rendezvous with attractive models and alcohol.

On one occasion, George goes missing for several days and is then found in London. Sir Matt stipulates that he must go back to live at Mrs. Fullaway’s house.

Due to his gambling addiction and unsuccessful business activities he starts to build up large debts.

In 1972 Best announces his resignation, but makes a comeback nine months later. He’s not successful. He is not fit enough and he doesn’t train enough not to mention the effects of alcohol.

After eleven years at Manchester United, he makes his final appearance on 1 January, 1974. He has scored 179 goals in 470 games but never has played in the World Cup or the European Cup

After that, George Best makes a series of appearances: for the Jewish Guild of Johannesburg, Dunstable Town, Stockport County, Cork Celtic and then Los Angeles Aztecks. At that time, Elton John was co-owner of the club.

There he becomes a cult star and is able to enjoy the California life style: soccer during the day, racquetball on the beach in the afternoon, pool and drinks with friends in the evening. In Hermosa Beach he meets model and former Playboy Bunny Angie MacDonald. In 1978 they get married in Las Vegas.

The stability does not last long. George opens a bar, Bestie’s Bar, and the alcohol problems return. Angie becomes pregnant, Calum is born in 1981.

Again he doesn’t show up for training. He is suspended, moves to Fort Lauderdale Strikers, plays for Fulham FC, Hibernian Edinburgh, then San Jose Earthquakes. There he undergoes alcohol therapy three times, but to no avail, and he finally returns to the UK.

George Best mural Blythe St Belfast

George Best mural Blythe St Belfast

Best plays 37 times for the Northern Ireland national team and scores nine goals. He declares he’s in favour a single north-south Irish national team. After appearing at AFC Bournemouth and Brisbane Lions in Australia, Best ends his career.

In 1984 he is found by a police officer to be drunk at the wheel of a car. After insulting another police officer, he goes to prison for two months.

In 1986 he gets divorced from Angie. In the late 80s he works for various newspapers and becomes a commentator for Sky Sports. He often talks openly about his alcohol problems. His escapades are reported almost every day in the British tabloid press.

In 1995 he marries the model Alex Pursey. In the BBC film, she tells how, free of alchool, he is the ideal husband but when under the influence, he becomes aggressive

In December 2001, he receives an Honorary Doctorate from Queens University Belfast. He undergoes a liver transplant in August 2002, but still he is unable to give up alcohol. In 2004, he loses his licence due to drink driving and his marriage to Alex ends in divorce.

In October 2005, he is admitted to Cromwell Hospital in London. The end comes on Friday the 25th of November 2005 at 1:00 p.m. His son Calum tells the press: “Not only have I lost my dad, we’ve all lost a wonderful man.”

100,000 people come to his funeral in his home city of Belfast. In 2007 the airport is renamed George Best Belfast City Airport. But the decision is controversial. In the referendum, 52% were in favour, 48% against.

Manchester United 'Trinity' statue, Old Trafford Ground

Manchester United ‘Trinity’ statue, Old Trafford Ground

So when we think of George Best, do we remember him for his football or for his alcoholism? Both, because they are the two sides of a tragic hero.

In his homeland, his name is still spoken with reverence by people in both communities there are George Best murals in many places. On YouTube, videos of his legendary dribbling skills have been viewed millions of times. The George Best Facebook page now has over 300,000 members, more than any other deceased football player.

In the end, what can you say about George Best? Genius on the pitch, most famous footballer of the beat generation, tragic hero. But for his fans, young and old, he remains the best football player of all time.

Filed Under: AVZ-EN, Manchester Tagged With: Belfast Boy, Bestie, biography George Best, Callum Best, Cregagh estate Belfast, George Best, george best alcoholism, Irish soccer, life of George Best, Manchester United Football Club, MUFC, Munich air disaster, northern Ireland footballers, Sir Matt Busby

Remembering Kodachrome – Commentary by Aidan O’Rourke

2020-06-20 By Aidan O'Rourke

I took this photograph in 1981 my final year at university. I was lucky enough to get a summer job at the CIEE student travel office in the YMCA West 34th Street New York.

With the money I saved, I bought my first SLR camera a Fujc STX-1 at a shop near Times Square. It cost $70 I was experimenting with the camera and decided to try out long shutter speeds.

This was my very first time exposure in the camera. I had a roll of Kodachrome 25. I propped the camera up on the window ledge of my tiny room and pointed it down at the street. I set the aperture to f-16 and the shutter to the bulb setting.

I tried different shutter speeds probably 2s, 10s and 30s. This one must have been 30 seconds. we can see the red light trails of cars heading downtown along 9th Avenue. There’s a blue police car parked on the left-hand side and further up, a yellow Caprice Classic taxi.

It really was like being in a movie. The façade is lit up by the intense red of the Market Diner neon signs. Both film and digital have difficulty with red and so there are very few details and the light seems very intense.

The diner and its surroundings have the look of an Edward Hopper painting and look how the tree branches are blurred because they’re blowing in the wind. On the right there’s a British Austin 1100.

In the upper left are the tracks and overhead cables from Penn Station. The sign says ‘park fast’ – typical New York. When the package from Kodak arrived in the post a couple of weeks later, I tore it open and looked at the slides.

This one was one of my favourites. Nothing can replace the excitement of your early experiments in photography, but I can’t help feeling at photography has lost something with the demise of Kodachrome.

Filed Under: About Photography, AVZ-EN, New York, Video

Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon artwork at Liverpool Cathedral

2020-05-10 By Aidan O'Rourke

Exhibition of the Moon - English version

GERMAN VERSION

I went to Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and inside, I saw the moon – not the one in the sky but a scaled down moon 1/500,000th the size of the real one.

It was on display at the north end of the cathedral. The effect as you enter is breathtaking. There, in front of you, is a faithful representation of the moon, with all its grandeur and hypnotic power.

I coudn’t take my eyes off it. The scores of visitors couldn’t either. They photographed it, had selfies taken with it, put their hands out and pretended to hold it while they had their photo taken. They sat on the steps on either side gazing at it, walked around it, lay on the floor staring up at it.

It’s an artwork created by the artist Luke Jerram, but for me, the fascinating thing about this representation of the moon is that it is a composite photograph, a three dimensional print. It’s basically a sphere with a large composite image of the moon’s surface printed on it.

Exhibition of the Moon at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

You can find lots of information about Luke Jerram and his incredible moon on the Museum of the Moon website. I particularly recommend the Radio 4 documentary on the ‘Press’ page. It is presented as a video with still images of the artwork in the various locations it’s been on display. These include Tintern Abbey in Wales, a swimming pool in Rennes, France, the Commonwealth Games in Australia and many more.

It has a magical presence but basically it is a balloon, a similar one to a weather balloon, with artwork printed on it. Luke Jerram has used the technology that’s readily available to create and print this masterpiece.

The moon is made out of curved sections which are each printed with photographic images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are then assembled into a sphere, which is inflated and hung from above. The sphere is lit up from inside.

For me, the moon looked best later on in the evening as the sunlight was fading. Then you can imagine you are in lunar orbit, observing it from hundreds of miles up.

It’s a remarkable experience to see the moon – or a copy of it – so close. It’s not possible to touch it as it’s suspended just above arm’s length.

It’s even more remarkable to see the hidden ‘dark side’ of the moon, the side we never see. This strange half of the moon is covered mostly with craters, while the familiar side has its distinctive darker ‘seas’ surrounded by countless craters and even craters within craters.

One of the ministers at the Cathedral provided information to visitors and he pointed out to me the exact location of the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquility. I looked hard but didn’t see the remains of the mission! They would of course be much too small.

Luke Jerram's Exhibition of the Moon artwork at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral seen through grand interior arch

By the way each centimetre represents five kilometres of the moon’s surface so if you could touch your thumb on the surface, it would cover an area as big as a medium-sized airport.

I had intended to spend maybe half an hour there, but I ended up staying around three hours. I felt reassured, inspired, comforted by the proximity of the moon.

It was wonderful to see the moon exhibited in a cathedral. The prayers offered in the cathedral seemed fitting.

Some observations: This moon is lit up from within with no dark areas, but at any one time, only about half of the real moon is in sunlight, the rest is in shadow.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter surveyed the moon’s surface from orbit and recorded the images at different times. For this reason some of the craters have the shadow on the left and others nearby have the shadows on the right.

This makes your eyes see them with the curious ‘bulging crater’ effect, where you see the crater in reverse because you think the shadows are from the left when they’re from the right, and vice versa. That’s not a criticism and probably not many people will have noticed it.

What would really improve the experience is if the sphere were continuous all round, as well as top and bottom, with no joins and no circle at the top and at the bottom.

It would also be great if the sphere floated – I believe Luke Jerram is working on this and I can’t wait to see the floating, helium-filled moon when it is ready.

It’s artistic, it’s educational, it’s scientific.

All in all it’s one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time and it presents many opportunities for photographic experiment.

The Exhibition of the Moon by Luke Jerram at Liverpool Cathedral

Stereoscopic image of the Moon by Luke Jerram

For now, let me just say that I found this artwork stunning. I grew up with the moon landings and have taken countless photos of the moon myself.

Whenever I look at it rising in the sky, it still has a powerful visual effect on me, probably dating back to those ‘moonshot’ times of my childhood.

I went back for another visit on Thursday night, the last night. I managed to get there for 9.45 – there was a long queue.

Soon we were inside and I savoured those final moments with the moon. At 10:30 the minister read a special prayer and we recited the Our Father. And then it was time to leave and the Cathedral security employees herded us towards the door.

At the front door I gazed back at the moon one last time and then walked out under the dusk sky of Liverpool. I couldn’t see the real moon, as there was too much cloud.

Actually there are several moons on tour around the world. Maybe one of the moons will be exhibited somewhere near you.

I hope you will have a chance to see and photograph this incredible, astonishing and mesmerising artwork. It is, in the truest sense of the word, awesome.

GERMAN VERSION

The Exhibition of the Moon by Luke Jerram at Liverpool Cathedral - with cathedral window

 

 

Filed Under: AVZ-EN, E-List, Liverpool Tagged With: apollo, artwork, astronomy, lunar photography, moon, moon photography, space

Poppies in the UK – Remembrance, tradition and controversy – English version

2020-05-09 By Aidan O'Rourke Leave a Comment

Poppies in the UK - English version

GERMAN VERSION

Many people in the UK wear poppies as a symbol of remembrance for the victims of war, especially the fallen soldiers of both world wars.

In the weeks before the 11th November, poppies (small paper flowers) are sold in shops, shopping centres, stations and other public places. People take a poppy and give a donation. The money goes to charities like the Royal British Legion, who support war veterans

People wear poppies on their clothes. Larger poppies can also be seen on buildings and cars. The poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ was written by the Canadian Lieutenant John McCrae. In the poem, the poppy is a reminder of the blood that was shed by the soldiers.

On Remembrance Sunday (the second Sunday in November) poppy wreaths and wooden crosses are laid at cenotaphs all over the country. At 11 o’clock, two minutes silence is held. The eleventh day of the eleventh month is Armistice Day, the day of the cessation of hostilities. On this day at 11 o’clock, people also observe two minutes silence.

In 2014 thousands of ceramic poppies were placed at the Tower of London. The artwork was taken to other places including St George’s Hall in Liverpool.The poppy is recognised everywhere and is worn by many people, including famous personalities. There are controversies, however. Pacifists don’t want to wear the red poppy. For them, the red poppy is a symbol of militarisation. They prefer a white poppy.

Some organisations – for instance FIFA – have banned the wearing of poppies as they see it as a political statement. Footballers and fans have protested against this.Whether red or white, there’s no doubt that the poppy will continue to exist as a symbol of remembrance of war and conflict.

Poppies - Mohnblumen, Westminster Abbey

GERMAN VERSION

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