I haven’t been on my blog because we’ve been to Liverpool for a few days, and what a fantastic place it is. We wanted a city break and we chose Liverpool, simply because neither of us have ever been there before. Several things stand out about it. Mainly the friendliness, then there is loads to do in terms of museums, ferrying across the Mersey, The Cavern Club – and other Beatles related visitor attractions. The architecture is beautiful, and if you like football, which we do, then there are stadium tours around Anfield and Goodison Park. Liverpool FC run their own bus service from the centre of town to Anfield. We jumped aboard a double-decker where we met tour guide Shaun. He came up with many little known ‘facts,’ so little known (in fact) that even Google and Wikipedia haven’t heard of them. As we got back to Dale Street, Shaun wafted his forefinger in the general direction of a historical building, and asked;
“What does it say under there?”
“Under where?” I scrutinised the area he was pointing at from our vantage point of the open-topped bus, and wondered if I’d entered into a spelling test. All I could see was the word Queen.
“Queen,” I said lamely, not for a single second believing I’d got the right answer because it seemed so obvious. I thought I must be missing some deep and meaningful hieroglyphics somewhere.
“Freddie Mercury studied in music Liverpool for several years, and he saw that one day, that very building that you can see there, and he studied the word Queen that’s up there, that bit that you can see now, and he called his band Queen, after the building. It’s a little known fact but it’s true. I work for Liverpool FC, but actually I’m an actor.” Whatever. Actually I think Shaun will find that Freddie Mercury studied in Isleworth and Ealing and graduated from there, although he did live briefly in a flat above a Liverpool pub, The Dovedale Towers, but there’s no record of how he came to choose the name Queen. Still, it’s a pleasant thought.
We loved the wonderfully good looking and sociable guy behind the bar in The Vernon Arms and the equally friendly lady in The Saddle.
We adore our home city, but bits of Heather and I are now Liver Birds. It’s my fervent hope that when the true Liver Birds visit Newcastle, they will be made to feel as welcome as a couple of Geordies did in Liverpool.
www.rytonian.com 