Liverpool

A minor port city in the North West of England, it was originally awarded a City Charter by King John in 1208. However, it was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that Liverpool developed into a major global city. This prominence was based largely on trade, including tobacco, sugar and a major involvement in the slave trade. The slave trade was abolished in 1806, however Liverpool continued to flourish as an industrial center focusing on the smelting and casting of iron, much of this scrap metal derived from cartwheel tyres, and continuing to this day in a flourishing, if specialised, trade in vehicle hub caps.

The city currently has a population of approximately 350,000, known as 'Scousers' after a popular local dish, with the wider Merseyside region having a population of 1.5 million. The popular culture and 'soul'of Liverpool has most memorably been portrayed by the author and dramatist Carla Lane in a number of highly-regarded television dramas including "The Liver Birds" and "Bread".

Around 1911 Adolf Hitler visited his brother Alois who lived and worked in Liverpool.

Famous natives of Liverpool: Anne Robinson (TV presenter and journalist) Tony Booth (actor and father-in-law of Tony Blair) Billy Butler (comedian) Jimmy Tarbuck (comedian) Ted Ray (comedian) John Prescott (comedian) Steven Gerrard (footballer) Stan Boardman (comedian) Terry McDermott (footballer and archetypal Scouser)

Culture

• Merseybeat
• The Beatles
• Echo and the Bunnymen
• Tate Modern

Sports

• Everton FC Soccer
• Liverpool FC Soccer
• Liverpool St Helens RUFC
• St Helens RLFC
• Tranmere Rovers Soccer