Search results for ""Author Ken Pye""

The city of Liverpool is famous throughout the world. This once-small fishing village was transformed into a mighty commercial powerhouse, seen by many as the second city of the British Empire. In 1715 Liverpool created the world’s first enclosed, commercial wet dock; eventually there would be docks along 7.5 miles of the River Mersey. It rapidly grew into the greatest port and city in the entire British Empire outside London. Nevertheless, by 1980 Liverpool’s population had reduced by over half; its infrastructure and economy were decaying, and its political leaders were leading the city towards complete collapse. Today, Liverpool has the fastest-growing economy in Britain and has been a European Capital of Culture and is a UNESCO World Heritage City. Well-known local author Ken Pye takes the reader on a fascinating A–Z tour of the city’s history, exploring its lesser-known nooks and crannies, and along the way relating many a tale of the most interesting people and places. Fully illustrated with photographs from the past and present, the A–Z of Liverpool will appeal to residents and visitors alike.

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In Ken Pye's third collection of strange and often bizarre tales from Merseyside’s History, prepare to be amazed and entertained, once again.Where on Merseyside was the nonsense rhyme, ‘The Owl and The Pussycat’ written? How did the 'Cast Iron Shore’ or the Cazzie get its name? Is there a lost street running beneath Lime Street?Learn about 'Roast Beef’ the Crosby Hermit, the prehistoric footprints on Formby Shore, and the particularly intimate wax models of diseased body parts found in the Paradise Street Museum of Anatomy. There are over fifty such true stories and secret wonders in this amazingly eclectic book, but consider yourself warned – once you begin reading these tales you might find it hard to stop!

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Here is the LOATHSOME, LURID and DOWNRIGHT LAMENTABLE history of Liverpool! Beginning with the mysteries of the Druids and featuring astonishing tales of bloodshed, battles and the Black Death, Viking assaults, Victorian gangland riots, the mud, blood and bullets of the Western Front and the falling bombs of the Blitz, read it if you dare! With more than 70 illustrations (plus a grim and gruesome colour section on the infamous Maybrick poisoning), you'll never look at the city in the same way again!

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Animals have featured in the lives and cultures of the people of Merseyside since the dawn of time, and in so many ways. Beastly Merseyside describes this, and tells wonderful stories about these animals, and about the roles they have played. Horses have carried us and our weaponry into battle for millennia, right up to the wars of the twentieth century. They have ploughed our fields, carried our goods, and pulled our carts, wagons, carriages, stagecoaches, canal barges, buses, trams, and ambulances. We have been racing horses on Merseyside for centuries. We have hunted animals for food, from rabbits and ducks to those great leviathans of the sea, the whales. Liverpool’s whaling fleet was once one of the most important in Britain. We have also hunted, and in some cases still hunt, animals simply for ‘sport’. This has included dog-fighting, cockfighting, bear and bull baiting, as well as fox hunting, hare coursing, and shooting. Animals have entertained us on the streets, in the days of dancing bears and organ grinders’ monkeys; in circuses; and in the very many zoos we have had on Merseyside, again over many centuries. Animals have also rescued us, provided comfort to us, and helped us to see and hear. In Beastly Merseyside, popular local historian Ken Pye tells tales about the likes of Mickey the Chimp, Liverpool’s own ‘King Kong’; the execution of Rajah the Elephant; Pongo the Man Monkey; the amazing Hale Duck Decoy; the ‘Lion in the Wheelbarrow’; the nineteenth-century Knowsley Great Aviary and the modern safari park; and why and how the Liver Bird became the emblem of Liverpool. Full of well-researched, informative, and entertaining facts, this book really shows just how vital a role animals of all kinds have played, and continue to play, in our lives and communities.

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This fantastic collection of true tales celebrates the strange and curious secrets of Merseyside’s history. The fifty stories inside – from the lion in the wheelbarrow on the tightrope to the twelve young women ‘smothered by the incurable malady they caught of some sailors’, the true tale of the ‘man in the iron coffin’ and the strange and mysterious disappearance of the Everest mountaineers from Birkenhead – uncover some truly amazing and extraordinary facets of the area’s history and heritage. Richly illustrated and compiled by Liverpool’s own historian Ken Pye, this book will delight residents and visitors alike.

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Local historian and broadcaster Ken Pye has collected a further fifty true tales that celebrate the weird and wonderful side of Merseyside's history.From the subterranean munitions factory at New Brighton and the bird-man of Speke, to wild tigers at Tranmere and a mysterious leprechaun, you are sure to uncover some truly amazing and extraordinary stories here.Richly illustrated, this fantastic collection will delight everyone interested in finding out more about Merseyside's strange and curious heritage.

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Liverpool was once the epitome of ‘the city with a pub on every corner’, but no longer. As social habits and communities continue to radically change, hundreds of pubs continue to disappear annually, and mostly without trace except in memories. However, not all have been lost. Right across the heart of this European Capital of Culture and UNESCO World Heritage City, Liverpool still boasts many outstanding and historic pubs, each with fascinating tales to tell. Every year, millions of people from around the globe come to visit this world-class city and Liverpool’s pubs feature high on their lists of essential places to visit. Here, they enjoy some of the finest ales, and experience one of the most hospitable places in Britain. In Liverpool Pubs, and with fascinating stories and pictures, respected local historian Ken Pye provides an indispensable guide, and a temptation, for even more people to come and discover the very best of these alehouses for themselves.

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This book tells the story of the town (later city) and port of Liverpool. It begins in 1207, when King John decided to transform the tiny, otherwise unknown fishing hamlet of Lerpul' into a major base for his planned invasion of Ireland. Soon renamed Liverpool', the new town continued as a garrison and military harbour for centuries. Then, during the Civil War in the seventeenth century, it was razed to the ground. After being rebuilt it went on to play an important role in the Jacobite revolts of 1715 and 1745. Also, by the eighteenth century, Liverpool was becoming one of the wealthiest mercantile cities in the country, due in large part to its dominant position in international maritime trade and the size of its docks, harbours, and warehouses.The personal wealth of its merchants and shipowners, and the success and domination of the transatlantic slave trade, resulted in the building of many magnificent private homes and civic buildings, leaving an architectural legacy that remains

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