Quiz: Liverpool First

A dry dock keeps the water level constant by separating the dock from the tidal river.

The dock was unique both in its design and how it was used. There was the

Howland Great Wet Dock at Rotherhithe in London, which had been built earlier, but it was only a temporary area for vessels to wait unloading. Liverpool's dock was unique because the vessels could be loaded and unloaded at the dockside itself, thus speeding up the process. Known as "The Old Dock", the Liverpool Corporation mortgaged all its land and property to finance the project. With spectacular results for the city's future finances.

(Info from Channel 4/Time Team)if you want to know more, including the archaeological excavations to recover the old dock walls.

Dobson was the first person to prove the presence of sugar in the urine of diabetic patients by using the process of evaporation. He also noted there was an excess of sugar in the blood and was also the first to demonstrate that diabetes was a systemic disorder and not, as commonly believed, a disease of the kidneys.

This Irish-born woman was one of the pioneers of Public Health. At a time when Liverpool was one of the poorest in terms of health and living conditions (the number of cellar dwellings was held to be a national disgrace by the Medical Officer of Health-another Liverpool first-who was appointed around 1847) she discovered she had the only house in her street to have a hot water boiler. She and her husband also offered basic education to the local children. As a result of her efforts, the Corporation opened up the public washhouse and baths in 1842, and she became the first superintendent.

Originally called Sea King, this Glasgow built ship was bought by the Confederate government in 1864, for the purpose of raiding American ships. After leaving Liverpool ostensibly on a trading voyage, she was converted into a warship in Madeira. She then was commissioned as CSS Shenandoah, with Lt. James Waddell in command of her. They spent an interesting time attacking Northern ships all over the trade routes until Waddell learned the war was over. He changed the ship's appearance and stowed her guns, heading for Liverpool where they became the last Confederate fighting unit to surrender.

He came up with the idea when watching Everton play at their football ground in 1889. There was an argument about wether or not the ball had gone through the goal posts.

His net, attached to the goal posts, was tried out in a game between Nottingham Forest and Bolton Wanderers in 1890 and following its great success, the FA made it compulsory soon after.

Her father was Spanish, playing the accordion and piano in local nightclubs. After a short spell in London with the Harry Roy Band, she eventually became a resident singer with the Ted Heath Band in the early 'fifties. Here's what she thought of her 'great' song:

"I went into the studio and only sung it once and I've never sung it again," she recalled. "It was rubbish."

"Almost certainly the most important meeting in popular music history" is how the first meeting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney has recently been described. The meeting took place at St Peter's Church Hall on the evening of Saturday, 6th July 1957.

Whilst waiting to play at the church dance that night, John Lennon and the other members of the Quarrymen Skiffle Group were introduced to the young Paul McCartney by a mutual friend.

The historic meeting was only brief but in just twenty minutes Paul demonstrated his musical ability, playing rock and roll classics and even showing the impressed Quarrymen how to tune their instruments. Two weeks later Paul accepted the group's invitation to join the group. Of the meeting John later famously commented, "that was the day, the day I met Paul that it started moving".

Equally as well known is the grave of Eleanor Rigby, featured in the 1966 Beatles' song, and found in the churchyard. Also in the churchyard, and often overlooked by the numerous visiting Beatles fans, is the grave of John's uncle, George Toogood Smith.

(Info copied from St. Peters Church Woolton web page because it is so well presented.)

Hornby, incredibly, had no engineering background. He was a businessman. He also went on to produce the famous Dinkey Toys and of course, every boy (and man's) beloved Hornby Train sets.

"Jack created a League record that may never be surpassed during the title season, he scored a hat-trick of hat-tricks, the first came on the 9 November 1946 in a 3-0 home win against Portsmouth with the goals coming in the 30th (penalty), 70th and 79th minute, he followed this up a week later with a 4 goal haul away at the Baseball Ground in a 4-1 win over Derby, this included a 6 minute hat-trick, 43rd, 46th and 49th minutes with the 4th coming in the 60th minute. The record breaker came on the 23rd of November at home to Arsenal in the 15th, 61st and 68th minutes of a 4-2 triumph, Stubbins scored the other in the 78th minute bringing to an end a run of 10 consecutive goals by Balmer. He followed this feat up with 5 more goals in his next 4 games making a grand total of 15 in 7 outings, more than 2 a game, a stunning strike rate."

Info taken directly from Wiki because it's too complicated for me to explain properly.

Nearly everybody met up outside Lewis's Department store in the 'sixties because no-one had cars, and buses from all over the city stopped there.

Epstein and Moore are world famous British sculptors, but Dooley and Burgess were both home grown. Amongst their most famous works are the Beatle statue in Matthew St. "Four lads who shook the world" (Dooley) and "Christ on a Donkey" (Burgess).