Liverpool: Capital of Culture 2008

For 2008 Liverpool is a European Capital of Culture as Merseyside enjoys a mix of drama, dance, art, events and of course music in the city the Beatles made famous.

I grew up in St Helens, which was in Lancashire at the time, though later someone sneaked in one night and moved it into the district of Merseyside. We all suspected it must have been a Liverpool Scally, up to no good. In those days, if Liverpool was European capital of anything it was more likely to be car crime than culture.

Liverpool was our nearest big city, easier to get to than Manchester, and it was where we went to do our Christmas shopping, or sometimes to go to the pantomime, and later as a teenager to see the Beatles and other pop stars like the Rolling Stones, PJ Proby, Stevie Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group, Mary Wells, The Hollies and many more I've forgotten.

As I grew older and realised that history went back a little bit further than the Beatles' first LP (which was the first LP I ever bought), I discovered that Liverpool did have its own distinct history and culture, like no other city in Europe. The docks and the shipping trade was fascinating, Liverpool had one of the world's first commercial ferry services, going across the Mersey between the Liverpool shore and the priory at Birkenhead.

In the 20th century it produced great comedians like Ken Dodd, Robb Wilton, Jimmy Tarbuck, Tommy Handley, Alexei Sayle, Ted Ray, Paul O'Grady, Tom O'Connor and Arthur Askey, there were playwrights like Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale, and of course the great 1960s days of Merseybeat – the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer, the Searchers, Cilla Black, The Swinging Blue Jeans, the Fourmost... the list really is almost endless.

So to see Liverpool as the European City of Culture 2008 is really rather special to me. The next twelve months will be - fab!

*