48 Fun Facts About Liverpool

Whose letters patent of 1207 founded the borough of Liverpool?

King John. His letters patent advertised a brand-new borough and invited settlers to take up plots there, with the trading privileges of a port as the lure.

Which peninsula faces Liverpool across the Mersey estuary?

The Wirral. Its Birkenhead Park so impressed the visiting American Frederick Law Olmsted in 1850 that it helped inspire his design for New York's Central Park.

The nickname 'Scouser' for a Liverpool native comes from what?

A stew eaten by sailors. Scouse is short for lobscouse, a ship's dish of meat and hard biscuit that caught on in the port and gave its people their nickname.

Liverpool hosted the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of which country?

Ukraine. Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 contest, but Russia's invasion made hosting at home impossible, so the BBC staged the show in Liverpool instead.

The Liver Bird on Liverpool's coat of arms is normally depicted as which real bird?

The Liver Bird is shown as a cormorant carrying a sprig of laver seaweed in its beak, a visual pun on the city's name; the original medieval seal bird was probably an eagle.

According to local legend, what happens if the two Liver Birds mate and fly away?

The city would cease to exist, in that telling, which is why the pair face away from each other; another story has them chained down to stop them leaving.

The Royal Liver Building is one of the Pier Head's Three what?

The Three Graces. They stand on the site of George's Dock, filled in around 1900; the dock board built first, swapping offices scattered across the city for one grand waterfront home.

Liverpool's Albert Dock warehouses of 1846 were built without which common structural material?

Wood. Building only in cast iron, brick and stone made them the world's first non-combustible warehouses, a fireproof and secure home for cargo.

Which national art gallery opened a northern branch in Liverpool's Albert Dock in 1988?

Tate. The 'Tate of the North' took over a disused dock warehouse, in the city where sugar magnate Henry Tate had started out as a grocer's apprentice.

Which Liverpool MP was killed by a locomotive on the opening day of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway?

William Huskisson, MP for Liverpool, was struck by a locomotive on 15 September 1830 after stepping down to greet the Duke of Wellington; he became the first widely reported railway passenger fatality.

Which locomotive won the 1829 Rainhill Trials to haul trains on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway?

Rocket, built by Robert Stephenson and Company, was the only one of the five engines that turned up to complete the course, winning the £500 prize and the contract.

Which architect of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral also designed Britain's red telephone box?

Giles Gilbert Scott won the cathedral competition at 22, when his only built design was a pipe rack; picking a Catholic for an Anglican cathedral raised eyebrows too.

Which record does Liverpool's Anglican cathedral hold?

Longest cathedral in the world, at about 189 metres with its Lady Chapel; building began in 1904 and took 74 years, so its architect never saw it finished.

What is the local nickname of Liverpool's Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral?

Paddy's Wigwam stands on the crypt of a far grander cathedral by Edwin Lutyens, abandoned as costs soared in wartime; its dome would have been wider than St Peter's in Rome.

Which street links Liverpool's Anglican and Catholic cathedrals?

Hope Street. The fitting name is a coincidence: it honours William Hope, a merchant whose house stood there long before either cathedral was built.

Which body stripped Liverpool's waterfront of a prized heritage listing in 2021?

UNESCO deleted the waterfront from its World Heritage List, saying new developments, Everton's stadium among them, had badly damaged it; only two sites had ever been delisted before.

Which Liverpool-based shipping company operated the Titanic?

White Star Line ran its fleet from Albion House on James Street, so Titanic was registered in Liverpool even though she sailed from Southampton.

Which horse won the Grand National at Aintree in 1973, 1974 and 1977?

Red Rum was trained on the sands at Southport by car dealer Ginger McCain, and is buried beside the Aintree winning post.

What let 100/1 outsider Foinavon win the 1967 Grand National?

A pile-up stopped his rivals at the 23rd fence; Foinavon was so far behind that jockey John Buckingham could steer round the chaos, and the fence now bears the horse's name.

When the Cavern Club opened on Mathew Street in 1957, what kind of music was it for?

Jazz. Owner Alan Sytner modelled it on a Paris cellar club and banned rock and roll, famously passing John Lennon a note mid-set telling him to cut it out.

Which future Beatles manager first saw them at the Cavern in November 1961?

Brian Epstein, who ran his family's NEMS record store, watched a lunchtime set and offered to manage them; within a year he had smartened up their image and won them a recording contract.

Liverpool is home to Europe's oldest community of people from which country?

China. Sailors hired by Alfred Holt's Blue Funnel Line began settling in the city in the 1860s, and the arch over Nelson Street was built in Shanghai and assembled in 2000.

What kind of giant mechanical creature was La Princesse, which roamed Liverpool's streets in 2008?

A spider. Built by the French company La Machine, she first appeared clinging to a derelict tower block on Lime Street, and ended her tour of the city in the Queensway road tunnel.

Who opened Liverpool's Capital of Culture year from a rooftop?

Ringo Starr played on the roof of St George's Hall to open Liverpool's 2008 year as European Capital of Culture, a title won ahead of rival bids from Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Oxford and Newcastle-Gateshead.

Who ran the earliest known ferry across the Mersey, rowing passengers over from Birkenhead?

Benedictine monks from Birkenhead Priory rowed travellers across for a small fare and sheltered them when the weather was too rough to cross; a royal charter later confirmed the right.

Which brewer and Anfield landowner founded Liverpool FC in 1892 after Everton left the ground?

John Houlding was left with an empty ground when Everton walked out in a row over rent, so he formed a new club to fill it; the FA would not let him keep the Everton name.

Liverpool's first team, which beat Rotherham 7-1 in 1892, was made up entirely of players from where?

Scotland. The club's first manager signed the whole side on a scouting trip north, and so many surnames began with Mc that it became known as the 'team of Macs'.

Anfield's Kop stand is named after a hill in which country?

Spion Kop is a hill in South Africa where Lancashire regiments suffered heavy losses in a January 1900 Boer War battle; the Anfield terrace took the name in 1906.

Which club did Bill Shankly leave to become Liverpool manager in December 1959?

Huddersfield Town, where he had handed a 16-year-old Denis Law his debut; within a month at Anfield he had listed 24 players he wanted gone, and all had left inside a year.

Before becoming Liverpool manager in 1974, Bob Paisley had served the club in which backroom role?

Physiotherapist. Paisley was self-taught and was said to diagnose an injury just by looking at a player; he took the manager's job reluctantly, then won three European Cups.

From which club did Liverpool sign Kenny Dalglish for a British record fee in 1977?

Liverpool paid Celtic £440,000 for Dalglish to replace Kevin Keegan; he scored on his league debut at Middlesbrough and on his Anfield debut against Newcastle three days later.

Who is Liverpool's all-time record goalscorer, with 346 goals in all competitions?

Ian Rush scored his 346 goals in two Anfield spells either side of a single season at Juventus, after which Liverpool paid a record fee for an English club to bring him back.

Which Japanese electronics firm became the first shirt sponsor of an English league club, Liverpool, in 1979?

Hitachi. The BBC refused to show sponsored shirts, so for years Liverpool had to wear plain kits whenever the television cameras turned up.

The 1989 Hillsborough disaster happened during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and which club?

Liverpool were playing Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989 when 97 people died in the crush at the Leppings Lane end; the Taylor Report led to all-seater stadiums in England's top two divisions.

'You'll Never Walk Alone' was originally written for which 1945 Broadway musical?

Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote it for Carousel in 1945, where Nettie sings it to console the widowed Julie Jordan; the words are worked into the Shankly Gates outside Anfield.

Whose 1963 version of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' is played at Anfield before every home game?

Gerry and the Pacemakers topped the chart with it in October 1963; the Kop sang along when the top ten was played over the PA, and kept singing after it left the charts.

Which Liverpool goalkeeper saved Shevchenko's penalty to win the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul?

Jerzy Dudek saved Andriy Shevchenko's kick to win the shoot-out after Liverpool, 3-0 down at half-time, scored three goals in six minutes; the comeback became the Miracle of Istanbul.

Which Milan captain scored inside the first minute of the 2005 Champions League final?

Paolo Maldini's volley was the fastest goal a European Cup final had seen, yet he ended the night a loser and later called it the worst moment of his career.

What did Liverpool earn by winning a fifth European Cup in 2005?

The trophy to keep for good: winners normally handed it back after ten months, but UEFA let any five-time champion keep the real one, a rule it scrapped in 2009.

Who scored Liverpool's second goal in the 2019 Champions League final win over Tottenham in Madrid?

Divock Origi came off the bench to score in the 87th minute; weeks earlier he had swept in Trent Alexander-Arnold's quickly taken corner to finish off Barcelona in the semi-final.

Whose defeat at Chelsea in June 2020 confirmed Liverpool as league champions?

Manchester City lost 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, making Liverpool champions for the first time in 30 years with a record seven games to spare, though a pandemic shutdown had kept them waiting until 25 June.

What did Jürgen Klopp jokingly call himself at his first Liverpool press conference?

The Normal One. Reminded of José Mourinho's 'Special One' boast, Klopp said he was just a normal guy from the Black Forest.

Jürgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool after managing which German club from 2008 to 2015?

Borussia Dortmund won back-to-back Bundesliga titles under Klopp, only for Bayern Munich to take Mario Götze and then Robert Lewandowski off him in successive summers.

Who succeeded Jürgen Klopp as Liverpool manager in 2024?

Arne Slot arrived from Feyenoord; Klopp led the Anfield crowd in chanting his name at his farewell, and the Dutchman won Liverpool's 20th league title in his first season.

From which club did Liverpool sign Mohamed Salah in 2017 for a then club-record £36.9 million?

Salah joined from Roma, where he had rebuilt his career after limited chances at Chelsea; he scored 32 league goals in his first Anfield season, then a record for a 38-game campaign.

Steven Gerrard's injury-time 35-yard equaliser in the 2006 FA Cup final came against which club?

West Ham United led 3-2 into stoppage time before Gerrard's volley made it 3-3 in Cardiff; Liverpool won the shoot-out, and the match became known as the Gerrard Final.

With so many families split between the clubs, what was the Everton–Liverpool derby called?

The friendly derby. Reds and blues often share a household, and rival fans traditionally sat side by side instead of being kept apart.

Anfield and Everton's old Goodison ground stood on either side of which green space?

Stanley Park lies between Anfield and Goodison Park; Liverpool once had planning permission for a new stadium in the park, but after Fenway Sports Group bought the club in 2010 they expanded Anfield instead.