Popular local historian and broadcaster Ken Pye has collected a further fifty tales to take you on another entertaining journey across the centuries, and around Liverpool and the towns and villages of Merseyside. His stories are a celebration of just how remarkable and endlessly interesting this community is. The weird and wonderful tales in this book are more intriguing than ever, and include Spiders and Other Giants; 'Roast Beef' - The Crosby Hermit; The Horrors of Crank Caverns; The Iron Men of Crosby; The Monster and the Ghost Ship; The Countess and the Murderous Footman; Cavern Club - Where Merseybeat was Born; The Black Rock Mermaid of old Wallasey; The Thugs of Willalloo; Bidston Hill and The Holy Grail; The Pyramid Tomb of Rodney Street; Everton Beacon ~ Fires and Flags; The Iron Duke's Column; Glastonbury Thorn of Allerton; Run Over by The Rocket; True Inventor of Radio; and the Nude Bathers of the Pier Head.

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.

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.

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.

This book brings to life a selection of the most notorious, and grimmest, murders and other crimes in and around Liverpool from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. The tales include 'Fire in the Menagerie', 'Murderous Propaganda Against Prostitution', 'HMS Thetis - A Floating Tomb', and 'The Mass Graves of Old Swan'. Alongside these the author examines lesser-known cases such as 'The Hope Street Bodysnatchers', 'The Telltale Brooch' (the Liverpool pub landlady who was the main catalyst for the capture of Dr Crippen) and 'The Prime Minister's Assassin' - when Spencer Percival was murdered in the House of Commons by a disgruntled Liverpudlian civil servant. Unusual crimes also feature including 'The Man in the Iron Coffin', 'The Cheapside Vampire', and the family of extremely violent Victorian muggers, 'The Murderous Mulveys'. The story continues into the early twentieth century with the Edwardian gangs of Liverpool (the original Teddy boys) and the 'Tithebarn Street Outrage'. The author also describes methods of punishing criminals in Liverpool through the ages and the role of the grisly Castle and Tower of Liverpool, where public hangings took place outside its walls and which became the disease-ridden town gaol in the nineteenth century. When the last hangings took place in Britain in the 1960s, one of them was carried out in Liverpool prison. This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of crime, as well as those who want to know more about the story of Liverpool.

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.