Ken Pye – författare

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.

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 the envy of the world, though this was also built on massive human suffering and exploitation. Nevertheless, the global maritime trade saw Liverpool continue to grow and prosper, so much so that by the start of the twentieth century it had become the second city and port of the British Empire outside of London. International shipping and trade also brought immigrants from all over the world to settle in Liverpool and create the vibrant, industrial, commercial, and cultural hub that the city has now become.Without unnecessary detail, but including all the essential facts, this accessible, informative, and entertaining book will transport the reader across the centuries to uncover the fascinating history of the people and places that make up the city of Liverpool.

Liverpool’s rise to become a major city in England is linked to its growth as a port. In the eighteenth-century Liverpool became the leading port in the transatlantic slave trade as well as a major route for the textiles entering and leaving the country. Large numbers of emigrants and immigrants passed through Liverpool and the industrialised Victorian Liverpool was one of the wealthiest cities in Britain, despite also having areas of great poverty. Despite industrial decline after the Second World War, Liverpool is a commercial and cultural hub today, attracting many to the regenerated city. In Quirky Liverpool author Ken Pye delves into lesser known but fascinating tales from Liverpool’s past. In this book, readers will find stories of General Tom Thumb and King Kong in Liverpool; St John’s Boneyard under the flowers; the real Eleanor Rigby; the Great Bang on the Mersey; the Bird Man of Speke; the world largest theatre and the diving horses; floating baths and much, much more.Quirky Liverpool celebrates the unusual and often strange history of Liverpool and its characters over the years. This fascinating insight into Liverpool will be of interest to all those who want to know more about the city’s quirky history.

The Wirral Peninsula has a fascinating history. Before the development of the docks along the Mersey Estuary to the north, the area was a rural patchwork of communities and villages. The nineteenth century saw the growth of towns on Wirral such as Birkenhead, Wallasey, and Ellesmere Port. Industrial growth also led to the building of William Lever’s remarkable Port Sunlight garden village. As Wirral became more connected to Liverpool through rail and road, new suburbs developed, although the west area remained mostly rural, and today Wirral is still an area of contrasts.In Quirky Wirral author Ken Pye delves into lesser-known but fascinating tales from Wirral’s past. Readers will discover tales about the many tunnels and caves under the Peninsula; Wirral’s lighthouses; the origins of the Cheshire Cat; zoos, the escaped tigers and the tightrope walker Blondin at Eastham pleasure garden; the Black Rock mermaid; New Brighton Tower and Waxworks Chamber of Horrors; smugglers and the Wallasey Wreckers, led by Mother Redcap; the Holy Grail buried at Bidston, and much, much more.Quirky Wirral celebrates the unusual and often strange history of Wirral and its characters over the years. This fascinating insight into the Wirral will be of interest to all those who want to know more about the area’s quirky history.

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.

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.

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!

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.