A celebration of Liverpool - the Pool of Life

Mar 15 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool’s rich assortment of characters has provided the inspiration for a fantastic parade of caricatures in a new book. Peter Elson reports

FOR a place that prides itself on a rare and raw sense of wit, Liverpool has spawned no specifically humorous history book.

There is no Liverpudlian version of 1066 and All That, although maybe one day we’ll get 2008 and All This.

While that idea perhaps ferments in some Merseyside mind, meantime something just as entertaining has appeared history book-wise.

Pool of Life – The Story of Liverpool in Caricatures by John Minnion is a thoroughly engaging canter through 800 years of Liverpool from dismal little fishing hamlet to World Beatle City.

But it’s more than just rock ‘n’ roll. The city’s character has arrived through the achievements of the most remarkable set of individuals ever to tread the pavements of any town, save London.

And yet London is too big, too disparate to enjoy Liverpool’s sense of self and intensity so vital in forming an identity that can be spotted from the far end of the country.

Against the known laws of physics, John has fed ingredients consisting of around 150 assorted people, a seven-strong flock of Liver Birds and one horse (Red Rum, naturally) into his artistic Magi-Mix and created the ultimate dish of Scousers.

The usual internationally famous suspects are all here, plus those you’ve heard of but aren’t quite sure why, along with the unfairly forgotten.

Given John’s surefire talent as a cartoonist and designer, his biggest problem was simply who to leave out, with so many jostling into his studio through the revolving doors of fame and notoriety.

“Writing this book has been knackering as it’s taken twice as long as I thought in time and content. It’s double the size of my last book Hitler’s List – An Illustrated Guide to Degenerates,” says John, 57, of south Liverpool.

“It’s as if it’s had an atomic half-life as the nearer I got to the end the slower it got.

“However, having done Hitler’s List, I found I liked the format of telling a big story by through lots of little ones. This is a great way for me to use caricatures to get readers into the story.

“Liverpool was the most obvious subject to do, as I’d been transposed here in 2001 and it was the best way of getting to know my new home.

“I compiled my choice of caricature subjects from different directions. As soon as I had an embryonic list everyone I met kept adding to it. Everyone claimed their choice was definitive and pronounced who must be included,” he says.

TO SAFEQUARD his sanity, John found it best not simply to tell not people about the project. His Merseyside mentor, Eddie Roberts, a retired school master and local historian who loves history and loves Liverpool, was a major source of information.

Raw material and background about chosen subjects came from an ever-growing set of books and, inevitably in the internet age, the Google search engine.

“The book which I used the most was Prof John Belchem’s Liverpool 800. For the sheer pleasure of reading it, Paul du Noyer’s Liverpool Wondrous Place gave me a warm feeling of knowing the city.

“Over two and a half years the whole method of research changed because of internet message boards throwing up more information.

“On the down side, I was writing too much, but I kept coming across wonderful websites like YoLiverpool which became a virtual learning experience.