Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Liverpool

Off to the North by coach:
We do not use the word ‘coach’ in America except in the Wells Fargo context–so I had to make a conscious effort not to say ‘bus’ when trying to shepherd my students on to the vehicle that arrived outside our hotel long before dawn broke. Leaving for Liverpool at 5. 30 am meant totting along a bagged brekkie (thoughtfully provided by The Grosvenor Hotel) and attempting to make up for lost zzzzs by dozing on it. It was well after 8 am when dawn did finally break over a cold and frosty landscape; but by then we were well and truly on our way.

We made one pit stop for a much-needed coffee at a Road Chef and then were on the highway again, arriving in Liverpool a little before noon. Skies had been overcast throughout our journey. At Albert Dock, we met Paul, our Blue Badge guide, who turned out to be the best I have ever known in all the conducted tours I have taken in the United Kingdom. He speedily divided our group into two lots, recommended that one follow him on a walking tour around the waterfront while the other head into the Merseyside Maritime Museum to view the Titanic exhibition on the first floor. Being in the first group, I was treated to his tour first and must say that it set the tone beautifully for the rest of the day which was prominently Titanic-oriented. Indeed, I commend Paul for the ease with which he launched, at short notice, into a ‘Titanic Tour’ aimed primarily at the course which I am teaching–The 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic and the First Era of Globalization.

Our walk took in the main buildings on the waterfront–The Three Graces, as they are known: The Liverpool Port Building, the Cunard Building and the Royal Liver Building which is crowned by the distinctive ‘Liver Birds’ which have given the city its logo. After listening to Paul’s detailed lecture on Liverpool’s rich maritime history, we walked across the main road to the Albion House Building, international headquarters of the White Star Line which had owned the ill-fated vessel. Nicknamed the ‘streaky bacon’ building for its horizontal red and white stripes (comprising red brick and white Portland stone), it remained locked in the days following the ship’s disappearance as harried relatives attempted to find out the fate of their loved ones–the news was delivered by the company’s personnel from the third floor balconies of the building. It gave me goosebumps to recall these facts as we stood gazing at the building. Our group then wound its way to a Victorian building at 14 Castle Street which had held the offices of C.W and F. N. Black who had acted as agents for the musicians who had comprised the ship’s band, every single one of whom was killed. Listening to Paul’s story of the band’s heroism as opposed to the shabbiness with which their relatives were treated after their deaths made my eyes swim. It was shocking and it was inhumane. We posed for a group picture against the background of Albion House and then returned to Albert Dock.

Exploring the Merseyside Maritime Museum:
On a past visit, I had managed to spend far more time in the Merseyside Maritime Museum and had taken in the excellent Slavery exhibition on its second floor. This time, however, with our focus on shipping disasters, it was the first floor that demanded our attention. Here we found deeply poignant accounts of the loss of three ships–the Lusitania, the Empress of Ireland and the Titanic. A superb working model of the ship made by Harland and Wolf in Belfast, Ireland, is on display as are various other pieces that comprise Titanic memorabilia. I watched my students take several notes and many photographs of the display cases as well as listen to audio recordings of Second Officer Litholler recall the sinking of the ship and film clips from the British Film Institute. Once again, I found my eyes swimming in the proximity of so many tangible mementos of the world’s most famous shipping catastrophe.

While some of my students grabbed a sandwich, I browsed around the shop to find some posters that I can display during our colloquium on the Titanic on March 30, 2012. Indeed I was quite pleased with what I managed to unearth.

A Tour of Liverpool and Beatles’ Land:
Then, it was time to pile on to the coach again and, under Paul’s expert guidance, to receive insights into the commercial and cultural history of Liverpool which has seen a huge resurrection in recent times. He pointed out a number of beautiful Victorian buildings in the City Center including the splendid Neo-Classical edifice of St. George’s Hall (on an earlier visit, I had occasion to see the spectacular interior with its superb Minton-tiled walls and flooring). We passed by the city’s two landmark places of worship: the contemporary Roman Catholic Cathedral (handiwork of Sir Edwin Luytens, designer of New Delhi) and the Gothic Anglican one (designed by George Gilbert Scott) which is poised on a hill and dominates the skyline. On my very first visit to Liverpool, I had visited both places and wished my students could have had the same privilege–but time was of the essence and we had a lot of ground to cover.

Leaving the precincts of the city behind us, we wound our way “beneath the blue suburban skies” to Penny Lane which the Beatles have made the most popular lane in the whole wide world–a lane that lived on in their childhood memories and the lyrics of the song they penned. After we paused to take pictures besides the street sign, Paul took us to the roundabout at the end of the lane which features in the song. We saw the bank (now a Lloyd’s bank) and the barber shop (Tony Slavin’s) at which John Lennon and Paul McCartney got their hair cut as youngsters. Once again, I found myself breaking out in goosebumps for every bit of the tour was evocative of an era of rock and roll innocence that seems to have gone with the wind. Throughout the tour, when he wasn’t playing Beatles’ hits on the PA system, Paul was filling us in on the details of the lives of the two main musicians (John and Paul) who made history. Their family lives were absorbing and made more graphic by the fact that we stopped at ‘Mendips’, home of John Lennon and 20 Forthlin Road (it has no name), childhood home of Paul. Indeed it was in this modest terraced home that the most recognizable of the Beatles’ songs were composed. Both homes are owned and managed today by the National Trust and are opened to visitors by appointment in the summer–alas, they are not manned in the winter.

Still, for me, it was a tremendous experience–and the pleasure continued at Strawberry Fields, which used to be the site of a school in whose grounds John Lennon was often brought for summer tea parties by his aunt when he was a child. The site is marked by elaborate wrought-iron scarlet gates through which we peered into the strawberry fields that lay just beyond. And a few minutes later, we were at LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts) where John and Paul were once in high school together. It is nanaged by McCartney today and we were informed that the Beatle himself attends graduation commencement exercises every year and personally hands out diplomas to the school’s graduates!

Afternoon Tea at the Adelphi Hotel:
Then, it was 4. 30 pm– time for a pukka cuppa–and what more significant place than the Adelphi Hotel where I received lovely compliments from Paul. Not once, but twice did he say in his commentary how “inspired” and “creative” and “appropriate” it was that the organizers of the NYU tour had chosen to end the day in Liverpool with Afternoon Tea, Britain’s quintessential meal, at the Sefton Suite which is an exact replica of the first-class smoking room on the Titanic. I, however, knew that I could not take all the credit for I had been informed by my friend Bishop Michael Colclough of London that it was in this hotel that Edwardian passengers, boarding the ocean liners from Liverpool’s Docks, had spent the first couple of nights to accustom themselves gradually to their new accommodations. It was upon getting to know this that I had resolved to arrange Afternoon Tea for my students in its precincts.

The hotel, which had fallen–like many such establishments–into disuse, has been beautifully refurbished and it was in the Grand Main Lounge (rather than in the Sefton Suite) that tables were formally laid for our tea service. Under glittering chandeliers, we were seated to enjoy finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam and platters of mouthwatering cakes served with large pots of tea. While most of us from the Indian sub-continent take tea in the afternoon (a colonial hangover), this was a novel experience for most of my American students who plunged right in and enjoyed themselves immensely. When we had eaten our fill, we wandered around the hotel’s public spaces, took pictures of the Sefton Suite (I have to say that I was quite disappointed by it, after all, for it was much less ostentatious than the Main Lounge) and then awaited the return of our coach to take us home.

I nipped out into the main shopping center to find myself a souvenir postcard and magnet and was able to return to the coach well in time for its departure. After one more pit stop en route, we arrived in T’Smoke at 10 pm and dove into the hotel in haste after what had been an eventful, if exhausting, day.

I spent a good couple of hours organizing and packing my suitcases for I cannot believe that our travels have almost come to an end. We have one more day and night before we return Stateside–and I am determined to make the most of every last second.