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Global Scouse Day: Liverpudlians Across The Region Celebrate The City's Achievements
- Peter Eric Lang
- Mar 1, 2020
- 8 min read
Global Scouse Day brought Liverpudlians together to celebrate all the incredible things from the Liverpool City Region. Global Scouse Day 2020 took place on Friday the 28th February and the city has been full of excitement, celebrating all of the incredible things that Liverpool has brought to not just its own people, but to the citizens across the UK and the wider world.
The six boroughs in the region have achieved so much in the city's 8 century-long existence and in this article we will discuss a selection of achievements that our wonderful city has brought to the world. The day is being used to raise money for local charities that are actually helping local scousers such as raising money for The Whitechapel Centre and Clatterbridge Hospital.
Scouse is not just the name of Liverpool's favourite dish; it is also the name of the exceedingly rare accent and the name of the actual inhabitants of the Liverpool City Region.
Liverpool is a world famous city with a phenomenally illustrious history dating back to 1207. In the more than 800 year history, Liverpool and its people have changed the world with cutting edge innovations, world firsts, humour, culture, arts, sport, entertainment and people that care about people.
The Scouse Stew
Possibly one of the most famous regional dishes in the world. Scouse is not just the name of Liverpool's favourite dish; it is also the name of the exceedingly rare accent and the name of the actual inhabitants of the Liverpool City Region.
Scouse was born out of hardship. It originated as a cheap and hearty meal for the people of the Port of Liverpool. Poverty stricken people living and working at the Pierhead, Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bootle, Dingle and Seaforth all ate it as a way to survive. As this is what was eaten but the inhabitants of the city's port areas, the Liverpudlians gained the nickname "Scousers".
No bowl of scouse is complete without some crusty bread to go with the stew. The dish can be made with either lamb or beef and a mixture of vegetables such as carrots, onions and potatoes.
Scouse can be found in abundance across the city on Global Scouse Day however you can be hard pressed to find scouse throughout the year. Despite it being such as hearty and tasty dish very few places seem to have the meal on the menu, particularly in the city centre. Anywhere that does have scouse on the menu can see you paying around £9.50 which seems somewhat preposterous considering it was a dish that enabled Liverpudlians to get through difficult times. There are a number of cafes that sell scouse in the densely populated inner-suburban areas, such as in Birkenhead, with a number of cafes in Hamilton Square, Borough Road and Woodchurch Road selling the dish for a reasonable price.
Successful Scousers
A small sample of Liverpudlians from across the region that have achieved marvellous success includes:
David Morrissey, an who has starred in numerous television shows such The Governor in The Walking Dead, Blackpool, Sky Atlantic's Britannia and countless more.
Jason Isaacs, an actor known for his global 8-film stint as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film franchise, Captain Gabriel Lorca in Netflix's Star Trek: Discovery and as Hap in yet another acclaimed Netflix Original Series, "The OA".
Shirley Ballas became successful internationally after winning a number of Latin dance championships were she gained the nickname "The Queen of Latin", in addition to these phenomenal achievements Shirley is the head judge on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.
Ricky Tomlinson is a legendary actor, comedian and political activist that has always stood up for the rights of the people of Liverpool.
Tom Baker, known primarily for his portrayal as the beloved Fourth Doctor, and the longest standing actor to play the part, with 7 years starring as the eponymous character.
Finally, we couldn't help but mention the most influential musicians in history, The Beatles. John, Paul, George & Ringo. Four of the most famous names on the planet.
The Accent
The Scouse Accent is renowned across the globe. The dialect is so varied that quite literally a block of houses can make all the difference in the Region.
The Liverpudlian Accent, also known as the Scouse Accent, the Liverpool Accent or the Merseyside Accent, is a relatively new dialect that mainly developed from areas in the Region such as Central Liverpool and Port of Liverpool towns such as Birkenhead, Wallasey, Dingle and Bootle.
The Scouse accent originated in the docklands of Liverpool and Birkenhead with . It has now become common tongue throughout all six boroughs of the Liverpool Region like Wirral, Sefton and Halton where the scouse accent is now a natural occurrence after generations of scousers moving around the Region, the slum clearances and the dispersion of the docklands. Even towns just on the cusp of the City Region like Ormskirk and Skelmersdale which are widely considered part of the region, and included in the Liverpool Metropolitan Area, often speak with the accent and rightly consider themselves as scousers, after all, Ormskirk is the home to Edge Hill University which was founded by a number of Liverpudlian businessmen and originated in the Edge Hill District of Central Liverpool. However, due to overwhelming demand by the sheer number of students wanting to attend the University, it had to move out of its central location and to a more spacious area that would enable the growth of one of the city's treasured further education institutions.
Despite the accent's original, distinctive and more often than not, friendly tone, it is often rated as one of the least attractive or desirable accents in the UK, as demonstrated by the accents map below showing the Liverpool Metropolitan Area's dialect and how it compares against other notable accents in the British Isles.
Despite suggestions that the accent may be becoming less common due to cleaner air in the region, I must say that you would struggle to find someone from the Mersey that doesn't speak with a Scouse accent, particularly in the past several decades in which the accent has become even thicker in some part of the city region.
Pioneering Innovation
Scousers are known for their groundbreaking achievements; Cammell Laird has for almost two centuries produced outstanding ships and is known throughout not just the country, but the world for their incredible achievements; The Royal Liver Building which was the tallest building in Europe for over 20 years and the tallest building in the UK for 50 years; Birkenhead Park which is recognised as the first public park in the world that people could freely visit; in addition to James Street Station and Hamilton Square Station being the oldest deep level underground train stations in the world.
Architecture
With the most grade buildings outside of London and Hamilton Square having the most Grade I Listed buildings in a square outside of London, only second to Trafalgar Square. The city is pretty hard pressed to find a competitor that comes close.
Culture
The city region has the most museums outside of London, is the home to one of only three Tate Museums in the country has a plethora of theatres that that again, is unmatched outside of London, which the Liverpudlian James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, pays homage to for his performing arts career.
Comedy
The Liverpool Comedy Circuit is thriving with phenomenally successful comedians entertaining locally, nationally and internationally. With icons such as John Bishop, Paul O'Grady, Les Dennis and Ricky Tomlinson gracing the TV on a regular basis and local legends such as Paul Smith and Adam Staunton making the city's comedy circuit come alive.
Sport
Liverpool is a phenomenally sporty city. The Region houses three professional clubs, two of which are some of the most famous and widely supported clubs in the world; Liverpool FC and Everton FC. The third club, Tranmere Rovers, is in the Region's Wirral Borough and approximately 2 and 1/2 miles from the city centre. Tranmere has recently made a comeback with fans hoping of a return to the Championship as it was with manager Johnny King in the 90s, when they narrowly missed out on moving into the newly formed Premier League on three occasions.
Not to mention the exceptionally successful rugby team St Helens R.F.C who complete at the top tier of European Rugby and athletes such as Katarina Johnson-Thompson and homegrown scouse footballing legends for Liverpool FC, Everton FC and Tranmere Rovers FC such as Dixie Dean, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jamie Carragher, Bunny Bell and Steven Gerrard to name but a few. With Bunny Bell and Dixie Dean both playing for Tranmere, smashing national records and then being signed by Everton; such as Bunny Bell's 9 goals during one match in which, could have been 10, however due to the wind missed a penalty.
Music
Liverpool is the home of music, the capital of pop, the city with the most UK number ones. It's the home of the biggest selling and most influential musical artists in history: The Beatles. The fab four changed the face of music and John Lennon and Paul McCartney's music writing duo is still to this day considered the greatest in history.
The scouse movement known as "Merseybeat" which was inspired by The Beatles helped change the landscape of British and American music. In addition to outstanding local groups such as Gerry and The Pacemakers, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the one and only Billy Fury.
The city is also the home of other scouse superstars such as the group Dead or Alive. Pete Burns, from the quaint model village of Port Sunlight, led this bold, stylish and powerful group to the global spotlight with hits such as "You Spin Me Round" that are still played on the radio and in TV shows such as Netflix's Dark to this day.
Another fantastic example of the city's continuous roaring music scene is Atomic Kitten. During the late 90s and 2000s they were at the forefront of pop music, with members coming from all over the region. The group has amassed over 10 million record sales worldwide and topped the charts.
Conclusion
The Liverpool City Region is a bustling melting pot of creativity, culture and entertainment with a phenomenally strong sense of identity, compassion and determination. One thing is for sure, scousers have consistently changed the world and we are still proving that we're continuing to do so. Global Scouse Day is the perfect way for everyone to celebrate the city's achievements and the people that have made it happen over 800 incredible years.
This article about celebrating Scouse achievements is naturally editorial in natural as the author of this piece is from the Liverpool City Region.
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