Post by Kev on Sept 24, 2004 7:36:02 GMT -5
THE good, bad and Merseyside's plain old quirky are brought together today in the most definitive book yet of people who have had a major impact on British society.
All the region's greats who died before December 31, 2000 - from sporting heroes Dixie Dean and Bill Shankly to Booker prize-winning novelist J G Farrell - are included in the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Ex-Beatle John Lennon is there, too.
They join all the UK's biggest talents in the arts, politics, music, sport and business.
Merseyside's top names stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Dirk Bogarde, Morecambe and Wise, Harold Wilson and Diana, Princess of Wales.
But more poignantly the book also includes the short life of murder victim James Bulger.
He is described as an "attractive, soft-featured child with fair skin, blue eyes, and light brown tousled hair".
The publishers say he was included because of the "over-whelming soul-searching and examination of education, discipline and social policy" which followed his death.
The book is the most comprehensive "who's who" ever compiled and has taken 12 years to write. Merseysiders are heavily featured.
Other sports stars named include Bob Paisley, who led Liverpool FC to countless glories, and mountaineer Lucy Walker, who died in 1916. She was renowned for her eccentric tendency to climb while living on a diet of sponge cake and champagne.
The book features everyone from radical politician Eric Heffer, who was Neil Kinnock's fiercest critic, to prison chaplain John Kay.
Sir Paul McCartney's first wife Linda makes it in for her photographic work.
Broadcaster and comedian Kenny Everett also makes the list.
Publisher Oxford University Press has written off any chances of making any money back on the £7,500 60-volume dictionary and has called it a valuable piece of academic research. The work was going online today.
Source- Liverpool Echo
All the region's greats who died before December 31, 2000 - from sporting heroes Dixie Dean and Bill Shankly to Booker prize-winning novelist J G Farrell - are included in the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Ex-Beatle John Lennon is there, too.
They join all the UK's biggest talents in the arts, politics, music, sport and business.
Merseyside's top names stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Dirk Bogarde, Morecambe and Wise, Harold Wilson and Diana, Princess of Wales.
But more poignantly the book also includes the short life of murder victim James Bulger.
He is described as an "attractive, soft-featured child with fair skin, blue eyes, and light brown tousled hair".
The publishers say he was included because of the "over-whelming soul-searching and examination of education, discipline and social policy" which followed his death.
The book is the most comprehensive "who's who" ever compiled and has taken 12 years to write. Merseysiders are heavily featured.
Other sports stars named include Bob Paisley, who led Liverpool FC to countless glories, and mountaineer Lucy Walker, who died in 1916. She was renowned for her eccentric tendency to climb while living on a diet of sponge cake and champagne.
The book features everyone from radical politician Eric Heffer, who was Neil Kinnock's fiercest critic, to prison chaplain John Kay.
Sir Paul McCartney's first wife Linda makes it in for her photographic work.
Broadcaster and comedian Kenny Everett also makes the list.
Publisher Oxford University Press has written off any chances of making any money back on the £7,500 60-volume dictionary and has called it a valuable piece of academic research. The work was going online today.
Source- Liverpool Echo
