Happy Birthday Liverpool!
Thereafter, history took a sharp turn for the worse, as did the image and perception of the city. Cosmopolitan Liverpool descended from 'world city to pariah city', to be stigmatized, after a brief 'Merseybeat' cultural florescence in the 1960s, as the 'shock city' of post-industrial Britain.
As it approaches its 800th birthday, however, it is undergoing remarkable renaissance, boosted by UNESCO inscription of the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City World Heritage Site, ahead of its status as European Capital of Culture in 2008.
The ups and downs of this amazing roller coaster history are charted in Liverpool 800: culture, character and history, a major new history jointly commissioned by Liverpool City Council and the University of Liverpool to mark the octocentenary, to be published in autumn 2006 as the city prepares to enter its 'year of heritage'.