Liverpool Capital of Culture Tour - 20 Merseyside Firsts

(Pictured here the famous Liver Building)

Did you know?...................

In 1830, the world’s first passenger train left Edge Hill, Liverpool, which is the oldest operational station in the world

Britain’s first ever package holiday flight flew from Liverpool Airport to the South of France in 1952 and the first scheduled flight from a regional airport was from Liverpool to Amsterdam in 1934

The first ever animal welfare organisation – the forerunner to the RSPCA – began in Merseyside in 1809

Britain’s first School for the Blind was established on Merseyside in 1791

Liverpool established Britain’s first Children’s Hospital – Alder Hey, in 1851

In 1867,Liverpool Velocipedes established Britain’s and probably the world’s first Cycling Club

In 1844 Blackburne House, Hope Street, became England’s first Girls High school and today it is a technology training centre for women

The world’s first passenger hovercraft service operated between Moreton in Wirral and Rhyl, North Wales

Europe’s first trams originated in Birkenhead in 1861

Britain’s first automated telephone exchange was produced by the Strowger Factory in Edge Lane Liverpool in 1912. The same factory was responsible for the subscriber system and the national automatic telephone system

The world’s first automotive plant to gain the BS5750 standard for environmental management systems is Vauxhall Motors in Ellesmere Port

Britain’s first qualified woman doctor started her practice in Merseyside in 1884

Sir Oliver Lodge,Professor of Experimental Physics at Liverpool University from 1881-1900, gave the first ever public demonstration of wireless telegraphy

The world’s first Boy Scout Troop was formed at Birkenhead in 1908

The Mersey Railway Tunnel was the first underwater rail tunnel in the world and the region’s railway was the first to convert to electricity in 1903

Liverpool John Moores University was the first university in the UK to produce a Student Charter in September 1993

Merseyside is home to the world’s oldest School of Tropical Medicine,founded in 1899

Liverpool introduced Britain’s first ever purpose built ambulances in 1886

Britain’s first recorded use of the X-ray for medical diagnosis was in Liverpool in 1896

Britain’s first school of Veterinary Science was established by Liverpool University in 1904. In 1929 it opened the country’s first veterinary hospital

So there’s another in a series of articles I am planning to share with you in reference to the 2008 European Capital of Culture, the city of Liverpool here in the United Kingdom

I’m hoping this will be a useful travel guide for visitors to the city, without giving too much away because I don’t want to spoil any surprises for you!

Can’t wait to see you la!

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