Farson continues, “With its Catholic population, Liverpool has been called the Capitol of Ireland and the fierce conflict of religion is another characteristic of the city. Many a fight has taken place over King Billy, the Protestant King William of Orange who succeeded the Catholic James the Second.

“Another aspect of the city is the extraordinary energy and time devoted to drinking. Apart from clubs and pubs there are wine lodges serving cheap but potent Australian wine, known as plonk.

“Though the pubs don’t feature entertainment to the extent they do in London, one does find the regular who wanders in with his guitar to give the others a song.”

There have been shots of various pubs, large and small and the camera pans into a scene in which there is a large expense of debris and a single pub jutting out in isolation in a corner, with a train speeding past. We enter the pub where two guitarists begin singing an Irish song, replete with double entendres called ‘The Brothers Malone.’

Inside the pub we see the faces of the drinkers, mainly aged, features etched with such character you feel like taking out a sketch book and drawing them.

As the ‘Brothers Malone’ reaches its end they begin the Jim Reeves song ‘Welcome to My World’ with the scene moving outside to wet and windswept promenades beside the Mersey, cold, almost menacing and images of a foggy railway line, docked ships and ferries crowded close to each other. More scenes of Dickensian type alleys and horse drawn carts lumbering along cobbled streets.

Farson continues, “Folk music is a natural feature of the Liverpool scene, springing from the sea shanties brought back by members of the crews over the centuries and sung here by the Spinners.

We are in a crowded pub called Gregson Wells, where Liverpool’s leading folk group the Spinners begin singing the rousing ‘Whip Jambouree’, joined by the audience in a true Liverpool pub singalong.”

As they finish the number, Farson says, “In a man’s town, Jacqueline McDonald and Bridie O Donnell are certainly the exception and even write their own songs, including this one:” The duo then begin singing a number we don’t know the title of, but is possibly called ‘Hold Back The Dawn Of The Day.’

Next come images of Liverpool’s Chinatown, the area around Nelson Street. “The large numbers of Chinese,” says Farson, “but the only Chinese Beat group I could find was the Silent Three, so called because they say nothing and play nothing.”

The scene shifts again, this time to images of Toxteth with the narration continuing, “The coloured population grew from 1850 onwards and came mainly from the ships. Today there are around 10,000 to 15,000 coloured people but little racial trouble as they are yet another ingredient in the general melting pot. It is not surprising that one of the most popular groups is entirely coloured.”

On stage at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead, commere Ida Holly announces, “the original Chants!”

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