History of Liverpool

Shipowner Sir Alfred Lewis Jones introduced the banana to Great Britain in 1884.

In 1889, borough engineer John Alexander Brodie invented the football goal-net, and was a pioneer in the use of pre-fabricated housing. He was also vice-president of the Liverpool Self-Propelled Traffic Association which was a precursor, and later a constituent member, of the Royal Automobile Club. Brodie oversaw the construction of the UK's first ring road, the UK's first intercity highway as well as the Queensway Tunnel, linking Liverpool and Birkenhead. Described as "the eighth wonder of the world", at the time of its construction it was the longest underwater tunnel in the world, a title it held for 24 years.

In 1897, the Lumière brothers filmed Liverpool, including what is believed to be the world's first tracking shot, taken from the Liverpool Overhead Railway – the world's first elevated electrified railway.

Liverpool inventor Frank Hornby was a visionary in toy development and manufacture and produced three of the most popular lines of toys in the 20th century: Meccano, Hornby Model Railways and Dinky Toys.

The British Interplanetary Society, founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Phillip Ellaby Cleator, is the world's oldest existing organisation devoted to the promotion of spaceflight, and its journal the longest running astronautical publication in the world.

In 1999, Liverpool was the first city outside the capital to be awarded blue plaques by English Heritage in recognition of the "significant contribution made by its sons and daughters in all walks of life