Eleanor Rigby from the famous poem The Beatles from 1966 about lonely madmen - she collected rice in the church after the wedding, waited for days at the window and lived in dreams. She died in the church, and no one came to her funeral. Father Mackenzie from the same poem was also lonely, while he was writing a speech for the mass that no one would hear.
I remembered the two of them on the threshold of the Cathedral in Liverpool, the largest church and the largest religious building in United Kingdom in general. Its massive 101 meter tall tower can be seen from almost all parts of the city and reminded me of the tower of another Liverpool building - the Georges Dock Building, an art deco masterpiece from 1934.
When you approach the cathedral, it seems to you that it was built sometime in the Middle Ages, it is so monumental. And then, some details at the entrance gate give it away - it is a temple built in the 20th century, between 1904 and 1978. With a length of 189 meters, Liverpool Cathedral is the longest church in the world and the fifth largest overall. In addition to this Anglican cathedral, there is also a Roman Catholic - Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in the city. They are less than a kilometer apart and are connected by Hope Street.
There is no end to the records related to this temple. The organ, the work of the "Henry Willis & Sons" workshop, is the largest in the United Kingdom and with as many as 10.268 pipes - one of the largest musical instruments in the world. When we entered the church, it was Sunday and only its front part was used for worship while the rest could be seen.
Let us briefly return again to Eleanor Rigby and Father Mackenzie. In the eighties of the 20th century, someone discovered that in the cemetery of the Church of St. Peter's in Liverpool, there is a tombstone of the Rigby family on which, among others, there is the name of Eleanor who died in 1939 at the age of 44. Nearby is the Mackenzie family grave. Paul McCartney later claimed that, although he often passed through the gate of the Church of St. Lennon with Lennon. Petra, he did not find there an allusion to the name in the poem and that his Eleanor Rigby is a completely fictitious person.
Namely, in the first version of the song, the heroine was called Daisy Hawkins, and the priest mended his socks under the name Father McCartney. Later, the author made up the title of the song by combining the names Eleonor after the actress from the movie Help and Rigby after the name of a chain of stores in Liverpool, and he found the priest's name by scrolling through the phone book. Despite this, many Beatles fans still visit the grave of this Eleanor Rigby, convinced that this is the one from the song.
In Liverpool's Stanley Street there is a monument to the fictional Eleanor Rigby with the inscription "All the Lonely People".
The reason for my coming to Liverpool was certainly not to explore the roots of what many consider to be the world's greatest band that originated from these very streets and pubs. I came to watch the football match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace and the announcement of this year's English Premier League champion. However, when you set foot in this city, the Beatles will follow you every step of the way. The statues of the four members of the group are located at the Pier Head, near the harbour, were unveiled in 2015 and are the work of sculptor Andy Edwards. They were donated to the city of Liverpool by The Cavern Club, where The Beatles performed in their early years. There is a statue of John Lennon in front of The Cavern Club. Norwegian Cruise Lines has Cavern Clubs on four of its cruise ships featuring Beatles tribute bands.
There are two museums dedicated to the Beatles in the city: The Beatles Story, in the harbor, near their monument, and the Liverpool Beatles Museum in the city center, not far from The Cavern Club. Tickets are £20 in both, they display some memorabilia, photos, chronological facts, music by stages and that's it. Somehow it seemed to me that the Beatles deserved a bigger, more modern and interactive museum.
We arrive in front of Anfield, the stadium of Liverpool FC two hours before the start of the match. Anfield was built in 1884 and is the ninth oldest in the world. All nine of the oldest football stadiums in the world are, of course, in England. Anfield was initially the home of Everton (1884–1891), and after its move to Goodison Park, it became and remains the stadium of Liverpool Football Club to this day. It has been renovated and reconstructed 13 times and today its capacity is 61.000 fans.
photo: Robert ChobanThe famous anthem of Liverpool football club fans
In the crowd already created by the fans who arrived to enter the stadium on time, the inscription "You'll Never Walk Alone" caught my attention. It is, of course, about the anthem of the club, otherwise it is a song from a musical Carousel from 1945. Later I heard it in the stadium from the throats of tens of thousands of fans and it really sounded powerful.
I also noticed the Memorial Board with the names of the 97 fans who died in the Hillsborough tragedy. It is about an event that took place on April 15, 1989 at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, during a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest when there was a mass stampede in the section of the stands where Liverpool fans were. Tragic balance - 97 dead and 766 injured, which is significantly more than the tragedy at the Heysel stadium in Brussels, Belgium in 1985, where Liverpool also played (with Juventus, European Cup final) when 39 died and more than 600 fans were injured. There is another monument dedicated to this tragedy in the city. A circular monument with a relief depicting what happened that day in 1989 in Sheffield and the inscription: "Hillsborough disaster, we will remember them". It is interesting that in the world, less is known about the tragedy at Hillsborough, although it was more in terms of the number of victims, and the one at Heysel is always taken as a turning point "after Margaret Thatcher brought order among the fans".
We waited for the start of the match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace in the "Carlsberg lodge" (the famous Danish beer producer is a long-term sponsor of Liverpool). Six years ago in Manchester, I attended a match in the box of the Manchester United club and had the opportunity to see for myself how serious an industry football is in serious countries like Great Britain.
And here in the box at Anfield, old Liverpool players, former stars, visited us, took photos with the fans, talked with them while the waiters brought out cold beer and hot meat pies at half time.
The match ended with a 1:1 draw - the home club confirmed the leadership position at the top of the table and became the champion of the English Premier League.
We decided to walk from the stadium to the hotel through the crowd of cheering fans.
This reportage would have ended there if a day later, when I was already on the plane between London and Yerevan, where I was going to a conference, the news did not arrive about the incident on the streets of Liverpool caused by a driver who ran into a crowd of fans celebrating the title. The incident happened, the day after the match, when 53-year-old Paul Doyle drove his car into the crowd. 79 people were injured, four of them seriously, including one child. The injured ranged in age from nine to 78 years old. Doyle appeared at the hearing before the court in Liverpool and pleaded not guilty, British media reported. He was charged with dangerous driving and six other counts, including intentionally causing grievous bodily harm. The charges relate to injuries to two boys, two women and two men. More than 50 people received help at the hospital, and seven people were detained for treatment. If convicted, Doyle could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. After the incident, the police stated that it was not terrorism, but did not establish a motive.
"He's not young, he's white! British, born on an island. Admit it's not what you expected!", was one of the comments on social media that alluded to the fact that many expected to see a young man, a migrant, probably of the Islamic faith behind the wheel.
If Eleanor Rigby had stayed at her window, what would she have seen today? A man, a white man from her national and social group, driving his car into innocent people and trampling them. What kind of world do the Beatles' grandchildren live in and are we even more depressed and lonely today than Eleanor Rigby and Mackenzie's father at the beginning of the story?
