Author: Mark Brown North of England correspondent

The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool has temporarily removed John Gibson’s 19th-century Tinted Venus from its sculpture gallery, replacing it with Zak Ové’s Lost Soul IV, a black child playing in a costume. The removal of the marble statue is part of a community-led project that explores the gallery’s relationship with slavery, colonialism, and empire.… Continue reading ‘We want to ruffle a few feathers’: Liverpool gallery confronts colonial past

ity going on,” she said. “I just didn’t know what form it was taking. I don’t think anybody did.” It wasn’t until after Gittins’ death that his flat, which he had painstakingly crafted over the course of 30 years, was discovered to be an extraordinary palace of outsider art. Comprising brightly coloured historical murals, handmade… Continue reading Ron’s Place: Birkenhead flat of outsider art granted grade-II listing

A recently discovered letter from George Harrison’s mother, Louise, reveals her disdain for the screaming fans of the Beatles in the 1960s. In the letter, which is one of 25 Harrison wrote to a teenage fan named Janet Gray, Louise describes the fans who screamed themselves into hysteria as “the least fortunate of their generation,… Continue reading Letters from George Harrison’s mum reveal her horror at Beatles fans

The senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral, André Rebello, has confirmed that questions need to be answered about the deaths of a couple whose car became submerged in floodwater on a Liverpool road. On 29 August, Elaine and Philip Marco died after their Mercedes became trapped on Queens Drive in the Mossley Hill district of… Continue reading Inquest opens into flood deaths of elderly couple in Liverpool