DID you know? 1. New Brighton Tower was the tallest building in the land at 567 feet when built in 1897. 2. Premature babies would appear in sideshows in the Tower grounds "Incubator Babies" 3. The World cycling championship was held in the Tower grounds in 1899. 4, The fastest GO-Kart speed of over 80 miles per hour was recorded in 1965 5. P.J Proby split his trousers twice on stage and it ended up a riot, the Beatles played 27 times in the Tower Ballroom. 6. It was where according to Bob Wooler that Brian Epstein decided to Manage the Beatles. 7. Wall of Death operated from the 1930s through to the 1960's highlight a sidecar with a lion in attendance. 8. The Tiller girls started their career here in 1906. 9. The last show of Dare Devil Curly dived from a great height into a shallow depth of water in 1964. 10. The bone Crusher and The Strangler topped the bill "The Wrestling Horror match" in 1939. 11. With a web of intrigue and underhanded dealing with the main benefactors of the Tower Enterprises were the directors. 12. The first motion picture machine "The Veriscope" appeared in 1899 followed by Hales Tours in 1907. 13. The largest airship in the World circled New Brighton Tower in 1904 traveling at 17 miles per hour and made from steel. 14. Tom M'Inerney a local Liverpool wrestler beat the Russian Champ in June 1903. 15. New Brighton Tower baby shows were an attraction in 1905 with prizes for the heaviest babies the winner over 38lbs and less than 12 months old. 16. The metal tower was dismantled between 1919 and 1921 due to lack of maintenance it was made from mild steel and not wrought iron like Blackpool tower and the Eiffel Tower.
Extracts from the “History of New Brighton Tower and Gardens†by Roy Dutton with 365 pages and over 500 photographs
I remember my Dad saying he taught my Mum to dance on the balcony at the Tower ballrooms because she was shy and didn't want to make a fool of herself on the main floor. I never thought to ask him where HE learned to dance! Wish I'd seen the actual tower, that must have been a wonderful sight. Glory days... in some respects! Incubator babies on display? Yuk... not nice.
In those days with no National Health Service, this was probably the only way these children would survive, the children would be given back to their parents on reaching a normal size.
Very interesting Roy.. My dad used to talk about the N.B. Tower , Tower Gardens, and the clock made of flowers. Not sure when that would have been he was born 1902 , so his youth would have been spent in an around there , I suspect. ( he got married late in life ,just in case anyone's doing their mental arithmetic :/)
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
I did some research on this back in 2012, for a WikiWirral item, part of which read...
"The Wall used in the Tower Grounds until 1959 was 32 feet in diameter and was owned by Peter Catchpoole (and possibly others before him.) It did tour occasionally. I was able to confirm (with Ken Fox*) that part of the staging, where people stand, did collapse in 1959. The Wall was taken out of service, repaired and extensively modified, but didn't return to New Brighton. It was taken to Africa, where it toured, ending up in North Africa."
*Ken Fox is the owner/operator of one of the UK's travelling Wall of Death shows and was a partner of Peter Catchpole.
Therefore, it did not operate into the 1960's, but the bit about the sidecar and lion are definitely true. Quite a sight
In the 50s a friend of mine used to go out with the daughter of one of the riders Ken Roach? and got to have some rides on the wall of death.
Granny, my mind tried working out how old you were before I got to the end of your post. Thought I had a good idea of it from the first wage topic roywirral would you by any chance have pics of the 4 pubs in the tower grounds for the pub index please the Algerian the lakeside the woodlands the rock point
Unique footage of the Wall of Death featuring Jack Roche, Peter Catchpoole, Ursula Brown. Showing the setting up of the ride in Easter 1992, and shots of Victoria Road, and New Brighton a real gem of a film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sko9Ru3N390&t=2s
I could do a book for £16 if you could collect the book. They are hardback so quite expensive to print. Loads of illustrations so a better paper quality.
I was very lucky to obtain the diary of C.L Weller who described in detail the construction of the Tower, this covered the period between 1896-1897, and features in the first chapter of my book, with numerous photographs, It also goes on the explain the fatalities that occurred during the construction. Another interesting event was the arrival of Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show in October 1899 in the Tower grounds, unfortunately, one of his gunsmiths blew his brains out and an ancestor of mine Inspector Dutton appeared as a witness at the inquest. Also did you know that in the history of women's football, The Dick,Kerr Ladies are the most successful team in the world. They played at the Tower Grounds on numerous occasions, infact on Boxing Day 1920, 53,000 spectators packed into Goodison Park, Everton. Which lead to the Football Association (FA) to ban women's football at its members ground on the 5th December 1921. The FA ban would stay in place for fifty years - finally being rescinded in 1971.
