Sue Cook and the team answer listeners' historical queries and celebrate the way in which we all 'make' history.
Series 12
ProgrammeÌý13
10ÌýJanuary 2006
The Liver Birds
Who was the man behind Liverpool's iconic statues?
The German born Carl Bernard Bartels was the man behind the Liver Birds (a mythical bird that is half eagle and half cormorant). Bartels won a competition to design a sculpture for the new Liver Building which was completed in 1911. But anti-German feelings (particularly after the sinking of the Lusitania) led to his involvement being almost airbrushed from Liverpool history. He was interned in the Isle of Man for the duration of the First World War and then sent back to Germany, despite having a British wife in London. Bartels must have been a very forgiving soul because he later returned to live in England until his death in 1955.
Making History consulted Bartel's great-grandson Tim Olden, the sculptor Robin Riley and the Liverpool Daily Post journalist David Charters.
Useful link
The Barber-Surgeons
Who or what were the barber-surgeons and what was their role in 16th-century medicine?
Making History consulted Dr Elizabeth Hurren at Oxford Brooks University, and there is an informative history in the h2g2 article Blood, Bandages and Barber Poles.
Millicent Fawcett Hall
Making History listener Thalia Campbell wrote to the programme about the fate of a hall in Westminster that was under threat in the 1980s. Thalia understood that the hall was significant in the struggle for women's suffrage, but has no idea why or what has happened to it since.
Making History consulted Elizabeth Crawford, author of Enterprising Women: The Garrets and their Circle, and June Stubbs of the Thorney Island Society.
The hall is known as Millicent Fawcett Hall after the leading suffragist (someone who wanted to use constitutional means to gain women the vote). Millicent Garrett Fawcett died in 1929, the year the hall was built in her memory as a place that women could use to debate and discuss the issues that affected them. In the 1980s the hall was being used by Westminster Council to give shelter to the homeless and was in a poor state of repair. Subsequently, the hall has been restored but it is now, ironically, owned by a local boys' school.
Useful linksÌý
TheÌý has paintings and photographs of Millicent Fawcett.
Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ±«Óãtv, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ±«Óãtv Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to:
Making History
±«Óãtv Radio 4
PO Box 3096 Brighton
BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ±«Óãtv, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ±«Óãtv Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý