New walking tour highlights the link between some of Liverpool’s most famous men

A new walking tour, launching to coincide with International Men’s Day, will highlight mental health links to some of Liverpool’s most famous figures.

Hosted by Liverpool Famous Walking Tours, and beginning on November 19, it will reveal more about well-known Liverpudlians through the centuries from Dr Duncan – who had the pub named in his honour – to Dead or Alive frontman Pete Burns.

It will focus on how health, and particularly mental health, impacted on their lives.

Liverpool Famous Walking Tours is also donating 20% of all ticket sales for the new walk to Sean’s Place in Bootle which offers men’s mental health support.

The tour business, which is run by sisters-in-law Jean and Rachel McEvoy, already has a successful Inspirational Women in History tour and wanted to do something similar around men in the city.

Jean explains: “We launched Inspiring Women on the back of International Women’s Day in March this year and that’s been really popular.

“We wondered if we were neglecting men and we didn’t know if there was an equivalent, but when we researched we found International Men’s Day had been started in 1999, adopted by about 30 countries and we’re one of them.

“It’s celebrated on November 19 so we thought that would be a good time to launch our walk, concentrating on Liverpool men who’ve either had an influence on health or had mental health issues themselves.”

Lots of the figures who feature will be familiar, but this aspect of their lives might not be so well known. 

Even the walk’s starting point at Liverpool Cathedral delves deeper into architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s family history and his childhood trauma.

“When we looked more into his background, his grandfather George Gilbert Scott Snr was an architect who designed St Pancras Station and Hotel. His father, George Jnr, was also an architect but it seems he was in his father’s shadow. 

“When Giles was only three, his father ended up in Bedlam and eventually drank himself to death, so there’s a strong link to mental health there.”

Brian Epstein’s birthplace on Rodney Street will also feature and The Beatles manager’s struggles with addiction have been well documented.

“He was gay at a time when it was illegal and he was entrapped by police, beaten up lots of times and threatened to take his own life,” says Jean. “He was a lovely gentle man who, despite his success with The Beatles, was never fulfilled himself because of his sexuality and ended up relying upon drugs and drank heavily.”

Other figures whose lives are detailed include war hero Noel Chavasse, Edward Rushton who founded the Blind School, and John Lennon.

Jean says the tour will be filled with fascinating storytelling as well as historical facts and they’re hoping, like the Inspiration Women in History, to make it monthly following the launch, continuing links with Sean’s Place.

“When we were thinking about starting the new walk, we wanted to support a local men’s mental health charity and we were put in touch with Sean’s Place which helps men who are having mental health issues. 

“They do fantastic work, it’s like a safe haven they’ve created, and they rely on donations so we’ve decided to donate 20% of those ticket sales to them.”

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