Following the opening of the new Shakespeare North playhouse in Prescot earlier this month, another Merseyside town is being linked with a famous author - this time one known as "the father of science fiction."
Jules Verne was born in 1828 and his first trip from his homeland of Nantes in France was to the shores of Merseyside when at 31, in 1859, he visited Birkenhead and then again in 1867. At the time, the town was at the cutting edge of industry and innovation and, it is thought, would have been the perfect place for Verne to pique his imagination and help inspire some of his famous novels.
The author of Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Around the World in 80 Days, Verne's works of fiction have gone on to inspire generations of science fiction - and former geography teacher John Lamb thinks it is time the links with Birkenhead should be celebrated.
