Monday, July 10, 2006

Bye Bye Penny Lane

Never a huge Beatles fan, I still find Penny Lane one of their most evocative songs. Now a cloud is descending over the street after which this very famous song was named.

According to the DomPost Penny Lane faces being wiped from the map because of associations with the slave trade. "Councillors in Liverpool are considering plans to rename all streets named after people linked to slavery...Penny Lane is thought to be named after 18th century slave ship owner James Penny."

A UK correspondent to NewstalkZB added that councillors are considering renaming it after a young black teenager who was killed in a race incident in Liverpool. His name was Anthony Walker.

I don't really get it. Expunge one reminder of an unpleasant aspect of local history to replace it with another.

1 comment:

andrewfalloon said...

Simple solution- just "rename" it after the Beatles song :)