Grosvenor Square in the heart of Mayfair in London has often been called ‘Little America’, although it actually takes its name from the Grosvenors, the family who own the land there. It is where the first American Consulate in Britain was found, the consul being John Adams, who later became America’s second president. He was a Founding Father, and the wish to establish cordial relations with the former enemy nation is part of the reason he moved to a house in Grosvenor Square at the corner of Brook and Duke Streets, one which still stands.

My friend Phil Coppell, a Liverpool Blue Badge Tourist Guide, tells me that he took Ray Davies a member of the English rock band The Kinks on a Beatles tour some years ago. He queued up and paid for his ticket like everyone else and, during the tour, mentioned that he had originally set his song Waterloo Sunset in Liverpool but the line ‘Mersey Sunset’ did not scan and he moved it to London. He had always had a soft spot for Liverpool and said that whenever The Kinks played at the Cavern or other venues they always had a great reception.