Charles Buchan Liverpool F.C Gift Book

After an introduction by Simon Inglis, editor of the Played in Britain series, Liverpool FC historian Stephen Done sets the scene: it is the early 1950s and despite being League champions in 1947 and Cup Finalists in 1950, Liverpool are humiliatingly relegated. In Billy Liddell they have a national star, but not until Bill Shankly arrives in 1959 does the script change. Just as the Merseybeat starts to dominate pop culture, Shankly and his cohorts in the famous Anfield `bootroom' lead the Reds to the League title in 1964 and FA Cup victory in 1965, thus laying the foundations for four decades of thrills at home and in Europe.

Flying wingers Peter Thompson and Ian Callaghan join hotshot Roger Hunt, a hero of the 1966 World Cup. Stalwarts Ron Yeats, Tommy Smith and Ian St John become role models for emerging youths Emlyn Hughes, Steve Heighway and Kevin Keegan. The book ends in 1974 as Football Monthly folds and, by coincidence, the great Shankly retires. And so a unique record of a unique era, told through the pages of the magazine that was the fans' Number One.