Liverpool Trivia
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48 free Liverpool trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free Liverpool trivia questions with answers. Liverpool is two subjects in one: a great Atlantic port city and one of the most decorated football clubs in the world, and this quiz gives each about half the questions. The city half covers King John's 1207 charter, the Liver Birds and their legend, the fireproof Albert Dock, the first inter-city railway, the two cathedrals on Hope Street, the Cavern Club, the Grand National at Aintree and the loss of UNESCO status in 2021. The football half runs from John Houlding's founding of the club in 1892 through Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish to Istanbul, Madrid, Klopp's title and the Merseyside derby. Easy questions ask which river the city stands on or who sings the anthem played before every home game; harder ones want the sculptor of the Liver Birds, the horse that won the 1967 National at 100/1, and how many times the Beatles played the Cavern. It suits pub quiz nights, Reds and Blues alike, and anyone who has walked the Pier Head. Every answer has been checked against the relevant Wikipedia articles on the city, its buildings and the club, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Whose letters patent of 1207 founded the borough of Liverpool?
King John
King John issued the letters patent in 1207, spelling the place 'Liuerpul'; the settlement stayed a minor port for centuries before Atlantic trade transformed it.
Q 02Liverpool sits on the eastern side of which river's estuary?
Mersey
The Mersey estuary separates Liverpool from the Wirral Peninsula; the Queensway and Kingsway road tunnels run beneath it to Birkenhead and Wallasey.
Q 03The nickname 'Scouser' for a Liverpool native comes from what?
A stew eaten by sailors
Scouse is short for lobscouse, a Scandinavian-rooted stew that sailors brought through the port; the word became the dominant demonym only in the mid-20th century.
Q 04Who designed the two copper Liver Birds that top the Royal Liver Building?
Carl Bernard Bartels
German-born sculptor Carl Bernard Bartels designed the two 18-foot copper birds, which were made by the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts and stand on the building's clock towers.
Q 05The Liver Bird on Liverpool's coat of arms is normally depicted as which real bird?
A cormorant
The Liver Bird is shown as a cormorant carrying a sprig of laver seaweed in its beak, a visual pun on the city's name; the original medieval seal bird was probably an eagle.
Q 06According to local legend, what happens if the two Liver Birds mate and fly away?
The city would cease to exist
Legend says the city would cease to exist if the birds flew away, which is why they face away from each other, one watching the sea and one the city; another version says they are chained down.
Q 07In which year was the Royal Liver Building officially opened?
1911
Lord Sheffield opened the building in 1911 as the home of Royal Liver Assurance; it is one of the Three Graces on the Pier Head with the Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings.
Q 08What global first did the Albert Dock's warehouses claim when they opened in 1846?
The world's first non-combustible warehouses
They were the world's first non-combustible warehouses: Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick built them from cast iron, brick and stone with no structural wood, and the five blocks are Grade I listed.
Q 09In which year was the Albert Dock granted a royal charter and renamed the Royal Albert Dock?
2018
The dock became the Royal Albert Dock in 2018, when it was granted royal status; Prince Albert himself had opened it in 1846, and it now houses Tate Liverpool and the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
Q 10Which Liverpool MP was killed by a locomotive on the opening day of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway?
William Huskisson
William Huskisson, MP for Liverpool, was struck by a locomotive on 15 September 1830 after stepping down to greet the Duke of Wellington; he became the first widely reported railway passenger fatality.
Q 11Which locomotive won the 1829 Rainhill Trials to haul trains on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway?
Rocket
Rocket, built by Robert Stephenson and Company, was the only one of the five engines that turned up to complete the course, winning the £500 prize and the contract.
Q 12How old was Giles Gilbert Scott when his design for Liverpool's Anglican cathedral was chosen in 1903?
22
Scott was 22, an articled pupil with no completed buildings, and joked that his only work so far was a pipe-rack; the cathedral was not finished until 1978, 18 years after his death.
Q 13Which size record does Liverpool's Anglican place of worship hold?
Longest cathedral in the world
Q 21How many times did the Beatles play the Cavern Club between 1961 and 1963?
292
The Beatles played the Cavern 292 times, from 9 February 1961 to a final show on 3 August 1963, a month after recording 'She Loves You'; Brian Epstein first saw them there in November 1961.
Q 22Liverpool is home to the oldest community in Europe of people from which country?
China
The first residents arrived as seamen in the 19th century, and the ceremonial gateway in Chinatown is the largest of its kind outside China.
Q 23Since 1952 Liverpool has been twinned with which German city?
Cologne
Liverpool and Cologne were twinned in 1952, one of the earliest Anglo-German links, prompted by the heavy bombing both cities suffered in the Second World War.
At about 189 metres (620 feet) externally, including the Lady Chapel, Liverpool Cathedral is the longest cathedral in the world and the largest religious building in Britain.
Q 14What is the local nickname of Liverpool's Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral?
Paddy's Wigwam
The circular 1967 building is nicknamed Paddy's Wigwam, or the Mersey Funnel; it sits on the crypt of Edwin Lutyens's abandoned 1930s design, which would have been the second-largest church in the world.
Q 15Which architect won the worldwide competition to design the present Metropolitan Cathedral?
Frederick Gibberd
Frederick Gibberd's design was built between 1962 and 1967, with the altar at the centre so the whole congregation faces it; the lantern glass is by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens.
Q 16In which year did UNESCO strip Liverpool of its World Heritage Site status?
2021
UNESCO removed the Maritime Mercantile City, inscribed in 2004, from the list in 2021, only the third site ever delisted, citing dock developments including Everton's new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Q 17Which Liverpool-based shipping company operated the Titanic?
White Star Line
White Star Line was headquartered at Albion House on James Street, and Titanic's port of registry was Liverpool, although she sailed from Southampton and never visited the city.
Q 18Which horse won the Grand National at Aintree in 1973, 1974 and 1977?
Red Rum
Red Rum, trained on Southport beach by car dealer Ginger McCain, remains the only horse to win the National three times; he is buried beside the Aintree winning post.
Q 19Which 100/1 outsider won the 1967 Grand National after a pile-up at the 23rd fence?
Foinavon
The horse was so far behind that jockey John Buckingham could steer around the chaos; his owner had such little faith he went to Worcester races instead.
Q 20When the Cavern Club opened on Mathew Street in 1957, what kind of music was it for?
Jazz
Alan Sytner opened it as a jazz club in January 1957, modelled on the cellar clubs of Paris; the original cellar was filled in during Merseyrail construction in 1973.
Q 24In which year was Liverpool the European Capital of Culture?
2008
Liverpool held the title in 2008, sharing it with Stavanger in Norway; Ringo Starr opened the year playing on the roof of St George's Hall, and the programme is credited with reviving the city centre.
Q 25Who ran the earliest ferry across the river from Birkenhead Priory to Liverpool?
Benedictine monks
The Benedictine monks of Birkenhead Priory rowed passengers across for a small fare, and Edward III granted them formal ferry rights in 1330; the priory was dissolved under Henry VIII in 1536.
Q 26Which brewer and Anfield landowner founded Liverpool FC in 1892 after Everton left the ground?
John Houlding
Brewer John Houlding, who owned Anfield, formed Liverpool FC in March 1892 after the FA refused to let him keep the Everton name; he led the club as president until his death in 1902.
Q 27Liverpool's first team, which beat Rotherham 7-1 in 1892, was made up entirely of players from where?
Scotland
Players who came south to play in England at the time were known as the Scotch Professors.
Q 28Anfield's Kop stand is named after a hill in which country?
South Africa
Spion Kop is a hill in South Africa where Lancashire regiments suffered heavy losses in a January 1900 Boer War battle; the Anfield terrace took the name in 1906.
Q 29Which club did Bill Shankly leave to become Liverpool manager in December 1959?
Huddersfield Town
Shankly left Huddersfield Town, frustrated by a board that sold his best players; at Anfield he released 24 players and turned a boot store into the famous Boot Room.
Q 30Before becoming Liverpool manager in 1974, Bob Paisley had served the club in which backroom role?
Physiotherapist
Paisley was the club's self-taught physiotherapist and was said to diagnose an injury just by watching a player walk; as manager he won 20 trophies in nine seasons.