Yellow Submarine (sculpture)

The Yellow Submarine in Liverpool is a large model representation of the submarine featured in the animated film Yellow Submarine, inspired by the song of the same name on the Beatles album Revolver. It was built by a group of about 80 apprentices from Cammell Laird's shipyard, designed in part by Mr L Pinch, a draughtsman at the yard, for exhibition at the International Garden Festival in Liverpool in 1984. The Submarine was in a garden themed around the Beatles, one of 60 such themed gardens, and was highly popular. The garden took the form of an apple-shaped labyrinth, containing symbolic references to the group, and included a bronze statue of John Lennon, which now stands at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Yellow Submarine in Liverpool
Yellow Submarine in its newer location at Liverpool Airport

The Submarine itself is some 51 feet long (15.62 m) and 15 feet (4.57 m) high, and weighed 18 tons. Built of steel, it has a replica control cabin containing genuine submarine equipment, and twin spiral staircases leading to the bridge, which gave a panoramic view of the garden. These were accessible via doorways at the side. Painted in vivid yellow, the hull was tilted as if about to submerge.

After the Festival site closed, the Submarine found a home for several years in Chavasse Park,[1] an open space in the city centre, where it was readily visible to traffic entering the city centre from the south. It was retired from public view when its condition deteriorated, but was renovated to find a new home at Liverpool John Lennon Airport in 2005, with airport boss Neil Pakey stating 'Other airports have the Concorde, we have the Yellow Submarine'.[2]

References
  1. "Yellow Submarine has surfaced in a new home". Liverpool Echo. 11 July 2005.
  2. "Yellow Submarine Moves To Airport". BBC News. 9 July 2005. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  • A Fisher, G Gerstner The Art of the Maze. (1990) ISBN 0-297-83027-9


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