Meet the twins
It's an odd idea, twinning towns; two places in completely different parts of the world with no apparent relation to one another are linked, supposedly with the goal of fostering better international relations and cultural understanding. Ok, but is the process of choosing a twin completely arbitrary, as it seems to be? Liverpool, for instance, has five twins (actually that would make the lot sextuplets then, wouldn't it?).
But does Liverpool have anything in common with its international siblings, or is it the black sheep of the family? Itchy set out to do a little internet-based research on a few of these foreign relatives.
Dublin, Ireland: We could try for a connection involving heavy drinking, but we've decided to go a different direction for a change: Liverpool's Catholic cathedral is sometimes called Paddy's Wigwam due to its shape and the large numbers of Irish who worked on it and live in the area.
Cologne, Germany: Adolf Hitler. No seriously: Cologne was a major German command headquarters during WWII and so was possibly visited by Hitler at one point, and Hitler's half-brother, Alois, lived in Liverpool with his family. There's a rumor that Adolf himself visited in 1911 and drank in the Poste House pub on Cumberland Street.
Odessa, Ukraine: Famous movies. Odessa has 'The Battleship Potemkin', Liverpool has 'Across the Universe'. Hey, we never said the movies were similar.
Taree, New South Wales, Australia: Liverpool player Milo Nusav hails from this town down under.
Shanghai, China: Both cities are the birthplaces of former prime ministers of their respective country: Shanghai of Zhou Enlai, Liverpool of William Gladstone. Isn't that exciting?
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