This Is My City: Mike McCartney says: “Barack Obama is a Scouser!”

This Is My City: Mike McCartney says: “Barack Obama is a Scouser!”


Jul 2 2010 by Paddy Shennan, Liverpool Echo

A LITTLE bit of Liverpool – actually, a large part of Liverpool – was welcomed into The White House early last month, when President Barack Obama presented Sir Paul McCartney with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Paul’s brother, Mike, who was also present, with his wife, Rowena, reveals that the most powerful man in the world was like one of the Liverpool family.
He explains: “It’s impossible for Liverpudlians to be normal. Most people, finding themselves standing next to the President would have been, to put it politely, extremely nervous, but I told him we’d earlier gone past his house on an open-topped bus and waved. With a smile on his face, and very cooly, like a true Liverpudlian, he asked ‘Did you see me wave back?’

And while we were waiting to have our photo taken, I found myself standing next to the boss of the world. He put his arm around my waist – so I put my arm around his! Later, when another photo was being done, I said ‘Hold on, where’s the Pressie?’ – that’s the warmest thing you could do regarding someone who had immediately made himself family.

“There was a lovely Liverpool family feel, which is why I felt comfortable calling him ‘Pressie’! He’s one of us – Barack Obama is a Scouser!”
Mike adds: “Liverpool is the centre of the universe and an island within an island. People should see it at least once. And then, once they visit, they often find themselves trapped for life!

“Liverpool people are one-offs, with their razor-sharp, quick-witted and often surreal humour. Also, they’re not afraid of standing up for the truth, even if it gets them in trouble.

“I was so lucky and I am so grateful to have had such lovely parents – normal, lovely Liverpool people, with that sense of humour which just can’t help taking the Michael out of itself.

“And we have such great sayings in Liverpool. I remember asking my dad questions – ‘Why? Why? Why?’ – and just to shut me up he’d say ‘Because there are no hairs on a seagull’s chest’. That is insane, but also profound, subtle and truthful.

My family and the city of Liverpool have given me the rock on which my life is based (the ‘roll’ came later!) – and having that rock is how you can do things in life, because you have an inner calm and knowledge.


“Indian gurus had a fascinating concept – that we were floating around in nothing and then saw the parents we wanted to be born through. I must be a genius because I chose the best parents in the world.
“Mum and dad (Mary and Jim) taught us the difference between right and wrong, and taught us about ethics and standards like moderation and toleration. These things don’t really make sense until later – like when our kid’s in The White House singing Ebony And Ivory with Stevie Wonder, in the presence of Barack Obama.
“It’s wonderful sitting here and saying ‘our kid’ without having to explain it – which I have to do all over Britain and in America. A guy in Ohio thought I was talking about one of my children!”
Mike attended the Liverpool Institute and recalls: “If he’d been looking out of his window, E. Chambré Hardman, who was one of the photographers who inspired me, might have seen – not that I had anything to do with it! – a water bomb that went through the air and hit Peter Sissons, the prefect.

“He marched me to the headmaster’s office to be caned, but years later I told him ‘I forgive you, because of your eloquence when you did the commentary for the Hillsborough memorial service at Liverpool cathedral.’ I was so proud of him for that.”

Mike adds: “Forthlin Road was very important – it’s where I lost one of the most important people in the world, my mother.
“The telephone number was Garston 6922 – our kid and I both remember that. And that’s where I was when The Scaffold formed and when our kid’s group formed . . . what were they called?

For dad, we’d go to the House of Bewlay in town and buy a Habana Cuba cigar and give it to him on Christmas Day – and he’d smoke it with great joy. And I loved walking into the warmth of Woolies and being hit by that great smell of hot cashew nuts.


“Liverpool cathedral has always been important – all my childhood, it was this great, looming, unfinished building. And then our kid ends up doing his Ecky Thump thing there (the Ecce Cor Meum classical concert), and I did ‘A conversation with’ there. It’s incredible. And ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’ is one of those Liverpool things we accept as being normal – it’s true poetry.

“Then there’s the Liver Building and Liver Birds. My cousin, Ian Harris, has been INSIDE one (he was cleaning it or something), so talk about brownie points. ‘I had a No. 1 with Lily The Pink’ – ‘Yeah? I’ve been inside a Liver Bird, so top that pal!’
“I like the new Museum of Liverpool and the New York feeling you get from the Beetham towers. And I like those box apartments – the ones that so many people hate!

“I’ve also got fond memories of the Radio City tower when it had a revolving restaurant. I went there with my dad, came back from the toilet and thought ‘Dad’s disappeared!’ But he soon came round again!

“My Uncle Bill – Bill Mohin – was landlord of the old Eagle pub in Paradise Street in the 1950s and 60s and behind the bar were pictures of the stalwarts – people like Robb Wilton, Lita Roza and Ken Dodd – and then our kid is doing well and a Beatles picture goes on the wall. Then came one of my proudest moments – seeing The Scaffold on Uncle Bill’s wall.

“Today, I love Willy Russell, Alan Bleasdale and Jimmy McGovern – they are very together, sharp and truthful in what they write. It hurts sometimes – often, the truth is not very palatable – but real things have to be reported.
“The Picket is a special place (Phil Hayes has got his heart in the right place), and there’s been so much good music, like our kid, Kingsize Taylor and The Fourmost, through to Echo and The Bunnymen, Black, Gary Potter, the Katona Twins and Half Man Half Biscuit.”

Mike, in his entertaining way, could have gone on all day. He nearly did – but there was still time to say: “Peggy O’Brien and Winnie Keating, who run The Lily Centre, are the greatest . . . so anyone who has any money, please give it to The Lily Centre.”