Penny Lane, the Liverpool, England street that inspired the hit Beatles song of the same name, is the latest target of the Maoist cultural revolution woke mob trying to erase history. Penny Lane street signs were hit by vandals who spray-painted the signs with “racist” after social media rumors based on a questionable museum claim that the street was named for 18th Century slave ship owner James Penny. There is also talk of renaming the street.
“Every road sign along Penny Lane in #Liverpool has been vandalised overnight, including the one signed by @PaulMcCartney It’s ahead of more planned #BlackLivesMatter protests over the weekend.”
Every road sign along Penny Lane in #Liverpool has been vandalised overnight, including the one signed by @PaulMcCartney
It’s ahead of more planned #BlackLivesMatter protests over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/tgHQtJiSmY
— BBC Radio Merseyside (@bbcmerseyside) June 12, 2020
Outraged Liverpool residents cleaned up the signs:
TRENDING: Oh Brother... Stacey Abrams: "A Man Was Murdered Because He Was Asleep in a Drive-Through" (VIDEO)
Liverpool is my home!
All we can do as a community and a proud city is come together and try to make a small difference.#pennylane #beatles #vandalisms pic.twitter.com/ZQW7JFz49m
— Billy Moore (@billymooreAPBD) June 12, 2020
Popped down to Penny Lane to get pictures on the graffiti to find the community already hard at work cleaning the signs. Real anger here. THERE IS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN PENNY LANE AND JAMES PENNEY THE SLAVE TRADER pic.twitter.com/xRukv7m4op
— Richard Kemp CBE (@cllrkemp) June 12, 2020
The Liverpool Echo reported Mayor Joe Anderson saying the street was not named for Penney but most likely for an old toll bridge:
…When asked if he would rename Penny Lane this week, the Mayor said : “My understanding is that there is no evidence that “Penny Lane” is named after slave trader James Penny.
“It is debated and said that there was a toll bridge that cost a penny there hence its name.”
Yesterday the head of the city’s International Slavery Museum said the street would be removed from a display on the city’s slavery links if it was established it was not linked to James Penny.
However this explanation is clearly not accepted by someone, who has today defaced all the Penny Lane road signs with what appears to be spray paint.
Local councillor and Liberal Democrat leader in the city, Cllr Richard Kemp said the move was ‘disgraceful’ and has immediately asked the council to sort it.
He said: “I’m really annoyed about this, this is just based on a rumour that has gone around that Penny Lane is named after James Penny – which just isn’t true.
…The International Slavery Museum, at the Albert Dock, currently has an interactive display which informs visitors that Penny Lane was named after James Penny, the anti-abolitionist who was said to have defended slave trade to the British Parliament.
The Beatles, who came from Liverpool, made Penny Lane internationally famous upon the release of the group’s 1967 double-A side single Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. Both songs referenced Liverpool places from the Beatles’ youth. Paul McCartney wrote Penny Lane, John Lennon wrote Strawberry Fields Forever.