"What's got four legs, walks peculiar...&quot

Liverpool boasts a wealth of stunning architecture (as well as some more questionable urban planning fiascos) but if it has one truly iconic building then I suppose it would have to be the Royal Liver Building. That's Liver to rhyme with diver (or Lionel Shriver for literary types - Pam Shriver for aging tennis fans...). Anyway, it has nothing to do with internal organs or school dinners!

It's a Grade I listed building situated at the Pier Head on the Mersey waterfront and was partly responsible for Liverpool being granted UNESCO World Heritage status as a Maritime Mercantile City in 2004.

The building was opened in 1911 to house the Royal Liver Assurance Group, whose head office is still based there, and it was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings in the world. I always think there's a hint of Gotham City about it! On top of the building sit the two Liver Birds. Fans of British TV comedy of the 1970s may care to hum a certain theme tune as they speculate whether the bird in the blip bears any resemblance to Nerys Hughes or Polly James (or indeed Elizabeth Estensen).

The clock faces are 25ft in diameter, making them the largest clock dials in Britain.