The Moores brothers are famous for running the Littlewoods football pools empire.
The monumental sized bronze statues of Sir John Moores and his brother Cecil, were designed by the Liverpool sculptor Tom Murphy. The figure of Sir John is dressed in a suit with shirt, tie and waist coat, the figure of his brother Cecil is dressed in a suit with shirt and a tie held in place by a tie pin, they have handkerchiefs in the breast pockets of their suit jackets. The figures are standing side by side as if talking while stepping forwards, Cecil has his right hand resting on the back of his brother.
The sculpture was commissioned by Littlewoods to mark the centenary of Sir John’s birth in 1896.
The statues were unveiled in 1996, by the sons of the brothers. The statues were situated outside Littlewoods’ flagship Church Street premises, which closed its doors a decade later and is now a Primark store.
The statues were originally on a pedestal, but after being moved to make way for some regeneration work in the area, the two figures are now at street level, with a silver band inset on the ground around them.
The inscription on the metal circle surrounding the statues read as follows;
'FREEMAN, SIR JOHN MOORES, FOUNDER, & MR CECIL MOORES, DIRECTOR OF THE LITTLEWOODS ORGANISATION'
A photograph of the unveiling can be seen at the following link; (
visit link)
A photograph showing the statues on the original plinth can be seen at the following link; (
visit link)
"The Littlewoods company was founded in 1923 by Sir John, a one-time post office messenger who started by printing coupons and distributing them by hand.
Littlewoods became a household name, turning Sir John, who died in 1993, into a billionaire. He later launched the legendary Littlewoods mail order business. His brother Cecil took over the pools operation in 1932 and ran it as chairman until 1979."
Source: (
visit link)
Sir John Moores CBE (25 January 1896 – 25 September 1993) was an English businessman and philanthropist most famous for the founding of the Littlewoods retail and football pools company. Liverpool John Moores University is named in his honour.
In 1970 John Moores was made a Freeman of the city of Liverpool. In 1972 he was made a CBE and in June 1980 he was knighted.
(
visit link)
(
visit link)
Cecil Moores (1902 - 1989) was president of Littlewoods Pools. He was born in Manchester in 1902, the son of a builder. He joined his brother, Sir John Moores, in 1924 in running what was to become Britain's largest football pools firm.
Tom Murphy
"Tom Murphy is a celebrated artist, with more than forty sculptures on public display throughout the United Kingdom.
Tom, was born in 1949. He started his artistic career initially as a hobby and moved quickly to an intense period of self-study, mastering a range of techniques in many art disciplines.
Previously, he worked in a number of occupations which included; a seaman, salesman, musician and impressionist in a pop group.
Later he graduated as a teacher at Liverpool John Moores University, and taught Art at the City of Liverpool Community College and other colleges in Merseyside. He also worked at a Centre for People with Learning Disabilities. His differing careers and interest in the characteristics of people, have both acted as a rich source of inspiration in both his paintings and sculptures.
Tom’s early experimentation in painting was recognised when he won first prize in the prestigious BBC ‘Art 88’ competition. His first big success in sculpture, however, came in 1996 when a representative of a major Liverpool Company, Littlewoods, saw his 7” 6’ fibreglass sculpture of John Lennon. He was commissioned to sculpt two monumental size bronzes of the Moores brothers for Liverpool’s premier shopping area, Church Street.
His work forms part of the urban landscape throughout Liverpool, North West and the rest of the UK. He has also sold many smaller works around the world.
Tom is the first choice of sculptor for many major Liverpool institutions. Now his work is known internationally due to his iconic statue of John Lennon at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, which was admired by Yoko Ono, and unveiled by Her Majesty The Queen.
His sculptures of Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock, commissioned by Merseytravel, at Lime Street station, have been much admired and welcome people to the city of Liverpool.
Tom is best known for his large sculptures and memorials, they include: Hillsborough, The Liverpool Blitz, Noel Chavasse VC and Bar Liverpool VCs Memorial, The Liverpool Pals Memorial and the RoadPeace Traffic Memorial.
Tom is an accomplished painter, and has been commissioned to paint many key Merseyside figures, including the official retirement portrait of Mr John Moores.
He has also created many sporting sculptures, these include the Bill Shankly Statue at Liverpool Anfield Stadium and the Dixie Dean statue at Everton FC in Goodison Park. In 2014, Tom’s sculpture of the late Johnny King was unvelied in Prenton Park, Birkenhead, Wirral. In 2016, his sculpture of John Atyeo for Bristol City Football Club was unveiled.
Most recently, Tom has been made an honorary fellow of Liverpool John Moores University and was later awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool. In 2017, Liverpool City Council recgonised him as a Citizen of Honour." Source: (
visit link)
(
visit link)
(
visit link)