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Our museums and galleries house fascinating collections, from living bugs to The Beatles, fine art to photography, the Titanic to ancient Egypt.
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Accession numbers MMM.2002.113.1-2
The 1993 Grand National will be forever remembered as the race that never was. The famous race held at the Aintree Racecourse was declared void after a series of unfortunate events.
Stephen Guy was staff correspondent for the Press Association on the day. He explains the background -
"The 1993 Grand National was marked because there were a lot of demonstrations - animal rights people protesting outside. There had been build up in the two or three days beforehand. We knew there was going to be a problem so I spent the whole meeting there, off and on in between other newsbreaks. There were a lot of security operations and I had my pass to go into the press tent"
Seconds before the start of the race protestors got onto the track. When the horses and riders lined up again two false starts were called. The riders failed to realise the second false start had been called, and seven riders completed both laps of the course and passed the finish line. Stephen explains the hectic scenes -
Diagram of Aintree race track, stadium and enclosures from the press pack
"I was in the press tent working with nose to the grindstone. Of course the Grand National is so well known that my stories would go out all over the world.
The race started and I can remember it all going wrong and that's when we started filing. There was this enormous desk with all of these phones on it and everyone went to grab one to start filing the chaotic scenes. Was it being run? Was it not being run? Nobody seemed to know. It was just amazing. As the events unfolded a press release would appear, they would hand them out to the reporters and I would get on the phone.
I remember I was on this mobile phone for an hour and a half and the battery didn't give up - which was quite something at that time! I was filing literally off the top of my head and from notes I had taken down. I left Aintree late, about 8 or 9pm, as there was an incredible thirst for information from all the people at home that had put their bets on. That weekend it dominated the headlines, as you can imagine it was a very stressful time."
Press pack and press pass used by Stephen Guy at the Grand National, donated to the collections of the Museum of Liverpool.