Auxilliary Fire Service Memorial

Terence Parkes (1927 - 2003), better known as 'Larry', was one of the most prolific and popular of British cartoonists. He produced a series of cartoons based on famous paintings at the Walker and Lady Lever Art Galleries, satirising current events and art. This cartoon reworks a public sculpture in Liverpool, on St George's Plateau. The original sculpture commemorates the actions of the Fire Service in the city during the Second World War, when Liverpool was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe. Larry has transformed the figures of the firefighters into those of Laocoon and his sons, a famous Classical sculpture at the Vatican. Rather than wrestling with serpents, as in the original, Laocoon and the other figures are holding fire hoses.