Sir Peter Blake creates 'dazzle' look for Mersey ferry

Sir Peter Blake designed the cover for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

A Mersey ferry is to undergo a transformation into a brightly coloured "dazzle ship" thanks to the man behind a famous Beatles album cover.

The Snowdrop will have a new look next month designed by Sir Peter Blake, who created The Beatles' Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band cover in 1967.

It will celebrate World War One ship designers who used the dazzle effect to try to avoid detection by the enemy.

Visitors boarding the Snowdrop can learn more about the technique.

It was commissioned by arts festival Liverpool Biennial and Tate Liverpool.

The camouflage works by confusing the eye, making it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed and direction, said a gallery spokesman.

Sir Peter Blake was one of the major figures in British pop art

Artist Norman Wilkinson was credited with inventing the technique with each ship's pattern making it difficult to recognise classes of ships.

Sir Peter, 83, one of the major figures of British pop art, has strong links with Liverpool and first visited the city during his National Service with the RAF.