A BEATLE FANATICS TOUR
to the more obscure Beatle sights
| INDEX (Click on your site!) | |
| Aintree Institute | Mount Pleasant |
| Casbah Coffee Club | Odd Spot Club |
| Falkner Street | Rodney Street |
| Gambier Terrace | Saint Bride Street |
| Litherland Town Hall | Quarry Bank School |
Sunday 27 August 2000
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A great meeting again! EDWINA WILLIS from our wonderful 1998 'Magical Mystery Tour' welcomed us to the tour. She could not enough praise us guests from Sweden and LENNY PANE, one of the best Beatles Tribute Bands ever! |
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Edwina! |
Litherland Town Hall
LITHERLAND TOWN HALL, Hatton Hill Road, Litherland. This is the place where BEATLEMANIA started! On 27 December 1960, in a booking arranged by BOB WOOLER and billed as "Direct from Hamburg", The Beatles brought the house down, invoking early scenes of "Beatlemania" that went on to sweep through the country and encircle the globe.
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89 Bold Street was the place of the ODD SPOT CLUB, venue for two Beatles gigs in 1962. During the group's rise to fame they would occasionally spend a late night here enjoying the solitude, away from their fans. JULIA LENNON's second husband JOHN DYKINS was doorman here. JOHN would phone him to see, if it was quiet enough for them to come along. |
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The Odd Spot Club |
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Aintree Institute |
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AINTREE INSTITUTE, Longmoor Lane, Aintree. Promoted by BRIAN KELLY, The Beatles made 31 appearances here 7 January 1961 - 27 January 1962. On that last day Kelly paid The Beatles' £15 fee in handfuls of loose change. The Beatles' manager BRIAN EPSTEIN was so angered, that he ensured that they never played for Kelly again!
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CASBAH COFFEE CLUB, 8 Hayman's Green, West Derby, Liverpool was opened by MONA BEST Saturday 29 August 1959 in the basement of her house. THE QUARRY MEN, then consisting of PAUL, JOHN, GEORGE and KEN BROWN on bass, played here on the opening night, and the following six Saturday nights. No drummer. "The rhythm's in the guitars", they said. After the Casbah gigs Ken Brown left the group. Mona Best was also the mother of PETE BEST, who joined the group, then called THE BEATLES, in August 1960. They played numerous gigs here at the Casbah until 24 June 1962. |
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Casbah Coffee Club |
Me -Bengt, Pete Best & Bosse at The Casbah
1999
Yesterday it was QUARRY BANK DAY. That meant that we all met at JOHN's old school to celebrate his forthcoming 60th birthday with music and much more.
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QUARRY BANK SCHOOL (now Calderstones School) on Harthill Road, Woolton was JOHN's school September 1952 - July 1957. He left with the reputation of being one of the worst pupils the school had ever known. The school report read: "Hopeless. Rather a clown in class. He is just wasting other pupils' time. Certainly on the road to failure." Whilst being a pupil here JOHN formed his first band, aptly named THE QUARRYMEN. John's closest friend at Quarry Bank was PETE SHOTTON. I asked PETE, if it was true, that he and JOHN were driving the teachers crazy, and he confirmed. And he hadn't longed back! Today was the first time he made a visit here since leaving school. And he really enjoyed it, sitting on the school steps, smoking and drinking red-wine! |
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Quarry Bank School |
Quarry Bank School Hall
QUARRY BANK SCHOOL HALL. John's QUARRYMEN played here during the sixth-formers' dance in July 1957. The hall today must look exactly as it did in the 50's, totally unrenovated! The only difference - the ceiling will fall down any day! And the toilets! Unaltered since John's days! A must to use them!
4 Rodney Street
4 Rodney Street was once a nursing home and the birthplace, on 19 September 1934, of BRIAN EPSTEIN, The Beatles' manager.
36 Falkner Street
36 Falkner Street was the place of JOHN's and CYNTHIA's honeymoon flat. The ground floor apartment belonged to BRIAN EPSTEIN, who let them use it during the first few months of their marriage. Also here John wrote 'Do You Want To Know A Secret', later a No.1 hit for BILLY J. KRAMER with his DAKOTAS.
Falkner Street Garages
Do you recognize the place? In the 'Free As A Bird' video the bird flies over this roof of the FALKNER STREET GARAGES, where a BLUE MEANIE pops up, and over two men 'FIXING A HOLE' in the roof.
Saint Bride Street
On nearby Saint Bride Street our MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR bus passed along the bottom of the street - exactly as in the 'Free As A Bird' video!
3 Gambier Terrace
3 Gambier Terrace. Much against his AUNT MIMI's advice JOHN left the conforts of 'Mendips' to share a flat here in 1960 with STU SUTCLIFFE and ROD MURRAY, another student from Art College. Also a good place to spend time with CYNTHIA. Many were the nights she spent here, her mother believing she was staying over with a girlfriend.
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64 Mount Pleasant was the place of a Registrer's Office. Here on Thursday 23 August 1963 JOHN married CYNTHIA. BRIAN EPSTEIN was best man. PAUL and GEORGE also attended. 25 years earlier, on 3 December 1938, John's mother JULIA had married FREDDIE LENNON. The following day Freddie sailed off for the West Indies. Julia saw little of him during their brief and stormy marriage and by the time John was 18 months old, he left them both for good. |
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64 Mount Pleasant |
All photos and text by Bengt Wärmlind.