A GEORGE HARRISON TOUR
George
Harrison Liverpool sites
- and some more...
Monday 26 August 2002
The Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take us away...
A Beatle Street - George Harrison Close
BEATLE STREETS, Kensington Fields Estate. After long and intensive campaigning of stalwart local Beatle fans the Council agreed to name four of the streets on this 1981 private housing estate after The Beatles. We took a closer look at the road signs..
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Our guide Eddie and me, Bengt, at 12 Arnold Grove*
Back again at 12 ARNOLD GROVE in Wavertree. This was GEORGE HARRISON's birthplace on 24 February 1943 and home 1943-1950. He lived here with his sister LOUISE, brothers HAROLD and PETER, mother LOUISE and father HAROLD.
We go to George's 2nd home at...
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25 Upton Green |
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25 UPTOWN GREEN, Speke. George's home 1950-1962. The Harrison family had been on Liverpool Corporation's housing waiting list for 18 years before they moved to this house on New Year's Day 1950. Compared with the tiny 'two up, two down' house in a back street in Wavertree, this house must have been palatial. Believe it or not but this house was the highly unlikely setting for a Quarry Men gig - no doubt an unpaid one. The occasion? Big brother Harry's wedding reception on 20 December 1958. The Harrisons lived here until 1 October 1962 when the family moved to a posher part of Liverpool...
George's 3rd home next...
174 Macket's Lane
174 MACKET'S LANE, Hunts Cross. The Harrison family lived here 1962-1965 during which time George and The Beatles soared to worlwide fame. Like other Beatle houses in the 60's this Council house became the focal point for George's fans. Fan mail by sackload was delivered, often answered by mother Louise and father Harold. And often the fans themselves turned up on the doorsteps in the hope of a 'sighting'.
We pass one of Paul's houses...
72 Western Avenue
72 Western Avenue, Speke. The McCarneys moved to this new council housing estate from their flat in Sir Thomas White Gardens, Everton when Paul was four. Among the tricks he and brother Mike got up to was to throw stones at their neighbour's tree 'to speed up the growth of the apples'!
The new John Lennon statue
Wilson Hall
WILSON HALL, Speak Road, Garston (now a Woolton Carpet Centre). In this hall The Quarry Men played four times to a largely local audience of teddy boy roughnecks. And it was here, 6 February 1957, that an embryonic 14 year old teddy boy by the name George Harrison first saw The Quarry Men and was introduced to their leader John Lennon.
The bus stop where George met Paul
BUS STOP, Forthlin Road. On this bus stop Paul jumped on the bus and met George who had jumped on a stop before at Upton Green. This happened often 1955-1959 on their way to school at The Liverpool Institute.
Dovedale Infant & Junior School
DOVEDALE INFANT & JUNIOR SCHOOL, Dovedale Road. Both John and George attended this school up until the age of 11, but neither knew each other. However George's older brother, Pete, was in John's class.
The school above is the one pictured in Beatles Liverpool guide books. But doesn't it look too young? We walk a little further along the road...
Dovedale County
Junior School
DOVEDALE COUNTY JUNIOR SCHOOL. Looking more like the right age. The question is: Is this actually the building of John's and George's school up until the age of 11? I would be very thankful if someone with insight, could answer this question. Please send me an e-mail.
Blacklers
BLACKLERS (now Wetherspoons), Great Charlotte Street. George had a very short-lived apprenticeship here as an electrician, after leaving school in 1959 before becoming professional musician in 1960. George's electric skills were often put to good use looking after the group's amplifiers.
All photos and text by Bengt Wärmlind
(This page updated September 10th, 2007)