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Beatles News Extra

 

Beatlemania

Page 1

James Mackay recounts the rise and fall of the Fab Four, but finds that one of their number dominates on stamps worldwide - John Lennon.

 

It was on October 9, 1940, the night of one of the worst air raids on Liverpool, that Julia, wife of Freddy Lennon, gave birth to a son whom they named John, adding as a middle name the forename of Britain’s great war leader, Winston Churchill. John was still a baby when Freddy took off one day and was never heard of again. As a result, the boy was raised by his mother until she remarried and dumped him on her sister Mimi and her husband George.

 

John’s first school was Dovedale Primary where his best pal was Peter Harrison, kid brother of George. A precocious child, though not an infant prodigy, John was also a loner, preferring his own company and pastimes. One of these was writing; by the time he was 10 he had written and illustrated several books.

 

Sadly much of John’s early writing was thrown away by his aunt, much to the boy’s horror. Were these manuscripts still available, they’d be priceless, and would provide a valuable insight into the developing mind of one of the great musical geniuses of the 20th century.

 

Having passed the 11-plus John went to Quarry Bank Grammar School where he did badly in class work, whether from laziness or indifference, although he showed a considerable talent for sketching cartoons.

 

Neglecting his homework, John took up the guitar, became a Teddy Boy and formed his first group in 1957. Lonnie Donegan was at the height of his fame and up and down the land washboards and tea-chests were transformed into the rhythm section of countless amateur skiffle groups.

 

With Pete Shotton and two other classmates, John formed the Quarry Men. The group made its debut in a local talent contest, only the first of many such competitions which never led anywhere. In the summer of 1957 the Quarry Men performed at a garden party in Woolton. In the audience was James Paul McCartney, born on June 18, 1942.

 

A conscientious boy and a good pupil, he won a place at the prestigious Liverpool Institute. Paul’s mother died of cancer in 1955 not long after the family moved from Speke to Allerton. About this time Paul took up the guitar and was caught up in the skiffle craze. When Pete Shotton left the Quarry Men Paul McCartney took his place.

 

That autumn John left school and enrolled at the Hope Street Art College. Paul was still at the Liverpool Institute but the two continued to play together, gradually developing their own style of rock ‘n’ roll. It was in this early period that their first essays in lyrics and musical composition took place.

 

It was Paul who brought 14 year-old George Harrison into the group. Unlike Paul, he was an indifferent student, much more interested in being a Teddy Boy and pestering his mother to buy him a guitar. His induction into the Quarry Men only came after an apprenticeship in which he followed the group and was occasionally permitted to substitute for one of the other guitarists. At that stage his main asset was that the group could use his house for rehearsals.

 

Dissatisfied with their lack of progress in the hectic music scene of Liverpool, John decided that the group needed a new name. For a time they were known as Johnny and the Moondogs. Only when they changed again, becoming the Silver Beatles, did success come their way. When somebody nicknamed the group’s leader Long John Silver, Lennon promptly dropped the Silver from the title. At that point the group consisted of John, Paul and George, together with guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best.

 

Spotted at a local talent show by promoter Allan Williams, they were booked as backing group for Johnny Gentle on his Scottish tour and subsequently Williams became their manager. Williams got them regular slots on the rock ‘n’ roll circuit and a booking at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, but their first foreign gig came to an end when George was arrested for being an under-age performer on licensed premises. Blaming Williams, John ditched the group’s manager.

 

The Beatles returned to Hamburg in April 1961.
This proved a major turning point in their career and they played to capacity audiences at the Top Ten Club. However, the personality clash between Stu and John meant that one of them would have to go. Tragically, Sutcliffe died of a brain tumour the following year.

 

Returning to Liverpool after this highly successful gig, the Beatles played regularly at the Cavern Club in Matthew Street. Brian Epstein, the proprietor of the big NEMS record store in Liverpool, kept getting enquiries for a recording of My Bonnie by a group performing at the Cavern. Having never heard of them before, he decided to investigate.

 

That December he was appointed manager, and eventually he persuaded George Martin, then recording manager at Parlophone, to set up a recording session at the Abbey Road Studios in London. Although he was impressed by the group’s rendition of ‘Love Me Do', Martin was adamant on one point — drummer Pete Best had to go.

In Hamburg John had encountered Richard Starkey, the drummer with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, another Liverpool group at the Kaiserkeller. Having left school at 15 to become a joiner, Richard acquired his own drum kit and joined the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group.

 

Later he moved on to the Hurricanes, performing under the name of Ringo Starr. The surname was a shortened form of his real name, while Ringo referred to the numerous rings that adorned his fingers. He was playing at Butlin’s in Skegness when he was recruited as Best’s replacement.

 

In September 1962 John, Paul, George and Ringo went to Abbey Road for their first proper recording session with George Martin. They cut a single of Love Me Do, with PS, I love You on the flipside. Despite little promotion from EMI, it reached number 17 in the Top Twenty, reaching number one in the Melody Maker singles chart.

 

Following a third trip to Hamburg in October 1962 the Beatles recorded their second single, Please Please Me. By the end of that year they were voted eighth in the small British group category and fifth in the vocal group section, in the New Musical Express readers poll.

 

The Beatles really knew they had arrived when they were booked as support for Helen Shapiro on her highly publicised British tour in February 1963. Little did anyone realise it at the time, but she was already on the way down, whereas for the Beatles this would be their annus mirabilis. It began with the release of Please Please Me in January which, boosted by a live appearance on the popular TV show Thank Your Lucky Stars, shot to number one.

 

On the crest of the wave, the Beatles returned to Abbey Road to record their first album, entitled Please Please Me, which remained at number one for 30 weeks — until it was overtaken by their second album, With the Beatles.

 

In this year also, Julian Lennon was born to John and Cynthia, who married in August 1962. As the year progressed, the Beatles were overwhelmed with work, appearances on radio and television, as well as live concerts and recording sessions. How Lennon and McCartney found the time for fresh composition is incredible. In April the Beatles released their third single, From Me to You.

 

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