A Lifelong Obsession with a Musical Group Known as The Beatles

Conquering the USA: The Beatles during their US TV Debut in 1964.

From their humble beginnings in Liverpool, England in the late 1950's to their heavily publicized and somewhat acrimonious split in 1970, the Beatles' comparatively short 8 year recording career that officially began in 1962 when they were signed to the EMI label 'Parlophone' yielded 12 studio albums, 13 EP's (Extended Plays) and 22 singles. They starred in 4 feature films and 1 TV film from 1964 to 1969 and during the 1960s had 27 Number One singles worldwide.

They changed the musical world as we know it today. They spearheaded a change in fashion and popular culture, touched and changed millions of lives and left a rich, wonderful musical legacy that will live till the end of time and perhaps even beyond that.

They are, to put it simply, abso-bloody-lutely brilliant.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) are simply four of the most talented people to walk this Earth.

Whether you are a die-hard fan like me or are in the minority that claim they cannot stand them or their music you cannot deny their influence on the world. Those that I'm willing to wager that in the Afghanistan mountains there's bound to be someone who will know at least one Beatles song.


From those of my readers who know me personally or even just have had a few conversations with me they know that my Beatles obsession runs deep. When I was around 8 years old I saw them on TV. It was their Royal Command Performance from 1963 and they were performing 'Twist & Shout' then I seen clips of the mania surrounding the 1965 Shea Stadium concert and it absolutely fascinated me. Something about the music reached me in a way that nothing else has before or since.

They fueled my musical passion and when I was in my early teens I taught myself guitar and played and sang along to the Beatles."Getting Better" every day and it's "Something" I still do today with my wife whom I met on a Beatles forum and we enjoy discussing the Beatles' music and themselves as individual people at length. Actually, not a day goes by when we don't discuss them. Does that make us crazy? Maybe so.


Here are the Beatles Through the Years.....

Leathered: The Beatles with Pete Best on drums in 1961. Pete was replaced by Ringo in 1962.

John, Paul, Ringo and......Neil? Road manager Neil Aspinall has a go at being a Beatle. (George had a fever and so Neil had to stand in for the Ed Sullivan camera crews to get their positions right)

Paul teaches Ringo the Basics of Guitar during a break in filming 'A Hard Day's Night' in 1964.

Fab Four: The Beatles in Liverpool, 1962. From L-R: George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr & John Lennon.

Recording: During sessions for their fourth album 'Beatles For Sale', 1964.

Evolving: The Beatles in 1967. During this year they released the critically acclaimed 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' and also the critically slated 'Magical Mystery Tour' film.

The End: The Beatles gathered for their final photo session in August 1969. The expressions on their faces say it all. They officially split up in April 1970, ending the greatest Rock group the world will ever know.

Beatle Places in London

Hello everybody, or those that are still reading this blog! After a relatively long absence in which life got in the way of doing the things I love, I'm back with a report on all things Beatle. In March 2014 we visited my home country of the United Kingdom and spent a couple of days in the capital of England, London.

To further their successful career, the Beatles knew it was inevitable that they couldn't remain in their hometown of Liverpool in the north west of England. They would have to move to London.

London is where Abbey Road studios is located and as many Beatles fans know, this is where they recorded most of their output between 1962 and 1969.

Getting into the swing of things: Piccadilly Circus in 1963. the year the Beatles moved to London.

When the Beatles finally moved down to London in the summer of 1963, they were staying at the President Hotel on Russell Square. It soon became apparent to Brian Epstein that they were in London more than they were anywhere else and more suitable accommodation needed to be found.

After much searching, Epstein settled on a 4th floor flat (apartment) at 57 Green Street in Mayfair. This was the only time the Beatles ever lived together as a group in London and it was an extremely brief time in the Autumn of 1963.

John and Paul were the first to move out in late 1963, John moved because Cynthia and baby Julian had moved down to London and they needed to all live together so they found a place at 13 Emperor's Gate, Brompton. John, Cynthia and Julian moved into the third floor flat secured for them by photographer Robert Freeman, who lived in the flat below them. The name on the doorbell was 'Hadley' to avoid the fans finding out where they lived but by July 1964, the fans had found out that 'Hadley' was really 'Lennon' and so the Lennon's moved out of Emperor's Gate (with a little help from Paul) to 'Kenwood' which is outside of London in Weybridge, Surrey.

Paul moved out in late 1963 when he started dating the actress Jane Asher, moving into the top floor of 57 Wimpole street, Marylebone, where Jane lived with her parents and brother Peter. Paul has gone on record many times saying he hated the flat in Green Street and the fact that he had the back bedroom so when Jane invited him to live with her he jumped at the chance. Paul moved out of Wimpole Street in 1966 when he bought 7 Cavendish Avenue, St. John's Wood, which he still owns today.

With John and Paul gone, George and Ringo lived at 57 Green Street for only a short time before moving into an apartment at Whaddon House, William Mews, located not far from Harrods in Knightsbridge. Brian Epstein also lived here. George and Ringo lived here for over a year before finally buying homes in the "Stockbroker belt" in Surrey, the same as John had done. Before Ringo moved to Surrey, he moved into an apartment in 34 Montagu Square, Marylebone. After moving to Surrey, he retained the lease on the flat and several rock stars and friends were allowed to live in it, most notably Jimi Hendrix in 1966 & 67 and perhaps even more famously, John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968. This is the place where Lennon and Ono were busted for drugs by the notorious Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher. Starr finally sold the lease in 1969 and today there is a blue plaque on the building commemorating Lennon's time in the flat.

Of all the Beatles, Paul is the only one to have remained in London during their career, his home in St. John's Wood being only a short 5 minute walk from Abbey Road made this a perfect place for the Beatles to get together before and after a session.

Since the Beatles spent the majority of their time in London when they weren't touring, there are so many places they visited/lived in/worked in. The most notable of these are Abbey Road and 3 Savile Row. The latter being Apple Corps' HQ from 1968 to 1975. The basement of the building was converted into a recording studio and this is where the majority of the band's 'Let It Be' album was recorded and indeed much of the second half of the accompanying documentary film. As if that wasn't enough to secure the building in the annals of Rock history the Beatles themselves fully cemented it's legendary status by playing their final, albeit impromptu and unannounced, live concert on the rooftop of the building in January 1969. The Rooftop Concert has been incessantly copied and parodied over the years, notably in an episode of the Simpsons where George Harrison guest starred as himself and wryly comments when he sees Homer's Barbershop Quartet playing on the roof of Mo's Bar "It's been done".

The blue plaque dedicated to John & George on the Baker Street Apple Boutique that was open for a short while

The building today is now an estate agents.

Baker Street also is home to the London Beatles store, your one stop shop for Beatles Merchandise

Abbey Road studios. Thankfully still a working studio.

With an obligatory message by ourselves (Erica and Dominic)

And a visit to Paul's Cavendish Avenue home. (He wasn't home)

This is where John met Yoko for the first time, Formerly the Indica Gallery.

3 Savile Row as it looked in 2007. Our last visit there was an ugly Abercrombie & Fitch board around the building

How the Beatles last gig looked to the typical passerby in 1969.

Savile Row is also well known worldwide for its tailor shops.

There are several other fantastic sights to see in London too and a lot of them have a Beatles connection, no matter how small. One place they will have a lifelong connection to, however is Liverpool, which shall be explored in my next blog, so stay tuned!