Beatles wallpaper left hotel bedroom in a 1960s Fab Four time-warp
THE Beatles may never have made it to Clacton but that doesn’t mean they didn’t leave their mark on the resort. Thirty years after A Hard’s Day’s Night was screened at the now long-lost Odeon, in West Avenue, fan and musician Karl Johnson found himself in a time-warp dating back to the Fab Four’s heyday.
“It was a little disused hotel bedroom at the top of either the Criterion on Pier restaurant, facing the sea, and it was covered from top to bottom in Beatles wallpaper,” said Karl. “There had been a rumour that the Beatles were almost booked to appear at the Princes Theatre in 1964 and this wallpaper had been there since then. “Most of it was still intact, stuck on to the crumbling walls of this Victorian room. “I went there with my dad and we stripped it all off because they were refurbishing it. “It seemed to still be in good condition but once it was removed from the walls the brittle paper just crumbled apart. “We had a hell of a job getting it off the wall. Some of it wouldn’t come off and some of it was damp.”
Dad Derek was an antiques dealer. They saved what they could and mounted it onto cards before sending it off for auction. “I can’t remember how much we got for it,” said Karl, 52. “It’s sad that a priceless piece of history could be removed in just an afternoon.
By: Karl Johnson
Source: Harwich and Manningtree Standard
