Man Who Gave The Beatles Away made Citizen of Honour
Two of the surviving key players in the birth of the Beatles had a nostalgic reunion last night on the balcony of Liverpool Town Hall. Allan Williams, the self proclaimed Man Who Gave The Beatles Away was at a ceremony to receive one of the city’s top accolades: Liverpool Citizen of Honour. The founder of the Jacaranda and the Blue Angel joins an elite group of people deemed to have played a part in Liverpool’s growth and development.
Now a sprightly 86, Allan was the first ever manager of the Beatles in the early 1960s, way before the foursome would “shake the world”. Last night, on the same Town Hall verandah where John, George, Paul and Ringo looked down on a sea of screaming fans in 1964, Allan swapped memories with Freda Kelly, 71, Brian Epstein and the Beatles secretary and who, for 10 years, ran the official Beatles Fan Club.
For Allan, who now lives in a care home in the city, the accolade was an official salute to the key role he played in the rise of the Beatles from Woolton boy band to Hamburg rockers to global idols. “It is not only the first honour I have received, it’s the only honour!” he quipped, wit as razor sharp as the suit and tie he wore for the occasion.
By: Larry Neild
Source: Liverpool Confidential
