Beatles News
Council to purchase iconic theatre where The Beatles played for £2.6m
An iconic building where household names such as The Beatles once performed is set to have new life breathed into it after Waltham Forest Council purchases it for £2.6 million.
The former Granada cinema, also known as the EMD, in Walthamstow’s Hoe Street is set to become a 1,000-seat venue to host the biggest names in UK and international comedy, pantomimes, film screenings and more.
The historic Grade II* listed theatre was partially reopened in 2016 as Mirth, Marvel & Maud, a pub and entertainment complex.
It will be brought back to its former glory with the help of Soho Theatre, who will operate the venue, and is expected to add between £34 and £52 million to Walthamstow’s economy over a 10 year period.
Source: Laura O'Callaghan/guardian-series.co.uk
Jenny Boyd, sister of George Harrison’s first wife, Pattie, and an ambassador for The Beatles Story in Liverpool, tells Abigail Healy her fascinating story.
How did you first become involved with The Beatles?
It was when my sister, Pattie, began going out with George [Harrison]. We would often all go to the latest nightclubs in London together.
Why is now the ideal time for an exhibition about The Beatles in India at The Beatles Story in Liverpool?
It’s 50 years since they were in India. That time had such a huge impact on so many people. It was not only their music, but also their influence in bringing the benefits of meditation to the West.
How did you end up joining The Beatles’ trip to India in 1968?
I was staying with Pattie and George in Surrey, having returned from six months in San Francisco. One evening I went with them and joined the rest of The Beatles to see the guru, Maharishi, speak in London. Not long afterwards we saw Maharishi again at the retreat in Bangor. On our return to London, having discussed it with Pattie, George asked me if I’d like
to accompany them to Maharishi’s ashram in Rishikesh. I had been on my own spiritual path for over a year and India figured enormously. I had longed to spend some time there. It was like a dream come true.
Source: ttgmedia.com
A legend of popular music has donated a signed box set exploring one of the most iconic albums of all time to help parents who have lost a child.
A signed Beatles set of six discs has been handed to the Forever Stars charity - straight from Sir Paul McCartney's personal collection.
The legendary musician and songwriter will even personalise the set with his signature and a message once it is sold at auction.
The lot has been described as the "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band super deluxe, six-disc set" and carries an estimate of between £250 and £500.
It will be sold at Hansons Auctioneers, in Heage Lane, Etwall, in a specialist music sale on Wednesday, March 14.
Source: Ben Waldron/burtonmail.co.uk
Paul McCartney’s 1967 Lamborghini 400 GT 2+2 is one in a number of celebrity cars that will be sold at Bonham’s upcoming Goodwood Members’ Meeting auction.
The Lamborghini was purchased by McCartney at the height of The Beatles’ success and was owned by him while they recorded Yellow Submarine and worked on the animated film of the same name. The car also appeared in ‘Anthology of The Beatles‘ – a 1996 BBC TV series focused around the band. This example, which features a 320 hp 4.0-liter V12, was purchased new by McCartney in February of 1968. It has had just four owners from new, with the most recent acquiring it back in 2011. It has been stored in a climate-controlled environment at Lamborghini Hong Kong for much of that time.
Source: autoguide.com
THE widow of George Harrison has agreed to support the creation of a memorial garden in Henley.
Mayor Kellie Hinton wrote to Olivia Harrison to see if she would back the idea and her husband’s charity confirmed she was in favour.
The town council will now work with Mrs Harrison and the Material World Foundation to find a suitable location.
Plans for a memorial in the town have been mooted for years. Mrs Harrison was against plans for a statue to the former Beatle, who lived at Friar Park. Councillor Hinton said: “We were only comfortable doing something if Olivia was going to support us.
“We know from previous discussions that she did not want anything near the house. We looked at locations in Mill and Marsh Meadows, which are tranquil and by the river. There were other areas we looked at which could be suitable.”
The Mayor met with representatives of the foundation in October, when they discussed the possibility of a garden. Cllr Hinton said: “We had a 45-minute meeting and went over some of the possible locations, which they could look at in their own time. On the same day we had a message saying they wanted to do it.
Source: henleystandard.co.uk
Shots of The Beatles’ first US concerts are expected to sell for £250,000 ($347,000) at auction. Mike Mitchell, 18 at the time, snapped hundreds of never-before-seen photographs of the band’s performances at the Washington Coliseum and the Baltimore Civic Centre in 1964. The negatives, taken only with ambient light as Mitchell had no flash, have sat for decades in his basement.
Source: The Guardian
The day after The Beatles’ Cardiff show, manager Brian Epstein and the bandmates met with Walter Shenson, the producer who brought them to the big screen in A Hard Day’s Night and Help!
While the meeting was certainly less climactic than the previous evening’s concert, the day’s events held great portents nonetheless. Brian had arranged the meeting so that Walter could pitch a third feature film to the group. This time, the deal involved another property for United Artists titled A Talent for Loving.
Based on Richard Condon’s novel of the same name, A Talent for Loving would depict the four lads from Liverpool transplanted into an 1870s-era western as pioneering frontiersmen. But for the first time, the Beatles weren’t having it, voting unanimously – all for one and one for all, as was their practice – to reject Shenson’s gambit outright.
Source: Ken Womack/independent.co.uk
You might only know the Beatles as John, Paul, George and Ringo, but before there was a Starr, there was a Best. Often called the fifth Beatle, Pete Best was a member of the Fab Four just when Beatlemania was becoming a thing between 1960 and 1962.
Once the band -- with the help of manager Brian Epstein -- decided to replace Best with Starr, Beatles fans were outraged, chanting, "Pete forever, Ringo never!" And in their defense, Best is definitely still the best-looking out of the mop-top crew.
So, what's he up to now? On March 30-31, he and his brother Roag Best will be performing, answering questions and signing autographs at Queen Bee's (3925 Ohio Street) for the San Diego Beatles Fair.
Source: By Rutger Rosenborg/nbcsandiego.com
The Liverpudlian who put the Beatles in suits, landed them a record deal with Parlophone, and brought to them to “The Ed Sullivan Show” is getting the biopic treatment from Bravo. Bravo is developing a limited series based on the life of Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager who helped steer them to “the toppermost of the poppermost” from the early 1960s until his death of a drug overdose in August 1967 at the age of 32.
Produced by Universal Cable Productions and Sonar Entertainment, the project is based on “The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story,” the Dark Horse Comics graphic novel penned by Vivek J. Tiwary with art by Andrew C. Robinson and Kyle Baker. Tiwary will pen the series adaptation and serve as executive producer along with Leopoldo Gout. Bravo said the project has secured access to the Lennon-McCartney song catalog for use in the series.
Epstein is an enigmatic figure in the history of the legendary band. He struggled with internal and external demons and discrimination as a Jewish, closeted gay man living at a time when homosexuality was a felony in Britain.
Source: By Cynthia Littleton /Variety
On display in a museum in Liverpool is a tiny record that changed the history of music.
Made in 1962, it holds a recording of "Hello Little Girl" by a then-unknown band called "John Lennon and the Beatles".
The Fab Four were struggling to get a record deal when their manager took this record to a meeting with George Martin, the man who would become known as "the fifth Beatle".
He saw the potential in the music group that day - and the rest is history.
This is the amazing story of the record that started it all:
Source: ITV Report
