Beatles News

A pair of John Lennon ’s sunglasses which he stamped on in a fit of rage and threw in the bin have emerged at auction. Luckily his uncle Charlie Lennon fetched them out of a bin and had them repaired and they are now tipped to sell for £3,500. The circular, metal framed glasses were owned by Lennon in the 1970s, post-Beatles , and are accompanied by a fascinating letter from Charlie Lennon explaining the incident in which they were broken. An irate Lennon, according to the letter, stamped on his glasses after an unhappy phone call and chucked them in the bin. His uncle, who died in 2002, decided to salvage the glasses from the bin and had them repaired.

The movie rights for The Beatle Who Vanished, a book by Jim Berkenstadt about the life of drummer Jimmie Nicol who was a Beatle for 13 days, have been secured by Alex Orbison, son of Roy Orbison on behalf of the family's Roy's Boys Films, and Ashley Hamilton's 449 Productions. Hamilton is the son of actor George Hamilton and actress Alana Stewart. Berkenstadt's book, first published in 2013, told Nicol's story in detail. It included accounts of Nicol with the Beatles, his pre- and post-Beatles career and included many archival photos. Nicol temporarily replaced Ringo Starr when the Beatle was hospitalized in 1964 for tonsillitis and pharyngitis just as the group was about to play a series of concerts. The new drummer passed an audition in front of Brian Epstein and received a new mop-top haircut. After a rehearsal with the group, he made his first formal appearance with them June 4 at K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Wings? They’re only the band The Beatles could have been!” Television comedy character Alan Partridge, in his inimitable style, summed up the problem Paul McCartney would always face. How do you follow being in the biggest, most famous, most influential pop group of all time? If you’d been in Newcastle on this night 45 years ago, you’d have found out.

The worldwide popularity of the Beatles endures a half-century after the lads from Liverpool led the British Invasion of the ’60s, as evidenced by a full house last week at Malibu City Hall for the Library Speaker Series kickoff event of 2017. Beatles expert Scott Freiman presented “Roll Up! Deconstructing The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour.” Fab Four fans of all ages were treated to a two-hour multimedia presentation detailing how the groundbreaking rock group created their psychedelic tour de force.

The record that launched The Beatles career is going on display at The Beatles Story in Liverpool. The unique acetate disc was presented to producer George Martin by the band's manager, Brian Epstein, 55 years ago, on February 13th 1962. It features a recording of ‘Hello Little Girl’ on one side and ‘Til There Was You’ on the other. Brian Epstein had the disc cut in the Personal Recording Department of the HMV record store on Oxford St in London. It was cut using The Beatles’ Decca audition tapes before being presented to George Martin of EMI.

Plans to marry George. Playing in an all-girl Beatle band. Touring the northeast with a faux George. "Beatles obsession" is putting it mildly. In the beginning, I’m just like any other teenage girl… Mid-January 1964: Somebody at school mentions a band called The Beatles. Yuuch. They sound like bugs.

The English composer and musicologist Wilfrid Mellers, in his now classic scholarly study of the Beatles, Twilight of the Gods, calls the early Beatles period, the period of screaming girls and “yeah, yeah, yeah,” their “Edenic” period. In his study, Mellers give particular attention to “There’s a Place,” the American “B-side” (there’s a quaint old term for you) to their iconic cover of the Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout.” Given that the song wallows in obscurity in the Fabs’ canon, you must be wondering Professor Mellers chose to give it serious scholarly attention and why I would choose it as the subject of of an essay. Other sources report that while John, Paul, George, and Ringo originally had high hopes for the song, that they themselves lost interest caused possibly by its having been a bit of a struggle for them to record. From being a song they expected to be their next #1, “There’s a Place” ended up as album filler and a B-side to a popular cover song.

Director Ron Howard has said he chose to attend the Baftas rather than the Grammys because he was so gratified his nominated documentary about The Beatles has been received so well in the UK. Howard has received nods for awards at both ceremonies - for best documentary at the Baftas and best music film at the Grammys - for his movie The Beatles: Eight Days A Week. The awards shows happen within hours of each other and Howard opted to brave the cold in London rather than attend the music show in Los Angeles. Arriving at the Bafta nominees party at Kensington Palace, he told the Press Association: "I had to choose but I have a lot of fun here, I have worked in London a lot and have a lot of friends here and the Baftas know how to throw a hell of a party."

On Feb. 11, 1964, Beatlemania blasted Washington — all shrieks and Arthur haircuts and songs people couldn’t quite make out. Two nights after their hysteria-inducing welcome-to-America appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the Beatles played their first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum. With “I Want to Hold Your Hand” sitting atop the American Billboard chart, 8,092 people crowded into the arena near Union Station and witnessed the band perform a dozen songs that changed everything. “It was one of the most exciting live performances the Beatles ever gave,” says Beatles historian Bruce Spizer, who has studied footage of the concert at the long-defunct Coliseum. “And it gave them great confidence that they indeed could conquer America.”

BBC documentary traces the world famous club's brilliant history A TV documentary celebrating 60 years of The Cavern reveals how its founder hatched his plan to open it over a lunchtime pint in The Grapes pub further along Mathew Street. The Cavern: The Most Famous Club In The World, which is presented by Ted Robbins, can be seen on Friday evening at 7.30pm on BBC1. And Peter Morris, a friend of its founder, the late Alan Sytner, recalled a crucial day in 1956, when he, Alan and two other friends met up in Mathew Street.