Take yourself back, back in time. To the 1960’s and the start of a music revolution. British musicians dominated the pop music scene, Billy Fury, Cilla Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers and the biggest of the lot, The Beatles. What do they have in common? They were all from Liverpool.

Left: Billy Fury Right: Lyn with Cilla Black outside the Cavern Club

“Roll up, roll up for the Mystery Tour
 Roll up, roll up for the Mystery Tour”

So begins one of the Beatles classic songs, the title track to their album of the same name. We are here to enjoy the Beatles experience, embarking on our own Magical Mystery Tour, to see the sights that they made famous.

The Beatles were at the forefront of the late 50’s and 60’s pop music revolution and were at the heart of the 60’s “Merseybeat” movement of popular culture in trying to establish this brand of music as an art form. They are regarded as the most influential band in pop music history.

They had humble beginnings though as we found out on the Magical Mystery Tour. In 1956, John Lennon, then aged 16, formed a skiffle group with a few friends from Quarrybank School in Liverpool. They became the Quarrymen and a few months later, a 15 year old Paul McCartney joined them as rhythm guitarist after helping out by playing with them at a school fete one afternoon.

McCartney had a friend, George Harrison, who also played guitar and a couple of years later he was invited to join the Quarrymen as a lead guitarist after an impromptu audition on the top deck of a Liverpool bus. By 1960, the nucleus of the band was in place when they recruited a bass guitarist by the name of Stuart Sutcliffe and by the middle of that year, their name had evolved to become the Beatles.

No. 12 Forthlin Road Liverpool – Childhood home of Paul McCartney

No. 12 Arnold Grove Liverpool, childhood home of George Harrison

After recruiting a full time drummer, Pete Best, the band played residencies in a Hamburg nightclub over the next two years. During 1961 Sutcliffe decided to leave the band and they became a four piece with McCartney taking over on bass guitar. 

They were enjoying a growing popularity back in Liverpool as part of the Merseybeat movement and played frequently at the Cavern Club in that city. This club became most associated with the band and Merseybeat. Another Liverpool star, Cilla Black, worked there as a cloakroom assistant before she found fame. It was also here that the Beatles met their future manager, Brian Epstein. It was Epstein who got them their first recording contract and introduced them to George Martin a music producer at Abbey Road Studios in London. Martin did not rate their drummer, Pete Best at all, and after some negotiation the band recruited Ringo Star and in late 1962 they released their first single, “Love Me Do.”

This Fab Four on our Magical Mystery Tour

Above: The modern day Cavern Club.

In the 1960’s when far less heed was paid to building regulation and Health and Safety, the original Cavern club was a series of underground rooms with no ventilation and cramped spaces. It was smelly! Between 1961 and 1963 the Beatles made 292 appearances at the club, with their last occurring on 3 August 1963, a month after the band recorded “She Loves You” and just six months before their first trip to the U.S and the start of Beatlemania. The rest is history!

As well as seeing where the band members grew up, our Magical Mystery Tour took us to some iconic locations around Liverpool, which feature in the band’s music. Penny Lane, for example is an ordinary street in Liverpool. 

We rode up the lane in our coach (a tight squeeze) and at the top, all the places featured in the song are there, the “Barbers shop showing photographs of every head he’s had the pleasure to know“.  There is  a chip shop selling “A four of fish and finger pies” and there is a bus shelter in the middle of the roundabout – “Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout” but we did not see “A pretty nurse (is) selling poppies from a tray” and because of the traffic we were not allowed to step off the bus to take it all in. It would have caused chaos.

Penny Lane …..Yes it does exist.

We visited Strawberry Fields, well the front gate to Strawberry fields. Strawberry Fields started life as a gothic mansion in the 1800’s before being bought by the Salvation Army in 1936 and converted to a Children’s Home. It was immortalised as a venue by John Lennon in his song “Strawberry Fields Forever” from the Sgt Pepper album. John lived round the corner and used to play in the grounds as child with the local kids from the home. Sadly the home is no longer there but the area is now open to the public to explore the grounds. Incorporated within the park is a training centre for young people with special educational needs.

The Strawberry Field Gate

From the Magical Mystery Tour, to the Beatles Museum on the Albert Dock. This former dockland area has been re-generated over the last few years into a massive entertainment and arts location with several museums and many restaurants replacing old dock workings. The Beatles Museum is housed in one of these old warehouses and provides a fascinating insight into the story of probably the greatest band ever.

Views of the modern Albert Dock Liverpool – The old and the new

The museum is in theme of e timeline charting the origins of the band top their final break up in 1970 and their successes or otherwise as solo artists.

Above: The entrance to the Beatles Museum on Albert Dock

The above images replicate the office of “Mersey Beat Magazine”

Mersey Beat was a music magazine published in Liverpool in the 1960s which covered news and articles about the local Liverpool bands and pop stars who came to play in the city. It was started by a friend of John Lennon, Bill Harry, it was first published on 6 July 1961 and over the next few years charted the progress of Liverpool bands. It morphed into Music Echo in late 1964 and the original owner/editor resigned over differences with new management.

Above: The Beatles Museum re-creation of the Cavern Club. The motif behind the drummer features the signatures of other bands and band members who also played the Cavern

The White Room – John Lennon’s white piano and his white themed room.

The Beatles story continued through the museum, charting their meteoric rise to fame, their “invasion” of the USA, and the development of their two classic albums, Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper. Further on the displays documented the final break up and their individual work following that split. It was a brilliant tribute to the band and its members.

Incidentally, there is another museum close to Matthew Street curated by the sacked drummer Pete Best that I am told is well worth visiting. Sadly we did not have time. We did visit the Liverpool Museum and the Walker Gallery which has many classical art works by a wide range of artists. There was also an exhibition of modern art in one of the gallery rooms which took Lyn enjoyed but which I passed on.

Liverpool’s famous Liver Building – seen on a very wet day from the large window in the Liverpool Museum.

We don’t normally do city breaks, but we made an exception for Liverpool because of the Beatles. Lyn grew to love them through her uncle who played their music endlessly. Was it worth it? Definitely, as a musical experience it was excellent.

The famous statue of the “Fab Four” on the Albert Dock Promenade

Us and Them (I am hiding behind the camera!)

John Lennon – A picture that moved Lyn