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Want to know what the full day tour is like? Read Chris' story
of his "Day in the Life" tour.
Being a Beatles fan, or more
correctly fanatic, down under in Melbourne, Australia has its
good and not so good points. I have managed to collect every vinyl
L.P. the Beatles made, including every compilation. I’m now up
to 158 books and always looking, and literally dozens and dozens
of CD’s and DVD’s, so many I haven’t counted them. You could draw
the conclusion that I like the Beatles very much. In fact they
are my life’s passion and have been since I could make sense of
music at seven or eight. I literally cannot get enough, although
my latest visit to Liverpool pushed me to the edge….
I’ve been to Liverpool before,
but a business trip to New York in November 2004, and a well priced
around the
world airline trip, and I didn’t hesitate to put Liverpool on
the itinery, (bugger the business, I’m going to Beatle heaven).
Before planning the flight
and accommodation details, I decided that I would cough up the
extra quid or two and find a conducted tour. I’d been on my own
to all the better known sites, but I wanted to see more. A search
of the internet proved fruitful when I came across ‘Liverpool
Beatles Tours’, more precisely a chap by the name of David Bedford,
a proclaimed Beatles expert. (just like me, I assured myself).
After some exchanges across the sea on the internet, David suggested
that since it was only me, and my brother, he would chauffer the
two of us on our own around the places he was sure I wouldn’t
have seen. I’ve seen most of it David I thought, this better be
good. I’m a Beatle’s expert you know.
Well
you have never seen a self proclaimed Beatles expert, yours truly,
shut up as quickly as I did after throwing David a few curly questions
which he responded to with uncanny accuracy, but proceeded to
give me the entire story. My singular defence was
”yeah, I thought that as well”.
Truth be known my ‘expert’ knowledge got me about three accurate
assumptions, at least I think they were accurate, David didn’t
disagree anyway. I kept thinking he must think I’m some cowboy
from the other side of the world who was going to test a Liverpudlian
on Beatles facts and figures. He was gracious enough not to mention
it out loud. A lesson learned.
Having been certain I’d been
to all the notable Beatle spots, my jaw dropped when David took
us to the house in Admiral Grove
(left) where Ringo lived from 1945
to 1963. Treated as special guests we were welcomed by the loveliest
of people, Mrs. Margaret Grose. Occasionally she lets David’s
friends through to have a look.
There it all was on the wall
- Ringo memorabilia, and Mrs. Grose was mighty proud of it. It
was an experience that you could only really understand if you
are engrossed as I am in my passion in life – The Beatles. Just
think of it; Ringo used to live here!
So, OK I hadn’t even seen
Ringo’s place, let alone been inside, one to David.
I was keen once
again to see Penny Lane and Strawberry fields to get a couple
of digital camera shots to manipulate and hang on one of the many
‘Beatle Walls’ at my home.
Off again, this time to Menlove
Avenue, again I had never been there. It was great and awesome
to see John’s home, but the feeling was blanketed when David showed
us where John’s Mother, Julia, was knocked over and killed. All
these feelings 
pulsed
through my veins almost at once. Again David had done it.
There was the grave with the
inscription of Eleanor Rigby, George’s house, John Lennon Airport
which was opened by the Queen - and no-one told me about it, 
and
so on. The Aussie Beatle expert was delirious with what he had
seen, but somewhat tender in the ego department. Little was I
to know that more was to come. Could the tender ego swallow any
more pride?
Again, providing us with treatment
fit for Royalty, David had organised with Roag Best, half brother
to Pete Best, the original Beatles drummer, to visit some place
called ‘The Casbah’. I’d never even heard of The Casbah, I knew
The Cavern very well indeed, but The Casbah, what’s David got
us into here I thought.
Upon entering the rooms of
The Casbah, Roag and David explained that this was where The Beatles,
it may well have even been as the Quarrymen or The Silver Beatles,
cut their teeth on Rock and Roll.
This was were they bashed
out Buddy Holly songs, Elvis, Chuck Berry – all of the new wave
of American music. Astonishingly The Beatles decorated, or more
correctly painted the place. John created stars on the roof, each
one seemed perfect. As if the naughty little school boy, which
you could easily argue he was, John carved his name into some
timber on the wall – it’s still there. The painting is still all
there as well. This was truly remarkable, I couldn’t believe what
I was seeing and hearing. This visit and the accompanying stories
changed my long held beliefs about where The Beatles started.
The
Cavern, well everyone knows that – but not the full story, Hamburg
was one hell of a training ground – but ‘The Casbah’?
In twenty minutes or so I
learned more than I had in five years.
This was it – a shrine to
what became the greatest musical force of the twentieth century;
and I didn’t know about it, I couldn’t believe I didn’t know,
but during my brief time there I felt like worshiping the place.
The Casbah was Pete Best’s
domain. He had a very supportive Mother, affectionately called
Mo Best. She must have put up with an horrendous amount over the
years, but it seemed to me that everyone was welcome, that’s the
impression I got anyway.
What staggered me was The
Casbah was the local haunt before The Cavern, which in fact was
a jazz club. I recall reading somewhere The Beatles were thrown
out for sneaking in Long Tall Sally or Rock n’ Roll Music at the
end of their act, I never knew why, now it seems to fit together.
I was ‘gob smacked’ to learn that The Cavern only became a Rock
n’ Roll Club once the music had taken hold of the rest of Liverpool.
So what of The Casbah? One
would have thought that painting the place, performing and just
hanging out, it would be a Beatle Treasure, but rarely, very rarely
is it mentioned in the books.
One page into Roag Best’s
book says it all;
“I think it’s a good idea
to let people know about The Casbah. They know about The Cavern,
they know about some of those things, but The Casbah was the place
where all that started. We helped paint it and stuff. We looked
upon it as our personal club”
Sir Paul McCartney.
I was mentally exhausted,
so much information, not only at The Casbah, but during the whole
day. If you take nothing else from this article, take a full day
Beatles tour with David Bedford of Liverpool Beatles Tours, you
will see and learn things you could never have dreamed of.
Chris Mannix
Australian Beatles Fan
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