Where
John Lennon and Paul McCartney Met
Being a Beatles geek I’m as
interested in the story of how the lads jelled together as I am in the songs.
It all started when Paul attended a summer fete in Woolton
in 1959 and saw a cocky John Lennon playing with the Quarrymen in a field at
the back of the church. That night they met and chatted in the church meeting
hall across the road. Here I am at the meeting hall where a partnership
ignited.
It was hot day that Saturday on 6th
July 1957 - so hot the front-page headline of the Liverpool Evening Express
exclaimed: “MERSEYSIDE SIZZLES.” A rare heatwave had
descended over northern England. That day was the annual Woolton
Parish Church Garden Fete and the entertainment began at two p.m. There was an
opening procession of two ornately festooned lorries crawling through Woolton - the first lorry carried the Rose Queen on her
throne and the second carried various entertainers, including the Quarrymen.
They struggled to play their instruments as the lorry moved (John gave up and
sat with his legs hanging over the edge.) As the lorry couldn't access the back
of the church the group transferred to a makeshift stage in a field behind the
back graveyard.
That afternoon there was a dog show and a brass
band. Local lad John Lennon had been allowed to get his Quarrymen skiffle group to play for half an hour as he'd once sang in
the church choir. The organisers thought it might attract hundreds of
teenagers. It did - the fete was bustling. Paul went as his friend has promised
“there’ll be lots of girls.”. In his white jacket and drainpipe trousers he
found there were lots of girls around but they all seemed to have boyfriends.
The Quarrymen played two sets that day with John
looking out locals strolling round the fete's stalls and amusements. Paul
arrived when they were midway through their first session and he was transfixed
by the swagger of John. He thought his guitar skills were basic but there was a
charm and confidence that cemented the performance. It was obvious that John
was the leader; he looked angry and aggressive only because he wasn’t wearing
his glasses and could barely see audience. Many years later Paul said, " I
remember John was good. He was really the only outstanding member; all the rest
kind of slipped away."
After the second set the group retired to the
church hall across the road to set up their instruments. They'd be playing
again at 8pm at the Grand Dance (2 shillings entry) alternating with the George
Edwards Band. Paul was introduced to John by a mutual friend Ivan Vaughan. They
nodded to one another and weren't strangers. They'd seen one another around as
they lived only a quarter of a mile apart (Paul had seen John on the number 80
bus.) John barely acknowledged Paul who - in schoolboy years - was too young to
be of interest. However after chatting for a few minutes Paul showed John how
to tune his guitar. He played a few classic rock 'n' roll songs (Gene Vincent
and Little Richard) to impress John - also the upright piano in the hall. It
worked and kindled slightly jealousy in John - overridden when he found Paul
knew the chords of his favourite songs Twenty Flight Rock.
Shortly after everyone went to a local coffee
bar. Paul heard wrongly the evening show had been cancelled and went home. Walking
home later John wasn't sure if Paul's superior musicianship would harm his
kingpin reputation and asked the washboard player if he thought he should join
the band. He said yes but two weeks passed before anything happened. The
washboard player saw Paul on his bicycle and asked if he wanted to join.
Another three months passed before Paul joined as he had commitments: a cub
scouts weekend in Derbyshire and a holiday at Butlin's
in Filey. A
year later schoolboy George Harrison joined the band and by early 1959 everyone
else had quit had left. Within a year they picked up another member, a drummer
and renamed themselves the Beatles. You know the rest.
Here I am at the church meeting hall where they
first chatted. While there I looked across the road and saw six men milling
around in the cemetery struggling to find the Eleanor Rigby grave. I showed
them - also an old man in bad health who had driven from Runcorn. He was more
of a football fan and his limp seemed to cure itself when I saw the legendary
Liverpool football manage Bob Paisley was buried around the back. My memory is
poor but I remembered his email address and we're now in touch.
I stood out on the road gladdened a summer fete
meant a few photographs had been taken of the John and Paul met. Somebody
recorded the sound of the Quarrymen playing that day in 1959 and it was sold
for$120,000 in 1994.
