Welcome
to my Photo blog, which combines my love of The Beatles, photography, and the
history of my home city of Liverpool.
In
addition to all of the famous locations which are usually included on the
tourist maps and guided tours I hope to show you a few sites with a Beatles
connection that are not normally covered.
Whilst
The Beatles will always be the starting point I may also take the opportunity
to point out other things I hope you will find of interest as we go along
because in Liverpool, history is everywhere you look....
Originally
my intention was simply to present a gallery of Beatles related photographs I
had taken during my lunchtime walks around the city centre or at weekends spent
near my home in south Liverpool.
However, during my research on-Iine I quickly
discovered two things - one, that kind of thing has been done quite a few times
already, and two, there is a treasure trove of old photographs out there, many
taken in the 1940s and 1950s showing the same places I had photographed but more
often than not as they would have looked at the time when the future members of
The Beatles were growing up.
Though
it should perhaps have been immediately obvious to me, it soon became apparent
that these old photographs were not only documenting the Liverpool of the four
before they were Fab. This was also the Liverpool of my parents, both born here
in 1944 and the older generations of my family. Their childhood memories of the
city differ little from anybody else born during or in the immediate aftermath
of the Second World War - the air raids, their absent fathers returning from
overseas to a city of soot blackened buildings - if the buildings were still
standing of course, uncleared bombsites, tramlines, cobbled streets, the
Overhead Railway passing the miles of busy dockland, the overcrowded schools,
rationing, tin baths, outside toilets, pre-fab houses, the first television
sets for the Coronation and the advent of Rock 'n' Roll.
Where
possible, whenever I've found an old photograph of something relevant I've gone
back and tried to re-photograph the site from the same angle to enable a
"now" and "then" comparison to be made. I've also tried to
credit the source of the original photograph. No copyright infringement is
intended and I will be happy to remove any of the photographs on this site
should the owner of the photograph request. My own personal view is that an
interesting photograph should be enjoyed by many rather than locked away or
forgotten in an old box but I appreciate that sometimes that is not my decision
to make.
Several
authors have produced books about the houses where the Beatles lived and the
venues where they performed in Liverpool and Wirral. Whilst all of these
publications have proven useful the main influence for my blog is the book 'The
Beatles' London' by Piet Schreuders, Mark Lewisohn and Adam Smith (1994,
revised 2008). Whilst the backcover
blurb - "The Beatles' London places
the world's greatest group in the fascinating context of the world's greatest
city - the places they worked, played and called home" makes a silly
claim, it did make me wonder why nobody has ever done something in this depth
for their birthplace (the actual world's greatest city)?
This
then is my inspiration and here you will find not only the houses where they
lived and the venues where they performed but also the hospitals where they
were born, the schools they attended, the parks where they played, where they
went to visit family, the cinemas where they took their girlfriends and mates,
their mates houses, the churches where they worshipped, the pubs and cafe's
where they ate, drank and socialised, locations where they were photographed as
children on family days out and later as Beatles, together with a myriad of
museums, art galleries, hotels, hospitals, night clubs, offices, places of
marriage, restaurants, shops, theatres, train stations and even the odd
airport. I want to take an in depth look at the dockland area where many of
their ancestors first arrived in Liverpool as famine stricken Irish migrants,
before job opportunities or circumstances caused them to disperse across the
city to the places most closely associated with John, Paul, George and Ringo
today; Woolton, Speke, Wavertree and the Dingle.
Occasionally
we may leave Liverpool and travel to another town or city where the Beatles
performed in those early days of Beatlemania.
I hope
you enjoy your time Here, There and Everywhere.
All the
best,
Mark Ashworth
Photo: On
the viewing balcony at the original Liverpool Airport in Speke where thousands
of hysterical fans greeted the Beatles on their triumphant return to the city
on 10 July 1964 for the Northern Premiere of their first film, "A
Hard Day's Night"
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