Sightseeing Beatles Landmarks in the UK
Subject: Re: HELP! London-bound, need list of "Beatle sites"!
From: crow26038@aol.com (Crow 26038)
Date: 26 Feb 1996 18:38:16 -0500
Hi! I visited London in July, 1983 so here are a few sites to check
out!
Intersection of Abbey Road and Grove End Road (crosswalk)
3 Abbey Road (Studios)
Ad Lib Club Leichester Place/Leichester Square
94 Baker Street (Apple Boutique)
95 Wigmore Street (apple HQ (April 1968)
3 Saville Row (Let It Be)
54 St. James St.
29 St. James Street (Apple Corps, LTD. today!)
13 Manmouth Street (Beatle Fan Club location)
57 Wimpole Street (Paul/Jane Asher flat)
13 Emperor's Gate (John's flat)
Whaddon House, William Mews (George's Flat)
Montagu Square (Ringo's (& Hendrix's) flat)
13 Chapel St. (Brian Epstein's flat)
Buckingham Palace
Carnaby St. Soho
1 Soho Square (MPL Communications)
165 Broadhurst Gardens (Decca Studios)
20 Manchester Square (EMI House)
Paddington Train Station (AHDN)
Scala Theater Charlotte St (AHDN)
St, Margaret's Field (AHDN-"Sorry about your field, mister!)
Alisa Ave (Help)
Battersea Power Station (Help & Pink Floyd)
London Zoo Regent's Park
Harrod's
Indica Gallery Mason's Yard
Royal Albert Hall
London Palladium 8 Argyll St
London Pavilion 3 Piccadilly Circus
Lyceum Wellington near Strand
Marylebone Magistrate 181 Marylebone Road
7 Cavendish (Paul's St John's Wood house- Look for big, tall iron
gates!)
Well, that's all I can think of from my trip!
Enjoy!
Roger Wiseman
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#(:)o] MSTie#15126 The BeaTles
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Post: 7513 of 7516
Xref: theporch rec.music.beatles:7513
From: karen@yensid.UUCP (Karen Sprinkle)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: What To See In London/Liverpool
Date: 02 Nov 93 23:48:26 PST
Lines: 90
Re: What To See In London/Liverpool
>If someone were to travel to London and/or Liverpool, what
>Beatle related sites, etc. still exist, and are worth trying
>to find? The reason I ask 1) How many of the Liverpool sites
>still exist? I've heard that the Cavern was demolished long
>ago, and that a facsimile was built across the street. Is it
>still worth checking out? How about the "Beatle Tour" that
>I've read about. Is it worth the price of admission? What
>else is there to see in Liverpool (e.g., Strawberry Fields,
>Penny Lane, etc.). 2) I've heard people mention trying to find
>the street imortalized on the "Abbey Road" cover. Is is easy
>to find? Is it worth finding?
You're in for a real treat! My Beatle buddy and I spent a week in
London and environs plus Liverpool exploring Beatles sites. Great
fun! There are two reat books which spell it all out, addresses,
what buses, tubes (subways) to take, everything you need to know.
Both are available from Beatlefest (call 1-800- BEATLES to order.)
The Beatles' Liverpool written by Liverpudlian, Ron Jones and the
Beatles' England by David Bacon and Norman Maslov. Cavern City
Tours also publishes a Discover Beatles Liverpool Tour Guide and
Pocket Map and another for the Beatles' London. Write or visit
them at Mathew Street, Liverpool L2 6RE telephone 051-236-9091.
To answer your questions:
1. Yes, the new Cavern is worth a visit. It recreates the feel of
the original, according to Ringo on his "Going Home" special on the
Disney channel. Look for the wall he autographed under Rory Storm
and the Hurricanes. Just down the street is the Beatles Shop
selling Beatles merchandise. 2. Do not miss Abbey Road studios
where you can sign the Beatles wall along with fans from all over
the world then easily have your photo snapped crossing that
infamous zebra crossing. I've read it's the number one
photographed non-tourist attraction in all of Britain, that even
the Queen had her photo snapped there. When we were there, a
motorist shouted at us that the Beatles were dead, and go home!
However, we found most Londoners very friendly and Liverpudlians
very warm. From there, it's on easy walk around the corner to the
home Paul lived in during the later Beatle years. He still owns
it, and fans have spotted his daughters there from time to time. I
believe one or more of them live(s) there.
The old Apple boutique is worth a peek--you can visualize the
Fool's mural on te outer walls bringing all of Baker Street to
life. The old Apple offices, at 3 Saville Row, site of the rooftop
concert is interesting. EMI House where the album covers for the
Red and Blue albums were shot makes for a good photo. They won't
allow you up there, understandably. The Rock Show at the London
Pavilion is worth a visit. Don't miss MPL, Paul's office where
fans regularly congregate in hopes of getting a glimpse of him.
When he's in the country and not busy recording, he reportedly goes
into the office on a regular basis. Daughter Mary works there.
While we didn't see him there, we met his publicist, Geoff Baker,
who gave us a packet of posters, postcards, etc. and chatted
amicably for several moments. In the same vein, visit George's
Hand Made Films office which he also frequents.
Our favorite site of all was our visit to George's home, Friar
Park, in Henley on Thames, a short train ride from London through
gorgeous countryside and past exquisite estates along the winding
river. The village of Henely with its cobblestoned streets is
picturesque and charming. We took a taxi which drops you directly
in front of George's guest house. Here we met Dhani's nanny who
still works for the Harrisons, doing odd jobs. She was very
friendly and surprisingly young. The fence is wrought iron (barb
wire on top) so that you can see through to the beautifully
landscaped, immense grounds. You walk down a hill to the larger
guest house where George's brother and estate manager lives. You
can stand outside the massive, electronic gates in hopes George
himself might drive through. (He never did while we were there.)
Fans congregate here as well. George's mansion is not vsible at
all. We thoguht this was a place truly befitting a Beatle,
magnificent! (Paul's home is extremely modest in comparison.) You
can walk down the road to the quaint Row Bardge pub, which George
is known to frequent on occasion, for refreshment.
In Liverpool, don't miss: all four Beatles childhood homes.
Paul's home where he and John wrote many early songs (I Saw Her
Standing There) while skipping school and John's home on Menlove
Avenue were particularly awe-inspiring. You can also visit their
schools, the Liverpool Institute and the Art College being
especially noteworthy. At certain times, you can go inside the
Casbah Club, Pete Best's home. When we were there, so was Pete,
signing autographs, posing for photos, etc. The Blue Angel Club
was open when we were there. All along Mathew street are Beatles
tributes, shops, the new Cavern, the Grapes Pub, and around the
corner, Brian's shop. Penny Lane is exactly as in the song. It's
all there! If you take the Beatle bus tour, go back and walk Penny
Lane, soaking up the atmosphere. It's well worth it! Don't miss
the impressive Anglican Cathedral, site of the world pemiere of
Paul's Liverpool Oratorio. Around the corner from John's house is
Strawberry Fields, although they don't let you in--it's still an
orphanage. We were told Yoko donates regularly.
Have a great trip and please post the highlights!
Karen
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From: saki (dmac@math.ucla.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: UK travels for Beatlemaniacs
As usual, England and Scotland were wonderful, at least for this
confirmed anglophile. For a Beatlemaniac, it's even more so a trip
to the promised land.
Over time, the places change very little. There are still some
bargains to be had, and anyone contemplating a visit to the
Beatles' homeland wll find some substantial treats. The current
exchange rate is one---not among the best I've seen, but certainly
(at $1.55 = 1 pound UK) a worthy conversion (better than the
$2.05/pound I recall from a previous trip!)
Transportation remains expensive, but there are ways to get around
this. The tube (London Underground...the subway, that is) is best
used on a oe-day (L2.60..."L" for "pound", pardon the lack of cross
strokes) or five-day pass. In Liverpool, ignore the underground and
hire a car or tke buses; foot travel is recommended for close-in
areas like central Liverpool but for suburban delights like Penny
Lane and the Fabs' birthplaces, you must go by car or tourbus.
If you're flying to London and want to get to Liverpool, Britrail
is still the way to go; one-way standard (second) class is $65 US,
$95 r.t. from Euston Station in London. If you want to do a
subtantial amount of train travel, before you leave the U.S. buy a
1-week or 2-week Britrail pass; 2-week is $339, but after a few
trips you'll easily pay for it in saved actual fares. You can
*only* buy this pass in the U.S.
For those planning or hoping for future travel to England, to see
anything Fab, don't forget a few essentials:
- Maslov and Bacon's "The Beatles England", a picture-and-word
travelbook of estimable eloquence, guiding you to all the hot spots
in Liverpool (birthsites, childhood homes, essential pilgrimages,
etc.) and London (Abbey Road, Cavendish Ave., Wimpole Street,
etc.) Ron Jones of Liverpool has also written a detailed guide for
visitors on foot or by wheel to that magic town. Both books are
available from Beatlefest, I believe, and certainly from the
Tourist Information Centre at Albert Dock in Liverpool.
- Stay in bed-and-breakfast establishments, rather than big hotels.
The rates are far better in the UK (don't compare to the pale,
overpriced imitations you may known from the States), and you'll
need that hearty early meal to keep up your strength. In the
hinterlands (like Kintyre-based Campbeltown) hotels often offer
similar deals; check by phone before you book.
- Take an umbrella and sweater, even in summer. Weather is taken
*very* seriously in the UK and the weather obliges by making itself
a constant subject of discussion. If you're one of those rare
individuals traveling with a child in a stroller (British English
"pushchair"), procure a rain cover for it before you leave the
States. UK pram and pushchair covers do not normally fit non-UK
devices...and you don't want to be forced to stay in just because
of a little (or a lot) of rain.
- Food is nuch lower priced than I've ever seen, and much better
quality as well; don't believe what you hear about British food
being indigestible. In private homes and in public eateries, I
found it all to be superb. For money-saving, buy bits and pieces
in small markets and make your own sandwiches, or buy prepackaged
ones (much cheaper than buying food on the train or in museums!)
Pubs still offer good deals on food as well as drink. A British pint
is bigger than the American version and British beer is heavenly;
have what's on tap. The Sun Public House in Lambs Conduit, near
Russell Square in London, and the Liverpool Philharmonic (a pub, not
an orchestra) in Liddypool, are highly recommended, but almost any
pub will do. Note: drinking-water is not available on trains except
at high cost from the buffet car; bring your own.
- Bargain entertainment in London can include the British Museum
(which is free, though you *are* encouraged to leave a few pounds
in the offering box at the door), where in the manuscript room you
can still see some of the Hunter Davies collection, to wit, actual
lyrics penned by Lennon and McCartney for some of their most famous
songs (the Boys gave them to Davies when he was working on their
"official" biography in 1968). Also check out the half-price ticket
booth in Leicester Square, where theatrical entertainment can be
purchased (prices can be anywhere from $15-$45, much lower than
ticket prices in U.S. major cities). There's a "re-creation" show
about Buddy Holly that might be worth seeing, especially if you
plan to walk over to Soho Square and MPL later on to confront
Macca about his song-publishing holdings.
- Another source of bargain entertainment: for the minimal cost
of 30p (about 45 cents), you can buy one of the daily tabloid
newspapers, which have minimal "real" news and a plethora of
hysterical articles about scandals of the day. You will never
hear "Paperback Writer" ("His son was working for the 'Daily
Mail') or "Polythene Pam" ("She's the kind of a girl that makes
the 'News of the World') in quite the same way!
- Do not forget to visit Abbey Road Studios and walk across the
zebra crossing! Get there via the St. John's Wood tube station.
More Fabs-related travel details can be had by asking for the
three-part TRIP FAQ, which covers Beatles' sites in Liverpool,
London, and Europe.
Books and records/CDs are not a bargain, alas, unless you find
things in the UK you can't get over here. I've found Lonnie
Donegan, Helen Shapiro, and Joe Brown anthologies that American
stores would *never* carry (blast it, I forgot to look for a Ken
Colyer CD. :-) Record stores (especially used ones) are pretty well
picked over for unusual issues and rarities. I found a plethora of
reasonably priced red-label Parlophone 45s of "Love Me Do" and
"Please Please Me" for about $20 US at a record fair in Brighton
(thanks to the esteemed Mr. Stephen Carter for arranging this
outing), and was even privileged to hold a "gold label" Parlophone
"Please Please Me" LP (holding as a substitute for owning, because
it cost around $600 US!) Although standard prices for CDs in stores
like HMV and Virgin Megastore are about $20 (vs. $9-13 dollars for
the same item in U.S. shops), I was amazed to see a full complement
of "rarities", "collectibles", (dare we say it?) "bootlegs" at this
record fair for about L15 UK ($20 US), a price lower than standard
U.S. prices for same; I imagine these were private sellers who had
no fixed address and could risk such sales.
On the Beatles bookshelf, there was, surprisingly, nothing of note
which is not already available in the U.S., excepting Bill Harry's
flawed "The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia" (1992), which should
have been proofread a little better. A new biography of Macca
was not yet out on the shelves when I was there just a few weeks
ago, but is now, so I understand; perhaps Mr. Carter will post a
review when he has time. To my astonishment, there was a biography
of George Harrison published in the UK in 1990 by Alan Clayson,
author of the excellent beat-era history "Call Up The Groups" and a
non-exciting biography of Ringo Starr last year. I never saw
Clayson's George bio here in the States; despite George's
unwillingness to participate in its generation, I'm finding it
generally accurate and a good read, certainly much better than the
execrable (is that to strong a word? :-) Geoff Giuliano's book on
the same subject.
Radio and television always provide surprises. Buy a copy of
"Radio Times" (for the trivia-conscious, this was the publication
technically responsible for Paul and Jane Asher's first meeting),
which lists extensive (and excellent) radio fare as well as several
channels of TV (bring a small portable radio if you can; your B&B
will either have a telly in the room or in the communal lounge).
Several exceptional TV compilations of British pop shows from the
sixties occasionally air; my kind host in Brighton introduced me
to some of these, which included appearances by the Fabs, Gerry
and the Pacemakers, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and others too
numerous to mention. Utterly astonishing (and a tad unsettling)
was stumbling upon a TV show broadcast in Scotland called
"Surprise, Srprise" (one can only compare it to the Stones' song!),
with NEMS' own erstwhile sweetheart of song, Cilla Black, as
hostess. For American reference, it's a cross between "Candid
Camera" and "Queen For A Day", with Cilla (now---hard to imagine---
a spry and motherly type) selecting people from the audience to
fulfill some sort of dream or another. You never know what you'll
find on the airwaves.
In terms of Beatles-related hot spots, most have been covered
already in the TRIP sequence of notes. One place I'd never been,
though, was a particularly remote spot in Scotland, where Dr.
McCartney, MBE, has been known to retire to get away from the
highlife on London and its environs. Frankly, this journey is
not for the faint of heart. If you're wealthy you can fly into
Campbeltown (pronounced "Campbel*ton*" by the locals) via the
Machrinahish Air Strip on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula,
but do it the hard way---drive. The scenery on the way to Paul's
hideaway is stunning, and worth every minute of the three-to-four
hour drive from Glasgow. You'll pass castles, villages, lochs,
rivers; stop for afternoon tea along the way if you need a rest.
All down Kintyre to the west are the western islands---Mull ("mull"
in Gaelic means "promontory"), Iona, Islay, Gigha---which you can
see lounging in the sparkling waters off the coast (or won't see
at all if it's raining. :-) As you turn inward on the A83 road,
eastward toward the town, look for Gobagrennan Road just west of
Campbeltown, and make a left turn; travel a way till you see a
sign that says "High Park". It's private property, mind you; it's
meant to be. Jane Asher picked out the property for Paul in 1966,
and it's continued to be the McCartney get-away ever since. You've
seen photos of Paul, Jane, and Martha the sheepdog on its hills;
and since then Linda has done some photography of the farm, which
is in good working order. Try not to intrude, if possible, even if
Paul's not in residence.
Campbeltown is small (pop. 6100) and unbesmirched by tourism. The
people are earnest, hardworking, and quietly friendly. One of the
local hotels, The White Hart, has its walls decorated with Ordnance
Survey maps of the region, which are very helpful if you're trying
to reach the famed Mull of Kintyre, subject of Paul's huge British
hit (November 1977), which was the second-biggest-selling single in
British chart history (it went nowhere in the States, probably
because of its Gaelic sentimentality and its bagpipe
accompaniment). In current non-U.S. tour dates (Australia for now,
probably the UK when they're set up), Macca closes his show not
with "Hey Jude" but with "Mull of Kintyre".
The actual point that inspired Macca is located about a half-hour's
drive south of Campbeltown; take the road to Southend, and at the
fork, for a real visual treat, veer right on the Dalsmearan Road, a
single-lane passage that takes you through treeless hills and
dales, past old bridges and nameless streams. You'll eventually
come to a large gate; it's kept closed but you can go through if
you make sure to close it after you. If it's lambing season
(Spring) watch out for the neww lambs crossing the asphalt. It's
another seven miles from this point, and the road climbs and
becomes more treacherous. Wind whips along even on sunny days. The
hills are covered by yellow scotch broom and hardy grasses, little
else other than the sheep which graze on them.
The road ends about 300 ft. above the Mull's lighthouse, which you
can reach on foot. But the view from this southernmost point of
Kintyre is extraordinary: up the hill it's dense and green, over
the grey-blue water is the island of Islay (to the north) and
twelve miles away to the south are the cliffs of Ireland, stark
and silent. It's not so much an embracing visage as it is one
of relentless calm, despite the gusts that take away your breath.
All conflicts are gone; all politics silenced; all words nonsense.
I'm surprised Paul had the wits to express its beauty in lyrics we
can comprehend. The Mull of Kintyre was locally famous before Macca
wrote his song, but now you'll be joined by other occasional
adventurers, walking back up the hill from the Lighthouse or about
to start their tentative way downward, and like all Beatles fans
the world over you need exchange no words with these multi-cultural
pilgrims to know what draws them there. And like those who have had
the fortune to view Penny Lane and Strawberry Field with their own
eyes, you will pass through your own world transformed for the
better for what you have just seen.
--
"Over tea John Lennon said reports about things being thrown at the
group in Brisbane were exaggerated. 'There were,' he counted, "six
eggs, two tomatoes and a lettuce.'"
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saki (dmac@math.ucla.edu)
