The Beatles' Boyhood Homes

William Ellis • 5 April 2021

One Of The Four Lads Who Shook The World

Paul McCartney: Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, 1979 © William Ellis

John, Paul, George and Ringo

The names just roll out, they've been with us almost right from the start. I was born in 1957 and the first memory I have of is them appearing on the New Musical Express Poll-Winners All-Star show in 1964. My family had moved out of Liverpool and were living in a new bungalow in a housing estate that was still under construction. My mum told me that my tribute to the Beatles was riding round the estate on my tricycle with my plastic guitar in the boot giving impromptu concerts to the hapless builders as they tried to eat sandwiches, drink tea or enjoy a quiet smoke. Kids eh....

It was the start of a deep connection with music and the people that make it that has shaped my life. Many years later I realised that jazz had come into my life at that time too through my mother sharing her love for Frank Sinatra - and his music!

The big bands, the arrangements, the textures of sounds, the voice - not unusually, my feelings were instilled subconciously at an early age.

I never photographed Frank Sinatra, Regrets I've had a few, one of them being that I stupidly passed up the opportunity to do so.

Something I can say in mitigation is that I shot the CD cover for the man 'Ol Blue Eyes considered the best singer in the business - Tony Bennett.

Back to the Fab Four, as you see I photogrqphed Paul McCartney in Liverpool in 1979 when he appeared with Wings. I was 22 years old and couldn't believe I was actually going to see him. I had a similar feeling I confess to when I saw the Beatles' former homes - that actually came from normal places, and did all that. I decided to visit them after my very good friend David Leaver told me of his academic interest in and study of cultural tourism. This was allied with his personal odyssey in visiting the site of Buddy Holly's home in and being in Bob Dylan's boyhood home in Hibbing, Minnesota.

We visited the apartment building where Buddy Holly lived just off Washington Park Square where he wrote and recorded demos of many of his songs.

These places have become cultural artefacts and the significance of where these people started their lives has for many people far greater relevance than that of say, Graceland. No disresepct to the King intended - his home in Tupelo, Mississippi would be the one.

Prior to a performance in Liverpool, Bob Dylan visited John Lennon's home on the tour but had to miss out on his planned visit to Paul's because the press was tipped off about his presence.

Funny story - Dylan was picked up by the police in New Jersey in the pouring rain looking for the house where Bruce Springsteen wrote 'Born to Run'.

Someone had called them as he was looking like a very suspicious character - the police drove Bob to his hotel where his manager showed his passport to them - and Bob was released.

There is a fascination of looking for the essence of the elusive flame of super creativity that can randomly appear anywhere in the world. I would like very much to visit Prince's Paisely Park Studios - but I'm just as intrigued by his boyhood home.

'Sometimes It Snows In April.'

Stay Safe.

John Lennon

251 Menlove Ave, Woolton.

John's home as a child and young man is in a leafy residential area quite a way from the city. As you can see, a neat semi-detached house which was bought by Yoko Ono when a subsequent owner died She gifted the house to the National Trust,

It was furnished in the same style as when John lived there. It's hard to describe how I felt being there after having visited the Strawberry Fields Memorial in New York's Central Park many years ago.

Paul McCartney

20 Forthlin Rd, Allerton.

A couple of miles from John's, Paul's home is on a terrace of houses built in the 1949 by Liverpool Corporation - or 'the corpy' as it was known to scousers,

This house is owned by the National Trust and tours are available. Personally I felt my curiosity and connection with the band was sated just by being there in this unremarkable environment and feel the wonder of what 4 guys from my home town did through their music and force of personality, individually and as a band of brothers.

George Harrison

12 Arnold Grove, Wavertree.

George once said of the house, "Try and imagine the soul entering the womb of a woman living at 12 Arnold Grove, Wavertree, Liverpool 15. There were all the barrage balloons, and the Germans bombing Liverpool. All that was going on. I sat outside the house a couple of years ago, imagining 1943, nipping through the spiritual world, the astral level, getting back into a body in that house. That really is strange when you consider the whole planet, all the planets there may be on a spiritual level. How do I come into that family, in that house at that time, and who am I anyway?

Ringo Starr

10 Admiral Grove, Dingle.

Ringo's home for 20 years, leaving in 1963 when he joined the Beatles and eventually chose Los Angeles CA as his home. Ringo upset someone when he said on tv that he "missed nothing" about the city when Liverpool was the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

A topiary artwork depicting the Fab Four was vandalised - Ringo's head was removed by a somehow seeking retribution for his ill considered utterance.

Gotta love Ringo though - he's Ringo.

You might like to look at these links.

Perhaps the most comprehensive book on the Beatles - their music and social and cultural significance "Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties" - by Ian MacDonald.

However, the book is hauled over the coals somehwhat by someone who was actually at the heart of the matter -

Paul McCartney interview in Rolling Stone

Paul McCartney - Artist's Edition Photograph

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