The Beatles get back to Bournemouth

August 1963: The Beatles on the roof of the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth photographed for a brochure promoting the television show Thank Your Lucky Stars

An exhibition of rare and previously unpublished photographs of The Beatles in Bournemouth goes on show in the Bourne Lounge at Bournemouth International Centre from July 9 until September 5.

The exhibition features photographs, posters and stories from author Nick Churchill’s recent publication Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth, the definitive account of the connections between the greatest rock ’n’ roll group that ever was and a small town on the south coast of England. Did you know that the band played more shows at Bournemouth Gaumont than any other UK theatre outside London?

With stunning images of The Beatles taken in and around Bournemouth, photos licensed from Beatles Monthly and never-before-seen images of John Lennon’s aunt Mimi at home in Sandbanks, the story is told using first-hand accounts from the people who were there – the fans, reporters, photographers, venue staff and musicians.

The exhibition features more than 40 photographs taken of the Fab Four when they appeared in Bournemouth in the 1960s, including Robert Freeman’s iconic half-shadow photo that adorned the With The Beatles album sleeve which was taken in the restaurant at the Palace Court Hotel in Westover Road (now a Premier Inn) during the Beatles’ week-long summer residency at the Gaumont in August 1963.

Other exhibition highlights include posters from Beatles shows at the Bournemouth Gaumont and Winter Gardens, plus a remarkable colour photograph of John Lennon by the Sandbanks Ferry with his Aunt Mimi and four-year-old son Julian.

“Interest in The Beatles is as strong as ever and this part of the world played a significant part in their incredible story,” says Nick. “The reaction to the book and these remarkable images has been astonishing and I’m really excited to see these images on show again – suddenly The Beatles are back in Bournemouth!”

Nick would love to hear new stories from anyone who saw The Beatles in Bournemouth and especially from people who met them.

“The links between this area and The Beatles are made even stronger by people’s memories of seeing the Fab Four or meeting them,” he says. “I’m sure there are lots more stories to be told by hotel and venue staff, fans or even passers by who may have encountered John Lennon on a trip to Sandbanks to visit his Aunt Mimi.”

- Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is published by Natula Publications, and is available at www.beatlesandbournemouth.com

Happy birthday, Sir Paul!

To mark Sir Paul McCartney's 70th birthday on Monday we thought we'd share this extract from Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth covering his return to the south coast with Wings in 1973 and Howie Casey's memories of what happened next.

After releasing his solo album McCartney in 1970 and the following year’s Ram with Linda, Paul and his wife recruited former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Danny Seiwell to form Wings. Wild Life, their first album, flopped but the follow up, Red Rose Speedway – and the commission to write the title song for the new James Bond film, Live and Let Die – re-established them.
With the line up augmented by guitarist Henry McCullough, the ensuing tour brought McCartney back to Bournemouth to play the Winter Gardens on 15 May 1973. He was the first – and, until 2011 when Ringo played the BIC, only – former Beatle to perform in the town. The tour was a success and did much to restore McCartney’s critical standing, giving him the foundation for Wings’ defining moment, Band On The Run, released that December.

The album also put Paul back in touch with one of his earliest musical associates, sax maestro Howie Casey, who had been working with T-Rex and others alongside producer Tony Visconti.
A year later Howie – who now lives in Bournemouth with his singer wife Sheila, who had toured with The Beatles in 1963 with her sister Jeanette in the McKinley Sisters – got a call from McCartney’s office offering him a place in the touring band.
“I’d been on tour with Marc Bolan when they asked if I’d be interested in doing a tour with Wings,” he says. “Then I played on Wings At The Speed Of Sound and the triple live album Wings Over America; as well as Back To the Egg. I did the last UK tour and the final night of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea.
“In between times Jeanette, Sheila and I had all been working for Paice, Ashton & Lord, a great band who never quite got the recognition they deserved. Then I got the call that Wings were going to tour Japan so we all made our way out there which was how I came to be in Tokyo when Paul got busted at the airport.
“We stayed out there while we waited to see what would happen. It was all paid so it was a little holiday like,” says Howie. “But then of course he got home and decided to put the whole thing on ice – his son James hadn’t long been born and he’s talked since about it being time to take a step back, so that was that.”

Howie and Sheila worked with Paul McCartney and George Harrison on Ringo Starr’s 1981 album Stop And Smell The Roses and have maintained loose links with McCartney ever since.

- The full Wings set list at the Winter Gardens was: Soily, Big Barn Bed, When The Night, Wild Life, Seaside Woman, Little Woman Love, C Moon, Live And Let Die, Maybe I’m Amazed, My Love, Go Now, Say You Don’t Mind, The Mess, Long Tall Sally

- Extract from the Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth which can be ordered at the official website.

- Photos of Paul and Linda onstage at the Winter Gardens 15 May 1973 © Bavarian Beatles Store, Ziegelfeld 1a, 85419 Mauern, Germany, www.bavarian-beatles-store.de

The Word

In case there was any doubt which of the UK's glossy music-related entertainment mags to buy this month, it has to be The Word. Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and their crew of peerless scribes have not only noticed Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth they have gone all nostalgic for their boyhood holidays at Sandbanks, where the famous ferry photo they've used was taken, and Studland, where John, Julian and Mimi may well have been visiting to make sand castles the day this great photo was taken.

Anyway, you can find more about The Word and download an excellent podcast at the magazine's website.

The full story behind this amazing photo is told in Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth which can be ordered here, along with art prints of a selection of the 200 rare and previously unpublished images featured in the book.