Bearded Beatles in Bournemouth!

Long before they sprouted facial hair in public, it seems The Beatles at least toyed with the idea of beards as far back as August 1963, as they trod the boards in Bournemouth during their summer season at the Gaumont.

Jim Cregan, photo by Rankin

Jim Cregan, who’s best known for co-writing and producing a string of hits with Rod Stewart including Forever Young, Tonight I’m Yours and Blondes (Have More Fun), grew up in Poole and was at one of the Bournemouth Gaumont shows that summer.

“I was one row back from the front of the balcony,” he remembers. 

“One of them wore a huge false beard for the first song – it might have been George. My friend, who saw an earlier show, said it was worn by someone different.

“They played for half an hour and it was almost impossible to hear them for the screaming.

“It was the only time I saw them although I got to meet them all at different times. More recently I played with Ringo at a benefit. 

"What a life!”

A couple of years after the Gaumont shows Jim moved to London where he established himself as one of the foremost guitarists of his generation, playing with The Ingoes, Blossom Toes, Julie Driscoll, Stud, Family and Linda Lewis before joining Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel in 1975, for whom he created the instantly recognisable guitar solo on Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) – in Studio 3 at Abbey Road.

“I’d only just joined the band so it was pretty exciting just recording in there. I remember there was cupboard under the stairs in the studio full of all these toys The Beatles had played around with.”

He joined the original Rod Stewart Group in 1976 and was musical director until an amicable split in 1995. More recently he played on the first two Katie Melua albums and now fronts his own band Cregan & Co with former X-Factor singer Ben Mills, playing the songs he wrote and performed with Rod Stewart.

:: Christmas is coming and Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is available to order from www.beatlesandbournemouth.com as is a selection of art prints of photos featured in the book.

A Hard Day's Night in Poole

A rare print of A Hard Day's Night will be screened at Lighthouse, Poole on Tuesday  (28 February) as part of the exhibition of photos from Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth which is showing until 10 March.

The original print, one of just two available for public screening, shows at 7.45pm and copies of the book will be on sale at the screening.


Read more about the Lighthouse exhibition here.


To whet your appetite, here's an extract from the book in which Tony Crawley talks about meeting the boys on the set of A Hard Day's Night...

“After leaving Bournemouth in 1964 I joined a Rank Organisation magazine called Showtime and was sent down to the end of shooting on A Hard Day’s Night to be there when the producers handed out their gifts to the boys. They were filming the final scenes where you see The Beatles at liberty running through a park. They’d shot most of it, but they just had the lads jumping off these stepladders – of course no one knew why until we saw the final film, but they seemed quite happy.

“Paul, of course, was doing his routine. He would come up to you and greet you with your name: ‘Oh hiya, you’re Tony, aren’t you? What are you doing up here?’ It made you feel good, you know: ‘My pal Paul’. It wasn’t until later you realised he didn’t have a clue who you were, he’d just been smart enough to find out.”

The film came out on 4 July, followed by the soundtrack album four days later. It was almost as big a hit with the critics as with the public.

“The Beatles’ films were incredibly popular as well,” says retired Gaumont projectionist Joe Heathman. “We had people coming in to see them and staying all day, which you could do back then.”

Of all the band’s films A Hard Day’s Night now seems the least dated. Although there’s a satirical edge to Alun Owen’s Oscar-nominated script, Richard Lester directed it as a feel-good romp through the life of The Beatles at that time, portraying four likeable lads in search of a little peace and quiet. He continued the theme in the more experimental follow up Help!

When Help! came out in 1965 I saw that four or five times at the Electric cinema (in Bournemouth) in Commercial Road next to where Marks & Spencer is now," says Martin Bartlett.

Bright Lighthouse

Photos from the book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth went on show at Lighthouse, Poole's centre for the arts last night.
The exhibition, expanded from the recent show at Bournemouth's Central Library, features many of the photographs from the book and several that could not be included, as well as a range of memorabilia related to The Beatles and the impact they made on Bournemouth and Poole.
Skilfully curated by the venue's deputy CEO Sara St George and artist-in-residence Hazel Evans, the exhibition provided the ideal opportunity for those with stories to tell to meet and swap tales with author Nick Churchill, pictured above.
Among the many messages of support received before the opening was one from former Beatles press officer Tony Bramwell.
Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles and Bournemouth is available from www.beatlesandbournemouth.com
Photo by Sally Adams, courtesy of the Daily Echo, Bournemouth.


- The photos are on show again this summer, from 9 July until 5 September in the Bourne Lounge at Bournemouth International Centre.

Photos shine at Lighthouse

John and Ringo at the after show party in the bar at the Bournemouth Gaumont with reporter Tony Crawley and his wife, the actress Jeanette Wild. Photo by Harry Taylor © Dave Robinson

An exhibition of photographs from Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth and Poole will be displayed on the top floor foyer at Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts from 1 February to 10 March.

The exhibition features photographs, posters and stories from the book and author Nick Churchill will be at Lighthouse for the launch of the exhibition on 1 February to sign copies of his book from 6.30pm.

With stunning images of The Beatles taken in and around Bournemouth 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.

Exhibition highlights include 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. Also on show are

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

Lighthouse also hosts a Beatles Film Special on 28 February, with a screening of Richard Lester’s classic A Hard Day’s Night, which perfectly captures The Beatles in all their irreverent glory.

Nick Churchill comments: “Interest in The Beatles is as strong as ever and this part of the world played a significant part in their incredible story. The reaction to the book and these remarkable images has been astonishing and I’m really excited to see these photographs showcased in one of the south’s premier arts venues.”

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.”

Paul Tucker, communications officer for Lighthouse adds: “Lighthouse is thrilled to have such an extraordinary exhibition in the building and it’s incredible to see photographs of members of such an iconic group in such recognisable local locations like Sandbanks and Westover Road. The top floor foyer is an ideal space to display exhibitions and we are using it regularly now, with particular focus on work either by local artists or that has an interesting local connection.”

Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is published by Natula Publications, and will be available from Lighthouse ticket office shop or www.beatlesandbournemouth.com


- The photos are on show again this summer, from 9 July until 5 September in the Bourne Lounge at Bournemouth International Centre.