Paul's response to drummer who answered ad for Hamburg audition. If interested ring Jacaranda Club. Missed opportunity! Letter auctioned in 2011. Larry Parnes, Beryl and Alan Williams and Billy Fury. 1960
The one and only source (as far as I know) for the Aunt Mimi - Michael Fishwick thing is Julia Baird, John's half-sister. Julia supposedly was told this grand secret by her Aunt Anne (she and John called her 'Nanny'), who then was 84 years old. Conveniently, Anne died shortly after this amazing revelation and wasn't around to be challenged over it when Julia's book appeared. I mention all this because Julia Baird has always been very "anti-Mimi", which, given the rather odd circumstances of the reveal of this big family secret (to Julia only, mind!) makes it highly questionable in truth, to my mind. Even aside from all that, is it really possible that John was living there for years, with Fishwick, in a quiet home with he, Mimi, and some cats, in the south suburbs of Liverpool, and he never noticed anything?
Oh, I thought the only source is Mr. Fishwick himself. Didn`t know that Julia also wrote about it. I have her book but didn`t read it in a long time and since have come to the conclussion that she has maybe a bit too much of an agenda herself to be considered entirely relieable. I also think her book was updated or she wrote a new one, so maybe that detail simply isn`t in the one I own.
Going backwards in Tune In I found that: - Paul might have taken up the bass even earlier (maybe borrowing Stu`s) when Stu was seperated from the group to play with another band for a while. - Stu was planning to leave the Beatles and return to Liverpool to pick up his studies again as early as September 22, 1960 (so before Astrid). - Paul didn`t just hold John`s guitar in the famous photo but restrung it to use it himself (but then didn`t buy it). Early signs of unhappyness with the Rosetti Solid 7 Lewisohn speculates. There is another (closed) thread here regarding the reasons Paul chose a Höfner once he decided to go to bass. One thing I didn`t read there but came to my mind the other day: ALL the other strumming Beatles had Höfner guitars as a time before this. So you might regard it as the go-to brand for the band at a time.
I'm trying to think of even one other photo where Pete and any of The Beatles are having any kind of interaction onstage. Anyone?
@LilyMarz where do you find all these photos? They're incredible. I've been a Beatles fan for 40 years and I've only seen a handful of them before. Thanks for sharing them with us!
It almost happens here: Google Image Result for https://bestclassicbands.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Beatles-1961.jpg
Most of them are new to me, too! I have been a serious fan since I was teenager in the 80's and felt like I'd seen it all in biographies, etc. published since the 70's and up to the Anthology period. It's really just that so many more photos have become available since then. There was a great blog called The Gilly which is now inactive but had so many great newer (to me, at least) photos - many of which I've posted here. Other fan sites, as well. And, seriously, don't underestimate those crazy Gen Z young fans who are so adept with the internet and see this stuff and this band with fresh eyes and post Everything making it easier to find! It's been very cool to see what all is out there - with the exception of the manipulated photos. . It's like going down the rabbit hole.
June 1962 - Playhouse Theater in Manchester rehearsing for radio broadcast recording. Photos by Mike McCartney.
Can`t read most. But "I hate Hamburg" does not sound good. No date it seems but he says "I loved you being at the airport" so she saw them off when they flew there (last stay?). What does S.W.A.B. mean?