One piece of paper signed by all four Beatles before their 1964 gig at Manchester’s O2 Apollo and a fan letter addressed to George are on sale on eBay for £6,000.
The genuine autographs and letter – which is said to be from two fans from Derby, contain a six-verse poem about the fab four and has never been published or seen in public before – are being sold by Brian Higham.
Brian, who was brought up in Manchester during the 50s and 60s, used to work for a music shop on Oxford Road which is how he got so immersed in the industry that he got asked backstage before the Liverpudlian legends’ show.
COME TOGETHER: You can’t buy me love but you can buy all four Beatles autographs on one notebook page
He told MM: “George rang me a couple of months before and said he had problems with the tune on his Country Gent guitar and that they would be in Manchester on such and such a date.
“He asked ‘Could I sort it out for him and turn it round in a day?’
“So I said yes, just get someone to drop it in the morning – early – and I arranged with George about a week before that I would bring it back to the theatre where they were performing, which was The Apollo, Ardwick Green.”
It was during his time backstage with the Beatles, who Brian describes as ‘a nice set of lads’, that George gave him the letter before all four of them signed a page of his notebook – both of which are ‘complete with tea stains’ according to the listing.
“They were great! A nice set of lads.They were always coming over to Manchester,” said Brian.
“There’s a fan letter addressed to George Harrison at Great Yarmouth. George gave it to me on the night I returned his guitar to him.
“It was in George’s guitar case in ’64. They were just chatting and tuning their guitars in the changing room and it dropped out. So George said, ‘have you seen this?’.
“So I read it and said, ‘it’s great that!’. He said, ‘keep it, put it in your pocket’, so I did!”
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS: The two fans wrote a six-verse poem to the ‘fab four’
With signed Beatles albums now selling for as much as £13,500 and more, Brian’s asking price seems very reasonable, especially with those tea stains and not to mention all his fond memories.
“I was asked by a friend ‘what are you gonna do with them?’,” said Brian.
“And I said ‘I might sell them now, it’s been 50 years’. I’m not getting any younger you know!”
In 1964 The Beatles were on another one of their UK tours and the gig in question was the second out of three appearances at the Apollo – formerly known as the ABC Cinema.
British pop sensations went on their first US tour in February of that year and had already released ten albums, three of which made it to number one in the UK charts – Beatlemania was in full swing.
And unfortunately for Brian it was Beatlemania and all the screaming fans that slightly dampened the experience of watching the gig from backstage.
He said: “I was back stage, I was watching from the wings. You couldn’t hear a damn thing!”
HEY GEORGE! These fans from Derby were sending all their loving to George Harrison
With 24 days left on his listing Brian said he would feel ‘obliged’ to sell them if someone offered him the full £6,000.
But there if you think £6,000 is a little bit out of your budget you can get in touch to give your best offer but be sensible warns Brian.
He added: “I won’t turn down a reasonable offer but, please, don’t make silly offers. I’ve had lots of them so genuine bids only.”
To get your hands on these Beatles autographs and fan letter click here.
Main image courtesy of United Press international, via Wikipedia, with thanks.
