Sun June 2 - 23:50 (Liverpool: Beatles Childhood Homes)

So I finally am able to write about what I did today because I barely had time to catch up since we travelled so much today. The first entry today I wrote on the bus to Liverpool. Once in Liverpool, we took a bus to our guest house. The owner, Bob, was such a kind and friendly gentleman. He told us about many of the attractions in Liverpool and he told us how he grew up in Liverpool. He said when he was young, him and his sister would listen to music at Brian Epstein's record and music store. He remembers the Beatles coming into the store. Paul, John, and George would come in and flirt with the girls in the store when they were still very young (18ish). Bob brought us tea and biscuits (cookies) which was my first tea while in England. When I went to the bathroom, I notice posters about astronomy and I told Bob I liked them. He told me that he also loves the universe and space. Then he said that he teaches biology and chemistry at the Liverpool University to foreign students and he loves teaching. Also, he told us a ton about the Ilse of Man where his surname comes from. The name of the guest house, Ellan Vannin, actually means Ilse of Man in Gaelic. He introduced me to his son, Andrew, who is 20 years old and is studying film in college.

We caught a bus to the city centre of Liverpool. We saw St. George's Hall from the outside because it was closed for renovation. We continued past the shops to the waterfront to the Jury's Inn, where we met to depart for the Beatles' Childhood Homes. We ate a ham and cheese panini and then left on the tour bus (which held about 12 guests or so- which was full). The tours are through the National Trust. First, we drove about 15 or 20 minutes to Paul's house.

He had moved there with his parents, Jim and Mary, and his brother, Michael, when he was 13. His parents wanted to move to a nicer house to encourage their sons to do well in school. They weren't rich nor poor, just an average working class family. His father played trumpet and piano and his mother was a nurse. His father's profession was a salesman, but his mother made more money. She died early of breast cancer when Paul was a teenager and a week later, he wrote his first song, which was about her. Our guide said he confided his emotions in his guitar and would play every day. He met John and John would often come over to his house since they could have the house to themselves more so than John's house. Paul's father got strict after Paul's mom died so he would have to climb the drain pipe on the backside of the house to get back in late at night. He and Michael would keep the bathroom window slightly open and climb in head first. His brother, Michael, loved photography and took many great pictures of Paul and the family in the house. The house was restored to almost the exact condition that the McCartney family had it in before they sold the house. The National Trust wanted everything that could be authentic to be that way. The living room in the house is where Paul and John wrote some of their first hits such as "Love Me Do" and "Please, Please Me." When Paul and John were writing lyrics for "She Love You (Yeah Yeah Yeah)" they asked Paul's father for his opinion. He said he liked the song, but thought the lyrics sounded too American. He thought they should sing it "She loves you, yes, yes, yes." Paul lived there until 1963 when the Beatles left to tour. Paul was 13 and John was 15 when they first met. Paul saw John as a member of "the Quarrymen," John's high school band. When John heard Paul play for the first time, he was very impressed and worried that Paul might be a better guitarist than him. John asked Paul to be in a band with him and Paul was hesitant at first (according to John) but shortly agreed to play music with John.

John's house was just a 5 or 10 minute drive away.

They use to walk or bike to each other's houses all the time. John lived with his aunt, Mimi, and uncle, George. They had a much nicer house and Paul told interviewers (later in his life) that he remembers John's house as "posh." He was impressed that they had bookshelves with lots of books. Paul's family only really had instruments. John used to spend nights during the summer in a tree house in the backyard and his aunt, Mimi, said it was where he would go to dream. She said he was a dreamer. She wanted him to be a teacher or doctor and she pushed him hard in school. He asked her for a guitar because he wanted to be a musician. She held out for a while until she realized it was something he really wanted to do. She told him he wouldn't make a living playing music, but she got to see him make a successful career. His aunt and uncle were basically his parents. He moved there at the age of 5 because his parents were having marital problems. His father was in the Navy so he never really saw him that much. A week before he turned 18, his mother came over for another visit and waited for him to come back home since he was out with friends. It was getting late so she decided to leave and on her walk back she was tragically struck by a car and killed. This made John very upset and rebellious. Our guide said that this is how people view John- cold and tough- but she disagrees saying that even though he had a hard exterior, he must have had a soft, gentle interior because he wrote some deeply beautiful and emotional songs. He drew his own newspaper called the "Daily Howl", where he wrote stories and drawings very much in the humor of Mighty Python. His uncle past away when he was only 15 (before his mother past) and George was basically his father. They bought him a bike when he was young that he would go everywhere on.

He lived at the house from age 5 to 23 so for 18 years. He died at age 40 so he spend almost half of his life there so it was important to Yoko Ono to purchase the house when it when up for sale a couple decades ago. She was afraid someone would try to use it for a commercial purpose- like John Lennon's Cafe or something- so she purchased the home and gave it to the National Trust. She said that there wasn't a day that past where John didn't mention either the house, Mimi, or Liverpool. She encourages guests to write in the guest book and when she visits the house twice a year, it's the first thing she looks at. When she can't visit, she asks the National Trust to scan the pages to her so she can read them. John was always close to his family and cousins and he constantly called Mimi even when he moved to New York. She spoke with him early in the same day that he was killed. The reason she moved in the 1970s was because too many fans would crowd the house and they wouldn't be  able to walk out the gate without people trying to see John or the house. It was customary for first time guests to walk into Mimi's house through the kitchen so that is how the tour groups enter. The house had many pictures of John and many early childhood items. It also had his passport (photocopy) that showed everywhere he went in the world from Europe, the US, India and more.

Another thing about Paul is he bought a house for his family across town and he has a house in Liverpool now where he stays when he is in town. He has been outside of his childhood home, but never inside it since he left. The tour guide at Paul's house said he came and parked down the street from his childhood house one day. Then an old man came by and knocked on his car window. Paul thought he would want an autograph. When he rolled down his window, the man said, "Do you want to know where he lived?" Paul answered, "No thank you" and the man didn't even recognize who he was. Paul (jokingly) said that he doesn't like coming back because people don't know who he is there.
After the Childhood Homes Tour, we went to the Beatles Story, the only permanent Beatles Museum, which is on the harbor in Liverpool. I will have to finish writing it tomorrow cuz I need sleep.