Beatles fans get a rare treat tonight with the revealing of a long-lost photograph of a young John Lennon on the Inside Out programme at 7.30pm on BBC One North West.
The extraordinary photograph of 17-year-old John Lennon was found during a year long search by the Inside Out North West team and remaining members of The Quarrymen, the group that went on to become The Beatles.
Nigel Walley, who is pictured with John in the photograph, is The Quarrymen's former manager.
Nigel now lives in Clacton and was brought up to Liverpool by the Inside Out North West programme to be re-united with the photograph he had not seen since 1958.
"It's fantastic, really great. I can't believe how good it is, it's much better than I expected," said Nigel, who was amazed by the quality of the photograph which has been kept locked away in a cupboard for many years by a Beatles collector, who wants to remain anonymous.
Nigel could not recall the photograph being taken, at first, but then realised it had been taken by a street photographer in Lime Street, in Liverpool.
"I remember it now. I think the photographer came up to us because we were wearing those camel coats, just look at the lapels, amazing aren't they?"
When Nigel examined the photograph he said: "I recognise my writing on the back of it. I've put May 5th 1958 Lime Street. I haven't a clue what we were doing then, just a couple of lads out in town larking about probably. But we look happy then.
"It is a long time ago now but I seem to remember giving this photograph and some other Beatles photos to my brother and he took them to school where someone stole them from his desk. Goodness knows where this one got to since then."
Nigel added: "It's very emotional for me seeing this photo again after all these years. John was a very good friend of mine.
"We kept in touch with each other after The Beatles became so famous. I would pop around to his house and we would talk about the old days.
"I was only speaking to him a few days before he died. It was a great shock to hear he had been shot. We were making plans to see each other again.
"One thing I know, John would have loved seeing this photograph. It's something I'll always treasure now. I can't thank Inside Out enough."
Rod Davis, who played guitar and banjo for The Quarrymen, says: "It's an incredible discovery because this photo has not been seen for nearly the last 50 years. It's been locked away and forgotten about.
"It's a terrific find for us because we've been looking to find photos or film so we can celebrate the 50th anniversary year of John Lennon meeting Paul McCartney.
"What's so great about this photo is that John was just a face in the crowd then but even then it's the Lennon I knew. You can see in his face, I think, he knew he was something special even then."
John Lennon founded The Quarrymen skiffle group in 1956 and named them after his school Quarrybank.
He met Paul McCartney on 6 July 1957 at the Woolton Rose Queen Festival where The Quarrymen were playing.
Peter Trollope, Producer of Inside Out North West, said: "It's a remarkable photograph and is a wonderful addition to the Lennon archive. We were thrilled to find it after all these years."
Best Beatles Sites.
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An expanded version of Paul McCartney's most recent album is out Nov. 6.
Three previously unreleased tracks and a live DVD will be included on a deluxe edition of Paul McCartney's "Memory Almost Full,"...
The CD portion of the album will feature the songs "In Private," "Why So Blue" and "222," while the DVD rounds up five tracks from McCartney's intimate June concert at London's Electric Ballroom. The DVD also boasts videos for the "Memory Almost Full" singles "Dance Tonight" and "Ever Present Past."
You can pre-order it now.
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Consumer alert: At least some copies of the new "Showcase Presents the Metal Men Vol. 1" book from DC Comics are messed up. You might wanna flip through the book if you're picking it up at a comics shop.
Last Wednesday I bought a copy of SHOWCASE PRESENTS METAL MEN 1 which had the following pages: 1-288, 337-384, 337-527. Pages 289-336 were totally missing. I didn't discover this until I got home, so I called THE LAUGHING OGRE comic book store to see if I could get a replacement, but when they checked the other copies in the store, they ALL had this same problem.
We'll report any further developments.
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Bedazzled just sent me an e-mail letting us know some clips of Split Enz performing on the 1970s "Fridays" comedy show are up at his site.
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Little, Brown has canceled plans to publish the controversial "Tintin in the Congo" title in the United States.
...criticized for its racist, Colonial-era depictions of Africans, [Little, Brown]
has quietly pulled the title from its fall list...The publisher also said it will not include the book in a forthcoming box set of all 24 books in the Tintin series.
...Publicist Melanie Chang did not give a reason for the standalone book's cancellation, but of its omission from the box set she said, "Given the controversy surrounding the Congo title, we felt including it in the box set would eclipse the true intention of the collection, which is to showcase Hergé’s extraordinary art and his remarkable contribution to the graphic arts."
I hate censorship but see Little, Brown's point on this. Hergé himself had misgivings about the title, which was an unfortunate product of a far less-enlightened time. And the news of the boxset is exciting. There's some beautiful art and wonderful stories in those volumes and with it, and the upcoming Tintin animated movies, it's nice to think more young readers will have access to them.
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Booksteve spots Stan Lee in a 1940s Terry and the Pirates comic book!
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Disney is planning a "mature" video game (now there's an oxymoron) based on the old "Turok" comic book series.
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Classic Doctor Who villains the Sontarans are due for a reappearance on the revived series, the BBC reveals:
Christopher Ryan, best known for playing super-cool Mike in the classic comedy series The Young Ones, is set for a guest-starring role in an upcoming Series Four adventure.
Ryan will play a Sontaran leader in the story, due to begin filming in the next few weeks.
"I'm absolutely delighted to be appearing in this new Doctor Who," Chris revealed. "The last time I appeared in Doctor Who was in 1986, Colin Baker was the Doctor and I was still a Young One."
The story in question was the Trial Of A Time Lord, where Chris starred as the slug-like Mentor Kiv alongside Trevor Laird, who played Martha's dad in 2007.
If you know your Who lore, the Sontarans will need no introduction. If you're a newer viewer, however, you may not know that the Sontarans are amongst the greatest villains from the classic series of Doctor Who.
A military, warlike species, able to clone vast armies of themselves, the Sontarans are locked into an eternal struggle with their enemies the Rutans.
Best Doctor Who Sites.
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It's rumored that actress Billie Piper may be returning to "Doctor Who," too.
Confident BBC executives believe she will soon put pen to paper for a stunning comeback in next year's series finale.
Show creator Russell T Davies and leading man David Tennant—both close pals—are persuading the pretty 25-year-old to commit to a three-part appearance next summer.
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