INSIDE PAUL's CHILDHOOD HOME

Paul returns to his home town later this month as part of his Out There world tour, and the memories of his Liverpool upbringing have been preserved in a small terraced house in Allerton.

The McCartneys (Mary and Jim, Paul and his brother Mike) moved to 20 Forthlin Road from Speke in 1955. The house is now within the ownership of the National Trust, as it has been for 16 years.

With the National Trust’s help, it has been meticulously restored into the home that Paul would recognise from his younger years, using photographs and eyewitness accounts to restore original fixtures and fittings, and source identical items of furniture.

Photo by Mike McCartney

As visitors are given the guided tour by National Trust custodians, they will hear of heartwarming tales from Paul’s upbringing at the house, such as how father Jim would plant lavender in the front garden, and use the plants in the ashtrays to negate the smell of cigarette smoke.

The foundations of what would go on to be The Beatles are also laid bare; Paul wrote I Saw Her Standing There with John Lennon at Forthlin Road, and when he was 14, Paul sat at the family piano and composed the tune for what would eventually be When I’m Sixty Four.

But there were also stories of heartbreak. Paul’s beloved mother Mary died of breast cancer in 1956, aged just 47.

However, Paul would say that 20 Forthlin Road was mostly a happy home.

The National Trust operate tours to 20 Forthlin Road, with around four tours a day departing from the Jury’s Inn hotel in Kings Dock and Speke Hall.