All-star autograph book with signatures from The Beatles worth thousands
The autographs were collected when The Fab Four were more accessible
An autograph book containing signatures from members of The Fab Four is set to be sold for thousands later this month.
The notebook includes the signatures of three of The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Dave Clark Five, Cliff Richard and Helen Shapiro.
It's been brought to auction by 'Sue' who was one of three classmates at a North London grammar school, all born in the summer of 1949.
She was aged between 13 and 15 when these autographs were collected.
Sue said: "Originally I was a mad keen Cliff Richard fan. I had a life-size poster of him above my bed.
"I had found out his address in Winchmore Hill, waited on my own outside his house. When he came out I was overcome with shyness but fortunately he signed my outstretched autograph book and went on his way."
She spoke of how she was 'immediately hooked' after hearing music from The Beatles and other Merseyside groups .
She said: “Early in 1963 (January 12) we heard the boys were making a live Radio Luxembourg broadcast from the EMI studios at Manchester Square and realised that, with a bit of luck, we would see them as they came out.
"There were a only a very few fans there waiting with us. The Beatles were very charming and happy to patiently sign autographs for us all, although my friend recalls John Lennon was not there because he was unwell, which is perhaps why his autograph is missing.”
Sue, who has recently emigrated, recalls how she collected the autographs in an era when the groups were very accessible.
Some autographs were sourced when the three friends attended the BBC’s lunchtime pop show recorded live at the Playhouse Theatre in Charing Cross, while others were signed following a clandestine visit to a rehearsal of the Royal Variety Show.
She sad: “I remember sneaking in through a stage door to the London Palladium (it used to have several back exits then) on a Sunday afternoon and sitting in the semi-darkened auditorium. I stayed there for a couple of hours watching some of the bands rehearsing for a Royal Variety Show.”
Sworders’ sale includes other good examples of rock and pop memorabilia. A set of glass tumblers by Joseph Lang & Co, each transfer printed with a member of the Fab Four, are guided at £400-600, while a copy of Yoko Ono's 1971 paperback Grapefruit', signed in blue ink by both John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is expected to bring £1000-1500.
No comments:
Post a Comment