Book with autographs of three Beatles and other ’60s musicians up for auction

By Ed Cullinane via SWNS

An autograph book featuring three of the Beatles and several other '60s pop music icons collected by a teen pop fan is to be sold at auction.

The notebook includes the signatures of three of the Fab Four: Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

The then-teen who got them only missed out on getting all four - because John Lennon was sick.

Also in the book are Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Dave Clark Five, Cliff Richard and Helen Shapiro.

It is expected to bring in at least $1,635 as part of Sworders’ Design auction on October 19 & 20.

The owner, Sue, was 14 years old when the autographs were collected.

“Originally I was a mad keen Cliff Richard fan. I had a life-size poster of him above my bed," she said. "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.

“Once we heard The Beatles and the other Liverpool groups, we were immediately hooked.

"Early in 1963 (January 12) we heard the boys were making a live Radio Luxembourg broadcast from the EMI studios at Manchester Square and realized that, with a bit of luck, we would see them as they came out.

"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 that this was an era when the groups were very accessible.

Some autographs were sourced when Sue and 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.

“I remember sneaking in through a stage door to the London Palladium 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.”