Beatles autographs and George’s broken guitar string for sale

By Ed Chatterton

George Harrison's broken guitar string and a rare set of Beatles autographs obtained by a teenage fan in 1963 could sell for more than £4,000 at auction.

The Fab Four scribbled their names down for starstruck 15-year-old Elizabeth Salt and also signed her arm following a gig on April 7, 1963.

Elizabeth, then Elizabeth McBrierty, got to meet her idols following the concert at the Savoy Ballroom in Southsea, Portsmouth.

During the performance, George Harrison snapped his guitar string and quick-thinking Elizabeth scooped it up from the stage as a souvenir.

Elizabeth said she was "heartbroken" when her dad made her wash off the autographs from her arm - but fortunately still had her autograph book.

The album is also stuffed with signatures of other stars including the Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Del Shannon, Bobby Vee and Billy Fury.

The book - hailed as a celebration of one the most exciting periods for pop culture in British history - is now set to fetch thousands at auction.

It could sell for between £3,000 to £4,000 when it goes under the hammer at Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Lichfield, Staffs., on February 2.

At the time Beatlemania was just beginning following the release of Love Me Do and Elizabeth went on to watch her heroes several times.

Elizabeth, now 79, from Lichfield, said: “I remember going with my friend who bought Love Me Do in late 1962.

“That was when it started – we just got obsessed with them.

“We were sat around the stage when George Harrison broke his guitar string and I picked it up.

“Afterwards they went into a room and we all just piled in.

"That’s when I got their autographs on my left arm – I just held it out asking them to sign and they did.

“I was still at school and wanted to show all my friends the next day but when I got home my dad said ‘you’ll get blood poisoning!’ and made me wash it straight off.

"I was heartbroken.”

Elizabeth, then of North End, Portsmouth, and her friends had already seen the group at the Guildhall in Portsmouth on March 30 1963 and continued to go to as many shows as they could all along the south coast including Brighton, Bournemouth and Southampton.

Another encounter came through The Beatles’ Fan Club at an event in London before an evening concert.

Elizabeth added: “We went up to London for the fan club meet-and-greet.

“It was quite weird, I can remember that John Lennon’s teeth were absolutely lovely.

“But you weren’t allowed to linger. They all shook our hands and we were moved along.”

Another memory is of queuing up overnight for another concert at Portsmouth Guildhall when Elizabeth’s cousin Mary agreed to save the girls’ place in the queue so the others could watch The Beatles’ TV appearance on Sunday Night At The London Palladium.

Elizabeth also has a copy of a cutting from the Portsmouth Evening News where the writer describes meeting her and four friends who had spent ‘three nights sleeping on the pavements, with transistors and a blanket each, to buy tickets for both performances – much to the dismay and disapproval of their parents’.

Now a gran-of-four, Elizabeth, a former legal secretary, remains a huge Beatles fan.

Her album also contains a further George Harrison signature and those of Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney again on another separate page.

In addition, there is a complete set of the Rolling Stones’ signatures including Brian Jones, obtained when Elizabeth went to see the band at the Savoy Ballroom in Portsmouth.

Other 1960s stars in the book include a Cliff Richard signed photo and separate autograph, Adam Faith, Del Shannon, Bobby Vee, Tony Orlando, Dion, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Mark Wynter, Eden Kane, Shane Fenton – later reborn as Alvin Stardust.

Rob French, ephemera valuer at Richard Winterton Auctioneers, said: “This is one of the finest 1960s autograph books I’ve have the pleasure of cataloguing.

“What makes this book so special is the fact that it contains the signatures of all The Beatles and the Rolling Stones plus more from some of the biggest names in pop music from the 1960s.

“It is a wonderful document celebrating Elizabeth’s experience of one of the most exciting periods for pop culture in British history.”