Hidden away in the BBC archives is this gem of a feature from 1973 when there was an attempt to celebrate the Beatles and Merseybeat.
This is the only TV interview with original Beatles drummer Tommy Moore!
Don’t miss it.
Tag: Allan Williams
The Day The Beatles Became a Group
On the 10th May 1960, the group, calling themselves The Silver Beatles, perform together for the first time as a rock n roll group.
Follow the story through iconic photos and eyewitness testimony behind this historic day in my latest video.
1960 in Beatles History: The year that made The Beatles. Many Beatles drummers, lots of different Beatles names, Allan Williams is the Beatles manager and they go to Hamburg
January 1960 – Stuart Sutcliffe joins the group
23rd April 1960 – The Nerk Twins: John and Paul
5th May 1960 – Allan Williams becomes The Beatles manager
May 1960 – The Black Roots of The Beatles
10th May 1960 – The Silver Beatles audition for Larry Parnes with Johnny Hutchinson
10th May 1960 – The Silver Beatles audition for Larry Parnes with Tommy Moore
14th May 1960 – The Silver Beats and Cliff Roberts
20th May 1960 – Johnny Gentle and His Group
June 1960 – The Beatles back Janice “The Stripper”
14th June 1960 – John, Paul, George, Stuart and Ronnie the “Ted”
14th June 1960 – An Undertaker dies on Stage: Jackie Lomax
18th June 1960 – John, Paul, George, Stuart and Norman Chapman
24th June 1960 – Royston Ellis: The Man on the Flaming Pie
July 1960 – The Silver Beetles at the Embassy Club
12th August 1960 – The Unknown Drummer
12th August 1960 – Pete Best is asked to join The Beatles
15th October 1960 – John, Paul, George and Ringo appear on a record for the first time
17th December 1960 – Chas Newby joins The Beatles
27th December 1960 – The Beatles, Beatlemania at Litherland Town Hall
Beatles History
If you want to know the key events in Beatles History, then this is the page for you. This will help you navigate the website, to find the history you need to know. Each link will take you to a different page on the site, where a post, article or interview is located. I will be constantly updating the site, so check back for the latest in Beatles history, discussing Beatles names, Beatles members, Beatles drummers and who the original Beatles were.
The information is from my three books: “Liddypool: Birthplace of The Beatles”, “The Fab one hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles” and “Finding the Fourth Beatle”.
To make it easier to find, there is a separate page for each year. Select the page year to find out what happened in Beatles history that year.
1956 – John Lennon forms The Quarrymen
1957 – John and Paul meet, and George joins The Quarrymen
1958 – The Quarry Men make a record; An off-duty policeman kills Julia, John Lennon’s mother
1959 – The Quarrymen open The Casbah Coffee Club
15th August 1960 – Pete Best, who joined the previous day, plays his first gig with the now-settled lineup of John, Paul, George, Stuart, and Pete with them called The Beatles.
1961 – The Beatles are the best group; Brian Epstein discovers The Beatles at The Cavern Club
Beatles Drummer Norman Chapman
Norman Chapman – “Big feller; He Was a Good Drummer”
George Harrison said: “Big feller, did not talk much. In fact, I can’t remember a word he ever said to me. He was a good drummer, though, and that’s for sure.” Ringo later commented: “The boys told me they had this drummer they heard rehearsing on his own. They thought a hell of a lot of him.”
When I first came across the name of Norman Chapman, he was a footnote in Beatles history. He only gave one interview, many years ago, to BBC Radio Merseyside’s Spencer Leigh. There were no photographs of him; there was very little biography, and that was about that.
The Exclusive Story of Norman Chapman
When I was working on my second book, “The Fab one hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles“, I was determined to find out more about Norman. It took me months of research, and eventually I was able to trace Norman’s daughter, Anne-Marie. After talking together, I was very honoured that she was prepared to trust me with telling her father’s story, and to entrust the photographs to me alone. I gave her my word that she could check the story before it was published, so that it was what she wanted, as this would be his legacy.
She also entrusted me with family photographs, none of which had been published before. If you see any of these photos, they will have been lifted from my book. I was proud and honoured to tell Norman’s story.
The Others Liked Him Too
He was only with The Silver Beatles for a few short weeks, but it was clear that he settled in well with them, judging by George Harrison’s quote above. Allan Williams, their manager, also commented that; “He was a big guy, about six feet two, and spoke in a very quiet, gentle voice. His drumming was a hobby and he hadn’t even sat in with a band before. I told him about the band, and that they were playing around Merseyside, earning about ten pounds a night, and asked him if he was interested. ‘I sure am,’ he told me, ‘I could do with the money because drum kits are so expensive. That’ll help me pay off the money for the kit.’ The others liked him too.”
the beatles and hamburg: A National DIS-Service
Norman should have been the drummer who went with The Beatles to Hamburg, but around 2 weeks before they were due to depart for Germany, he was called-up for National Service, and had to join the army for 2 years. He would miss out on the trip, but it created the opportunity for Pete Best to join the group.
Read his fascinating story, and the see the photographs, exclusively in “The Fab one hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles“.
David Bedford
About David
David grew up in the Dingle, Liverpool, near the bottom of the street, Madryn Street, where Ringo Starr was born. He later attended St. Silas School, the same primary school that Ringo Starr, Billy Fury and Alf Lennon (John’s father).
He and his wife, Alix, moved to live near Penny Lane, where they have lived for the last 30 years. Their three daughters were born in Oxford Street Maternity Hospital, where John Lennon has been born. The three girls all attended Dovedale School, the same school that John Lennon and George Harrison attended. David has been the Chair of Governors there for nearly 15 years.
When illness forced him to retire at the age of 35, encouraged by his doctor, he began to read, research and write about The Beatles for the London Beatles Fan Club magazine, and helped to found the British Beatles Fan Club. Realising that so many stories about The Beatles and Liverpool were incorrect, he set out to dispel the myths by interviewing the people who knew The Beatles best.
Liddypool
His first book, “Liddypool: Birthplace of The Beatles“, was published in 2009 to critical acclaim, and is now in its third edition.
The Fab one hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles
His second book, the follow-up to “Liddypool”, “The Fab one hundred and four: The Evolution of The Beatles” was published in 2013 to further critical acclaim, with original interviews and rewriting Beatles history, by telling of the 104 people who contributed to the early history of The Beatles.
The Beatles Book
In 2016, he published a book with original Beatles biographer Hunter Davies, plus Spencer Leigh and Keith Badman, called “The Beatles Book”.
Inspector Rocke: That’ll Be The Day That I Die
As an aside from his Beatles books, David wrote a crime fiction novel in 2017 around a fictional Liverpool detective called Inspector Rocke. Each story is set around a key moment in Beatles history, and features The Beatles themselves, though not as suspects!
Looking for Lennon
In 2018, he was the Associate Producer and Historian for the documentary feature film “Looking for Lennon”, which was nominated for a National Film Award.
Finding the Fourth Beatle
In 2018, he also published his third book, with co-author Garry Popper, called “Finding the Fourth Beatle“, about the 23 drummers who put the beat in The Beatles.
He has several other book projects, and much more, on the go.
Make sure you sign up to keep up to date!
You can purchase David’s books in his shop
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