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In
the hectic, golden year of 1963, the Fab Four performed at three
venues in Somerset.
Now,
Beatles fans across are marking and remembering John, Paul, George
and Ringo's progress through the county exactly forty years ago.
Their
first concert date in Somerset that year was at the Gaumont Cinema
in Taunton on 26 February.
The
Fab Four came back to Somerset a few months later - they played
at the Pavilion in Bath on Monday 10 June 1963.
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you have any Beatles' stories? Share them with us! |
Just
over a month later, John, Paul, George and Ringo were in the county
again - this time at the seaside.
They
performed a week of concerts at the Odeon Cinema in Weston-super-Mare
between Monday 22 to Saturday 27 July 1963.
They
also made some unreleased recordings with Gerry Marsden of Gerry
and the Pacemakers at the Royal Pier Hotel.
Jenny
Ponsillo from Walton near Street was 16 at the time: "Helen
Shapiro was top of the bill and the Beatles were the supporting
act - we loved them!
"My
friend and I sat in the front row, yards away from Paul McCartney.
"I
fell in love with him then and still have a soft spot for him after
forty years.
"We
then saw them in Bristol in the Colston Hall in 1964 - they had
become famous by then and the hall was full of screaming teenagers
including me."
On
the Saturday, photographer Dezo Hoffman filmed the Beatles at Weston
beach, on go-carts and fooling around during photo shoots.
The
photos are being auctioned on 20 November 2003 at the Hard Rock
Cafe in London.
Portions
of the footage were used in the Real Love and Anthology 1 videos.
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The Fab Four swept into the Gaumont Theatre in
Taunton to screaming girls |
The
Beatles obviously liked Somerset - they came back in September that
year.
They
performed again at the Gaumont Cinema in Taunton on Thursday 5 September
1963 with Mike Berry, and Freddy Starr and the Midnighters.
The
Fab Four came on stage to growing, resounding applause... and lots
of screaming from the crowd of girls!
>>>
Listen to the memories of Martin
and Vic
of the concert
The
Beatles returned to the county in 1964 to film scenes at Crowcombe
on the West Somerset Railway for A Hard Day's Night.
Stephen
Burke, who grew up in Somerset but now lives in Florida in the USA,
said: "I remember seeing the Beatles in the front of a diesel
train coming through Watchet station; they were heading towards
Minehead.
"We
were allowed to leave Watchet Primary School early so that we could
stand on the station platform, and witness this great event,"
Stephen added.
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