I’m a big Beatles fan, not obsessive, but certainly very keen. I have been since I was a small schoolboy and if anything my love for The Beatles has grown over the years rather than diminished.
Despite living relatively close to Liverpool I had never done the whole Beatles pilgrimage thing until yesterday so in the company of a friend I took off to do three Beatles things, the Magical Mystery Tour, the Cavern Club and the Beatles Story.
Over the years I’ve read dozens and dozens of Beatle books, watch loads of films and documentaries and so I wasn’t expecting to particularly learn anything new about the Fab Four but I was really interested to actually see where The Beatles came from and how these three tourist attractions stacked up.
The first stage of the journey was the aptly named Magical Mystery Tour. We boarded the bus around 10am and set off meandering around Liverpool. We got to see where each of the lads grew up, Ringo and John’s homes from the bus and George and Paul’s getting off the bus.
We drove round sights like Penny Lane and Strawberry Field and drove close to many other sights where the bus wasn’t able to physically go. The trip lasted about 2 hours and included a real life guide and also included the cost of entry to The Cavern Club (more about that later).
All in all it was an interesting couple of hours which skimmed over the surface of where The Beatles grew up and what formed their backgrounds. Obviously Liverpool itself has changed has changed almost beyond recognition since The Beatles were teenagers and young men but enough remains to give you a sense of their formative years.
The tickets were just short of £20 each which wasn’t bad. I am going to go back and go inside both John and Paul’s homes which you can’t do as part of the tour I went on yesterday.
Don’t expect to be wowed on The Magical Mystery Tour but you will have a good couple of hours, especially if you don’t know Liverpool.