Dave Munkhoff
I still love Lulu! I read your bio on Beryl Marsden, what a sad story. I downloaded her version of "I Know" to check her out. She could've been super big; she had the voice and looks. The bio was fascinating and reminded me of another incredible talent, Sandie Shaw. When I'm on your site I can't pull myself away.

The British Invasion was the most exciting thing in American music! WOW! I love this site! (I Googled the Fourmost and ended up here) This music and these people are why I became a musician. I've got a lot more reading to catch up on so I've added this site to my favorites. I could never understand why Cilla wasn't a big star over here; no white girl over here had a voice that strong. I plan on putting a link to Mersey Beat on my web site at www.MunkMusic.com. Thanks for this wonderful site!

(Beryl and Sandie are great friends, although their first meeting, as described in Sandie’s autobiography, didn’t indicate how close they would become.

Sandie writes: “I first met Beryl, the scouse scallywag, on the Northern line – I was being followed. On leaving Ann O’Dell’s house in Hampstead I walked anonymously to the Underground. I had just attended my first Buddhist meeting there. That annoying, chirpy, Liverpudlian woman who had been sitting opposite me in the circle of people gathered around Annie’s Buddhist shrine was still insisting on getting my attention….click, click, those spiky heels of hers pestered me along the side of the train and into the compartment. She sat down beside me. I concentrated on staring out of the window, trying to ignore her presence.

“Hi! I’m Beryl Marsden. I just saw you at that meeting didn’t I? Are you a Buddhist then?’ she intruded cheerily.

I froze in panic.

“Well?” she persisted, extending her offer of friendship further.

“Yes, I am,” I volunteered grudgingly.

We traveled in icy silence. Sensing my extreme discomfort, Beryl must have been relieved when we arrived at her stop.

“Stuck up cow!” she thought, as she told me later when we became best friends. “You looked more like a frumpy school ma’am than a pop star!”)

Zachary Vanes.

Looking for the Mersey Beat Vol 1 no. 13 Jan 1962 for my dad. He has the record that the paper was on the cover and I wanted to make a really nice display with the record and the paper that was on the cover. He kinda only wants the authentic one but I’m not sure if they even exist anymore, please email me and let me know if I can buy a copy or a reprint or something please. My dad promised I can help make the frame if we can get the paper.

(Dear Zachary,

Reprints of that particular issue are available on www.rockandpopshop.com)


John and Maureen Breslin
Thank you Bill Harry, for this great site and for all things Liverpool. I’ve twice been to your great city. I feel there are great similarities between my home, Boston, Massachusetts and yours.

If you bump into a very nice man named Bernie Evans, please tell him "hello" from John and Maureen, in Boston, U.S.A. He was nice enough to give us a grand tour of the Jacaranda, which was a thrill.

I’m not sure that Liverpudlians fully understand the great impact the sons and daughters of your city had on so many of our lives, here in the States. I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for instilling a little bit of the "Liverpool life" in this skinny Irish 10 year old from Massachusetts [in 1964].

(Dear John and Maureen,

People from Liverpool are always referred to as Liverpudlians or Scousers, but did you know that the proper term from someone from Liverpool is actually ‘Liverpolitan’? If Bernie reads the site he’ll get your message.

The Beatles appeared twice in Boston: at the Boston Garden on 12 September 1964 and at the Suffolk Downs Racetrack on 18 August. I’m looking for someone to write a ‘Beatles in Boston piece for the site.)


David Cumberworth
An interesting article about the Beatles in Nottingham. I was 17 years old when they appeared in the Co-op Ballroom and spent about eight hours chatting to them. I was too young to work behind the bar so my job was collecting empty glasses. Before the concert I didn't even know who they were.

At 6pm I went up to the ballroom in the staff lift with Paul and John - and didn't recognize them. Those eight hours with them (in our staff canteen) as with their music, has had a tremendous influence upon my life.

By the way, after the concert their manager went to the cloakroom and grabbed a pile of coats. Unfortunately my coat was among the pile, bought by my mother six weeks previously. Pity about the coat but what a memory! During that year under the same circumstances I met and chatted with almost all the top bands, Beatles, Swinging Blue Jeans, Mersey Beats, Animals, Kinks, Four Pennies etc etc etc. What a year!

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