EVOLVER:63 – Mark Lewisohn & Guests

Another trip to The Bloomsbury Theatre on Gordon Street to listen to eminent Beatles-scholar Mark Lewisohn, this time in the company of BBC arts journalist (and Beatle fan since the age of five) Samira Ahmed, as he stages another afternoon of Fab Four curios. Samira was instrumental in unearthing a recording of The Beatles’ performance at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire on April 4, 1963, subsequently the subject of a Radio 4 Front Row programme she presented in April, in which Mark took part. Other guests on this series of Mark’s talks are Kevin Eldon, Harry Hill and Johnny Marr. 

        Of all the many concerts performed by The Beatles during 1963, the year of their UK breakthrough, this show at a public school was probably the most unusual. About 150 posh schoolboys paid five old shillings each to watch in relative silence as The Beatles went through their 60-minute set in the school’s Roxburgh Hall, and afterwards John, Paul, George and Ringo had their pictures taken enjoying a chicken and chips supper laid on by the master in charge of the school’s tuck shop. 

        The show came about after a Stowe pupil called Dave Moores wrote to Brian Epstein requesting the group play at his school. Moores was related to John Moores, the Liverpool retail and football pools magnate, and it’s likely Epstein’s awareness of this swayed his decision to book the date for £100 – “just under their going rate,” according to Lewisohn. 

Mark & Samira on stage in front a pic of The Beatles taken at Stowe school’s music room.

        Unbeknownst to The Beatles, the show was recorded by a 15-year-old pupil called John Bloomfield, who stuck a microphone onto a stand on the floor at the front of the stage, and extracts were played on the Radio 4 show, beginning with ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ which segues seamlessly into ‘Too Much Monkey Business’. Interviewed by Samira on the show, Bloomfield, who kept his tape for years but forgot he had it, admits that seeing the show “changed my life completely” and it’s clear from the cheers between numbers that all the boys loved what they saw. As Mark points out, they were hearing something they’d never heard before, a group of four musicians accompanying themselves on electric guitars and drums while they sang, with everything delivered at top volume too. Naturally, he regards the Stowe tape as being of similar historical importance to the lost treasures of Tutankhamun, the only complete recorded performance by The Beatles on the cusp of becoming the greatest pop group the world has ever seen. 

        Mark hopes that after a clean-up in the studio, the Stowe tape will be become publicly available, though he was not overly optimistic. Indeed, his belief that all manner of Beatles artefacts ought now to be made accessible to fans seems to have come up against the commercial objectives of those who control them. This was the only slightly sour note in an afternoon devoted to celebrating The Beatles not only as a musical phenomenon but as an important catalyst for positive change in the culture and mood of the British people. “They uplifted lives,” said Mark to unanimous agreement. 

        Naturally enough, discussion with Samira on the Stowe concert and recording opened yesterday afternoon’s talk before Mark delved into his Beatles archives to come up with many more gems. He is at pains to point out the many strange coincidences that occurred before and during the Beatles’ collective career, among them the case of 15-year-old Melanie Cole, who was adjudged by Paul to be the winner of a Brenda Lee miming contest on Ready Steady Go! on October 4, 1963. Two years later the same Melanie Cole ran away from home, inspiring a story in the press that was read by Paul who, as a result, sat down to write ‘She’s Leaving Home’. He had no idea it was the same girl. 

Among other Beatle topics discussed was the thorny question of how their songs became credited to Lennon-McCartney, as opposed to McCartney-Lennon, and how this still vexes Paul; the importance of their hairstyles at a time when almost all men or boys in the UK asked their barber to give them a short back and sides; and how conscientious JPG&R were at answering letters from fans, at least until the task became too onerous. Scanned letters from fans and the responses they received appeared on the big screen behind Mark and Samira, one of which – written by Paul – concluded with, ”Must rush, we’re due on stage”, which suggests they filled in the time between shows by responding to letters in their dressing rooms. 

Just before the afternoon concluded with knockout footage of the group in their With The Beatles black polo neck sweaters miming to ‘Twist And Shout’, Mark mentioned how Capitol Records, EMI’s US arm – which turned them down more than once – finally capitulated and began to promote The Beatles in the US. That, of course, would have to wait until 1964, which will no doubt be the theme of Mark’s next series of fascinating talks.  

Finally, I should add that the great honour of being accorded the title of ‘fifth Beatle’ is generally conferred on Brian Epstein, George Martin or Neil Aspinall. For admin purposes, I have now conferred it on Mark, as all posts on my blog that relate to him and his work can now be found under the heading ‘Beatles (Mark L)’, just as the individual Beatles have their own similar headings.