Beatles Story Museum (The), Liverpool

I loved it all! This place is AWESOME and the culmination of a long journey from San Diego, California (USA) to the U.K. I will always remember this museum and our trip to Liverpool because I'm a #1 Beatle fan and my dream of going there came true!

I am a big Beatles fan. Since childhood, it has been a life-long desire for me to one day visit The Beatles Story Experience Museum in Liverpool, England. I had been after my father for many years to take me there. I finally got my chance, this year, after my father had retired as a Professor, at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. We had flown from Detroit to London, aboard British Airways. From London, Euston, we boarded the Virgin Trains, which is a two and half hour journey to Liverpool. Our taxi driver in Liverpool led us straight to, the Albert Docks, where The Beatles Story Experience Museum is located. From here, he led us straight to Mathew Street, which is home to The Cavern Club, where The Beatles were first discovered in 1960. Mathew Street also has a string of shops, devoted to Beatles Memorabilia, where each year millions of devoted Beatles fans, like me, from all over the world, come to pay homage to a bronze statue of The Fab Four. I had even met one man, from Sadashiv Peth, Pune, as a visitor to the museum. I had the pleasure of visiting The Beatles' Story Experience Museum, in Liverpool, England, on Saturday, September 25th, 2005. The magic of this Museum is that it helps to recapture the innocence of a momentous era in popular music history, known simply as "BEATLEMANIA", for future generations, or for those who were fortunate enough to be present when The Beatles first arrived on the world stage, in the early 1960s, and would continue to dominate the Billboard charts, and create an insurmountable frenzy, especially in teenagers, that would last for many years to come. The story begins with an audio guided tour by John Lennon's sister Julia, who descibes how in 1957, the fifteen year-old (Paul McCartney met seventeen year-old John Lennon, at a church social in Liverpool, England. This started a musical partnership that transcended generations, and changed the course of the history of popular music forever. John Lennon belonged to a band called The Quarry men, formed by him, while in school. John Lennon had dropped out of The Liverpool Art College, with his pals Stu Sutcliffe, and Pete Best, to work full-time with his band The Quarry men. For hours they would rehearse, underneath the basement-cellar of John's aunt Mimi, old Rock'n'Roll numbers, from artists like their idols Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, The Everly brothers, Little Richard and Fats Domino. Rock'n'Roll had just hit England and the United States. Pete Best was later replaced, by local Liverpudlian drummer Richard Starkey - of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, also known around Liverpool as Ringo Starr. John Lennon's dream for The Quarry men was to become one day "Bigger than Elvis". For 6 straight years The Quarry men, who in 1960 had changed their name to The Beatles, had toured Europe continuously, and by 1963, had become the #1 group in England. John Lennon's dream had become a reality, in 1964; The Beatles were invited to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in New York. They became the first group to have all of their songs dominate the top 5 slots on the American Billboard album charts, with hits like "Please Please Me", "From Me To You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", and "All My Loving". They reappeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1965, and made cameo-appearances in 1966, and 1967. They were awarded the prestigious M.B.E. (Member of The British Empire) in 1965, for their high selling albums, and record breaking concert tours, of the U.S., as well as Europe. John Lennon had met Avant - Gard Artist Yoko Ono at a Gallery opening at the Indica Art Gallery in London, in 1966. After their break-up in 1970, each of the individual Beatles continued to have successful hits on their own. The Beatles continue to play a pivotal role in Popular Music, and The Beatles Story Experience Museum in Liverpool is the perfect place to visit. Amit Kshirsagar