Beatles break-up anniversary: Rare photo of young John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison emerges

No gentle weeping here: Paul McCartney, left, John Lennon and George Harrison lark about on their guitars in the days before they became The Beatles
Tracks Ltd/PA Wire
Jason Collie10 April 2020

A previously unseen photo of the young John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison has emerged on the 50th anniversary of the announcement the Beatles were breaking up.

The image shows the three members of the then-skiffle group The Quarrymen practising on their guitars in a house in Liverpool, seemingly a year before they morphed into The Beatles.

The image was found amongst a collection of old photos bought by music memorabilia specialists Tracks Ltd.

It is unclear who took the picture or when it was shot, although Beatles history doyen Mark Lewisohn believes it was late 1959.

50 years to the day since The Beatles split

Lennon formed the skiffle and rock ‘n’ roll group in 1956 which played at parties and school dances before McCartney and Harrison later joined up.

Tracks director Paul Wane said: “Having seen thousands upon thousands of Beatles photos in my career, I was amazed to stumble quite randomly upon this shot of the Quarrymen amongst a collection of photos that I bought recently.”

Mr Lewisohn said: “It’s late 1959, somewhere in Liverpool, and history shines in every dimly-lit detail. Schoolboys Paul McCartney and George Harrison, 17 and 16, are rock and rolling together with art-school student John Lennon, 19.

“John, Paul and George were a trio for much of 1958-59. ‘The rhythm’s in the guitars’, they’d audaciously tell promoters who wondered where their drummer was.

“Within a year of this moment the Quarrymen had become The Beatles, professional musicians playing long hours in Hamburg.

“Four years from here they’d have attained the inconceivable level of fame and popularity that joyously maintains to this day – out from this Liverpool room and across the universe.

“There are few Quarrymen photos and a discovery such as this is extremely rare. Precise information of where and when it was taken would be welcomed by collectors and historians alike.”

The Beatles - In pictures

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Ringo Starr joined The Beatles three years after this image was shot, just as the band stood on the cusp of becoming music legends.

It was on April 10, 50 years ago, that the Daily Mirror reported “Paul Is Quitting The Beatles”.

McCartney had sent out a press statement to promote his first solo album in which when asked in questions he set himself if the break was temporary or permanent, he replied: “I don’t really know.”

He added he could not foresee a time when the legendary Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership would become active again.

Lennon had been the one who had really ended the group, telling his bandmates in late-1969 “I want a divorce”.

PA Media contributed to this article