A Hard Day's Night

I’ve had a look round the brand new Hard Day’s Night Hotel in North John Street, Liverpool, a short walk from my office. It’s one of the many new places that has opened up during European Capital of Culture Year, and it’s also an outside possibility as a venue for the launch of Waterloo Sunset. To be honest, I’m not actually sure that there is going to be a launch, but this would certainly be an impressive setting for one.

The Beatles theme is, of course, inescapable. There are statues of the Fab Four outside the building, high above the street. Inside, there are endless bits and pieces of memorabilia. Photos, artwork, album covers, yellow submarines, the framed score of ‘Yesterday’ signed by Paul McCartney and Sir George Martin. I did not, however, see any indication of a Heather Mills Suite….

All the Lonely People, my first novel, took its title from a wonderful Beatles song, ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Yesterday’s Papers, my fourth, had a plot with its roots in the era of Merseybeat in the sixties. But my interest in the Beatles dates back even further.

When I was about eight years old, I saw the four lads in purple suits opening a carnival in Verdin Park, in my home town of Northwich. They had just hit the top of the charts and presumably were just fulfilling a contractual obligation. I remember vividly a huge crowd of screaming teenage girls, having hysterics at the sight of Paul in particular. He’s never been short of admirers ever since.