National Geographic Traveller India – July 2019

JULY 2019 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 47

NORIOKANISAWA/ ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

(MAP BACKGROUND),

WERNER OTTO/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO/INDIAPICTURE

(PEOPLE),

ILBUSCA/ISTOCK UNRELEASED

(CLUB)

FACING PAGE:

AVA BITTER/SHUTTERSTOCK

(TYPEWRITER),

CUBE29/SHUTTERSTOCK

(PAINT BRUSH),

PEACEFULLY7/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

(TV & CLAPBOARD),

DAVOODA/SHUTTERSTOCK

(DISC & FORK AND KNIFE),

ALBUM ONLINE/INDIAPICTURE

(THE BEATLES),

BERM_TEERAWAT/SHUTTERSTOCK

(CUP),

PICTURELAKE/ISTOCK

UNRELEASED/GETTY IMAGES

(STAMP),

OLEGGANKO/SHUTTERSTOCK

(MUSIC NODES)

he epiphany that I was a Beatles fan came in my

early teens, and it was like experiencing one’s first heady taste

of ale—I just knew this was something special. Considering I

was born three weeks after the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely

Hearts Club Band—the album that changed the sound of pop

music—and three weeks before the launch of All You Need Is

Love, it seems Iwas destined to be a diehard Beatles fan. Of

course it helped that the music is so damn good.

When John Lennon was shot I wrote a condolence letter

to his widow Yoko Ono, spending all my pocket money on

the postage from Sweden to New York; a decade later Paul

McCartney played nearby where I lived in Gothenburg, so

I volunteered to work at the arena just to get a chance to say

“Hello, Goodbye.” When I travelled through India I always

thought of George Harrison, a fellow Indophile like myself.

I even heard a story from an old hippie in Goa who claimed to

have partaken in a mountain of ‘Colombian marching powder’

with Ringo Starr. They became like my extended family. So, it

followed that I should travel with them when I went on my first

visit to England.

A DAY IN MY LIFE

Topmost on my agenda when I arrived in London was to take

the underground to the neat and outlying Saint John’s Wood.

It isn’t named after Lennon, but the station boasts a Beatles-

inspired coffee shop, selling the essential ‘I crossed Abbey

Road’ badge. About half a kilometre away sits the legendary

Abbey Road Studios (3 Abbey Road) where The Beatles cut

many hits, as did other supergroups from Pink Floyd and

Queen to U2.

But I didn’t see any pop star step out humming a hit, and

truth be told it was a fairly anonymous dirty-white building,

which was a bit of a let-down. However, the main draw was in

front of the studios: to my knowledge, the only zebra-crossing

that has been bestowed a heritage monument status. Once

the tourists in front of me finished taking selfies, I tap-danced

across like a Beatle gone solo, dodging cars in the manner of

a second-rate bullfighter, realising it would’ve been better to

come on a Sunday when London nurses its collective hangover.

Afterwards, I took the tube to Baker Street and headed to

London’s main Beatles souvenir shop—advertising its opening

hours as “Eight Days a Week.” Incidentally, in the late 1960s

The Beatles themselves ran their own trendy, yet short-lived,

Apple Store at 94 Baker Street when they diversified into

design, but the venture was a commercial failure.

MY MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

My next destination was the Marylebone station around

T

ENGLAND

London

The Beatles’ concert (lef t) in Stockholm on October 24, 1963,

is considered by many to be their best live show; The band

was paid £5 for their first show at The Cavern Club (r i g h t).