ENGLANDJULY 2019 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 49VLADISLAVGAJIC/DEPOSITEPHOTOS/INDIAPICTURE
the corner from Baker Street, which features in the opening
sequence of the 1964 movie, A Hard Day’s Night; it was also
where Liverpool trains terminated, making it The Beatles’
entry point to London. As I walked about, I got the feeling
that almost every other building had something to do with
them. Not far from the station, Starr rented an apartment at
34 Montagu Square, where Yoko Ono and Lennon lived one
summer. The blue heritage placard sits high up on the wallThis mural by artist
Mr. Brainwash has
since been painted
over (r i g h t); Facing
page: The iconic
Abbey Road album
was supposed to
be titled Everest,
featuring a shot of
the band and the
mountain, but The
Beatles were too
lazy for a photo-op
in Nepal.so that no souvenir-hunter can nick the marker of the abode
where the nude cover photo for Lennon’s first solo album Tw o
Virgins (1968) was shot.
The headquarters of Apple Records, the label they started
at 3 Savile Row, is long gone, yet I wasn’t the only fan gawking
at the rooftop. It was there the concert movie Let It Be was
canned during The Beatles’ last public performance on a cold
January day in 1969. A spectacle that irritated neighbours so
much that they called the bobbies, who, as can be seen in the
film, ended the historical event unceremoniously. But at least
they won an Academy Award for best original soundtrack!
While both Lennon and Harrison have moved on to the
big studio in the sky, one might spot Sir McCartney outside
his offices in Soho Square. It’s a discreet building but keep
an eye out for the ‘mpl’ over the glass doors (McCartney
Productions Limited), the company that holds his copyrights.
I also sauntered past 7 Cavendish Avenue, where Macca has
lived since the 1960s, with high hopes he might step out for a
quick puff of his once-preferred herb. And, of course, I tracked
down the address where actress Jane Asher used to live, whom
McCartney dated before marrying Linda Eastman. Once
when he slept over at her place on 57 Wimpole Street, he woke
up ravenous and came up with a song called Scrambled Eggs.
The melody was great but lyrics sucked, so he rewrote it as
Yesterday—which remains one of the most covered songs in
the world.
I didn’t have time to go to the British Library where Lennon’s
handwritten lyrics for Strawberry Fields Forever are on
display, nor the rock’n’roll museum at the Old Park Lane
branch of Hard Rock Café that preserves Lennon’s specs—
Liverpool beckoned. As I squinted out at the foggy British
landscape from the coach window, I thought back on my years
of Beatlemania.MY LONG AND WINDING ROAD
One of its most extreme moments was in Athens, Greece,
where I found the band’s sandal maker near Monastiraki
Square and bought exactly the same footwear that Lennon
had (I even wore them as I wrote this piece). On my first trip to
India in the early 1990s, I immediately checked out the Rikhi
Ram & Sons shop at Connaught Place, Delhi, where Harrison