1 November 1963 Cheltenham's Odeon’s stage was taken by storm by the Beatles. With them on the bill were the Rhythm & Blues Quartet, the Vernon Girls, Frank Berry, the Brook Brothers, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, and the Kestrels. The Beatles played a short set of about half an hour to a screaming audience which threw jelly babies at the stage as George was said to be partial to them. The very first printed use of the word Beatlemania appeared in The Daily Mirror 2nd November 1963 in an article describing the Cheltenham concert. "Beatlemania! Its happening everywhere.. even in sedate Cheltenham", said The Daily Mirror.
Martin Creasy, the author of the book Legends On Tour - The Pop Package Tours Of The 1960s is working on his new book about the Beatles' six tours of the UK between the beginning of 1963 and the end of 1965, which will include interviews with musicians who toured with the Beatles and fans who saw the shows. He is looking for anyone who attended the Cheltenham gig that opened the winter tour on November 1, 1963, to help him with his work. If you would like to help, please email us at cheltenham4u@aol.com or Martin directly at martin.creasy@talk21.com.
For more information about life in Cheltenham in the 1960s see our Cheltenham Nostalgia section.
Posts
Hi Iwas there, remember the Beatles but not the rest. Eight at the time.
ReplyDeleteChris
I was 10 and just remember everyone screaming .....couldn't really enjoy the music
DeleteA girl (Marylyn Hemming), who later became my wife in 1965 was in the front row. Her photograph was in a number of newspapers including the 'News of the World' and a few years later saw the same photograph on the front of a Merseybeats EP entitled 'Merseybeats Live on Stage'. It may have fooled a lot of people but not me!!!
ReplyDeleteColin Taylor
I was there, queued for hours for a ticket and dad took over when had to leave for school. My friend and I went back stage in the afternoon to get The Beatles autographs as my friend dad worked back stage on the lighting etc.
ReplyDeleteMervyn
Hello,
ReplyDeleteYes, I was there. The only things I remember are:
I sat in the upper circle,
my ticket was 10/6d but I paid only 2/6d as I bought it off a friend whose parents forbade him from going,
the audience noise was tremendous throughout but even worse when the Beatles came on,
I hardly heard any music but I remember John shouting "shurrup",
before the show hundreds of people were milling around the cinema when suddenly a head was seen poking out of a window at the top right of the building - it was rumoured to be George & the crowd went mad shouting & waiting (see Echo report).
That was the projectionist's staff room window. I worked there 6 years later. Simon
ReplyDelete