The Beatles’ 1960s ticket stubs set for Lichfield auction

Susie Rack

BBC News, West Midlands

Richard Winterton 17 pastel-coloured ticket stubs laid out in a cardboard box for bands including The Beatles, The Searchers and Cliff Richard, all priced in shillings and pence.Richard Winterton

There are 17 ticket stubs going under the hammer at Richard Winterton auctioneers

Ticket stubs for 1960s gigs by The Beatles that cost pennies at the time are among a collection expected to fetch up to £500 at auction.

The 17-stub archive includes two for The Beatles and Roy Orbison at Birmingham Town Hall in June 1963, costing fans eight shillings and sixpence.

The Liverpool band was originally second on the bill, but were bumped up to co-headline as Beatlemania grew and ended up closing the set.

Richard Winterton Auctioneers described the “rare and nostalgic collection”, which spans performances between 1962 and 1964, as a “wonderful piece of music history”.

Of the 17 tickets, 16 are for performances in Birmingham and also include The Beatles’ first outing at the city’s Odeon, on 11 October 1964.

There are additional stubs for The Cliff Richard Show at the Hippodrome, The Searchers at the Odeon, and Brenda Lee at the Town Hall.

One stub reveals the owner snagged a balcony seat for an unnamed performance, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, for just 7 shillings.

In addition, there is a complete ticket for Jazz 1963 at Birmingham Town Hall, presented by The Musicians’ Union and The Labour Party, in October 1963.

PA Media A black and white image of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison taken in 1963. The men are all in black jackets, shirts and ties.PA Media

In 1963, Beatlemania was taking over the UK, just months before it would do the same in the US during the band’s first visit, in February 1964

“Two ticket stubs for The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania are especially evocative – how incredible it must have been to see the Fab Four live in 1963 and 1964,” a spokesperson for the auctioneers said.

“With a host of other iconic names in the collection, this is a wonderful piece of music history.”

The stubs will go under the hammer on 14 July, at the Lichfield Auction Centre in Fradley Park.

Continue Reading