My experience - seizing on every picture, saving money for singles and EPs, catching them on a local news show - was repeated over and over again around the world. I was exactly the right age to be hit by them full-on. The Beatles even recorded for Parlophone, which was a comedy label, as if they believed they might be a passing novelty act.

Prior to that, the people in show business from the north of England had all been comedians. The funny thing is that parents and all their friends from Liverpool were also curious and proud about this local group.

I didn’t care about that they were the band for me. The photo was badly lit, and they didn’t quite have their look down Ringo had his hair slightly swept back, as if he wasn’t quite sold on the Beatles haircut yet. This was 1962 or ’63, before they came to America. I spent most of my holidays on Merseyside then, and a local girl gave me a bad publicity shot of them with their names scrawled on the back.

I first heard of the Beatles when I was nine years old.

Tell me why beatles