Beeb Beatles Celebration

The Beatles are being celebrated by BBC Radio. Radio 6 recently reprised the original 1982 show “The Beatles at the Beeb”, but that’s only the beginning. The real party is in October.

The
Beatles’ first top-20 hit, Love Me Do, was released 50 years ago on 5
October 1962, and the BBC is celebrating with a nationwide trawl for
listeners’ memories from the time.

All 39 BBC Local Radio
stations are holding their own My Beatles Story day (#mybeatlesstory) on
5 October, when every station will broadcast listeners’ memories of the
Fab Four.

The BBC has also commissioned a Local Radio survey in
which 12,000 people across the UK are being asked to pick their
favourite Beatles track. Each station will announce the local results on
5 October.

In their early days, The Beatles toured extensively,
visiting towns as far apart as Morecambe and Southend, Croydon and
Whitchurch, in addition to the major cities. They were seen by vast
crowds as their popularity rocketed, and it is hoped that the My Beatles
Story day will jog some great memories from across the nation.

On-air
trails are asking audiences not only if they saw any of the early gigs,
but also whether they ever saw a fresh-faced young Paul McCartney out
and about, or if they might have served John, George or Ringo in a pub
or shop, or given them a lift in a taxi. It is hoped everyone’s memories
will come flooding back for a golden day of Beatles nostalgia right
across the BBC’s Local Radio network.

Stuart Maconie is also
presenting an hour-long documentary on BBC Four, which is being made by
the BBC in the North West. Love Me Do – 1962 will go out on BBC Four on 4
October, with a shorter version going out on BBC One (North West only)
on 1 October.

The programme asks why Liverpool was the birthplace
of a musical phenomenon. The city was suffering from severe
unemployment, yet it was also the world’s biggest port. Maconie explores
how its vibrant pop culture was influenced by the records that arrived
from the United States, and chronicles the social history of a proud
seaport which helped change pop culture forever.

BBC Radio 2 will
also mark the anniversary with a Beatles Season starting on 3 October,
which includes a Blaggers Guide To The Beatles with David Quantick and
The Casbah Club: Birthplace Of Merseybeat – an exploration of the story
of the famous Liverpool club, presented by Pete Best, the original
Beatles drummer who was replaced by Ringo Starr.

Other programmes
in the season include Year In The Life: Beatles ’62 in which Roger
McGough tells the story of the pivotal breakthrough year for the newly
mop-topped Liverpool beat combo, and Beatleland, in which Craig Charles
heads home to find out what they took with them and what legacy they
left behind.

BBC