New Beatles Photo exhibition

Bodelwyddan Castle in Wales is the place to visit from tomorrow and until 28th September, as they are staging a new exhibition of famous Beatles photos on loan from the National Portrait Gallery in London. The exhibition features rare and unseen photographs by famous photographers, who helped to shape the group’s public image.
From early ‘60s images of Paul McCartney and John Lennon as they rehearsed from one of McCartney’s High School exercise books (taken by his brother, Mike McCartney) to a number of group and individual photos captured as they performed on Top of the Pops (by Harry Goodwin), as well as the iconic “butcher sleeve” photo (by Robert Whitaker).
There’s also their final performance at the Cavern (by Norman Parkinson), and one taken at the studio (by Linda McCartney) while recording the White Album, which reached number one in the chart during December 1968.
One of the more humorous photographs is the one taken in February 1963 by Michael Ward, which features Lennon, McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison standing in front of a sign stating: “Please use the litter bins.”
As one of the world’s most successful bands of all time, The Beatles were captured on camera on many occasions.
And among the most famous images are the photographs of Lennon and his second wife Yoko Ono staging their famous “bed-in” for peace not long after their wedding in 1969.
But this exhibition focuses on the Fab Four themselves and features rare portraits.
And there is much more to the exhibition than the photographs.
“As well as providing visitors with a fantastic mixture of photography, many of the images have a fascinating tale to tell,” says Morrigan Ellis, Deputy Director at Bodelwyddan Castle.
A number of hands-on Beatles’ family activities are planned to take place during the exhibition.
There will be workshops in which visitors can design, construct and create their own musical instrument from everyday “junk”, an experiment with combinations of colour to create psychedelic prints and people will also be encouraged to design their own musical heroes T-shirt inspired by the exhibition.
“The workshops will enable families to produce their own Beatles’ themed artwork, using the exhibition as inspiration.”