From Banff - earliest known set of Beatles autographs

THE year is 1960 and a group of young musicians touring the north of Scotland are involved in a minor car crash near Banff. The first person on the scene runs not to the nearest phone box to call an ambulance but home to get her autograph book, presumably recognising the most famous face, that of Johnny Gentle.

Ten minutes after the accident, the girl had secured the signature of Gentle and his lesser known young companions, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stuart Suttcliffe. Now the signatures, the earliest known set of the band who became known as the Beatles, have been sold for 2,500 to a collector by the girl who secured them.

At the time, the band which was to become the most famous pop group of all time were barely known in the UK and had not settled on their band’s name, having previously been called the Silver Beetles and the Beatals.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The members of the band had not even settled on their own names. Paul was calling himself Paul Ramone at the time, and George signed under the name Carl Harrison. In those pre-Ringo days, the band’s drummer was Tommy Moore, who was taken to hospital after the crash, while Sutcliffe later left the band and died of a brain haemorrhage.

The signatures were bought in Inverness at the weekend by a pop memorabilia dealer, Jason Cornthwaite, who said he was stunned when the woman presented the piece of history. "It dates from 23 May, 1960, and is the first known set of Beatles autographs. I never expected to see anything from that time.

"The woman was the first on the scene after the accident, and instead of phoning for a doctor she went off to get her autograph book.

The drummer, Tommy Moore, had concussion and had all his teeth knocked out, and while they were waiting for him to go to hospital the band sent for chips.

"I don’t know how she knew to get their autographs as they were not famous at the time. But Johnny Gentle was quite well known then."

He added: "It took me a few minutes to realise how important it was. I recognised Paul’s handwriting right away but I’ve never seen him sign with that stage name - Paul Ramone - before. George used Carl instead of George at that time for some reason."

Mr Cornthwaite said the autographs will go into a collection run by his Chorley-based company, Tracks, and will not be re-sold: "We tend to keep certain historical pieces. Some people like to keep things and others want to sell them on and would sooner have the money. The woman did not want her name made public and I didn’t ask why she was selling after all this time."

"About eight to ten years ago stuff used to turn up more frequently. Once we were given Paul McCartney’s school exercise book, when he was practising writing his name on the back, and someone once brought in one of John Lennon’s baby teeth."