It may look like a humble three-bedroom mid terrace home in the regional British city of Liverpool.
But Beatles fans around the world will know this modest council house at 25 Upton Green in Speke, Liverpool, where history was made.
The former Beatle, George Harrison, who died in 2001, lived in this very house from the age of six with his parents Harold and Louise and his brother and two sisters after the family moved into the then newly-built council house from a smaller house in Wavertree.
It was at a nearby bus stop waiting for the school bus that Harrison met Paul McCartney, who asked him to join a band he had started with another friend, John Lennon.
Harrison continued to live in the house, site of some of the band’s first rehearsals, until the early 1960s, when the Beatles finally made it to the big time and the family moved out.
The house was then lived in by a number of council tenants before being bought from Liverpool City Council in 1983 by its most recent owner, who died earlier this year.
The property is now being put up for auction at the Cavern Club, the centre of the 1960s rock ‘n’ roll scene in Liverpool, by Countrywide Property Auctions on October 20 with a guide price of £100,000 (Dh594,855).
But, if the sale of Lennon’s childhood home at 9 Newcastle Road last year is anything to go by, the house could fetch much more because of its Beatles connection.
That property was initially valued at £150,000 but was eventually sold to a fan for three times the amount at £480,000.
“The Beatles, arguably one the biggest bands of all time, still attract thousands of visitors to Liverpool each year,” said Stephen Giddins, the regional sales director of Merseyside-based selling agent Entwistle Green. “Taking into consideration the location, the property itself and the background we expect a lot of interest locally and internationally.”
q&a: The quiet Beatle
What was George Harrison’s role in The Beatles?
Known as the "quiet Beatle", Harrison was at a disadvantage behind the Lennon-McCartney song writing partnership. Nonetheless he penned classics including Here Comes The Sun and Something. He was also the Beatle most interested in spirituality, especially Hinduism and Indian mysticism and was instrumental in bringing the band to India in 1968 to study meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
What instrument did he play?
Known as a guitarist, Harrison actually played a wide variety of instruments on Beatles tracks over the years and is widely credited with introducing the sitar to rock ‘n’ roll music.
What did he do after the Beatles?
After the band broke up in 1970 he spent much of his later years avoiding fame and publicity, preferring instead to meditate and garden. But he had hits too, most famously including My Sweet Lord, which Harrison wrote to the Hindu god Vishnu.
What else did he do?
Harrison was very interested in films and famously mortgaged his house (not 25 Upton Green) to produce the film Monty Python's Life of Brian. The film grossed US$21 million at the box office in the US. Harrison helped to set up Hand Made Films and served as executive producer for 23 films.
What about his family life?
His first marriage to the British model and photographer Pattie Boyd, ended in divorce in 1977. The following year he married the Mexican and British author Olivia Trinidad Arias, then a secretary at A&M records. The couple had one son, Dhani. Harrison died in 2001 at the age of 58 from lung cancer.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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