Just Like Starting Over

When John Lennon and his group The Quarrymen stepped onto the back of a wagon in Rosebery Street on 22nd June 1957, Charlie Roberts borrowed a camera and took a few photos of the event. It was just a group of friends having fun at a street party.

What Charlie didn't know at the time was that he was capturing a piece of Beatles history. This was the first time that John Lennon had been photographed performing with his group. Skiffle was the new music and soon, John would meet Paul McCartney who would then introduce George Harrison to John.

Charlie was more than just an amateur photographer. He was a friend of The Quarrymen and was hanging around with them during their formative years. This is his incredible eyewitness account of seeing his friends go from being The Quarrymen to becoming the phenomenon that is The Beatles.

The author takes us on a journey through war-torn Liverpool into the post-war years as the city began to rebuild after the devastation of the second-world war. Being part of this new breed of "teenagers", music took over his life and those of his friends. When he made friends with Colin Hanton, he was quickly welcomed into the group of friends that included a young John Lennon. John had recently formed a skiffle group in the wake of the new music craze begun by Lonnie Donegan. Although they were just a group of friends having fun, Charlie was to witness this group going from an amateur band to seeing the difference when Paul McCartney and George Harrison were recruited.

What was it like to be around John, Paul and George? Find out what tricks they got up to at a party; what it was like to see The Quarrymen performing and meeting up with The Beatles after they became famous.