BBC Inside Out North West will tonight tell the story of Tony Booth, the man behind the first Beatles posters.
When the Fab Four began to play at clubs around Liverpool, the main way fans found out about their gigs was through Booth’s posters.
One of Booth’s early posters
The 82-year-old is still drawing and designing, and his posters have now become museum exhibits and collector items.
Tonight, BBC Inside Out North West tells how Booth was hired by Beatles manager Brian Epstein to help promote his artists.
He said: “I did most of the posters for the Liverpool area in the early 1960s – actually I must have done hundreds of them.
“I used to be given carte blanche to change – what I wanted to do. I could put my own wording in – (like) I’d say The Fabulous Beatles which I often did.”
Ray O’Brien, the author of the Beatles book ‘There Are Places I Remember’, said: “They’re one offs. Nobody can reproduce the work that Tony has done and people, fans from all over the world are just so pleased to get a copy of one of his posters – and it’s a little bit of history of course.”
One of his posters is for a 1962 gig in New Brighton where the Beatles supported Little Richard. It was found by builders just two years ago as they renovated a train station in Birkenhead.
BBC Inside Out North West takes Tony back to the Cavern Club, which is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this year.
BBC Inside Out North West is on BBC One tonight at 7.30pm.
