Here you’ll find stories and memories from Sheffield people recalling the times The Beatles came to the city. I hope you enjoy them…
Judith Simons
From Hillsborough to the heart of Beatlemania Judith Simons was a Sheffield-born journalist who found herself at the centre of one of the biggest cultural revolutions of the twentieth century. Raised in Hillsborough, she began her working life at the Sheffield Telegraph before travelling to post-war Germany in 1946, where, aged just 21, she reported…
Keep readingPatricia and Arnold Crowther
The Sheffield Wiccans whose story crossed paths with The Beatles Sheffield has another unusual Beatles connection. In October 1964, Arnold Crowther, High Priest of the Sheffield Coven, claimed the Beatles’ phenomenal success was due to the occult: “The Beatles got to the top by magic! When you have thousands of teenagers screaming and shouting it…
Keep readingJerry Stevens
From Sheffield working men’s clubs to The Beatles’ final British tour Born Gerard Pinder in Sheffield, Jerry Stevens was a singer, comedian, impressionist and compère who rose from local working men’s clubs to become one of Britain’s popular variety entertainers of the 1960s. Before entering showbusiness he trained as a pattern maker at Sheffield engineering…
Keep readingBarry, Reg and The Beatles: Memories from Ann and Dave
Ann and Dave remember the story of Barry, Reg and their meetings with John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Their memories were recorded separately and reflect their own perspectives of events that took place in 1963. Photographs mentioned in this interview are held privately and will not be reproduced online. Selected images will form part of…
Keep readingJohn Baxter – Bamford 1963
I was “caddying” for my father while he played golf at Bamford (Sicklehome) on the Sunday after the Sheffield performance. As usual, after playing he went to the Marquis of Granby Hotel for a couple of pints before going home for lunch, and I sat in the bar with him and his friends. After a…
Keep readingJanet – City Hall 25th May 1963
I was 14 when The Beatles appeared at Sheffield City Hall in 1963. Originally Roy Orbison was topping the bill, but Please Please Me had just reached number one, so The Beatles topped the bill and he was moved to second place. In those days there were seats behind the stage, but during the concert…
Keep readingPeter and Geoff Stringfellow
The Sheffield brothers who helped put youth culture centre stage Born in wartime Sheffield, brothers Peter and Geoff Stringfellow grew up in Pitsmoor in a family dominated by strong women while the men were away serving in the war. Peter later described himself as an outsider who struggled at school, leaving education at fifteen and…
Keep readingMargaret Kendall – City Hall 1963
I went to see the Beatles at the City Hall 1962 or 63. I was at Brincliffe Grammar School. I remember standing outside the Grand Hotel afterwards with hundreds of fans. Every time anyone opened a window we all screamed. It was madness! I was wearing a mustard A line mini skirt, navy satin blouse…
Keep readingLinda Brothwell – City Hall Nov 64
I remember my mum queued for ages to get me a ticket for the concert as I had a birthday coming up, and it was one of my gifts.It was quite frenzied in the auditorium. Nobody heard any music or lyrics because the screaming from the audience drowned everything else out. We didn’t mind; it…
Keep readingAnn Askey – City Hall 1964
It must have been ‘64 when myself and David’s sister, my now sister-in-law (we were just friends at the time) toddled off into town because The Beatles were there that Saturday. We’d have been 12 because we were both born in 1952. We stood outside the City Hall at the back entrance and just shouted…
Keep readingDiane – The Azena 1963
All she could hear was screaming… I was only 11 and, although I now love The Beatles, it was my sister, about 14 at the time, who really wanted to go. Our mum and dad wouldn’t let her; they thought she was too young and worried she might get crushed. “You’ll be able to hear…
Keep readingSue – 2nd March 1963
Autograph Hunting Led to a Chance Encounter with The Beatles… My friends and I used to go autograph hunting between the City Hall and the Grand Hotel on a Saturday. I remember on that particular weekend I was feeling particularly cool in a mustard woollen swing coat with an integral scarf which had mock ocelot…
Keep readingFrank Parker and David Antcliffe – Student radio and George Harrison, Sheffield December 1969
A student radio programme at the University of Sheffield led to a backstage interview with George Harrison and Eric Clapton in December 1969. The programme, Radio Five, was produced by students for broadcast on Radio Sheffield. Frank Parker I was born in Luton, but my father was from Chesterfield, so I was familiar with Sheffield…
Keep readingAnne – The City Hall 1963
The main thing I can remember is the noise. It was a very long time ago, I don’t remember much. I know I went with some school friends and somebody must have taken us. We might have gone on the train, because there was a train from Sheffield to Chesterfield. I’d moved from Hull to…
Keep readingRichard – The Azena 1963
We saw The Beatles four times in Sheffield, but on the fourth occasion we just couldn’t hear them for the screaming, so we didn’t go the next time. Getting to the Azena wasn’t easy. My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, we were reliant on buses, so it was difficult to get there…
Keep readingJude – City Hall 1963
I donated my City Hall Beatles ticket to Sheffield Museum many years ago. It used to be on display in a cabinet. Obviously I was there and sat on the steps all day with school friends – against my mum’s wishes…. just for the craic, as we would say now. I can’t recall what we…
Keep readingRoger – The Azena 1963
My auntie was working in the VIP lounge at Stansted Airport. Four scruffy-looking lads wandered in. She said, “Oi, you can’t come in here.” One of them said, “We’re waiting for somebody, we’ll just wait here.” She stood and watched them, then Brian Epstein turned up with their boarding passes and told her they were…
Keep readingA Sheffield Childhood: Queenie Hyman and an Early Beatles Connection
A Sheffield connection: Queenie Hyman While this archive focuses on memories of The Beatles performing in Sheffield, there is also a quieter, lesser known link between the city and their manager’s family. Recent research in Sheffield newspaper archives has revealed that Queenie Epstein, mother of Brian Epstein, grew up in Sheffield and had a notably…
Keep readingBarbara and Carol – The City Hall 1963 – 64
Barbara: Our dad, we called him “Old Joe”, was a Commissionaire. In the daytime he worked as a messenger at the Westminster Bank in Sheffield, and at night he’d put on his smart uniform and work the doors at the City Hall, Cutlers’ Hall, the Marples, the Gaumont, the Penny Farthing and different nightclubs. He…
Keep readingRobert – The Gaumont 1965
I queued for our tickets for 6 and half hours, it stretched from West Street, past City Hall and right round into the ticket office. I bought 2 tickets for Jean and I, I paid 17s. 6d. each. I have the tickets still kept safe. There were two performances and we went for the evening…
Keep readingPat – The City Hall 1964
In 1964 I was just 18 and had started my first term at Sheffield University. I was walking from Barkers Pool when I bumped into a workmate of my ex-boyfriend. He thought we were still together and said that, as a result of the ex, he had a spare ticket for the Beatles. Well, I…
Keep readingAlan, 1963–65 The Azena and City Hall
My late wife Susan and I were huge Beatles fans while we were at school, and we went to every show they had at the City Hall. We were also regulars at Pete and Geoff’s Black Cat Club on City Road, where we saw bands such as The Hollies, Freddie and the Dreamers, Gerry and…
Keep readingPat – The Azena 1963
Well, obviously, we’d seen them [The Beatles] on television and on this particular day, we went to the pictures, me and my friend Elaine, I can’t remember what we went to see. So these three lads sat behind us ask “do you want to see the Beatles tomorrow? Meet us outside here” Yeah, ok! They…
Keep readingSharon – Wings – City Hall 1973
When I went to see Paul McCartney and Wings at the City Hall in 1973 I wore my Biba dress, I still have the ticket somewhere [Sharon found it in her sisters’ old leather purse some weeks after our conversation]. I went with 2 friends and we got talking to the girl next to me…
Keep readingSharon – Beatles – City Hall 1964
Our Mam asked our Josie to take me out with her, I’d’ve been 5 or 6. I remember Josie and her friends wearing loads of underskirts under their skirts to make them billow out, and they’d done their hair in big bouffant bobs. Really dressed up. I looked up at them and thought “you look…
Keep readingAngela – The Gaumont 1965
” If this carries on we’ll have to go!” I was 16 years old, I was in the first year of my job as a cashier. I went with my friend Lynne, we were colleagues and went to things together outside of work. You could choose either the Gaumont or the City Hall and we…
Keep readingWelcome to the Fan Archive Beatles Sheffield Project
Here I’ll be sharing memories, stories, and reflections as they’re contributed to the archive — inside the venues, and outside waiting, listening, or hoping to catch a glimpse Posts will appear as stories are received and shaped. If you have a memory you’d like to share, you’re very welcome to get in touch. This archive…
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