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The world famous Cavern Club, the place where the Beatles were | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
discovered, was opened 60 years ago. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:15 | |
The Beatles would not have been what they were without that club. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
It is just a magical place. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
It has been closed, reopened, demolished, moved | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
and rebuilt. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:25 | |
But today, it's still going strong, an underground shrine | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
to popular music. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
It's legendary venue. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
It was the most famous club in the world. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
As long as music is played, the Cavern will be here. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:43 | |
I am going on my very own magical mystery | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
tour and discovering the true story behind | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
the most famous club in the world. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:48 | |
Welcome to the Cavern! | 0:00:49 | 0:00:50 | |
Hi there, all you cave dwellers. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:51 | |
This is Bob Wooler and welcome to the | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
Cavern Cellar. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:59 | |
# See the girl with the diamond ring | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
# She knows how to shake that thing, yeah yeah. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:15 | |
# What I say, but what I say...#. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:21 | |
Look straight ahead and what you would | 0:01:23 | 0:01:33 | |
have seen here is the famous Cavern Arch Stage. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
That's the image you get, isn't it, from all flickering | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
black-and-white images? | 0:01:38 | 0:01:40 | |
This is the Cavern today, an exact replica of | 0:01:40 | 0:01:42 | |
the cellar where the Beatles were discovered in the 1960s. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:46 | |
When the original was demolished in 1973, it | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
seemed that the Cavern was gone forever. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
But here, on the same site, the past lives on, side-by-side with | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
the present and the future. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:59 | |
We are going into here. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:01 | |
This is like a secret room, it's like Mr Benn. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:05 | |
This is the Cavern Live Lounge Stage. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:07 | |
If's our biggest stage. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:09 | |
Is this where Adele played? | 0:02:09 | 0:02:11 | |
It is, yeah. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
This stage itself has its own history. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:16 | |
Importantly, it is where Paul played in 1999. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
# I'll never dance with another, since I saw her | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
# standing there #. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:26 | |
The various incarnations of the venue and all | 0:02:26 | 0:02:32 | |
the signage here have led to a lot of confusion about where the | 0:02:32 | 0:02:42 | |
original cellar was, even here in Liverpool. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:44 | |
Hopefully, we will clear all that up in the next half hour. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
The story of the Cavern is a weird and | 0:02:47 | 0:02:49 | |
wonderful one and one which began 60 years ago, in January 1957. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
Like many good story, it started over a | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
few beers in the pub. | 0:02:54 | 0:03:03 | |
Alan Sytner was the son of a Liverpool doctor. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
A fairly wealthy young man, with a passion for jazz. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
One day, in 1956, he was having a drink with mates. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
We used to meet up at the Grapes in Matthew Street. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
And he said, do you know, I was in Paris and there is a | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
jazz club there and it opened early in the evening, so people came | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
straight from work. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:21 | |
He said, we should have a place like that. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
We could even open at lunchtime. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:24 | |
He said he had to find a place like a | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
basement or something. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:28 | |
We came out of the Grapes and walked up Matthew | 0:03:28 | 0:03:30 | |
Street and there was four of us there and I don't know who it was, | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
but one of us and said, hey, Alan, what about that place there? | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
And there was a sign for a basement, for | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
sale or let. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:40 | |
Anyway, the next day, we met up again at lunchtime and he | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
said, I've got that place. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:44 | |
I've bought it. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
Peter was a keen musician who would end up playing at the | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
Cavern with his band The Dolphins, so he was happy to volunteer when | 0:03:50 | 0:03:55 | |
Sytner asked for some muscle. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
It was actually three rooms. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:58 | |
And there was one big room. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:00 | |
So these walls had to come down. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
He said, I will get the sledgehammers and we'll get a barrel | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
of ale and we will go down one night to knock the walls down. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
Which we did. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
And I was just thinking afterwards, I mean, the whole thing | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
could have come down on top of us! | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
Launch night was set for January the 16th, 1957. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:21 | |
Sytner had promised a VIP to open Liverpool's | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
newest venue. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:32 | |
I was putting the chairs out and all publicity said that the Earl | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
of Wharncliffe was going to come and officially open it. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
Anyway, I said when is the Earl coming? | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
He said, well, he in't, I just used his name. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
He opened a piece of paper and he said, I have to tell you, folks, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:48 | |
that's because of bereavement, the Earl will not be with | 0:04:48 | 0:04:56 | |
us this evening. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
I am sure you will all join with me in sending our condolences. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
That was typical Alan. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:06 | |
The headliners that evening were the Merseysippi Jazz Band. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
But the bill also included some lads from the | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
Wirral, who called themselves the Coney Island Skiffle Group. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:20 | |
We went down very well, naturally. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
I think we were reasonably good, but | 0:05:22 | 0:05:24 | |
I think another reason was that they had been sitting | 0:05:24 | 0:05:26 | |
there in New Orleans, listening to jazz, which was | 0:05:26 | 0:05:29 | |
great, when all of a sudden, they had something different on. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:31 | |
Somebody singing songs that they knew, songs | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
you could join in with. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
And it was very hot in there. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
It was so hot that when it first started, we went | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
into the dressing room, I actually fainted. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
Somebody had to carry me outside to get some fresh air. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
So my only claim to fame was the first | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
person to have fainted in the Cavern. | 0:05:56 | 0:06:01 | |
Sytner clearly realised that jazz wasn't the | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
only music in town. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:08 | |
He introduced the Liverpool Skiffle Championships. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:09 | |
We would have 20 skiffle groups in one evening, | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
each going on and on about one number each. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
The amazing thing was, each skiffle | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
group had its own following. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:21 | |
The skiffle bands were tolerated, but in | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
reality, they were a kind of Trojan Horse | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
for a new type of music that | 0:06:25 | 0:06:26 | |
would change everything. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
One skiffle band were just about ready to | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
make that change. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:38 | |
The Quarrymen were led by a confident young chap called | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
John Lennon. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
At the Cavern, he wanted to do things his way. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
John had a couple of rock 'n' roll numbers and | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
somebody passed a piece of paper and over the he said, oh, we have a | 0:06:49 | 0:06:54 | |
request from the audience. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:56 | |
They opened it and said, do not do any more | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
rock 'n' roll, signed, the management. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
So apparently, we were not the only band that got that kind of note | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
given to us. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:07 | |
Rock 'n' roll was coming. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:09 | |
It's like King Canute trying to hold back the waves. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
It wasn't going to happen. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
Eventually, there was more and more rock 'n' roll and | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
eventually, as you know, it became pretty much | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
a rock 'n' roll place. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:18 | |
Like most bands, the Quarrymen had a regular change of personnel. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:24 | |
For the last performance at the Cavern, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
the line-up was John, Paul, George and... | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
Colin. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
The more we played rock 'n' roll, the more people got | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
up and left. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:34 | |
John was quite beside himself. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:35 | |
He kept turning round to me and say, they're all leaving! | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
Can't believe this, | 0:07:38 | 0:07:39 | |
they are all leaving. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:40 | |
John needn't have worried. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:41 | |
They were not leaving, they were dancing. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:43 | |
Everybody was jiving in the side aisles. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:45 | |
You couldn't jive next to the chairs, | 0:07:45 | 0:07:47 | |
so they're doing it in the aisles. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
We couldn't see that, because it was too dark. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
The whole place was jiving, it was fantastic. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
That was John, Paul, George and myself. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
By 1960, there was a new man in charge | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
of the Cavern. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
Ray McFall discovered rock 'n' roll by accident. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:05 | |
The first time rock 'n' roll came to the Cavern was | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
at Liverpool Jazz Festival in January 1960. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:14 | |
And they had booked Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, thinking | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
they were skiffle band, and they HAD been a skiffle band, but Rory | 0:08:17 | 0:08:23 | |
thought, let's do rock 'n' roll and he jumped on the piano and sang | 0:08:23 | 0:08:27 | |
Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:33 | |
When Ray McFall realised what was happening, he said, we better | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
have some of that at the Cavern. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:41 | |
The floodgates opened and then, Ray McFall had his genius idea. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
A lunchtime session. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
The first bands he invited were the boys who used to | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
be in the Quarrymen, now calling themselves the Beatles. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:54 | |
And another band called Jerry the Pacemakers. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:56 | |
I said, OK. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
He said with Paul McCartney, alternate days. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
We tried it the following week, alternate days, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
us and them, and never looked back. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:11 | |
They used to be packed. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:12 | |
All the girls would come from the offices and | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
the lads at lunchtime. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
We would queue up in Matthew Street, waiting to get in, and you | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
could hear the throb, throb, throb of the beat inside. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
There was a small doorway to the Cavern and 18 | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
stone steps to go down. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:30 | |
There would be a guy sitting at a wooden table | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
taking the money as you went in. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:36 | |
And you would pay your shilling to get | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
in and then you would be part of the excitement. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
Because it was a cellar club, there was this | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
strange aroma. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:47 | |
Horrible smell. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:48 | |
Very distinctive. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:49 | |
Body odour. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:50 | |
Condensation. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:51 | |
Dettol! | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
It was a dungeon, really. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:57 | |
It was a smelly place, because there were no drains, | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
no main drains, just a cesspit | 0:10:00 | 0:10:01 | |
underneath the toilets. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
The cleaners used to top it up with disinfectant | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
everyday. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
And the condensation running down the walls, everybody | 0:10:07 | 0:10:09 | |
would be perspiring, because it was so hot in there. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
It was like a steam bath. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:13 | |
But that's what made the Cavern. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:21 | |
The Cavern was run by two people who could not have been less | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
rock 'n' roll, really. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:26 | |
Ray McFall looked like an accountant and he was | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
a businessman. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:29 | |
And so he left the booking of the groups with | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
Bob Wooler. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:33 | |
Bob Wooler was really interested in people like Frank | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
Sinatra and Dean Martin, that type of thing, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
but he quickly attuned to | 0:10:37 | 0:10:38 | |
the rock 'n' roll sound and he loved working with these people. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:46 | |
This is the only footage of the Beatles | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
playing at the Cavern. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:55 | |
Drummer Pete Best had just been replaced by | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
Ringo Starr. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:07 | |
The Fab Four were about to become a global phenomenon. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
They were special. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
They had something you could not put your finger on. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
They were apart from all the other groups | 0:11:16 | 0:11:20 | |
and all the other groups were very good, but they had something else. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
They were different. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
And it was infectious. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
It changed my life. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:29 | |
Absolutely changed my life. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:30 | |
I knew, the minute I saw the Beatles playing | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
in the cavern, that's what I wanted to become, | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
a professional musician. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
And three days later, I left school and became | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
a professional musician, which I still am! | 0:11:39 | 0:11:44 | |
By that time, all the bands wanted to play the Cavern, | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
because we realised that this was the place with the best | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
music in Liverpool. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:52 | |
It was like three bands playing on the lunchtime sessions, | 0:11:52 | 0:11:56 | |
there was the Beatles, the Big Three and Gerry and the Pacemakers. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
Three great bands. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
The Big Three were huge favourites are the Cavern and even | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
had a song which celebrated the club's own dance. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
Everybody that was a regular, a Cavernite, knew | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
how to do the Cavern Stomp. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:14 | |
Instead of holding your hands up to jive, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:18 | |
you would hold them lower and your shoulders hunched | 0:12:18 | 0:12:22 | |
and you would swing and sway like this you take | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
your hands right up and then you both whirled | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
round and came back again to do | 0:12:29 | 0:12:30 | |
it all over again. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:31 | |
There was no alcohol served at the Cavern and the | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
girl who worked on the snack bar and in the cloakroom often got on stage | 0:12:34 | 0:12:38 | |
to sing with Gerry and the others. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:39 | |
The rest of the Cilla Black story is history. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
She just walked in, said, can I sing? | 0:12:43 | 0:12:46 | |
Yeah, come on, get on. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:48 | |
This is our cellar. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
And that was it. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
She just got up and did it. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:55 | |
And a star was born. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:57 | |
# Do you love me? | 0:12:57 | 0:12:58 | |
# You love me?#. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
Two men immersed in Cavern culture are now presenters on | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
Radio Merseyside. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:05 | |
Billy Butler was in a band called the Tuxedos and | 0:13:05 | 0:13:07 | |
spent years as a DJ in the club. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:09 | |
Frankie Connor played in the Hideaways, | 0:13:09 | 0:13:10 | |
a band who played there | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
over 300 times. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
It was the girls and the music, that's what it was. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
No booze, of course, though we were drinking | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
anyway, but it was about | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
music and about the girls. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:27 | |
That was what it was about. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:31 | |
He was a great talisman, if you like, for the | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
Cavern, Bob Wooler, wasn't he? | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
He was really in the fabric of the place. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
He had a great vision, did Bob, as well. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
When you look at some of the groups who appeared | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
here, you know, it took a vision to book some of them. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
They booked lots of out-of-town bands, you know? | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
He really did have his finger | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
on what was happening, Bob. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:50 | |
Bob was the Cavern. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:51 | |
He was the Cavern. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:52 | |
He was also a natural in front | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
of the camera. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:55 | |
It's really just a cellar, here in Matthew St. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:57 | |
A tunnel of brick in a cramped and twisted | 0:13:57 | 0:13:59 | |
part of town. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:00 | |
But from this basement, the Mersey Beat boiled over and covered | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
two hemispheres. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:04 | |
And it's still turned up high, as we shall | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
see in just a moment. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
The success of the Beatles meant that the Cavern | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
was THE place to play. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:11 | |
Bands in the UK and America all queued | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
up to appear. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:14 | |
The Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the young Rod Stewart and an | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
even younger Stevie Wonder, all performed on the Cavern stage. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:19 | |
Oh, and this lot weren't bad either. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:27 | |
Its international reputation was illustrated in 1965, when a French | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
TV show broadcast live from the Cavern. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
Gene Vincent, Sandie Shaw and Manfred Mann were among those | 0:14:37 | 0:14:42 | |
introduced by a bilingual Petula Clark. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
SHE INTRODUCES IN FRENCH | 0:14:45 | 0:14:46 | |
Gerry And The Pacemakers! | 0:14:46 | 0:14:54 | |
# Life goes on day after day. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
Despite this global recognition, not all was well in the office. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:00 | |
And in February '66, things reached a head. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
It was always precarious at the Cavern. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
It was always precarious. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
When we got our brown envelope at the end of the week | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
with the money in, we were never sure whether we would get it. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
I turned up at the session on Sunday night and Ray said this will be | 0:15:13 | 0:15:17 | |
the last session at the Cavern. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
We are closing after this, the bailiffs are coming in tomorrow. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
We were stunned. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:22 | |
That was it. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
While the session was in progress, after midnight, they started taking | 0:15:25 | 0:15:29 | |
tables and chairs and putting them up the stairs so people | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
couldn't get in. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
And it remained that way until 12 o'clock the next day. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:42 | |
We played for hours. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
The show was removed and in came the bailiffs. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
It doesn't matter. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
I'm still not sure how they got in, the police. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
But they did. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
We had a protest march through town, we all had home-made banners | 0:15:59 | 0:16:05 | |
and we all sang I am sad. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
The protesters got their way. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
Within five months, the Cavern had new owners. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
One of them was local businessmen Alf Geoghegan. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:25 | |
Dad came to me and said, I have the chance of buying | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
the Cavern, what do you think? | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
Well, you offer a child a key to a sweet shop, | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
it is not going to say no! | 0:16:33 | 0:16:38 | |
Once again, there was a VIP opening only this time | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
the VIP actually came. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
A new look super look extended Cavern was being | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
opened by the Premier. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:50 | |
It was all change at the Cavern. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
New types of bands were booked, it had a drinks licence | 0:16:53 | 0:16:55 | |
for the first time and finally proper toilets, ventilation | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
and a fire escape! | 0:16:58 | 0:17:02 | |
In 1968, it also had a surprise visitor. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
So, Debbie had her picture taken with Paul McCartney. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:09 | |
He said, I have got my new girlfriend in the car outside | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
and I would like to bring her back and show her where it all began. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
And it was girlfriend Linda who took the picture. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:20 | |
In 1970, Alf Geoghegan decided to sell up. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
One of the new owners was former wrestler and body-builder Roy Adams. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:33 | |
He extended it, he made the ground floor into northern soul disco | 0:17:33 | 0:17:36 | |
which was the thing. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
So, downstairs was the original Cavern and northern soul | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
so it was effectively two nightclubs which was great. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
For Roy, it was perfect. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
Neither the northern soul nor the heavy rock in the cellar | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
downstairs appealed to the one man who had seen and heard it all. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:59 | |
Paddy Delaney had been the Cavern's dorrman since 1959 but by 1971, | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
he was pining for the good old days of Mersey beats. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
The old atmosphere seemed so magical at the time, electric. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:10 | |
Everything was happening, people coming and going, | 0:18:10 | 0:18:12 | |
you don't see it now. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:14 | |
It is like a graveyard at the moment. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:19 | |
But my firm belief is at the resurrection happen again. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
But those dreams turned out to be pie in the sky. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
Liverpool was changing. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
A new underground rail system was being built, | 0:18:30 | 0:18:34 | |
British Rail decided the best place for a ventilation shaft | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
was Matthew street. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:38 | |
So, they slapped a compulsory purchase order on the Cavern. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:43 | |
My dad had no idea there was a compulsory purchase order on it. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
So, he was really shocked. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
He lobbied everyone, the local MP, the council, | 0:18:48 | 0:18:53 | |
British Rail and said all this and they just went, no, the truck | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
was rolling so no stopping it. | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
That was it. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:03 | |
I don't think the right people to save the Cavern were running | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
the council at the time. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:07 | |
The people running the council were of my parents age group | 0:19:07 | 0:19:10 | |
so the Cavern didn't mean very much to them. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
It was just another club, why shouldn't it go, it doesn't matter. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
Nobody saw the historical importance of it. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:21 | |
So, on the 5th of June 1973, the wrecking ball swung into action | 0:19:21 | 0:19:24 | |
and the Cavern was demolished. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:33 | |
Roy Adams opened a new venue on the other side of Mathew street | 0:19:36 | 0:19:39 | |
and took the Cavern name with him. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:41 | |
They said he could have saved the Cavern. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
There was no truth in that at all. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:50 | |
If he opened the new Cavern opposite and it would've been cheaper to keep | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
the original and have it as it is. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
Rather than take the chance of opening over the road. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
When it went over the road, it was to be the same music scene, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
more of the same, really. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:02 | |
But it wasn't the same. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:03 | |
It just wasn't. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:04 | |
The new Cavern simply didn't work and was eventually split into two | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
clubs with new names. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
One of them became Eric's itself a legendary venue | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
for a different generation. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:13 | |
The original Cavern sign hung up on the wall here for years | 0:20:13 | 0:20:18 | |
which is why so many people thought this was the site | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
of the original Cavern. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
Across the road, they never built the ventilation shaft. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
Instead, it became a car park. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
The Cavern story was over, so people thought. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
In 1980, everything changed. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:39 | |
Both sides of the Atlantic, to the murder of the former | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
Beatle, John Lennon. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:42 | |
He was shot dead outside his home in New York. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
One of the people deeply affected by John Lennon's death was Liverpool | 0:20:45 | 0:20:48 | |
architect and former Cavern regular David Backhouse. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:52 | |
The next morning, I got up at eight o'clock and started drawing | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
and I drew for 12 hours and at the end of that 12 hours, | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
I designed the embryonic Cavern Walks with the Cavern | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
in the basement. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:03 | |
And that is how it started. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:07 | |
And so Cavern Walks, a designer shopping centre was built | 0:21:07 | 0:21:12 | |
in Mathew Street on the site of the original Cavern. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
The cellar was dug out and incorporated into the development. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:18 | |
What would you say to some people who say, it is not | 0:21:18 | 0:21:20 | |
the original Cavern? | 0:21:20 | 0:21:22 | |
Well, it isn't. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:29 | |
It is slightly away from the original one but the size is | 0:21:29 | 0:21:32 | |
and the bricks are from the original Cavern. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
It is as near as we could possibly get because the foundations, | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
when you put the building up 11 floors like this, you have | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
to go down a long way. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:41 | |
We scraped the site and the arches were there. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
So, we know the size of the Cavern is exactly the same | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
size as the old one. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:49 | |
So, in 1984, the Cavern was born again. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:53 | |
It was rebuilt using many of the same bricks, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:55 | |
had the same address as the original and the entrance was right | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
here on the same spot created by Alf Geoghegan in 1966 but anyone | 0:21:58 | 0:22:02 | |
who thought the old magic would instantly return was sadly mistaken. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:08 | |
Several owners tried and failed to make a success of the Cavern | 0:22:08 | 0:22:11 | |
and it even closed again for a while. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
Then, in 1991 a new team took over. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:23 | |
It wasn't really until Bill and Dave Jones got | 0:22:23 | 0:22:25 | |
hold of the Cavern that things change dramatically. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:30 | |
They had been running Cavern city tours, they knew about tourism | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
in the area and they realised the Cavern should both be for older | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
people who wanted a reminder of what the Cavern's heritage | 0:22:36 | 0:22:38 | |
was and new people who wanted to hear new music and new bands. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:43 | |
And there were different audiences. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:50 | |
Today, the Cavern is once again all about live music. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
During the day, the traditional arch stage rings out | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
with musical memories. | 0:22:57 | 0:23:01 | |
My passion was Liverpool, I have always been proud of the city | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
I live in and I knew it could be turned around one day | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
and the Cavern, the Beatles, the Beatles's industry has been | 0:23:07 | 0:23:11 | |
a major factor in Liverpool becoming a global destination today. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:18 | |
It is not just the Cavern, it is part of that destination. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
Where have you come from? | 0:23:22 | 0:23:24 | |
Adelaide, South Australia. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:25 | |
Brazil. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
I am from Tennessee in the United States. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
Antonio and Francesca from Milan. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
I moved to Liverpool because of the Beatles. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
From Brazil! | 0:23:38 | 0:23:38 | |
Ha-ha! | 0:23:38 | 0:23:45 | |
What do you say to people who say it isn't the original Cavern? | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
I just cringe. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
We know it is not the original Cavern. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:52 | |
We don't pretend that it is. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
But where we are sitting now, is where the original Cavern was. | 0:23:56 | 0:24:02 | |
In hindsight, you could say we ended up with a better venue anyway | 0:24:02 | 0:24:10 | |
on the same site so rarely did we lose anything. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
One thing the new Cavern did have was more room, | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
including this larger stage which was ideal for the bigger acts. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:28 | |
As the 20th century drew to a close, it was to play host to the biggest | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
act of all, one of the Cavern's favourite sons had decided | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
it was time to come home. | 0:24:34 | 0:24:39 | |
This one isn't from the 50s or the 90s. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:43 | |
# She was just 17! | 0:24:47 | 0:24:49 | |
# You know what I mean. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:53 | |
# And the way she looked, was way beyond compare... | 0:24:53 | 0:24:59 | |
And another Beatles connection was reinforced in 2004 | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
when John Lennon's half sister became a part owner | 0:25:01 | 0:25:03 | |
of the new Cavern. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
How do you think he would feel about his little sister | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
being a co-owner of this? | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
I think he would think it was hysterical as I do. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:16 | |
It was a huge risk but I did not see it at the time. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:21 | |
I was just so, I thought it was a privilege to be | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
invited to join in. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
And it has been the best thing I have done. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:31 | |
Bands like Travis, Elbow and the Arctic Monkeys have | 0:25:31 | 0:25:33 | |
all played here and Adele launched her album 21 | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
on the Cavern's stage. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:39 | |
Since Adele's appearance, the names have kept coming. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
The Wanted, Jesse J, even Yoko Ono and then one | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
of the UK's hottest new talents chose the Cavern | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
to play a secret gig. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:53 | |
It is a legendary venue. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:59 | |
I think you just need to read a bit of the history to realise | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
what an amazing place it is. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
It was great to play acoustic because you can hear that sound | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
reflecting back of the venue walls and I'm sure those walls have seen | 0:26:08 | 0:26:11 | |
a lot of things in its past. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
It is about the atmosphere and the energy the place creates | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
and when I had a show there, I had a great time and it is | 0:26:16 | 0:26:20 | |
something I will always remember. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:26 | |
The Cavern is holding a 60th birthday party to celebrate the day | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
it was opened as a jazz club. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
There is a new statue of Cilla to mark the occasion, | 0:26:35 | 0:26:40 | |
a full on party in both bars, and '70s star entertaining on main | 0:26:40 | 0:26:44 | |
stage and even a turn from those quarrymen who did not go | 0:26:44 | 0:26:47 | |
on to become Beatles. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:52 | |
It is like no other place, you play big stadiums all over | 0:26:52 | 0:26:56 | |
the world but coming back to the Cavern is like coming home. | 0:26:56 | 0:26:59 | |
We would never have dreamt 60 years ago this would become | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
such a phenomenal thing. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
It has done. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
Even now it is still grabbing you as you come in. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
You cannot go into the Cavern without tapping your foot | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
or fingers or something. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:14 | |
You are in the moment. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:19 | |
There was a great deal of passion and heart goes into this place. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:23 | |
Absolutely. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
It is almost like we are holding the baby, the Cavern | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
belongs to the world. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:29 | |
It means everything to everyone. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:31 | |
But at the heart of it is the music. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
It is a major tourist attraction, of course, but importantly | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
it is a thriving live music venue. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:39 | |
That is the key. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
I think without question the Cavern is the most | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
famous club in the world. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:47 | |
You think of any other clubs and they just don't | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
match up to the Cavern. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:50 | |
Popular music would not have been the same without the Beatles, | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
not without the Cavern and there are not many clubs you can | 0:27:53 | 0:27:58 | |
say have changed popular music in such a major way. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:02 | |
It seems to me everyone who has been involved with the Cavern, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:05 | |
the old or the new club, have formed an emotional | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
attachment to it. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:12 | |
They have done it with real love which is quite extraordinary. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
And whatever happens to the club, it always kept bouncing back. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:19 | |
As long as there is live music, there will always | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
be the Cavern club. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:28 | |
Looking good, baby! | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
Let's see you move. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:49 | |
MUSIC: Ebony by Young Fathers | 0:29:16 | 0:29:16 | |
# Young, unassuming Eucalyptus blooming | 0:29:16 | 0:29:17 | |
Can be wonderful, can be terrifying. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:21 | |
What did you say? | 0:29:21 | 0:29:24 | |
It's something that drags you in and crushes you to nothing. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:28 |