The Cavern: The Most Famous Club in the World


The Cavern: The Most Famous Club in the World

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The world famous Cavern Club, the place where the Beatles were

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discovered, was opened 60 years ago.

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The Beatles would not have been what they were without that club.

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It is just a magical place.

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It has been closed, reopened, demolished, moved

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and rebuilt.

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But today, it's still going strong, an underground shrine

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to popular music.

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It's legendary venue.

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It was the most famous club in the world.

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As long as music is played, the Cavern will be here.

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I am going on my very own magical mystery

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tour and discovering the true story behind

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the most famous club in the world.

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Welcome to the Cavern!

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Hi there, all you cave dwellers.

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This is Bob Wooler and welcome to the

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Cavern Cellar.

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# See the girl with the diamond ring

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# She knows how to shake that thing, yeah yeah.

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# What I say, but what I say...#.

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Look straight ahead and what you would

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have seen here is the famous Cavern Arch Stage.

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That's the image you get, isn't it, from all flickering

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black-and-white images?

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This is the Cavern today, an exact replica of

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the cellar where the Beatles were discovered in the 1960s.

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When the original was demolished in 1973, it

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seemed that the Cavern was gone forever.

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But here, on the same site, the past lives on, side-by-side with

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the present and the future.

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We are going into here.

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This is like a secret room, it's like Mr Benn.

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This is the Cavern Live Lounge Stage.

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If's our biggest stage.

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Is this where Adele played?

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It is, yeah.

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This stage itself has its own history.

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Importantly, it is where Paul played in 1999.

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# I'll never dance with another, since I saw her

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# standing there #.

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The various incarnations of the venue and all

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the signage here have led to a lot of confusion about where the

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original cellar was, even here in Liverpool.

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Hopefully, we will clear all that up in the next half hour.

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The story of the Cavern is a weird and

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wonderful one and one which began 60 years ago, in January 1957.

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Like many good story, it started over a

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few beers in the pub.

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Alan Sytner was the son of a Liverpool doctor.

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A fairly wealthy young man, with a passion for jazz.

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One day, in 1956, he was having a drink with mates.

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We used to meet up at the Grapes in Matthew Street.

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And he said, do you know, I was in Paris and there is a

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jazz club there and it opened early in the evening, so people came

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straight from work.

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He said, we should have a place like that.

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We could even open at lunchtime.

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He said he had to find a place like a

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basement or something.

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We came out of the Grapes and walked up Matthew

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Street and there was four of us there and I don't know who it was,

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but one of us and said, hey, Alan, what about that place there?

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And there was a sign for a basement, for

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sale or let.

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Anyway, the next day, we met up again at lunchtime and he

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said, I've got that place.

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I've bought it.

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Peter was a keen musician who would end up playing at the

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Cavern with his band The Dolphins, so he was happy to volunteer when

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Sytner asked for some muscle.

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It was actually three rooms.

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And there was one big room.

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So these walls had to come down.

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He said, I will get the sledgehammers and we'll get a barrel

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of ale and we will go down one night to knock the walls down.

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Which we did.

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And I was just thinking afterwards, I mean, the whole thing

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could have come down on top of us!

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Launch night was set for January the 16th, 1957.

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Sytner had promised a VIP to open Liverpool's

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newest venue.

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I was putting the chairs out and all publicity said that the Earl

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of Wharncliffe was going to come and officially open it.

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Anyway, I said when is the Earl coming?

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He said, well, he in't, I just used his name.

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He opened a piece of paper and he said, I have to tell you, folks,

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that's because of bereavement, the Earl will not be with

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us this evening.

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I am sure you will all join with me in sending our condolences.

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That was typical Alan.

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The headliners that evening were the Merseysippi Jazz Band.

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But the bill also included some lads from the

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Wirral, who called themselves the Coney Island Skiffle Group.

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We went down very well, naturally.

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I think we were reasonably good, but

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I think another reason was that they had been sitting

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there in New Orleans, listening to jazz, which was

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great, when all of a sudden, they had something different on.

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Somebody singing songs that they knew, songs

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you could join in with.

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And it was very hot in there.

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It was so hot that when it first started, we went

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into the dressing room, I actually fainted.

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Somebody had to carry me outside to get some fresh air.

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So my only claim to fame was the first

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person to have fainted in the Cavern.

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Sytner clearly realised that jazz wasn't the

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only music in town.

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He introduced the Liverpool Skiffle Championships.

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We would have 20 skiffle groups in one evening,

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each going on and on about one number each.

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The amazing thing was, each skiffle

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group had its own following.

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The skiffle bands were tolerated, but in

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reality, they were a kind of Trojan Horse

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for a new type of music that

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would change everything.

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One skiffle band were just about ready to

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make that change.

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The Quarrymen were led by a confident young chap called

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John Lennon.

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At the Cavern, he wanted to do things his way.

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John had a couple of rock 'n' roll numbers and

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somebody passed a piece of paper and over the he said, oh, we have a

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request from the audience.

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They opened it and said, do not do any more

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rock 'n' roll, signed, the management.

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So apparently, we were not the only band that got that kind of note

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given to us.

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Rock 'n' roll was coming.

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It's like King Canute trying to hold back the waves.

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It wasn't going to happen.

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Eventually, there was more and more rock 'n' roll and

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eventually, as you know, it became pretty much

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a rock 'n' roll place.

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Like most bands, the Quarrymen had a regular change of personnel.

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For the last performance at the Cavern,

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the line-up was John, Paul, George and...

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Colin.

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The more we played rock 'n' roll, the more people got

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up and left.

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John was quite beside himself.

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He kept turning round to me and say, they're all leaving!

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Can't believe this,

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they are all leaving.

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John needn't have worried.

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They were not leaving, they were dancing.

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Everybody was jiving in the side aisles.

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You couldn't jive next to the chairs,

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so they're doing it in the aisles.

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We couldn't see that, because it was too dark.

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The whole place was jiving, it was fantastic.

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That was John, Paul, George and myself.

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By 1960, there was a new man in charge

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of the Cavern.

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Ray McFall discovered rock 'n' roll by accident.

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The first time rock 'n' roll came to the Cavern was

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at Liverpool Jazz Festival in January 1960.

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And they had booked Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, thinking

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they were skiffle band, and they HAD been a skiffle band, but Rory

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thought, let's do rock 'n' roll and he jumped on the piano and sang

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Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On.

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When Ray McFall realised what was happening, he said, we better

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have some of that at the Cavern.

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The floodgates opened and then, Ray McFall had his genius idea.

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A lunchtime session.

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The first bands he invited were the boys who used to

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be in the Quarrymen, now calling themselves the Beatles.

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And another band called Jerry the Pacemakers.

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I said, OK.

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He said with Paul McCartney, alternate days.

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We tried it the following week, alternate days,

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us and them, and never looked back.

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They used to be packed.

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All the girls would come from the offices and

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the lads at lunchtime.

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We would queue up in Matthew Street, waiting to get in, and you

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could hear the throb, throb, throb of the beat inside.

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There was a small doorway to the Cavern and 18

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stone steps to go down.

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There would be a guy sitting at a wooden table

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taking the money as you went in.

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And you would pay your shilling to get

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in and then you would be part of the excitement.

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Because it was a cellar club, there was this

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strange aroma.

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Horrible smell.

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Very distinctive.

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Body odour.

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Condensation.

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Dettol!

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It was a dungeon, really.

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It was a smelly place, because there were no drains,

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no main drains, just a cesspit

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underneath the toilets.

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The cleaners used to top it up with disinfectant

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everyday.

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And the condensation running down the walls, everybody

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would be perspiring, because it was so hot in there.

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It was like a steam bath.

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But that's what made the Cavern.

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The Cavern was run by two people who could not have been less

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rock 'n' roll, really.

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Ray McFall looked like an accountant and he was

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a businessman.

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And so he left the booking of the groups with

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Bob Wooler.

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Bob Wooler was really interested in people like Frank

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Sinatra and Dean Martin, that type of thing,

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but he quickly attuned to

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the rock 'n' roll sound and he loved working with these people.

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This is the only footage of the Beatles

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playing at the Cavern.

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Drummer Pete Best had just been replaced by

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Ringo Starr.

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The Fab Four were about to become a global phenomenon.

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They were special.

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They had something you could not put your finger on.

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They were apart from all the other groups

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and all the other groups were very good, but they had something else.

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They were different.

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And it was infectious.

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It changed my life.

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Absolutely changed my life.

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I knew, the minute I saw the Beatles playing

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in the cavern, that's what I wanted to become,

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a professional musician.

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And three days later, I left school and became

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a professional musician, which I still am!

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By that time, all the bands wanted to play the Cavern,

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because we realised that this was the place with the best

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music in Liverpool.

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It was like three bands playing on the lunchtime sessions,

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there was the Beatles, the Big Three and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

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Three great bands.

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The Big Three were huge favourites are the Cavern and even

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had a song which celebrated the club's own dance.

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Everybody that was a regular, a Cavernite, knew

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how to do the Cavern Stomp.

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Instead of holding your hands up to jive,

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you would hold them lower and your shoulders hunched

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and you would swing and sway like this you take

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your hands right up and then you both whirled

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round and came back again to do

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it all over again.

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There was no alcohol served at the Cavern and the

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girl who worked on the snack bar and in the cloakroom often got on stage

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to sing with Gerry and the others.

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The rest of the Cilla Black story is history.

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She just walked in, said, can I sing?

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Yeah, come on, get on.

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This is our cellar.

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And that was it.

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She just got up and did it.

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And a star was born.

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# Do you love me?

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# You love me?#.

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Two men immersed in Cavern culture are now presenters on

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Radio Merseyside.

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Billy Butler was in a band called the Tuxedos and

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spent years as a DJ in the club.

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Frankie Connor played in the Hideaways,

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a band who played there

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over 300 times.

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It was the girls and the music, that's what it was.

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No booze, of course, though we were drinking

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anyway, but it was about

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music and about the girls.

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That was what it was about.

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He was a great talisman, if you like, for the

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Cavern, Bob Wooler, wasn't he?

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He was really in the fabric of the place.

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He had a great vision, did Bob, as well.

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When you look at some of the groups who appeared

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here, you know, it took a vision to book some of them.

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They booked lots of out-of-town bands, you know?

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He really did have his finger

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on what was happening, Bob.

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Bob was the Cavern.

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He was the Cavern.

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He was also a natural in front

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of the camera.

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It's really just a cellar, here in Matthew St.

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A tunnel of brick in a cramped and twisted

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part of town.

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But from this basement, the Mersey Beat boiled over and covered

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two hemispheres.

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And it's still turned up high, as we shall

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see in just a moment.

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The success of the Beatles meant that the Cavern

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was THE place to play.

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Bands in the UK and America all queued

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up to appear.

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The Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the young Rod Stewart and an

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even younger Stevie Wonder, all performed on the Cavern stage.

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Oh, and this lot weren't bad either.

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Its international reputation was illustrated in 1965, when a French

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TV show broadcast live from the Cavern.

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Gene Vincent, Sandie Shaw and Manfred Mann were among those

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introduced by a bilingual Petula Clark.

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SHE INTRODUCES IN FRENCH

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Gerry And The Pacemakers!

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# Life goes on day after day.

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Despite this global recognition, not all was well in the office.

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And in February '66, things reached a head.

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It was always precarious at the Cavern.

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It was always precarious.

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When we got our brown envelope at the end of the week

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with the money in, we were never sure whether we would get it.

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I turned up at the session on Sunday night and Ray said this will be

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the last session at the Cavern.

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We are closing after this, the bailiffs are coming in tomorrow.

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We were stunned.

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That was it.

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While the session was in progress, after midnight, they started taking

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tables and chairs and putting them up the stairs so people

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couldn't get in.

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And it remained that way until 12 o'clock the next day.

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We played for hours.

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The show was removed and in came the bailiffs.

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It doesn't matter.

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I'm still not sure how they got in, the police.

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But they did.

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We had a protest march through town, we all had home-made banners

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and we all sang I am sad.

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The protesters got their way.

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Within five months, the Cavern had new owners.

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One of them was local businessmen Alf Geoghegan.

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Dad came to me and said, I have the chance of buying

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the Cavern, what do you think?

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Well, you offer a child a key to a sweet shop,

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it is not going to say no!

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Once again, there was a VIP opening only this time

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the VIP actually came.

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A new look super look extended Cavern was being

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opened by the Premier.

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It was all change at the Cavern.

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New types of bands were booked, it had a drinks licence

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for the first time and finally proper toilets, ventilation

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and a fire escape!

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In 1968, it also had a surprise visitor.

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So, Debbie had her picture taken with Paul McCartney.

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He said, I have got my new girlfriend in the car outside

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and I would like to bring her back and show her where it all began.

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And it was girlfriend Linda who took the picture.

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In 1970, Alf Geoghegan decided to sell up.

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One of the new owners was former wrestler and body-builder Roy Adams.

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He extended it, he made the ground floor into northern soul disco

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which was the thing.

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So, downstairs was the original Cavern and northern soul

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so it was effectively two nightclubs which was great.

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For Roy, it was perfect.

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Neither the northern soul nor the heavy rock in the cellar

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downstairs appealed to the one man who had seen and heard it all.

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Paddy Delaney had been the Cavern's dorrman since 1959 but by 1971,

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he was pining for the good old days of Mersey beats.

0:18:020:18:05

The old atmosphere seemed so magical at the time, electric.

0:18:050:18:10

Everything was happening, people coming and going,

0:18:100:18:12

you don't see it now.

0:18:120:18:14

It is like a graveyard at the moment.

0:18:140:18:19

But my firm belief is at the resurrection happen again.

0:18:190:18:22

But those dreams turned out to be pie in the sky.

0:18:240:18:27

Liverpool was changing.

0:18:270:18:30

A new underground rail system was being built,

0:18:300:18:34

British Rail decided the best place for a ventilation shaft

0:18:340:18:37

was Matthew street.

0:18:370:18:38

So, they slapped a compulsory purchase order on the Cavern.

0:18:380:18:43

My dad had no idea there was a compulsory purchase order on it.

0:18:430:18:46

So, he was really shocked.

0:18:460:18:48

He lobbied everyone, the local MP, the council,

0:18:480:18:53

British Rail and said all this and they just went, no, the truck

0:18:530:18:56

was rolling so no stopping it.

0:18:560:18:59

That was it.

0:18:590:19:03

I don't think the right people to save the Cavern were running

0:19:030:19:06

the council at the time.

0:19:060:19:07

The people running the council were of my parents age group

0:19:070:19:10

so the Cavern didn't mean very much to them.

0:19:100:19:14

It was just another club, why shouldn't it go, it doesn't matter.

0:19:140:19:16

Nobody saw the historical importance of it.

0:19:160:19:21

So, on the 5th of June 1973, the wrecking ball swung into action

0:19:210:19:24

and the Cavern was demolished.

0:19:240:19:33

Roy Adams opened a new venue on the other side of Mathew street

0:19:360:19:39

and took the Cavern name with him.

0:19:390:19:41

They said he could have saved the Cavern.

0:19:410:19:43

There was no truth in that at all.

0:19:430:19:50

If he opened the new Cavern opposite and it would've been cheaper to keep

0:19:500:19:53

the original and have it as it is.

0:19:530:19:55

Rather than take the chance of opening over the road.

0:19:550:19:58

When it went over the road, it was to be the same music scene,

0:19:580:20:01

more of the same, really.

0:20:010:20:02

But it wasn't the same.

0:20:020:20:03

It just wasn't.

0:20:030:20:04

The new Cavern simply didn't work and was eventually split into two

0:20:040:20:07

clubs with new names.

0:20:070:20:10

One of them became Eric's itself a legendary venue

0:20:100:20:12

for a different generation.

0:20:120:20:13

The original Cavern sign hung up on the wall here for years

0:20:130:20:18

which is why so many people thought this was the site

0:20:180:20:21

of the original Cavern.

0:20:210:20:25

Across the road, they never built the ventilation shaft.

0:20:250:20:27

Instead, it became a car park.

0:20:270:20:30

The Cavern story was over, so people thought.

0:20:300:20:34

In 1980, everything changed.

0:20:340:20:39

Both sides of the Atlantic, to the murder of the former

0:20:390:20:41

Beatle, John Lennon.

0:20:410:20:42

He was shot dead outside his home in New York.

0:20:420:20:45

One of the people deeply affected by John Lennon's death was Liverpool

0:20:450:20:48

architect and former Cavern regular David Backhouse.

0:20:480:20:52

The next morning, I got up at eight o'clock and started drawing

0:20:520:20:55

and I drew for 12 hours and at the end of that 12 hours,

0:20:550:20:59

I designed the embryonic Cavern Walks with the Cavern

0:20:590:21:02

in the basement.

0:21:020:21:03

And that is how it started.

0:21:030:21:07

And so Cavern Walks, a designer shopping centre was built

0:21:070:21:12

in Mathew Street on the site of the original Cavern.

0:21:120:21:14

The cellar was dug out and incorporated into the development.

0:21:140:21:18

What would you say to some people who say, it is not

0:21:180:21:20

the original Cavern?

0:21:200:21:22

Well, it isn't.

0:21:220:21:29

It is slightly away from the original one but the size is

0:21:290:21:32

and the bricks are from the original Cavern.

0:21:320:21:34

It is as near as we could possibly get because the foundations,

0:21:340:21:37

when you put the building up 11 floors like this, you have

0:21:370:21:40

to go down a long way.

0:21:400:21:41

We scraped the site and the arches were there.

0:21:410:21:44

So, we know the size of the Cavern is exactly the same

0:21:440:21:47

size as the old one.

0:21:470:21:49

So, in 1984, the Cavern was born again.

0:21:490:21:53

It was rebuilt using many of the same bricks,

0:21:530:21:55

had the same address as the original and the entrance was right

0:21:550:21:58

here on the same spot created by Alf Geoghegan in 1966 but anyone

0:21:580:22:02

who thought the old magic would instantly return was sadly mistaken.

0:22:020:22:08

Several owners tried and failed to make a success of the Cavern

0:22:080:22:11

and it even closed again for a while.

0:22:110:22:15

Then, in 1991 a new team took over.

0:22:150:22:23

It wasn't really until Bill and Dave Jones got

0:22:230:22:25

hold of the Cavern that things change dramatically.

0:22:250:22:30

They had been running Cavern city tours, they knew about tourism

0:22:300:22:32

in the area and they realised the Cavern should both be for older

0:22:320:22:36

people who wanted a reminder of what the Cavern's heritage

0:22:360:22:38

was and new people who wanted to hear new music and new bands.

0:22:380:22:43

And there were different audiences.

0:22:430:22:50

Today, the Cavern is once again all about live music.

0:22:510:22:55

During the day, the traditional arch stage rings out

0:22:550:22:57

with musical memories.

0:22:570:23:01

My passion was Liverpool, I have always been proud of the city

0:23:010:23:04

I live in and I knew it could be turned around one day

0:23:040:23:07

and the Cavern, the Beatles, the Beatles's industry has been

0:23:070:23:11

a major factor in Liverpool becoming a global destination today.

0:23:110:23:18

It is not just the Cavern, it is part of that destination.

0:23:180:23:22

Where have you come from?

0:23:220:23:24

Adelaide, South Australia.

0:23:240:23:25

Brazil.

0:23:250:23:27

I am from Tennessee in the United States.

0:23:270:23:30

Antonio and Francesca from Milan.

0:23:300:23:33

I moved to Liverpool because of the Beatles.

0:23:330:23:37

From Brazil!

0:23:380:23:38

Ha-ha!

0:23:380:23:45

What do you say to people who say it isn't the original Cavern?

0:23:450:23:48

I just cringe.

0:23:480:23:50

We know it is not the original Cavern.

0:23:500:23:52

We don't pretend that it is.

0:23:520:23:56

But where we are sitting now, is where the original Cavern was.

0:23:560:24:02

In hindsight, you could say we ended up with a better venue anyway

0:24:020:24:10

on the same site so rarely did we lose anything.

0:24:100:24:13

One thing the new Cavern did have was more room,

0:24:200:24:23

including this larger stage which was ideal for the bigger acts.

0:24:230:24:28

As the 20th century drew to a close, it was to play host to the biggest

0:24:280:24:31

act of all, one of the Cavern's favourite sons had decided

0:24:310:24:34

it was time to come home.

0:24:340:24:39

This one isn't from the 50s or the 90s.

0:24:390:24:43

# She was just 17!

0:24:470:24:49

# You know what I mean.

0:24:490:24:53

# And the way she looked, was way beyond compare...

0:24:530:24:59

And another Beatles connection was reinforced in 2004

0:24:590:25:01

when John Lennon's half sister became a part owner

0:25:010:25:03

of the new Cavern.

0:25:030:25:06

How do you think he would feel about his little sister

0:25:060:25:09

being a co-owner of this?

0:25:090:25:11

I think he would think it was hysterical as I do.

0:25:110:25:16

It was a huge risk but I did not see it at the time.

0:25:160:25:21

I was just so, I thought it was a privilege to be

0:25:210:25:24

invited to join in.

0:25:240:25:27

And it has been the best thing I have done.

0:25:270:25:31

Bands like Travis, Elbow and the Arctic Monkeys have

0:25:310:25:33

all played here and Adele launched her album 21

0:25:330:25:35

on the Cavern's stage.

0:25:350:25:39

Since Adele's appearance, the names have kept coming.

0:25:390:25:41

The Wanted, Jesse J, even Yoko Ono and then one

0:25:410:25:44

of the UK's hottest new talents chose the Cavern

0:25:440:25:46

to play a secret gig.

0:25:460:25:53

It is a legendary venue.

0:25:530:25:59

I think you just need to read a bit of the history to realise

0:25:590:26:02

what an amazing place it is.

0:26:030:26:05

It was great to play acoustic because you can hear that sound

0:26:050:26:08

reflecting back of the venue walls and I'm sure those walls have seen

0:26:080:26:11

a lot of things in its past.

0:26:110:26:14

It is about the atmosphere and the energy the place creates

0:26:140:26:16

and when I had a show there, I had a great time and it is

0:26:160:26:20

something I will always remember.

0:26:200:26:26

The Cavern is holding a 60th birthday party to celebrate the day

0:26:280:26:31

it was opened as a jazz club.

0:26:310:26:35

There is a new statue of Cilla to mark the occasion,

0:26:350:26:40

a full on party in both bars, and '70s star entertaining on main

0:26:400:26:44

stage and even a turn from those quarrymen who did not go

0:26:440:26:47

on to become Beatles.

0:26:470:26:52

It is like no other place, you play big stadiums all over

0:26:520:26:56

the world but coming back to the Cavern is like coming home.

0:26:560:26:59

We would never have dreamt 60 years ago this would become

0:26:590:27:02

such a phenomenal thing.

0:27:020:27:05

It has done.

0:27:050:27:08

Even now it is still grabbing you as you come in.

0:27:080:27:10

You cannot go into the Cavern without tapping your foot

0:27:100:27:13

or fingers or something.

0:27:130:27:14

You are in the moment.

0:27:140:27:19

There was a great deal of passion and heart goes into this place.

0:27:190:27:23

Absolutely.

0:27:230:27:25

It is almost like we are holding the baby, the Cavern

0:27:250:27:28

belongs to the world.

0:27:280:27:29

It means everything to everyone.

0:27:290:27:31

But at the heart of it is the music.

0:27:310:27:34

It is a major tourist attraction, of course, but importantly

0:27:340:27:37

it is a thriving live music venue.

0:27:370:27:39

That is the key.

0:27:390:27:43

I think without question the Cavern is the most

0:27:430:27:46

famous club in the world.

0:27:460:27:47

You think of any other clubs and they just don't

0:27:470:27:49

match up to the Cavern.

0:27:490:27:50

Popular music would not have been the same without the Beatles,

0:27:500:27:53

not without the Cavern and there are not many clubs you can

0:27:530:27:58

say have changed popular music in such a major way.

0:27:580:28:02

It seems to me everyone who has been involved with the Cavern,

0:28:020:28:05

the old or the new club, have formed an emotional

0:28:050:28:07

attachment to it.

0:28:070:28:12

They have done it with real love which is quite extraordinary.

0:28:120:28:14

And whatever happens to the club, it always kept bouncing back.

0:28:140:28:19

As long as there is live music, there will always

0:28:190:28:22

be the Cavern club.

0:28:220:28:28

Looking good, baby!

0:28:410:28:43

Let's see you move.

0:28:430:28:49

MUSIC: Ebony by Young Fathers

0:29:160:29:16

# Young, unassuming Eucalyptus blooming

0:29:160:29:17

Can be wonderful, can be terrifying.

0:29:180:29:21

What did you say?

0:29:210:29:24

It's something that drags you in and crushes you to nothing.

0:29:240:29:28

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