The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show will pay homage to two of the country’s greatest musicians later this year, by recreating the first meeting between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The pair first met on 6 July 1957 at a village fete in Liverpool, when McCartney stumbled across a band playing on the back of a flatbed lorry. That band was the Quarrymen, and its lead singer was none other than John Lennon. As a result of their meeting, McCartney was asked to join the band, which was later renamed the Beatles.
Six decades on, and the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs has set out on a mission to recreate that famous meeting by bringing the Quarrymen – who reformed in 1997 and have since released three albums – to the NEC Classic Motor Show. Not only will the band be performing two 30-minute sets, they will be doing so from the flat bed of a 1937 AEC Matador lorry thanks to the FBHVC and Historic Commercial Vehicle Society.
“The idea for this recreation of what might be called the birth of the Beatles came to us when we found an old black and white photograph of a skiffle group playing on the back of a ‘50s lorry in a carnival,” said FBHVC Chairman David Whale. “One of our directors remarked that one of the boys looked like John Lennon and we soon found out that indeed it was!”
“An internet search revealed that 60 years on, the band were still playing so we started a search aided by one of our members, the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society, for a suitable lorry.”
