APRIL will mark 60 years since four lads from Liverpool came to perform at the Bridge in Tenbury.

Those who watched them play that Sunday probably recognised that they were good but almost certainly did not know that they were seeing what would go on to be the most famous pop band in the history of popular music.

Queen Victoria passed through the town and described it as her ‘little town in the orchard’ but Paul, John, George and Ringo, are surely the most famous people ever to visit Tenbury.

In April there will be a series of events, centred around the Regal, to mark the Diamond anniversary.

This will include talks, performances from a tribute band and Beatles films.

The Beatles’ Festival ‘from Abbey Road to Teme Street’ runs from April 14 to April 16 when ‘The Mersey Beatles’ will play a series of afternoon and evening shows.

Three Beatles films Yellow Submarine, A Hard Day’s Night and Help will also be screened.

Other events will be ‘A twist and shout in Tenbury,’ a presentation from Mark Lewisolm, a historian of the group.

Mark Lewisohn has talked Beatles at literary festivals in Edinburgh, Oxford, Bath, Cheltenham and more, and at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Lincoln Center in New York and the Smithsonian in Washington DC. He has twice presented his own theatre show, Hornsey Road in 2019 and Beatles/Evolver:62 last October.

Andrew Lowe will also talk about the visit in April 1963 and the way that it affected Tenbury and his own life as a Beatles aficionado.

Also appearing at the Regal will be the Liverpool poet Roger McGough, who was a member of the group, the Scaffold, best known for their 1968 hit ‘Lilly the Pink.’ His partner in that group was Mark McGear, brother of Paul McCartney.

The Beatles came to Tenbury Wells on April 15, 1963, playing at Bridge Hotel in the early days of their rise to being arguably the greatest entertainment phenomenon ever.

Six months after stopping in Tenbury, the Beatles were topping the London Palladium; 10 months after Tenbury, they were headlining Carnegie Hall, and their triumphs extended without pause right through the sixties. They were huge stars then, and 60 years on, they’re huge stars still.