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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Samira Ahmed

It was 60 years ago today… schoolboy’s tape of the Beatles transports us to an era of optimism

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr mingle with pupils at Stowe before their concert on 4 April 1963.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr mingle with pupils at Stowe before their concert on 4 April 1963. Photograph: Dezo Hoffmann

What’s on the set list? Why did he only tell you about the tape now after 60 years? Two of the questions I’ve been bombarded with since I made public the existence of an almost complete concert recording of the Beatles on the cusp of their great breakout.

There’s a third question of my own: why has the news that 15-year-old John Bloomfield made and kept a tape recording of the Beatles playing at Stowe boarding school in Buckinghamshire on 4 April 1963 gladdened our hearts quite so much? Answers to all three lie ahead.

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