BBC’s Bob Harris and author/music journalist Colin Hall set out upon an intimate speaking tour based around their mutual love and appreciation of The Beatles, including previously unseen footage from Bob Harris’ archive with Lennon & McCartney.
By 1963 the pair had written so many songs they simply couldn’t all be accommodated on just their own Beatles releases, so it made artistic and economic good sense to be offered to other artists for recording and the Merseybeat boom of 1963 & 1964 gave them a tailor-made outlet in artists such as Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer and Tommy Quickly. This is the story behind those songs, the hits, the misses and the demos that the group never released: ‘The Songs The Beatles Gave Away’.
The tour follows on from their work together on Bob’s radio programme and Colin’s book on the subject, both also titled ‘The Songs The Beatles Gave Away’.
‘Whispering’ Bob Harris, OBE has been at the very heart of UK music scene for the best part of fifty years. He has established a worldwide reputation as one of the most trusted and influential broadcasters of his generation – described by Radio Times as “…one of the greats of British contemporary music broadcasting” and by The Mail On Sunday as “a national treasure”.
For the past 20 years Colin Hall has been the custodian at John Lennon’s childhood home ‘Mendips’ (guiding the likes of Bob Dylan, Yoko Ono and James Taylor around the property), he’s written two books on The Fab Four and presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary with Alexei Sayle titled ‘The Lennon Visitors’. Colin was incredibly in the audience at the Village Fete where John was first introduced to Paul..! The two friends have worked on several projects together before including the upcoming film Pre:Fab (which focuses on the band’s early days as The Quarrymen), a WBBC production of ‘The Songs The Beatles Gave Away’ and 2007’s Sony Award winning ‘The Day John Met Paul.’
Tour dates:
23/06/2023 Carlisle (The Old Fire Station) Tickets: https://www.ofscarlisle.co.uk/event-bob-harris-colin-hall.html
24/06/2023 Sunderland (Seventeen Nineteen) Tickets: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/579695
30/06/2023 Cardiff (Acapela Studio) Tickets: https://acapela.co.uk/events/bob-harris-colin-hall-present-the-songs-the-beatles-gave-away
01/07/2023 Carmarthen (The Miners) Tickets: https://www.theatrausirgar.co.uk/en/shows/bob-harris-colin-hall-the-songs-the-beatles-gave-away
07/07/2023 Stamford Arts Centre Tickets: https://www.stamfordartscentre.com/whats-on/all-shows/the-songs-the-beatles-gave-away/12972
08/07/2023 Birmingham (Midland Arts Centre) Tickets: https://macbirmingham.co.uk/book/?id=1399549
14/07/2023 Leek (Foxlowe Arts Centre) (Bob Harris & Colin Hall) Tickets: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/581490
22/07/2023 Winchester (The Arc) Tickets: https://www.arcwinchester.org.uk/event/bob-harris-and-colin-hall
09/09/2023 Honiton (The Beehive) (Bob Harris & Colin Hall) Tickets: coming soon https://beehivehoniton.co.uk/whats-book-tickets/
10/09/2023 Bath (Komedia) Matinee Tickets: https://www.komedia.co.uk/bath/literature/the-songs-the-beatles-gave-away
24/10/2023 Belper (Belper Arts Festival, St Peter’s Church) Tickets: https://www.livetickets.org/whats-on/an-evening-with-bob-harris-colin-hall
03/11/2023 Basingstoke (The Haymarket) Tickets: coming soon
19/11/2023 Canterbury (Gulbenkian Theatre) Tickets: coming soon
01/05/2024 Reeth (Swaledale Festival) Reeth Memorial Hall , Tickets: TBC.
‘The Songs The Beatles Gave Away’ by Colin Hall, foreword by Bob Harris, is out now and available from all good book retailers.