00:00When people talk about the Beatles beginnings, places like the Cavern Club or Hamburg's Nightspots usually get the credit.
00:08But for many, it really started right here at St Peter's Church in Wilton.
00:13This is where the Lennon-McCartney musical partnership began, right here in just a normal church hall.
00:20On the 6th of July 1957, a teenage Paul McCartney saw John Lennon playing with his skiffle group, the Quarrymen, at the church fete.
00:28Now, back then, all the graves behind me, the hedges, were not there.
00:33This was a huge open field. To my left, there's a school. That wasn't there, just a massive open field.
00:39And that's where the fete took place. So you have to use your imagination.
00:43But just behind me is where the stage was, just beyond the hedge.
00:47And that is where John was performing when Paul turned up that afternoon.
00:52Paul and John's meeting was not one of chance.
00:54In fact, it was Ivan Vaughan who decided it was a good idea to introduce two of his music-loving friends to each other.
01:01We're now standing in St Peter's Church Hall, and this is where John and Paul connected.
01:07Paul came over here with his friend Ivan Vaughan, who was also a friend of John's, a neighbour of John's.
01:12And it was Ivan's idea that these two music lovers should meet.
01:17He also knew that John wanted to improve the band.
01:19Behind us, there used to be a massive stage. You can still see very faintly the lines in the wood where the stage was.
01:27And the steps from the stage came down just behind where I'm standing.
01:31This is where John was sitting.
01:32Paul took John's guitar, retuned it to the guitar chords from banjo chords, turned it upside down, obviously, because he's left-handed.
01:39He played two songs that we know of, 20 Flight Rock and Bebop-a-lula.
01:44He then went up on the stage, imagine the stage, and played a whole lot of Shakin' and maybe some other songs as well on the piano to show what he could do.
01:53Had a bit of a chat, then Paul went home.
01:55Today, you can see part of the Church Hall stage in the Wondrous Place Gallery at the Museum of Liverpool.
02:01And a few days later, all the lads were round Colin Hanton's house, Colin the drummer, and Ivan was having, according to Colin's memories, a right go at John saying,
02:10I brought you the best guitarist in Liverpool. You've done nothing. You know, you said you want to make your band better.
02:16Now's your chance, because if you don't snap him up, somebody else will.
02:20John had a think. Did he want to be Top Dog? Did he want his band to be the best? And he put the band first.
02:25It was a meeting that not only changed their lives, but lit the spark of a musical partnership that would transform popular culture across the world.
02:35Today, St Peter's still remembers its unique role in Beatles history, now a place of pilgrimage for many fans.
02:41We were open on July 6th. It was an anniversary Saturday. We had people in here from every single continent except Antarctica.
02:49From this quiet spot in Woolton came a partnership that reshaped music forever.
02:53Proof that even the biggest revolutions can start in the most unlikely of places.
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