A FAB Four set of autographs from The Beatles is being sold by a Lichfield auctioneer.
They were collected by Elizabeth Salt – or Liz McBrierty, as she was then – when she encountered John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr after a gig in 1963.
All of the group signed her autograph book, while she also got her hands on George’s broken guitar string.
But now she is selling them, along with others collected such as Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Del Shannon, Bobby Vee and Billy Fury, with Richard Winterton Auctioneers on 2nd February.
The Beatles played the Savoy Ballroom in Southsea, Portsmouth, on 7th April 1963 – a date Elizabeth and her friends were not going to miss.
The 79-year-old, who now lives in Lichfield, said:
“I remember going along with my friend who bought Love Me Do in late 1962. That was when it started – we just got obsessed with them.
“We were sat around the stage when George Harrison broke his guitar string and I picked it up.
“Afterwards they went into a room and we all just piled in. That’s when I got their autographs on my left arm – I just held it out asking them to sign and they did.
“I was still at school and wanted to show all my friends the next day but when I got home my dad said ‘you’ll get blood poisoning’ and made me wash it straight off. I was heartbroken.”
Fortunately, the fanatical teen still had the autographs signed in her book – and George’s snapped string.
It wasn’t the only encounter Elizabeth had with The Beatles.
“We went up to London for the fan club meet-and-greet. It was quite weird, I can remember that John Lennon’s teeth were absolutely lovely.
“But you weren’t allowed to linger. They all shook our hands and we were moved along.”
Another memory is of queuing up overnight for another concert at Portsmouth Guildhall when Elizabeth’s cousin Mary agreed to save the girls’ place in the queue so the others could watch The Beatles’ TV appearance on Sunday Night At The London Palladium.
Elizabeth also has a copy of a cutting from the Portsmouth Evening News where the writer describes meeting her and four friends who had spent “three nights sleeping on the pavements, with transistors and a blanket each, to buy tickets for both performances – much to the dismay and disapproval of their parents”.
Now a grandmother-of-four, Elizabeth moved to Lichfield to be closer to her two daughters, and has been married to second husband Peter for almost 27 years.
Elizabeth’s album also contains a further George Harrison signature and those of Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney again on another separate page.
In addition, there is a complete set of The Rolling Stones’ signatures, including Brian Jones.
Rob French, ephemera valuer at Richard Winterton Auctioneers, said: “This is one of the finest 1960s autograph books I’ve have the pleasure of cataloguing.
“What makes this book so special is the fact that it contains the signatures of all The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, plus more from some of the biggest names in pop music from the 1960s.
“It is a wonderful document celebrating Elizabeth’s experience of one of the most exciting periods for pop culture in British history.”
The autograph book is expected to fetch between £3,000 and £4,000.
The catalogue goes live a week before the sale and can be viewed via www.richardwinterton.co.uk/auctions/auction-calendar.
