UNSEEN BEATLES PICS BY MACCA’S So much younger BROTHER MIKE than today
SIR Paul McCartney may be the world’s most iconic living pop singer, but to his brother Mike, he is simply “our kid”.
Mike says his older sibling remains grounded – despite his £800million fortune from selling more than 200 million records.
He reveals that the Beatle is still a frequent Day Tripper to Liverpool. The only person snapping Macca’s secret visits is photographer Mike, whose incredible archive of shots, dating back to their childhood, features in a new book, Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool. Mike, 77, says: “Our kid was up two weeks ago for a private small family party. He comes up all the time.”
Their children – Mike has six and Paul four – and grandchildren are all close. Mike attended the 50th birthday of Paul’s daughter Stella in September, where he bumped into Noel Gallagher.
He admits his relationship with
Paul, 79, could have ended up strained like Noel’s with Liam if they had decided to form a family band.
We could have ended up like the Gallaghers ...and never talking
ON DECISION NOT TO FORM A FAMILY BAND
THRILLED
He says: “I often think if I hadn’t broken my arm when I was 14, if I had become the drummer, we could have ended up being like the Gallagher brothers and never talking.”
His own group, Scaffold, achieved No1 success at Christmas 1968 with the song Lily The Pink.
But they remained great pals and he is now thrilled with his book of photographs, which shows one of Paul posing in the sunshine at home by the garden shed in Forthlin Road, and reading a newspaper dated June 3, 1962.
There are black and white shots of a young Paul staring moodily through the window of their childhood home.
And it includes a picture of the band celebrating their hit single Please Please Me with some fast food, as well as the first colour frames of a young Paul, John Lennon and George Harrison, aged 15.
Mike says: “In those days, colour film was very expensive, so it would have been a special present from Dad to get the colour film for me. It’s brilliant to see Paul, John and George together in colour for the first time.” Other photos are of Ringo, who he calls
Richie, and the others acting on the set of Help! at Twickenham
Studios in 1965.
So now it’s a big Twist and
Shout out to Mike...
sarah.robertson@mirror.co.uk