MELODY IN THE UK

When it comes to music and the cities of the UK, all roads invariably lead to Liverpool, where the Fab Four are still celebrated on a daily basis, a full half-century after the band split up. Both The Beatles Story (beatlesstory. com; £16) and the Liverpool Beatles Museum (liverpool beatlesmuseum.com; £15) tell a well-worn but muchloved tale, the latter through a large collection of rare memorabilia. The Cavern Club, where the young musicians cut their teeth (cavernclub.com), is still fully in operation as a venue.

Elsewhere in the city, the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (in Woolton and Allerton respectively) are safeguarded by the

National Trust. Combined tours of the two can be arranged (nationaltrust.org. uk/beatles-childhoodhomes; £24).

There have, of course, been other British acts since the release of Let It Be. Manchester has been responsible for a few of them, from Joy Division, New Order and The Smiths through Britpop boomers such as Oasis to modern-day acts including The 1975 and Everything Everything.

In short, the city is the perfect location for the British Music Experience (britishmusicexperience. com; £15), which takes an immersive approach to 70 years of culture, including a

Dance The Decades exhibit, which shows off the moves of yesterday.

The capital’s place in music history is perhaps encapsulated by Handel & Hendrix in London (handelhendrix.org; £10) – the Mayfair museum that preserves the neighbouring apartments in which George Frideric and Jimi lived, one door and two centuries apart. Of course, neither man was a Londoner, but it isn’t hard to find local landmarks, whether it be the alley where the cover of The Clash’s (1977) debut was shot, in Camden Market (camdenmarket.com), or 23 Heddon Street in Piccadilly, which adorns the front of David Bowie’s (1972) …Ziggy Stardust… album.

A shortish hop away in Marylebone, the Royal

Academy of Music Museum (ram.ac.uk/museum) is a trove of antique instruments.

Cardiff has played a role in the careers of Welsh acts from Tom Jones to Manic Street Preachers, and keeps the music playing at both the National Museum

Cardiff (museum.wales/ cardiff ) and at Spillers Records, the city institution that is regarded as the oldest record shop in the world (dating to 1894; spillersrecords.uk).

Glasgow, meanwhile, has been a factory for iconic bands (Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, Simple Minds). Most of them have played the Barrowlands (barrowland-ballroom. co.uk), the esteemed gig venue that first unbolted its doors in 1934 (and holds occasional open days).

But then, you can find music in just about every corner of the United Kingdom. If rich harmonies are your thing, the Treorchy Male Voice Choir (treorchymalechoir.com) has been hitting its notes in the Rhondda Valley since 1883, and give regular renditions of what is one of the most distinctive sounds in the world; a tradition that speaks of collieries and close-knit communities.

The same is true of the brass bands that are part of the soul of Yorkshire. And while this year’s Yorkshire Brass Band Championships have been cancelled by Covid-19, the next edition is already slated for March 5-6 2022 (www.regionalcontest.org.uk/yorkshire).

iThe Beatles are celebrated in Liverpool, while The Clash are synonymous with Camden, above right