Record of historic day in the life of Fab Four up for sale
ASET of very special autographs by The Beatles with a unique Cardiff story are to go up for auction.
The original Beatles fan club card signed by all of the Fab Four, is to go under the auctioneer’s hammer at Rogers Jones auction house in Cardiff on March 27.
The autographs were handed out in the most unorthodox of places – in the back of a ‘Black Maria’ police van after The Beatles’ show at The Capitol Theatre in 1965.
The gig, on December 12, is enshrined in Beatles history in that it would be the last tour date the band would ever play in the UK.
The autographs were the possession of Cardiff police officer Frank Wilson who was involved in transporting the group to their performance at The Capitol.
When bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones came to play at the Capitol, security was so tight they couldn’t drive into the city for the gig.
Instead, the band members went to the central police station to be driven in a secure Black Maria, to avoid being mobbed by the thousands of screaming fans. They were also ferried away from the shows in the van to avoid fans.
Former Cardiff police officer John Wakes recalled in an interview with our sister paper, the South Wales Echo, on May 9, 2016 that one police colleague told him that when The Beatles came to town, John Lennon was so tired he didn’t know where he was.
“It was December 1965 and John Lennon got in the back of the Black Maria and said ‘where are the kilts?’,” he remembered. “The police had to tell him ‘you’re in Wales, not Scotland now’.
“Another officer got into the vehicle with all The Beatles and their crew who asked him for cigarettes. He handed them out until there wasn’t one for him.”
Now, the wife of Frank Wilson, who died in 2000, aged 62, is putting the autographs up for auction.
“We’ve had the autographs in the family for 55 years now,” said Valerie Wilson, 82. They’ve been kept in pristine condition in an envelope for all that time.”
“I remember him telling me that when they got into the van after the show they were all sweaty and smelly. The van drove up to the stage and bundled them in and they were off.
“He did escort other groups at the time and he met people like Tom Jones back then. I also remember him telling me how he guarded Nat King Cole’s door when he stayed at The Park Hotel in the city.”
The autographs have a guide price of £1,500 – £2,500, but it’s hoped they will make much more given the enduring popularity of The Beatles and the excellent preserved condition of the item.