Beatles Magical Mystery Tour Newquay 1967

Back in September 1967 The Beatles set out on a Magical Mystery Tour - nobody knew where they'd end up. The film they made along the way became the Magical Mystery Tour film and they wrote the song lyrics too, releasing the soundtrack to the film in December 1967.

The film wasn't well-received by the press at the time, who felt it was an over-indulgent waste of time as it was just a bunch of mates wandering about in a bus partying.... which sounds a lot like modern-day reality TV :)

During the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour of 1967 they found themselves in Newquay for three whole days. There are a lot of photos of The Beatles from those three days and they spent a lot of time filming on local beaches - footage which was then part of the Magical Mystery Tour film released in late 1967.

The Beatles released a 6-track album at the end of 1967, which was the soundtrack to their Magical Mystery Tour film, the footage for which was shot on their tour.

The Beatles stayed at the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay. The Beatles booked into The Atlantic Hotel in Newquay on Tuesday 12 September 1967 and left on Friday 15th.

Photos often show the band, and entourage, sitting on the front steps of the hotel.

During their three days, the Beatles spent a lot of time filming at the Atlantic Hotel, but they also ventured slightly further afield to the following beaches:

• Porth
• Watergate Bay
• Holywell Bay

Perhaps there are other beaches they visited - as you have to pass a few others along those routes, but they're not currently known to me.

Well, you'd think that "four blokes came to Newquay" wouldn't have had much impact. Media coverage wasn't what it is today, people weren't as free or able to travel at short notice, word will have spread slowly.

However, it's now nearly 50 years on and there's still a buzz in Newquay about the visit by The Beatles all those years ago.

A stone plaque was erected in 2002 to commemorate their visit, you can see this on the Killacourt, above Towan Beach.

But, more recently, a big fan has launched the Newquay Beatles Bus Tour as a tourist attraction.

So "four blokes came to Newquay" is a bigger deal than you'd have thought possible!

As a nod back to the days when The Beatles visited Newquay, in 2011 a new tourist attraction was launched: The Newquay Beatles Bus Tour.

The bus tour runs 3-4x a week during the peak seasons, when you can climb aboard a bus and be driven round the spots known to have been visited by the Beatles - all to the accompaniment of Beatles songs played in the bus. The Tour starts at Newquay Bus Station.

Meet the Actual Egg Man, who inspired the "I am the Walrus" song

Along the way you'll learn interesting anecdotals and facts, like The Egg Man song came about when the Beatles were enjoying a pint in the Sailors Arms in Newquay and were introduced to the local man who delivered eggs, Ted O'Dell .... and actually the owner of the Newquay Beatles Tour Bus Company.

For those fans of The Beatles in the US and Canada, the UK Beatles Tour Book is now available locally to them - I'm sure this will be a top selling book in the next few years as it makes a great gift for a lover of Beatles music, or collector of classic 1960s albums and memorabilia.

Entitled "Beatlemania - The Real Story of the Beatles UK Tours, 1963-1965" it can be bought from many large bookshops or online through Amazon.

The Beatles did six tours in total. The Magical Mystery Tour isn't in this book as it was undertaken in 1967.

The author of Beatlemania, Martin Creasy, spent time tracking down over 20 pop stars and the single surviving compere from the Beatles Tours. He found the police who were on duty, music writers who wrote about the Tours and regional newspaper and radio reporters, photographers, cinema staff, technicians and hoteliers to bring to the reader the real story of what happened when The Beatles went on tour.

There are also lots of pieces from the fans who were actually there, recalling the impact The Beatles had when they played at theatres in their local towns.

The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour album cover by Wikipedia.