This article is from page 3 of the 2011-12-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
PREVIOUSLY unknown footage of John Lennon at the Cliffs of Moher has been discovered by Lahinch Beatles expert Matthew Kelly.
The footage shows Lennon lying on his belly and peering over the historic Cliffs during his visit to the Banner County in 1964 with fellow ‘Fab Four’ member George Harrison.
The footage first came to Matthew’s attention when it appeared for a fraction of a second in the Martin Scorsese documentary film George Ha r r ison: Living in the Ma ter ia l World , which was released earlier this year.
After recognising the Cliffs of Moher from the film, Matthew set about tracking down the footage and eventually met with an American Beatles expert, Patti Noah, who was able to supply him with a 30-second-long clip of John Lennon at the world famous Cliffs.
“I could not believe it when I saw the Cliffs in the film. I decided to try and verify it so I went searching online to see what I would find out. I eventually found an American Beatles expert called Patti who not only confirmed that it was the Cliffs of Moher, she was also able to give me a longer piece of footage from the Cliffs,” said Matthew.
“I found out that a filmmaker called Dezider Hoffmann was following the Beatles during their time in Ireland and, at the moment, Patti is trying to find more footage of the Beatles in Clare from her collection.
“She has a massive collection of Beatles video and audio and she is confident that she had more unseen footage from The Beatles’ trip to Clare.”
This footage is the first documentary proof that The Beatles visited the Cliffs of Moher and Doolin in 1964. Many stories have been told about The Beatles in North Clare – one notable tale tells how John Lennon and George Harrison were about to play an impromptu gig in McHugh’s Bar in Doolin, only to be stopped by the man of the house, Josie McHugh, who said that it was too early in the day for the “tourists” to be singing. Matthew has a long-running connection with The Beatles. His father, Bill Kelly, was a garda sergeant in Ennistymon in 1964 when The Beatles visited. He was assigned to guard The Beatles during their time in Clare. Last year, Matthew also set up the world’s first Beatles dating agency, BeatlesSingles.com, which aims to match single Beatles fans from all over the world. “I’ve been obsessed with The Beatles for my whole life and I grew up on stories of their visit to Clare. My father was assigned to guard The Beatles when they were in Clare in 1964. “Whenever I asked him about them, he would call them hairy hippies and say that he wouldn’t cross the road to see them,” continued Matthew. “My dad also had to smuggle the wives and girlfriends of The Beatles out of Dromoland hotel in a laundry van because of the number of fans who were there. “It is also said that The Beatles bought a pair of boots in Walls Shop in Ennistymon – that is the shop belonging to the parents of Steve and Joe Wall from The Stunning.” Besides being a Beatles expert, Matthew has also written a book on the Cliffs of Moher which is available from www.cliffsofmoherbook. com.