1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,000 This programme contains some strong language 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:05,960 Hey, guys. How's it going? OK. Right. 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:07,560 HUMMING: Do-do-do, do-do... 4 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:09,560 The Lost Bass! Yay! 5 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:13,640 It's a story. It is a story. You know, it's a quite a thing. 6 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,040 Yeah. And this being my first bass 7 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:24,200 that I'd got in Hamburg, um, all those years ago. 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:30,320 I had an attachment to it. You know, it just went off into the universe. 9 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,160 You know, it's like, "Where did it go?" 10 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:34,880 There must be an answer, you know? 11 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:38,120 Somebody's got it. 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,240 # Oh, darling 13 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:53,800 # Please believe me 14 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:01,280 # I'll never do you no harm 15 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,480 # Believe me when I tell you 16 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:13,880 # I'll never do you no harm 17 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,360 # Oh, darling 18 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:24,560 CROWD CHEERS 19 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,920 # Please believe me 20 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,360 # I'll never make it alone 21 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:41,800 # Believe me when I beg you, ooh! 22 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:46,680 # Don't ever leave me alone 23 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,160 # When you told me 24 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:01,480 # You didn't need me any more 25 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:09,400 # Well, you know, I nearly broke down and cried 26 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,720 # When you told me 27 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,040 # You didn't need me any more 28 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:23,520 # Well, you know, I nearly fell down and died. # 29 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:28,840 Fantastic, isn't it? And as you see, 30 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:30,640 you can see what's been written in... 31 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,040 This was one of the main places where they used 32 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:39,600 to sit and write songs. 33 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,400 They'd sneak, bunk off school, come in here, eat some fried eggs. 34 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:43,520 There's a thing about fried eggs. 35 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,040 I don't know why. Everywhere... If you go to Hunter Davies' story, 36 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:47,120 they're all eating fried eggs. 37 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:48,680 It must have been just after the war. 38 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:50,240 They must have just loved fried eggs. 39 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:51,320 LAUGHTER 40 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,640 This is where we used to live. 41 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:58,960 Our humble abode in Forthlin Road, Allerton, Liverpool. 42 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:03,200 And this is where we used to live as a little family. 43 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,560 And, uh, there's people out there. What are they doing now? 44 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:11,920 That's why we left. 45 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,120 Lots of lovely memories. 46 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:22,080 Not enough of my mum and the smells 47 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,200 that would have come from the kitchen 48 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,680 when she did Sunday dinners. 49 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:32,880 She'd do off-cuts of lamb or beef and sneak them in to us, 50 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:34,440 her little boys. 51 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:36,400 "Sh. Don't tell your dad. Sh." 52 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,840 See, whenever I talk about my mum, 53 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,560 it's always dangerous because this is where she went from. 54 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:51,280 This is our kid's little room. 55 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:58,600 Yeah, I stopped them going in there for many years, 56 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:04,000 because it was too important to me 57 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,800 and my brother. 58 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:16,160 I was 12, my brother was 14, and she died of cancer. 59 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,240 When you're 12 or 14, you don't understand. 60 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:28,240 You have to get on with life. It's... You have to survive. 61 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,320 And because Dad had been in 62 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,960 his own band, at the back of his mind, 63 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,920 he always thought, "Well, that was a way out." 64 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,880 And so he bought me a banjo 65 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,840 and my brother a guitar, a Spanish guitar. 66 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,160 I took that out the back window. 67 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:53,400 Our kid was sitting in the back garden, 68 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:59,680 lost, just miles away with his guitar. 69 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,480 My brother was 14 in that photograph. 70 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,360 Beatlemania came six years later. 71 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,480 PAUL: If I'm in a not very good mood, 72 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:16,760 a great thing to do is just take a guitar. 73 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,120 Because you think about it, you sort of hold it to you, 74 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,760 you know, a guitar, and it's kind of comforting thing to do. 75 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,560 You go off into a little room somewhere, 76 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:27,280 you know, on your own and tell 77 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:29,360 the guitar your troubles, kind of thing. 78 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,920 It's like a cheap psychiatrist, really. 79 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,680 And, uh, it turns round and the guitar 80 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,640 sort of sends it back to you and it comes back as a song somehow. 81 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,880 MUSIC: Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey by the Beatles 82 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,960 Well, it started in Hamburg. 83 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,080 # Ah, Kansas City 84 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:01,280 # Going to get my baby back home... # 85 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:05,320 You had gangsters, pimps. 86 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,720 You had prostitutes. 87 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,880 You had all you could imagine. 88 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:13,840 ARCHIVE: Hamburg is echoing to the invasion 89 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:16,720 from the latest beat groups from Britain who've taken over. 90 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,760 I heard the music through a window, a cellar window. 91 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,360 I just wanted to see that rock and roll music. 92 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,240 The next band came on and that was The Beatles. 93 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,000 Paul came up and I think he was the one 94 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,280 who talked to the audience first because he could speak German. 95 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:45,760 "Hallo, wie geht es? 96 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,760 "Guten Tag, sir." 97 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,760 HE LAUGHS 98 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:50,160 It was really sweet. 99 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,520 I mean, they were young kids. George was 17, 100 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,560 you know, and I was a little older then, you know? 101 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:04,440 We became friends and they came to the house. 102 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:05,880 They got great food. 103 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:08,880 Put them in the bathtub. 104 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:14,880 Because they didn't have any mother or father to look after them. 105 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,240 It was a friendship. A friendship grew up, you know? 106 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,560 ANSWERPHONE SPEAKS GERMAN 107 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,760 Oh, danke schon. Hey, Klaus. 108 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,440 Paul here, and trying to reach you 109 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,760 so we can have a nice telephone conversation. 110 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,400 So I'll try again. Lots of love. 111 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,080 Bye-bye. 112 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,080 ANSWERPHONE BEEPS 113 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:44,440 Hmm. 114 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:50,240 He is still that same little Paul he was when he was 19 years old. 115 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,520 You know, it's the same guy. 116 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,840 I'm a graphic designer. I had the job to do the cover 117 00:07:58,840 --> 00:07:59,920 on Revolver. 118 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:02,720 I'm a bass player, but now I can't 119 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,400 play any guitar chords without cramp, 120 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,520 this cramp...hand. I can't do a fist. 121 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,920 Can't do a fist, you know? It doesn't work. 122 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:13,160 It doesn't work. 123 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:17,360 Luckily enough, I can still hold my pencil. 124 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,560 I'm going to do drawings of the story of his bass. 125 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,800 I decided to start with the Top Ten. 126 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,920 That's the first time I actually saw the bass. 127 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,120 RECORDING: Well, it's... So what do you want to talk about? 128 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,720 We want to talk about you as the bass player, really. 129 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,880 So I've got... You've got Paul's guitar. 130 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,160 And next to it, Stuart Sutcliffe's guitar. 131 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,120 And... PAUL: My bass guitar 132 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,440 days go back to when Stuart was the bass player. 133 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:03,120 Stu had fallen in love with this girl called Astrid. 134 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,640 Stu decided he was going to stay in Hamburg, 135 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,200 and so that meant we didn't have a bass player, 136 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,360 and John and George said, "Well, I'm not doing it." 137 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,280 So that left me. 138 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,800 RECORDING: Eventually then, I found a nice little shop 139 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,760 in the centre of Hamburg, 140 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,040 and I saw this bass in the window, 141 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,680 the violin-shaped bass, the Hofner. 142 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:33,160 I don't think it was very expensive, something like about £30. 143 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:39,040 Then once I got my own bass, then I was the bass player. 144 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,880 GUITAR STRUMS, INDISTINCT CHATTER 145 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,800 I remember it was the last day 146 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,320 the band played in the Top Ten Club, 147 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:04,040 and Stuart, it was his last night of playing. 148 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,320 And we were sitting outside. The sun was shining. 149 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,840 I think it was Sunday morning. 150 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:16,600 And we were all sitting there, being all pretty stoned. 151 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,360 Stoned meaning Preludin. Pills and stuff. 152 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:22,240 Talking, talking, talking. 153 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:25,800 John was sitting next to me 154 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,520 and I said, "Well, Stuart isn't playing. 155 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,480 "I could play the bass." 156 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,760 And he said, "Oh, sorry, Klaus. Paul already bought a bass. 157 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:35,840 "He's going to be the next bass player." 158 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:38,800 PRODUCER: It could have been your moment, Klaus. 159 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:40,720 You could have become Beatle number five. 160 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,320 Yeah. All right. 161 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,080 I don't know. Anyway, I don't even want to think about it. 162 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,200 I lived in Hamburg through my brother's letters. 163 00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:13,080 Suddenly they came back one day and he had that Hofner. 164 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:16,360 It's so unique. 165 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:22,880 We were the roadies. 166 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,120 I probably held that bloody thing. 167 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:31,720 And then our kid got a Ford Classic. 168 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:34,640 Looked cool. 169 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,320 ENGINE REVS 170 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,760 And their music then... 171 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:45,520 ..you know, going to The Cavern... 172 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:50,560 ..the difference was unbelievable. 173 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:54,640 It was like, "Whoa. How...? What happened?" 174 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,600 We knew we were going somewhere. 175 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,920 We always felt that we had something. 176 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,080 Then you've got John Lennon. 177 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,000 You know, he was a very witty cat. 178 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:15,160 With me, he could hold his own. 179 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,720 With George, who was, like, spectacular. 180 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,200 And then finish it all up with Ringo. 181 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,840 So we had a kind of magic. 182 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:30,720 # Some other guy now has taken my love away from me, oh now 183 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:35,520 # Some other guy now has taken away my sweet desire, oh now 184 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:40,160 # Some other guy now, I just don't want to hold my hand, oh now 185 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:45,520 # I'm the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel all right 186 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,560 # Some other guy... # 187 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:50,600 I'm the least technical person you'll meet. 188 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,560 So I don't know what I do. 189 00:12:53,560 --> 00:12:55,960 I just play with it. 190 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:57,760 It's a lovely instrument to play, 191 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,040 and it's kind of easy to play. 192 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:05,240 And so I got, I got very used to it and loved it. 193 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:12,400 CHEERING 194 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,680 # Close your eyes and I'll kiss you 195 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,440 # Tomorrow, I'll miss you 196 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:31,360 # Remember I'll always be true. # 197 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,880 This Hofner bass really suited Paul's style of playing. 198 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:38,200 It's very rhythmical, 199 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,360 but at the same time it's very, very melodic. 200 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,240 # All my lovin' to you 201 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,200 # I'll pretend that I'm kissing 202 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,160 # The lips I am missing... # 203 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,160 ISOLATED BASS BOUNCES 204 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:54,720 You can hear in lots of songs that the songs are very, 205 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:57,000 very simple and the bass 206 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000 does more movement than any other instrument. 207 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,640 # And I'll send all my lovin' to you... # 208 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:10,840 I'm a big fan of James Jamerson, 209 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:12,960 who was the Motown bass player. 210 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:14,520 Because normally bass is... 211 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,680 IMITATES PLODDING BASSLINE 212 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:21,160 But he was going... IMITATES MORE MELODIC BASSLINE 213 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,680 I was going, wow, that's a great way to use the bass. 214 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,520 # All my lovin'... # 215 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,400 That set me free. I was like, "Great. 216 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,720 "OK, I can make up melodies." 217 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,600 So as the guys were doing the main song, 218 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:35,880 I would just try 219 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,080 and put something imaginative behind it. 220 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,600 And it was a great feeling. I mean, I still remember it the moment - 221 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:45,880 bingo. 222 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,640 # I will send to you. # 223 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:50,040 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 224 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:57,200 MUSIC: Day Tripper by the Beatles 225 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:14,280 # Got a good reason... # 226 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:18,920 The first time I was aware of the Beatles, 227 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,440 I'd have been about nine years old. 228 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:23,800 My clear memory of that is seeing them 229 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:25,960 on the 6 o'clock television news, 230 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:27,040 when all the girls 231 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,680 were screaming outside the cinemas and that kind of thing. 232 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:32,600 They were playing electric guitars. 233 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,640 And let's face it, you know, electric guitars are so sexy. 234 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:38,240 My mother would have thought it not 235 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,400 the right thing to have an electric guitar. 236 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:42,000 That was for bad boys, you know? 237 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,000 Years later, I was the 238 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,600 electric guitar manager with Hofner, 239 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,080 a small German guitar company. 240 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:58,040 Subsequently, I've met Paul McCartney. 241 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,000 It was at his studio, down south in England. 242 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,200 He just walked in and said, "Oh, hello, you're Mr Hofner. 243 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,600 "Do you know where my old Hofner's gone?" 244 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:09,960 And I knew what he meant straight away. 245 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,920 "My old Hofner" - he meant the '61 bass. 246 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:14,560 # And I found out... # 247 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:14,560 ENGINE REVS 248 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:21,120 We'd been looking for my old bass for years, but that's 249 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:22,320 what happened with Nick. 250 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:24,720 I started talking about it and just saying, 251 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:26,440 "Yeah, we're looking for it. 252 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:28,440 "I don't know if we'll ever find it." 253 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:32,720 And of course, I had to say to him, you know, 254 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,160 I've got no idea where it's gone. 255 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:36,720 It's all a bit of a mystery. 256 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:41,880 It's the most important bass of any bass ever, anywhere. 257 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,560 In terms of anybody actually 258 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,440 totally associated with an instrument, 259 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:49,320 yeah, McCartney and the Hofner bass. 260 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,800 There's just something in the soul of the two of them. 261 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:01,240 Here's the old Hofner factory down in Bavaria. 262 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:04,720 It's still standing. 263 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:06,000 Poor old place. 264 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,080 And it was here, in these premises, 265 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:15,560 that they built the bass all those years ago. 266 00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:20,880 That moment, that turn in history... 267 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,240 ..you almost had to be there, really, 268 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:26,080 to feel the electricity in the air. 269 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:27,120 SOUND OF CHEERING 270 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:34,360 I was probably bored on a wet Wednesday, 271 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:38,640 I designed and put up the web page on the on the Hofner website. 272 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:43,840 The usual sort of things - if you've got any information, email us. 273 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:45,640 And I think Cathy came up with 274 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:47,680 the name #TraceTheBass 275 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,160 with the hashtag on the front. 276 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,320 Yes. I think it was you, was it? It was me. 277 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,200 Well, there you are - genius. It's catchy. 278 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:56,680 Very catchy. It's good. Genius, you see. 279 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:58,160 #TraceTheBass. 280 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,360 The whole of our marriage, you know, for the last 20-odd years, 281 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:05,840 Cathy's just supported me with one lunatic scheme after another, 282 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:08,800 you know? And she used to be a bank manager, you see, 283 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:10,640 so she's good at filing stuff. 284 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,800 We talked about it endlessly. Endlessly. Yeah. Yeah. 285 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,560 I don't think there was one purpose in searching for the bass. 286 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:25,120 There was 100 million fans out there who I knew would be 287 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:29,000 thrilled to bits to know that this thing had come back. 288 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,880 So it was for everybody, not just Paul. 289 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,040 # She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah... # 290 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,960 I was in Liverpool so I could go every game 291 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,000 that I could afford to go to. 292 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,120 27,000 people used to be on the Kop. 293 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,040 And very emotional sound. 294 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,400 # Pride can hurt you, too Apologise... # 295 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,640 Among the many things I memorised before I picked up an instrument 296 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:01,400 were the harmony parts. 297 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,080 I can't sing in Paul's register now, but I could then, 298 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:05,720 when I was a kid! 299 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,440 # And you know you should be glad... # 300 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:10,400 Ooh! 301 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:14,080 And we would cut out cardboard likenesses of 302 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,280 the guitars we liked 303 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,680 and draw the controls on them, 304 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,440 and then mime along with records. 305 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,080 It was a perfect apprenticeship for being on Top Of The Pops. 306 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,360 You know, pretending to play. 307 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,240 The hardest thing was to make a Hofner bass, 308 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,320 because you needed a longer piece of cardboard for the neck. 309 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,280 This is like when I'm nine or something you know? 310 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,200 # Be glad Ooh! 311 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,960 # She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah 312 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,640 # She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah... # 313 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:49,680 Well, the thing about the Hofner 314 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,640 is it's very lightweight, which is great. 315 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:55,600 It makes it easier to play. 316 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,000 So that was the one on all the early Beatles records. 317 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:02,800 It was a very rich period - 318 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,720 for music, for us, 319 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,480 particularly for making records. 320 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:10,880 # Yeah, yeah, yeah 321 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,240 # Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. # 322 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,120 That bass was used an enormous amount 323 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,480 and it started to fall to bits. 324 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:21,800 And we don't know when - 325 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,120 again, because all the records are long gone - 326 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:27,920 they ordered another Hofner bass. 327 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,200 We think it gets delivered 328 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,440 into his hand on October 4th, 1963. 329 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:40,240 They did a gig on an old TV programme called Ready Steady Go! 330 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,320 And there's pictures of him at rehearsal 331 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:46,400 and pictures of him actually 332 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,320 doing the performance to camera, and both basses are there. 333 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,880 He's got the '61 from Hamburg - 334 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,120 it has two pickups close together. 335 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,520 And he's got this new one. 336 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,000 They've moved this pickup down to near the bridge. 337 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,880 And in some of the shots, he's got the new one and he's holding it up 338 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:09,080 and it hasn't even got a strap on it. 339 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:11,560 So we're kind of concluding 340 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,280 that it arrived that very day. 341 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,680 And the '61 gets put on backup duties, poor thing. 342 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,440 Within a couple of months of that, the February, 343 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,480 they're playing in front of 70 million people in the USA. 344 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:33,200 # I read the news today Oh, boy 345 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,760 # About a lucky man who made the grade 346 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,080 # And though the news was rather sad... # 347 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,000 Meanwhile, the '61 bass is away being repaired. 348 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,640 # But I just had to look... # 349 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,920 Our roadie, Mal, took it off 350 00:21:54,920 --> 00:22:00,080 and brought it back like new, 351 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,240 but with a completely different paint job on it. 352 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:06,160 When it returned, 353 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,840 it had been completely resprayed and it came back 354 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,480 with what's now called a three-part sunburst, 355 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,160 which is more or less black, red, yellow. 356 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,520 It's very distinctive when you look at this bass now. 357 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,080 RISING DISCORDANT STRINGS 358 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:27,000 For me, the whole charm of that instrument was gone. 359 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,280 I don't know how Paul feels about it. 360 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,240 I think he was a bit pissed off, too. 361 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,560 # Woke up, fell out of bed 362 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,080 # Dragged a comb across my head 363 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,120 # Found my way downstairs and drank a cup 364 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:52,200 # And looking up I noticed I was late 365 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,160 # Found my coat and grabbed my hat 366 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,680 # Made the bus in seconds flat 367 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,760 # Found my way upstairs and had a smoke 368 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,160 # And somebody spoke and I went into a dream... # 369 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:12,680 Coming from a look point of view, I think the '63 is nicer. 370 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,320 Maybe even better. Better pickups, 371 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,000 better sound, louder. Whatever. 372 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,440 He's very singular. He played 373 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,440 that '63 bass then continuously 374 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,560 and you never see him playing the '61. You know, 375 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,160 he didn't swap and change between the two or anything. 376 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:35,920 They went back to America in 1965. 377 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:39,840 The '61 is being used as a backup but not played. 378 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,680 At Shea Stadium, if you look really careful, 379 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:46,840 you see Ringo up on the drum riser. 380 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,560 Just down below Ringo on the back of the amp, there's the bass. 381 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,960 You have to look very eagle eyed, but it's there. 382 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:00,840 What happened to it after that is a mystery. 383 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,640 It's just luck and a lot of sort of 384 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,520 peering at grainy old black-and-white pictures. 385 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,160 # Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona... # 386 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:12,480 The only time you see it again, 387 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,160 you have to wait till a quick shot of it 388 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:16,920 by the coffee table in the Let It Be sessions. 389 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:18,360 And then we don't see it any more. 390 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,640 It's just not around. 391 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,920 # Get back, get back 392 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,280 # Get back to where you once 393 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:31,480 # Get back. # 394 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:43,960 The event is so momentous that historians may one day view it 395 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,840 as a landmark in the decline of the British Empire. 396 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:49,640 The Beatles are breaking up. 397 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,720 And when they split up, I mean all the rancour starts - you know, 398 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,400 the lawyers are in and it was chaotic. 399 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,040 There were guitars here, there were guitars there 400 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,440 and nobody was really taking care of stuff. 401 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:25,840 This is the remarkable thing, it's 402 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,680 from the end of the Beatles, nobody had ever seen this bass. 403 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:32,520 It just wasn't there any more. 404 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,840 I was never able to establish any firm basis 405 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,160 as to when it disappeared. 406 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,240 I put my hand up absolutely and say, 407 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,480 I started this from nowhere, not knowing how to do it. 408 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,520 So I was kind of a bit handicapped, I suppose - 409 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,560 as green as a cabbage as well. 410 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,200 RISING DISCORDANT STRINGS 411 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,440 It had got to the point where it needed somebody 412 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,200 better than me to start poking about. 413 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,240 FINAL SUSTAINED PIANO CHORD 414 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,120 It was June 2022 and I was watching 415 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:14,080 Paul McCartney headline at Glastonbury. 416 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:20,040 But there was one moment in the show where the stage just went black, 417 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:24,440 apart from one light just picking out Paul's Hofner bass. 418 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,360 And it just caught the varnish and the wood and everything. 419 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:31,440 It was almost like shining like gold for this split second. 420 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:33,720 And I thought, 421 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,760 "Is that the original Hofner bass?" 422 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:41,960 And so I googled it and saw that it wasn't - the original bass 423 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,720 that he'd got in 1961 was lost. 424 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,640 And I instantly started googling 425 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,560 to see and find out more about that story. 426 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,960 But in terms of an investigation and then thinking, 427 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,280 "I want to find this thing," I thought, 428 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,920 "Well, if no-one else is doing that and that guitar 429 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,640 "is so important, we need to do it." 430 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,080 Who do you mean by we? 431 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,280 Me and my wife - we work together. 432 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,760 And we convinced ourselves 433 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,280 that we may not find the bass, 434 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,560 but we'd find stories about the bass. 435 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,600 We'd find what the bass meant to people. 436 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,600 You know, that sort of Beatlemania fan thing. 437 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,880 By July 2023, I'd seen that Hofner 438 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:34,280 over in Bavaria had ran a search 439 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,640 and I was really curious to find out what they know. 440 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,600 So I wrote this very polite email to introduce myself, 441 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,440 thinking he was German and being conscious of the sort of 442 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,000 the English language that I was using. 443 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,760 And then within 24 hours, I realised that Nick was from London 444 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,920 and he was on the end of the phone and we were talking like old mates. 445 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,120 And I thought, "Oh, my God, these are exactly the people 446 00:27:57,120 --> 00:27:59,560 "I've been looking for for a long time." 447 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,040 We got together and I said, 448 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,600 "Scott, well, look, I've got a lot of emails," 449 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,000 and I passed him the lot over for him to read 450 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,840 and get a sense of what we were dealing with then. 451 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,800 All of these leads that came in, you knew it was people 452 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,960 that had lived with this story for a long, long time. 453 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,280 It's just that it was, it was wrong. 454 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,920 "A man claiming he had one of Paul's guitars walked into 455 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,680 "a pawn shop in Las Vegas called the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop 456 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:30,400 "to sell it. There's a television programme called the Pawn Stars, 457 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,040 "where it was aired. Hope it helps." 458 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,720 "I definitely saw the bass in an auction of music equipment 459 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:37,600 "in the mid '80s in London. 460 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:42,160 "It sold for £100 to a music rental studio company." 461 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:43,800 "I've heard that the bass is in Japan 462 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,920 "in the possession of a Japanese banker." 463 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,440 This information was given me to a guy that knows the Beatles 464 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,760 and the Beatles gear website well. 465 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,200 I had this vision of, 466 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,120 I used to say to people, I know what's happened. 467 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,720 Some German guy, rich German guy, has nicked it, 468 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,960 and he's got a big castle in the Bavarian mountains, 469 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,440 and he invites you up. And then, after a few drinks, he says, 470 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,920 "Come, I show you something special." 471 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,280 And there, over the mantelpiece, 472 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,000 is hanging my bass. 473 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:21,400 So it's a treasure hunt. 474 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,840 But also people love the Beatles 475 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,440 and love Paul McCartney and wanted to help. 476 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,240 THEY PLAY DAY TRIPPER 477 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:41,400 # She's a big teaser 478 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,640 # She took me half the way there... # 479 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,160 I've always admired Paul McCartney as a bass player. 480 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,160 He made the bass guitar cool. 481 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,520 Beatle fans know that the bass disappeared 482 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:58,520 and no-one knows where it's gone. 483 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:03,520 So, um, it'd be amazing if somebody ever did find it. 484 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:06,560 Because that's history, isn't it? It's history. 485 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:11,520 # Day tripper 486 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:15,280 # Day tripper, yeah... # 487 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,120 Yeah. Ever since I can remember I've been a Beatles fan. 488 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:20,880 There's only ever been one band for me, I think. 489 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,880 First time I ever opened the Sgt. Pepper's, 490 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,160 and you opened it up, and they've all got moustaches. 491 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,080 And I thought, "When I get older, I want to have a moustache," 492 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:31,920 you know? 493 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:31,920 HE LAUGHS 494 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,600 So I bought it second-hand. Only paid £80 for it, 495 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,360 which is not much more than Paul paid for his, probably. 496 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,240 Can you play anything on it? 497 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:40,840 A little bit of Day Tripper but... 498 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:43,400 APPROXIMATION OF BASSLINE 499 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:46,360 Only a little bit! 500 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:47,800 I need a plectrum. 501 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:47,800 HE LAUGHS 502 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:49,640 I've always wanted to play the guitar. 503 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,720 I've tried for years and I thought it might be easier 504 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:54,880 to play bass because there's only four strings. 505 00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:58,840 It's a Vox. 506 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,160 The Vox. You have to have a Vox, don't you, 507 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:03,440 if you have a Beatles bass? 508 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,920 Oh, no. After all that, mate, it's broken. 509 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:09,960 Cut! 510 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,600 NOTE RINGS OUT 511 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:26,640 It works. 512 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,640 HE PLAYS DAY TRIPPER 513 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:43,520 That's it. 514 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:47,480 Got there in the end. Yeah. 515 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:48,920 Practice makes perfect, doesn't it? 516 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:50,560 HE LAUGHS 517 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:53,480 # One-way ticket, yeah 518 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:58,240 # It took me so long to find out 519 00:31:58,240 --> 00:31:59,880 # And I found out... # 520 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:02,440 RIFF BLARES 521 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:07,440 School drop-off time, innit? 522 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,520 I work for the Ambulance Service. 523 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:13,760 I've been doing it 23 years now. 524 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,040 So I'm on the patient transport side. 525 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:17,600 So it's all non-emergency. 526 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,120 There's a guy, Steve, I work with, he's a lovely guy. 527 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:23,640 Known him for two, three years, 528 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,400 so we always have a good laugh when we're crewing up together. 529 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,960 You know, we bounce off each other quite nicely. 530 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,840 I'm always looking online for guitars and things. 531 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,240 And I think I just - might have been by accident - 532 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:45,520 went on to the Hofner website, saw that Nick Wass was looking for it. 533 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:50,760 And that was like the, yeah, the Holy Grail for me. 534 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:52,640 It was, you know, like finding the Bible, 535 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,400 trying to find Paul McCartney's bass. 536 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:56,320 You know, if you're a fan, that's like, wow. 537 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,720 Well, I was with Steve one day and I said, 538 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,240 "Well, I've still got a bass that's a bit like Paul McCartney's." 539 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,520 And he just sort of said, "I think I know where that is." 540 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:11,120 You know. 541 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,200 And I said, "You're joking, aren't you?" You know. 542 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,280 So I just said to him, I said, 543 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:20,960 "I've got an idea where that might be, you know." 544 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:24,640 And he sort of looked at me and I went... 545 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,160 .."Right, I'm going to tell you something. 546 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:30,560 "I don't know if it's right or proper, 547 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:31,920 "but I'm going to tell you something. 548 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:33,240 "It's only a story I've heard." 549 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,240 He said, "Where?" So I said, "Well, it don't matter where," 550 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:40,400 I said, "but...I think it was nicked from a house in London." 551 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:45,200 So I said, "Steve, can I tell the story? 552 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:49,120 "Can I tell Nick what little bit you've told me?" 553 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:52,920 I said, "Don't put my name on it." 554 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:56,200 "No," he said, "what we'll do," he said, "I'll email it in and say 555 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,160 "it's a story that someone told us 556 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:00,560 "on the back of the ambulance - a patient." 557 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:06,160 I mean, the emails were quite mixed, if I'm honest. 558 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,080 One of them in particular was from 559 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,640 these two guys who are a crew on an ambulance, 560 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,320 and they told me this bullshit story about having 561 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,800 a client in the back of the ambulance, as they described it... 562 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:20,040 A patient? 563 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,280 Yeah, but I think they call it client now, don't they? 564 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:25,200 Who'd given them some story about 565 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:28,360 the fact that the bass had been stolen. 566 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,480 And that it had been given to a guy 567 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:37,160 in a pub up at Ladbroke Grove, London. 568 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:41,800 And I thought, "Yeah, a bit more bullshit." 569 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:44,720 But I wrote a polite reply, 570 00:34:44,720 --> 00:34:47,320 "That sounds like a really good book - 571 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:49,320 "Tales from the Back of an Ambulance." 572 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:52,120 And I left it there. 573 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:02,480 I had a call from the news editor 574 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,480 at the Telegraph looking for stories, and I said, 575 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:09,920 "Well, look, we're looking for Paul McCartney's lost bass." 576 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:11,120 And the minute I said it, 577 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,200 Ben commissioned the story on the spot. 578 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:18,760 The story in The Telegraph went live on the 2nd of September. 579 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,040 It was a Saturday. It was around about 4 o'clock online. 580 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:26,640 Within minutes, the BBC were in touch. 581 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:29,640 They said they wanted us on BBC Breakfast. 582 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:32,240 Well, delighted to say We're joined now by Nick Wass, 583 00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:35,880 who is a Hofner and lost bass expert, 584 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:37,360 and he's provided Paul McCartney 585 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:39,160 with many of his iconic instruments... 586 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:45,720 Lots of interviews and radio station interviews...day and night. 587 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:49,000 I realised why being famous must be absolutely awful. 588 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:52,480 The difference with the lost bass is 589 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,720 Paul McCartney had it refinished in 1964, 590 00:35:56,720 --> 00:36:01,720 and the two pickups are now mounted in a big black piece of wood here. 591 00:36:01,720 --> 00:36:03,840 But I think you've shown your audience 592 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:05,760 some pictures of what we're after. 593 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:08,080 Yeah. This is it. Yeah. 594 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:09,840 And the thing is, 595 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,240 it is distinctive and it should be identifiable. 596 00:36:13,240 --> 00:36:16,200 CONTINUES FAINTLY: Yeah. But, of course, it may have been destroyed 597 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,040 somewhere along the line. It may have just been chucked away. 598 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,600 It could have been taken by someone at the Apple offices. 599 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:22,720 We just don't know, do we? 600 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:25,400 No, we don't know. This is the problem. 601 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:26,760 Um, it was put away, 602 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,600 presumably, after they finished filming Get Back. 603 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,960 And after that, nobody has any clear idea of 604 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:34,280 what happened. 605 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:36,480 Where it was actually stored... 606 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:41,240 It might be there. We're just not clear about... 607 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,400 Well, I really wish you luck on your search, 608 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:47,040 because I think it's a wonderful story, Nick. 609 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:48,880 In the first 24 hours, 610 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:52,680 we must have had more than a dozen major newspapers 611 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:54,920 and radio and TV stations on - 612 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,760 NBC in America and The New York Times and Le Monde. 613 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:00,880 Le Monde... Der Spiegel in Germany. 614 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:02,400 Yeah. And it just went on and on. 615 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:04,760 And then TV channels that we'd never, 616 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,320 ever heard of were getting in touch 617 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:09,560 from Brazil and other places. Yeah! 618 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:10,600 TV CHATTER PLAYS 619 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,080 We thought that we'd almost plugged into 620 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:17,720 that spirit of the Beatles. Yeah. 621 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,720 You know, we thought that we had connected with 622 00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:26,000 that positive vibe around 623 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,480 peace and love and the band 624 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:29,440 and what the music meant to people. 625 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:36,000 We got 600 emails in the first 48 hours, 626 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,040 and the emails were just landing and landing and landing. 627 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,240 That's when the journalists in us took over 628 00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:46,120 and we started to pick out what could be really important. 629 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,800 # I heard the news today Oh, boy 630 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,880 # About a lucky man who made the grade... # 631 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,560 When we read Ian Horne's email, 632 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,040 we knew instantly that we had to speak to Ian. 633 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:17,000 # I just had to laugh... # 634 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,960 And Ian's lead was the only lead that said, 635 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,400 "I know Paul McCartney." Yeah. 636 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:25,200 And it was the only lead 637 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:27,480 that said, "I worked for Paul McCartney." 638 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:44,560 After he broke up with the Beatles, we met up. 639 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,200 I think Paul was definitely getting back 640 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,920 in the saddle, I'd call it, which was a big step 641 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:54,320 because I think he hid away for a while. 642 00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:59,640 Yeah, you know, it was very depressing, 643 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:03,360 you know, because you were breaking from your lifelong friends. 644 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:05,760 You weren't going to see them again. 645 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:08,360 It was depressing. 646 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,680 And not knowing whether I was going to continue in music. 647 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,680 Suddenly I wasn't having a good time. It wasn't working. 648 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:21,120 It was Linda who sort of said, 649 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:23,600 you know, you just, you've got to get it together 650 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:25,200 and we've got to do something. 651 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:28,000 So we ended up, um, forming Wings. 652 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:36,240 I knew that, if I kept playing Beatles songs, 653 00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:38,200 which I knew people wanted, 654 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,360 then I would become a Beatles tribute band. 655 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:44,520 I thought, maybe that's not the greatest look. 656 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:51,560 He was experimenting with things he hadn't done before. 657 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:53,720 He had a Yamaha bass, a Fender bass. 658 00:39:53,720 --> 00:39:57,520 LAUGHS: So he went through all the basses people are playing, you know. 659 00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,600 # And all the people 660 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,720 # Say that people must be free 661 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:06,880 # But meanwhile 662 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:09,360 # Back in Ireland 663 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:14,240 # There's a man who looks like me... # 664 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,560 We went on the road. Boy, did we go on the road. 665 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,160 Tell us about it. I mean, well, cos the thing is, 666 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:24,680 you know, normally, you go on the road, at least you book hotels. 667 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,640 You know, anyone books hotels. 668 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:31,120 But we decided to really just busk the whole thing. 669 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:35,000 So we had a tranny and we just headed off up the motorway. 670 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,440 We had the kids, a couple of dogs, a whole group. 671 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,360 All our instruments. Oh, there was, there was a U-Haul 672 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,840 following behind with the roadies. 673 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:47,320 And we literally turned up at universities and stuff. 674 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:48,840 We turned up at Nottingham University, 675 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,360 was the first one, and we said... 676 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:52,920 In fact, WE didn't - I didn't say anything. 677 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:54,520 I stayed in the van. 678 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:54,520 THEY LAUGH 679 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:56,960 One of the lads - Ian Horne, actually- went in. 680 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,240 "I've got Paul McCartney out in the van, 681 00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:01,240 "do you want him on lunchtime tomorrow?" 682 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,760 "Really?" They come out in the van to sort of check. 683 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:07,720 "Oh, yeah. Yeah, we'll have him." 684 00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:11,840 # Give Ireland back to the Irish 685 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:15,880 # Make Ireland Irish today... # 686 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:17,840 All right, Henry. 687 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:17,840 GUITAR SOLO 688 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:19,960 He was loving it, being back in the saddle. 689 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:26,320 And he never played the Hofner, as far as I know. It was around. 690 00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:32,360 Still lugging it around from place to place? 691 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:34,320 Yeah, but maybe that's more me than him. 692 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,000 Me thinking, "If he asks for it, I've got it." 693 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,160 We'd just finished the university tour 694 00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:59,880 and we were recording an album called Red Rose Speedway. 695 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:08,720 Well, on this particular day, 696 00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:12,080 we'd been in the studio. We didn't leave till quite late, 697 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:14,520 so we drove back to Trevor's. Yeah, 698 00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:16,640 Trevor's my brother-in-law. 699 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:18,640 He was my assistant. 700 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,520 So we had a truck full of gear, 701 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:24,880 which we had the Hofner bass, acoustic guitars, some amplifiers. 702 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,280 I couldn't park at Trevor's because opposite 703 00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:36,040 Trevor's house was a school, 704 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:37,880 so it was restricted parking. 705 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:41,520 Just went up the road a bit, turned right 706 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:43,560 and there's a T-junction there, 707 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:45,440 which is Cambridge Gardens. 708 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:49,160 There's a parking place right on the edge, so I thought, 709 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:53,200 I'll put it there, with the back of the truck visible to everybody. 710 00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:58,760 Basically, I had a big heavy-duty padlock on the back. 711 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,960 It was a roller shutter on the back. 712 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:03,800 So I felt fairly secure. 713 00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:08,600 I walked back to Trevor's and we went to sleep. 714 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:13,520 And then, of course, in the morning, the nightmare began. 715 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:19,040 You could see that the padlock was off and I went, 716 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:20,400 "Oh, God." 717 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:23,440 You know, a cold sweat. 718 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:25,440 So I throw the roller door up... 719 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,240 ..and immediately notice there's stuff missing, you know? 720 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:32,920 Uh, which was a couple of amplifiers, 721 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:35,240 two guitars, including the Hofner bass. 722 00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:41,080 I was beside myself with worry 723 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,080 and anger and pain. 724 00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:46,680 Right opposite where the truck is, 725 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:51,240 so the back of the truck's there and it's 100 Cambridge Gardens. 726 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:53,120 At the time, it seemed kosher. 727 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,440 But all these hippies and people that lived around 728 00:43:57,440 --> 00:43:59,120 Lancaster Road and Cambridge Gardens 729 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,040 in these squat houses. 730 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:02,680 There were a lot of musicians. 731 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,160 You know, obviously, thieves amongst them. 732 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:11,320 And...Trevor thought it was this guy Dik Mik, who was a bit iffy, 733 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,240 you know. Why? I don't know why, really. 734 00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:17,200 He flagged him up. I didn't flag anyone. 735 00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:19,960 I did feel it was one of that mob, 736 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:21,880 because they all knew we worked for Paul. 737 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:28,280 And so, you know, we sort of got tooled up in case it got nasty. 738 00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:30,560 So, wait, hang on - in case what got nasty? 739 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,400 I decided we'd go and check this guy out 740 00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:35,840 so we could end this thing there. 741 00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:39,080 So we went in there, quite threatening behaviour. 742 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:42,240 Dik Mik was still in bed but he was shitting himself. 743 00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:43,800 We looked round - no stuff. 744 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,960 And, eventually, you know, we had to go to Paul and tell him the news. 745 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,160 Knock on the door and he comes to the door. 746 00:44:55,240 --> 00:45:00,040 "The truck's been broken into and the Hofner bass has been stolen 747 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:01,360 "and a few other things." 748 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:05,360 And I sort of took a deep breath and stood there thinking, 749 00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:07,840 "Well, what's going to come back at me?" 750 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,120 And he was absolutely amazing. He just turned round and he said, 751 00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:11,600 "It's all right, Ian, I've got another one." 752 00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:16,440 I had a feeling in me - did he think I've done it? 753 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:19,720 So we rang the police. 754 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:23,800 And the police didn't seem that bothered. 755 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:30,240 I think all the papers used to have contacts in the police. 756 00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:32,240 Their friends on the news desk, 757 00:45:32,240 --> 00:45:35,200 maybe they'd get a small payment - that's the way it used to work. 758 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:36,640 So in this particular case, 759 00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:38,800 the Standard had got a tip-off that this had happened, 760 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:42,480 but they didn't know very much about it, or even if it was true. 761 00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:46,960 Obviously, the best person to confirm 762 00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:50,680 whether a guitar of his had been stolen would be him. 763 00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:54,960 I set off for his house and I didn't 764 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:56,840 feel very comfortable about doing this. 765 00:45:56,840 --> 00:45:59,560 I didn't think that this was the kind of journalism 766 00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:01,040 I really wanted to do. 767 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,000 And I thought that, if he did come out, 768 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,240 he's going to tell us to fuck off. 769 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:06,280 HE LAUGHS 770 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:11,000 Probably an hour passed, 771 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,960 standing around in the road, chatting to the photographer. 772 00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:16,600 Suddenly, without any warning, 773 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:19,960 a wooden gate swung open and there was Paul. 774 00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:25,400 I can clearly remember his first words were, 775 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:27,120 "What do you want, boys?" 776 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:30,520 And the first question I think I asked him, 777 00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:33,680 first of all to confirm that the guitar had been taken, 778 00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:36,280 and he said it had so that confirmed the story. 779 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:39,000 And he confirmed that it was the original one 780 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,280 that he'd bought back in Hamburg, 781 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,720 which I knew about because I followed the Beatles. 782 00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:46,280 So then I suddenly realised 783 00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:49,960 that I was actually in the middle of a very big story. 784 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:54,200 The most famous or iconic instrument 785 00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:58,200 of that era had been stolen and I was talking to the guy who owned it. 786 00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:03,080 And he was quite happy, happy to chat about it. 787 00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:05,880 He posed for pictures for the photographer, 788 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:09,840 and I think we probably spoke for maybe four or five minutes. 789 00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,760 Um, and at that stage, 790 00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:14,600 our presence has started to get noticed. 791 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,120 A small crowd of people had started to gather, 792 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,120 so he politely thanked us, 793 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,160 and closed the gate and went back into the house. 794 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,840 This was the first time I had met a Beatle. 795 00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:32,200 The Beatles' music has enriched my life enormously, 796 00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:36,480 and I just kind of felt - maybe this sounds a little bit sycophantic - 797 00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:39,800 but I just really felt that I would like to have said, 798 00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:41,760 "Can I just thank you for everything you've done? 799 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:43,840 "I think your music's great. 800 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,040 "It's something which will stay with me forever." 801 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:48,480 Just something like that, just a thank you. 802 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:49,840 I think that would have been nice, 803 00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:52,240 but I was in a rush and I never got to do that. 804 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:04,920 Paul had given a quote to a newspaper at the time. 805 00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:07,480 And so we thought that you would remember 806 00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:09,840 that or you'd remember, you know, it was his favourite bass, 807 00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:11,560 it had been stolen. 808 00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:16,360 Nick was scratching his head as to why he hadn't been told, 809 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:18,440 that that information hadn't been passed on. 810 00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,400 I have to presume that he'd forgotten. 811 00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:26,880 I mean, this is a guy who's actually done quite a lot, isn't it? 812 00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:29,160 You know, he's been a few places and around, 813 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,800 so it may well have just not registered with him. 814 00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:33,880 I don't know. 815 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,120 There has been a report recently that you have said 816 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:38,880 that you might get back with the Beatles. Is this true? 817 00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:40,160 No, I wouldn't think so. 818 00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:42,680 I don't think any of us fancy it, to tell you the truth. 819 00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:52,480 Perhaps the bass wasn't as important to Paul in 1972 820 00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:57,280 as it was to him when he asked Nick to start the search. 821 00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:00,160 I think, in a way, the Beatles have done it, you know? 822 00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:03,400 The Beatles started from nothing and got everywhere. 823 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,200 The thing is, you know, I don't know whether anyone really would even 824 00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:08,640 like to even try and push it any further, you know? 825 00:49:11,160 --> 00:49:15,560 The Hofner was a Beatle bass, and he wasn't a Beatle any more. 826 00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,160 And I don't blame him, you know. 827 00:49:22,160 --> 00:49:24,440 Those guys had had a hell of a life. 828 00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:27,480 For all their fame and their money, they'd had a hell of a time. 829 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:34,240 I think the Hofner was part of that time, 830 00:49:34,240 --> 00:49:36,280 and they just wanted it gone. 831 00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:47,240 Ian thought that the bass had gone into 100 Cambridge Gardens. 832 00:49:47,240 --> 00:49:51,320 So we were interested to find out more about this character, 833 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:53,440 Dik Mik, that at that time 834 00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:56,520 certainly Trevor suspected and Ian did as well. 835 00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:02,640 Dik Mik was a roadie and he'd been a weed dealer. 836 00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:06,400 And we were able to find that, in the basement flat 837 00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:08,800 of 100 Cambridge Gardens, 838 00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,040 a band called Hawkwind 839 00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:14,440 and a lot of members of the band called the Pink Fairies lived. 840 00:50:25,240 --> 00:50:27,160 That's a good girl. 841 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:34,880 Trevor and Ian, they were both very good friends of mine. 842 00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:38,120 It was the next day 843 00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:41,640 when I saw Trevor and he just said, "Fuck." 844 00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:44,720 He says, "Paul's bass got stolen out of the van last night, 845 00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:46,320 "outside Cambridge Gardens." 846 00:50:46,320 --> 00:50:48,680 I said, "What?!" 847 00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:52,320 They said, keep your ears peeled and, you know, 848 00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:56,760 see if there's any word coming out or any word on the street or... 849 00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,200 Dik Mik - who was Dik Mik? 850 00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:03,720 Dik Mik was one of the people in the original Hawkwind. 851 00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:06,960 Dik Mik was, unfortunately, 852 00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:09,800 most of the time out of his head on Mandrax. 853 00:51:09,800 --> 00:51:12,240 But he could have been outside blagging away 854 00:51:12,240 --> 00:51:14,520 or leaning against the van or whatever, 855 00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:16,000 having a smoke, you know, 856 00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:18,400 and somebody could have said, "Oh, whose van's that?" 857 00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:20,040 "Oh, it's Wings' van," you know. 858 00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:26,320 I heard reports of Hawkwind's gear going missing, 859 00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,280 but that's only the tip of the iceberg. 860 00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:31,280 The whole dynamic around 861 00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:33,920 Hawkwind is, you know, somewhat troubled. 862 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:43,480 In May 1972, 863 00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:48,960 Hawkwind had had £10,000 worth of kit stolen from THEIR van. 864 00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:54,680 In old newspaper searches, we found out that they'd been banned 865 00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:58,080 from the BBC because they'd stolen a microphone. 866 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:01,880 I think, didn't they write a song that was sort of anti-the Beatles? 867 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:03,360 They were anti-the Beatles. 868 00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:06,280 They were anti-the Beatles, so they felt quite anarchic. 869 00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:09,280 It felt like Hawkwind had a motive, 870 00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:12,800 and it also felt like they had the personality to go and do it. 871 00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:18,120 Ladbroke Grove was...pretty funky. 872 00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:21,520 You know, there was the hippies, 873 00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:25,600 there was the, all the people who had the fruit and veg stalls. 874 00:52:27,720 --> 00:52:30,440 But a lot of thugs showed up on Portobello Road, 875 00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:34,520 and that's when things started to go downhill. You know, 876 00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:38,960 rougher and people started injecting. 877 00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:41,160 People started getting stuff stolen. 878 00:52:47,720 --> 00:52:52,200 Paul Rudolph described a place with a lot of poverty, 879 00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:55,800 a lot of people really clinging on, 880 00:52:55,800 --> 00:52:57,320 that it wasn't a big deal 881 00:52:57,320 --> 00:53:00,120 for something to be stolen out of the back of a van. 882 00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:01,680 It happened all the time. 883 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:08,800 The bass did feel like that's the last place on earth 884 00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:10,200 it should really be. 885 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,160 Which is a long, long way 886 00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:18,880 from these dark, poorly lit streets. 887 00:53:21,480 --> 00:53:24,800 You know, lots of political banners written on bedsheets 888 00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:27,960 sort of hanging out the windows, 889 00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,240 anarchists and theft. 890 00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:37,960 To picture the bass in the middle of all of 891 00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:41,200 that makes you feel like this little thing is out there... 892 00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:44,360 It does feel very vulnerable. ..that desperately needs saving. Yeah. 893 00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:55,080 But then a penny dropped. 894 00:53:55,080 --> 00:53:58,880 I thought, "Ah." I got an email about six months 895 00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:04,960 before this from a guy talking about the bass being stolen 896 00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:06,600 in Ladbroke Grove. 897 00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:09,320 So I naturally went and dug back through 898 00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:11,840 the pile of emails and found it. 899 00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:14,520 It was from a guy called Andrew - Andrew Dickinson. 900 00:54:16,240 --> 00:54:18,280 And so, yeah, I contacted him and said, 901 00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:20,400 look, you know, something's occurred. 902 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:25,680 We didn't tell them what, but that further information's arisen, 903 00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:27,280 can they tell me more? 904 00:54:30,240 --> 00:54:34,240 I didn't think we were going to hear any more, to be honest. 905 00:54:34,240 --> 00:54:37,760 You know, it was a very small story to tell. 906 00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:41,760 Whereabouts are you struggling? Oh, just my neck. 907 00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:43,920 It's like really digging in hard, you know? 908 00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:47,240 Yeah. I think he was using his elbow or something. 909 00:54:47,240 --> 00:54:49,560 I think they do a lot with their elbow. Yeah. 910 00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:52,640 Dig in, you know. Did you get a happy ending? 911 00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:56,360 No. No. No, I didn't fancy it. 912 00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:59,120 VOICE-OVER: I got back to Steven's and said, 913 00:54:59,120 --> 00:55:01,240 "This Nick, he's emailed me again." 914 00:55:01,240 --> 00:55:02,640 Next time. Yeah. 915 00:55:02,640 --> 00:55:05,120 I think, uh, you know, it's your story to tell, 916 00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:08,280 do you want to, um, get involved and say a little bit more? 917 00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:12,200 Oh, God. Straight away, I thought, 918 00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:14,600 I've opened my mouth here and he's not going to let this go now. 919 00:55:17,520 --> 00:55:20,440 What I didn't want to come out was our first house 920 00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:23,720 was just off of Ladbroke Grove, 921 00:55:23,720 --> 00:55:25,200 not far from Grenfell Tower. 922 00:55:26,200 --> 00:55:29,760 It was quite a carousel of people coming and going, really. 923 00:55:30,840 --> 00:55:34,160 I think I was made aware of 924 00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:36,400 who you could talk to and where you could go. 925 00:55:37,840 --> 00:55:39,360 You had boundaries 926 00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:41,760 of where you could go and where you couldn't go. 927 00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:43,000 So there was only so many people 928 00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:45,480 you were likely to get to meet or likely to get to see. 929 00:55:47,480 --> 00:55:48,680 Dad had a couple of jobs. 930 00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:51,760 He played a lot of football 931 00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:53,400 Saturdays and Sunday mornings. 932 00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:58,360 Dad's mates, they would always tell me how good my dad was 933 00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:01,480 as a semi-pro footballer. Because he was good, Dad. 934 00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:05,160 And there was a pub, um, 935 00:56:05,160 --> 00:56:07,200 it's called The Admiral Blake, 936 00:56:08,240 --> 00:56:10,840 And that's where they all used to congregate, 937 00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:11,920 my dad and his mates. 938 00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:14,960 So occasionally I'd get taken across. 939 00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:18,280 It was a good place, it was a good source of information. 940 00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:19,480 It was a good source of recreation. 941 00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:21,840 It was just a good way of socialising 942 00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:23,720 and getting around and getting to know what was going on 943 00:56:23,720 --> 00:56:26,960 and who was doing what around the area and stuff like that. 944 00:56:26,960 --> 00:56:29,640 And there was racketeering going on and people going around. 945 00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:32,120 And if you want a garden fork or a spade, 946 00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:33,680 there's a couple in the back of 947 00:56:33,680 --> 00:56:36,120 that lorry that no-one knows are there, if you want that. 948 00:56:37,360 --> 00:56:38,880 If you couldn't get rid of it or you hadn't sold it, 949 00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:41,000 take it out at the pub - someone will have it off you. 950 00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:42,480 Someone, you know, will buy it off you. 951 00:56:46,480 --> 00:56:48,520 Because obviously I wasn't always crewed up with him, so I was 952 00:56:48,520 --> 00:56:49,760 getting little bits of information 953 00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:51,480 here, there and everywhere, you know. 954 00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:58,040 So it got to a stage where, when I was looking at the rota, 955 00:56:58,040 --> 00:56:59,760 I was like, "Oh, no, I'm working with him again. 956 00:56:59,760 --> 00:57:01,080 "I know what's coming here." 957 00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:03,440 HE PLAYS SNIPPET OF DAY TRIPPER 958 00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:07,400 I'm just going to have to try and muddy the waters a little bit here, 959 00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:08,600 because he's not going to let it go. 960 00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:14,040 He'd heard that it had been stolen 961 00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:16,640 from the road that they were in. 962 00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:20,480 They sold it to the barman in the pub, 963 00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:23,200 and then they'd sort of dumped it in the canal. 964 00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:25,080 Just because they knew it was Paul McCartney's 965 00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:26,720 and they'd never be able to get rid of it. 966 00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:30,640 We got an A to Z out the van. 967 00:57:30,640 --> 00:57:32,120 I said, "That was the pub. 968 00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:34,120 "So there's the canal there, so I'm assuming there." 969 00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:35,680 So he said, "So whereabouts do you think?" 970 00:57:35,680 --> 00:57:37,720 I said, "Andy, I don't know. I wasn't there, 971 00:57:37,720 --> 00:57:39,960 "so I have no idea." I said, "But that's the canal." 972 00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:41,280 I said, "If I lived in that pub, 973 00:57:41,280 --> 00:57:43,840 "I would have walked over that bridge and just lobbed it there." 974 00:57:43,840 --> 00:57:46,240 And then he said, "Do you reckon we could get a boat 975 00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:47,520 "and go and find it?" I said, "No. 976 00:57:47,520 --> 00:57:48,920 "No," I said, "I don't think we can 977 00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:50,360 "go and get a boat and go and find it." 978 00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:54,280 I think Andrew...replied to me, saying 979 00:57:54,280 --> 00:57:59,640 he would ask his partner. And it's then I get an email from Steve. 980 00:57:59,640 --> 00:58:02,200 NAOMI: Now we had a strong lead - 981 00:58:02,200 --> 00:58:05,800 it's been stolen and it went on to this pub. 982 00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:09,320 The email had said that it had been thrown into the canal. 983 00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:13,600 SCOTT: That was quite a low point, really. It was almost like, 984 00:58:13,600 --> 00:58:16,320 you know, the body of the guitar 985 00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:18,440 had been dumped into the water there. 986 00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:23,880 And I remember feeling 987 00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:26,560 that the result isn't what we wanted, 988 00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:28,360 but we might actually have a story now, 989 00:58:28,360 --> 00:58:30,600 that we know where Paul McCartney's bass is. 990 00:58:30,600 --> 00:58:33,280 But sadly, it's at the bottom of that canal 991 00:58:33,280 --> 00:58:35,160 and probably gone forever. 992 00:58:48,080 --> 00:58:50,600 Three, four. 993 00:58:50,600 --> 00:58:51,920 # My... # 994 00:58:55,880 --> 00:58:59,560 My manager at the time got a call from Paul's manager at the time. 995 00:58:59,560 --> 00:59:01,480 "Richard wants you to go down to work with Paul." 996 00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:04,080 I said, "You're kidding." It was like, you know, 997 00:59:04,080 --> 00:59:06,880 I was 33, I think, when we started doing that. 998 00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:08,560 He wasn't calling up an eight-year-old kid 999 00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:09,880 who was in the fan club. 1000 00:59:09,880 --> 00:59:11,200 One, two, three, four. 1001 00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:17,480 # My brave face... # 1002 00:59:17,480 --> 00:59:20,160 We got off to a flying start, you know. 1003 00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:24,960 # Unaccustomed as I am... # 1004 00:59:24,960 --> 00:59:27,680 And we just recorded with two guitars and vocals 1005 00:59:27,680 --> 00:59:29,800 and it was good fun. 1006 00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:32,360 # ..didn't hit back 1007 00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:35,680 # I've been doin' the rounds... # 1008 00:59:35,680 --> 00:59:37,520 There's a version of me singing My Brave Face 1009 00:59:37,520 --> 00:59:39,080 where I'm singing lead 1010 00:59:39,080 --> 00:59:40,720 so Paul could fly around on the bass. 1011 00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:42,920 And he's doing all these moves that I... 1012 00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:45,520 But I never felt like I could hear the voice. 1013 00:59:45,520 --> 00:59:48,120 LAUGHS: # Tell anybody when I'm gonna get back... # 1014 00:59:48,120 --> 00:59:50,600 Because this bass was just too... 1015 00:59:50,600 --> 00:59:52,440 It was too big sounding. 1016 00:59:54,920 --> 00:59:59,040 At some point I asked the whereabouts of the Hofner and... 1017 00:59:59,040 --> 01:00:00,600 ..it suddenly appeared. 1018 01:00:02,040 --> 01:00:04,280 Elvis Costello said, "What about your Hofner bass? 1019 01:00:04,280 --> 01:00:06,760 "You know, your violin bass, the Beatle bass?" 1020 01:00:06,760 --> 01:00:09,080 And I was saying, "Well, I can try it, 1021 01:00:09,080 --> 01:00:12,000 "but it's not very good at keeping in tune," 1022 01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:15,760 which it isn't because they're not very expensive instruments. 1023 01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:18,200 So I had given up recording with it, really, 1024 01:00:18,200 --> 01:00:21,080 in favour of more sort of modern instruments. 1025 01:00:21,080 --> 01:00:23,680 But he said, "Oh, but I love the sound of it," you know, "Go on." 1026 01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:29,920 But it wasn't the lost bass, the '61 bass. 1027 01:00:29,920 --> 01:00:32,040 This was his '63. 1028 01:00:32,040 --> 01:00:35,520 But I think at that point, he, 1029 01:00:35,520 --> 01:00:37,120 things changed for Paul. 1030 01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:40,360 # Ever since you left I have been trying to compose 1031 01:00:40,360 --> 01:00:44,440 # A "Baby, will you please come home?" note meant for you... # 1032 01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:47,880 And it recorded great. 1033 01:00:47,880 --> 01:00:50,560 It's got a lovely tone for a little, little bass. 1034 01:00:50,560 --> 01:00:54,560 # My brave, my brave, my brave face... # 1035 01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:56,800 Honestly, I felt vindicated when I heard the part. 1036 01:00:56,800 --> 01:01:01,160 You could hear his personality really clearly, 1037 01:01:01,160 --> 01:01:03,320 and it had the tone. It had the tone. 1038 01:01:03,320 --> 01:01:05,720 It was like...like somebody singing, you know? 1039 01:01:05,720 --> 01:01:08,480 # Face. # 1040 01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:10,800 CHEERING 1041 01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:15,480 Elvis Costello suggested bringing out the '63. 1042 01:01:15,480 --> 01:01:18,000 Maybe that kind of like, he might have thought, 1043 01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:19,800 "Yeah, what happened?" Maybe that's when the whole 1044 01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:21,800 conversation sort of started up again about - 1045 01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:23,000 where is the original one? 1046 01:01:25,040 --> 01:01:28,880 By the time we got to '89, '90, when we were about to embark on big, 1047 01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:31,120 massive world tour and Paul said, 1048 01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:33,000 "What are people going to want to...?" 1049 01:01:33,000 --> 01:01:35,600 You know, "They're going to come to a gig, what are they going to want?" 1050 01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:38,680 They're going to want Beatles. 1051 01:01:38,680 --> 01:01:41,960 They're going to want some big, big moments. 1052 01:01:41,960 --> 01:01:45,480 # Close your eyes and I'll kiss you... # 1053 01:01:45,480 --> 01:01:46,880 CHEERING 1054 01:01:46,880 --> 01:01:49,320 # Tomorrow, I'll miss you 1055 01:01:49,320 --> 01:01:53,360 # Remember, I'll always be true 1056 01:01:55,080 --> 01:01:58,160 # And then while I'm away 1057 01:01:58,160 --> 01:02:01,800 # I'll write home every day 1058 01:02:01,800 --> 01:02:05,600 # And I'll send all my loving to you... # 1059 01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:11,040 SONG CONTINUES FAINTLY 1060 01:02:15,040 --> 01:02:17,520 Paul's quite nostalgic about things. 1061 01:02:19,440 --> 01:02:21,160 They're important to him. 1062 01:02:21,160 --> 01:02:23,200 Not maybe in a collectable way, 1063 01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:24,520 but just emotionally 1064 01:02:24,520 --> 01:02:26,880 and they're part of his history and they're part of his life. 1065 01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:28,360 And he... And he... 1066 01:02:28,360 --> 01:02:31,240 Yeah, he probably missed the bass. 1067 01:02:31,240 --> 01:02:32,520 He just wanted it back. 1068 01:02:34,880 --> 01:02:38,600 Yeah, well, I think anything that's nicked, you want back. 1069 01:02:38,600 --> 01:02:42,400 You know, especially if it has a sentimental attachment. 1070 01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:44,880 Plus, I was annoyed that someone nicked it. 1071 01:02:44,880 --> 01:02:47,840 You know, it's just like, "How dare you? Give me it back," you know? 1072 01:02:50,160 --> 01:02:53,040 SCOTT: Very often in investigations, there's a breakthrough moment 1073 01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:56,640 where you're effectively given something on a plate. 1074 01:02:59,200 --> 01:03:02,000 NAOMI: Who's Steven? Who's this person? 1075 01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:05,680 And how does he know so much about the theft of this guitar? 1076 01:03:07,560 --> 01:03:09,520 I made an inquiry about 1077 01:03:09,520 --> 01:03:12,520 the residents of 100 Cambridge Gardens. 1078 01:03:12,520 --> 01:03:14,320 So who was on the electoral register? 1079 01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:18,000 And I just remember reading through 1080 01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:19,360 the list of names, 1081 01:03:19,360 --> 01:03:21,840 and we got to the name Glenister. 1082 01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:26,200 Oh, my God. His parents are on 1083 01:03:26,200 --> 01:03:29,200 the electoral register in 100 Cambridge Gardens. 1084 01:03:44,240 --> 01:03:47,320 We was on holiday in Spain and my phone went. 1085 01:03:48,520 --> 01:03:50,880 "Is that Steve Glenister?" "Yeah." 1086 01:03:50,880 --> 01:03:52,920 "It's Nick Wass from The Lost Bass." 1087 01:03:54,120 --> 01:03:56,640 I said, "Oh, right, hi. You all right?" 1088 01:03:56,640 --> 01:03:57,680 He said, "Um... 1089 01:03:59,720 --> 01:04:02,640 "..I think you know a little bit more than you're letting on. 1090 01:04:02,640 --> 01:04:05,680 "Are you prepared to say anything?" 1091 01:04:05,680 --> 01:04:08,200 I said, "Not really. I don't know anything other than I told you." 1092 01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:09,480 And he said, "Well, I think you do." 1093 01:04:09,480 --> 01:04:13,200 I knew I had to ask him the question and say to him, 1094 01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:17,960 "Look, Steve, just tell me what happened. 1095 01:04:17,960 --> 01:04:19,720 "You know, I know you know, 1096 01:04:19,720 --> 01:04:22,200 "because you wouldn't have sent me all this stuff. 1097 01:04:22,200 --> 01:04:25,480 "And I know you were in the house. Just tell me what happened." 1098 01:04:26,960 --> 01:04:29,400 My dad used to come and watch me play football a lot. 1099 01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:32,760 He was never complimentary about the way I played. 1100 01:04:32,760 --> 01:04:35,000 There was always something I could have done better and that. 1101 01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:37,200 So we was coming home one day 1102 01:04:37,200 --> 01:04:39,720 and I had the radio on in the car. 1103 01:04:41,680 --> 01:04:43,360 How old do you think you are at this point? 1104 01:04:43,360 --> 01:04:46,720 I may have just had the kids, so mid 20s, something like that. 1105 01:04:48,720 --> 01:04:50,880 This song come on. I just said, 1106 01:04:50,880 --> 01:04:53,360 "Oh, it's The Beatles. I like these." 1107 01:04:53,360 --> 01:04:56,000 And it was... I done it more. 1108 01:04:56,000 --> 01:04:58,800 The louder the radio was, the less he could talk. 1109 01:04:58,800 --> 01:05:01,040 And I was getting a bit fed up with it all now, 1110 01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:02,560 so I just sort of turned the radio up. 1111 01:05:07,360 --> 01:05:09,160 And he said, um... 1112 01:05:11,560 --> 01:05:13,240 He said, "Did I ever tell you about that guitar, then?" 1113 01:05:17,240 --> 01:05:18,320 I said, "What guitar?" 1114 01:05:19,800 --> 01:05:21,840 He said, "The one - Paul McCartney's guitar." 1115 01:05:23,640 --> 01:05:25,040 So I said, "No," and he started to laugh. 1116 01:05:25,040 --> 01:05:26,960 So I turned the radio down. 1117 01:05:26,960 --> 01:05:29,400 He said, "Um..." 1118 01:05:29,400 --> 01:05:30,880 Well, he said, "I nicked it." 1119 01:05:32,200 --> 01:05:33,720 I said, "What do you mean, you nicked it?" 1120 01:05:37,600 --> 01:05:39,040 He said, "I didn't even know it was the guitar." 1121 01:05:39,040 --> 01:05:40,760 He said, "I just opened this van up." 1122 01:05:42,080 --> 01:05:43,760 He said, "When I realised what it was, I thought, "Oh... 1123 01:05:45,120 --> 01:05:46,640 "..you know, it's Paul McCartney's. 1124 01:05:46,640 --> 01:05:48,920 "It's the obvious shape - that proper-shaped guitar." 1125 01:05:52,000 --> 01:05:54,280 I can just imagine, bless him, his face. "Ugh." 1126 01:05:54,280 --> 01:05:57,320 You've nicked the Mona Lisa, what are you going to do with that? 1127 01:05:57,320 --> 01:05:59,040 You can't sell it. You know, it's just one of those things. 1128 01:06:00,200 --> 01:06:02,920 It was that family up on the top floor. 1129 01:06:02,920 --> 01:06:05,880 They were ignored by Ian and Trevor on the day. 1130 01:06:05,880 --> 01:06:09,400 Nobody went with a wrench to those people up on the top floor. 1131 01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:12,080 To be honest, they were ignored by us... And they were ignored by us. 1132 01:06:12,080 --> 01:06:14,760 ..in the early days of the search. And that is perhaps one of the most 1133 01:06:14,760 --> 01:06:17,800 extraordinary things about this whole story. 1134 01:06:19,240 --> 01:06:24,040 It got given to a pub landlord who run The Admiral Blake. 1135 01:06:25,720 --> 01:06:28,160 The landlord at the time was a chap called Ron. 1136 01:06:29,160 --> 01:06:31,480 He said, "I just said to Ron, here you are, I'll tell you what, 1137 01:06:31,480 --> 01:06:33,320 "give this to one of your kids, they can learn it." 1138 01:06:33,320 --> 01:06:35,080 He said, "Just give us a couple of drinks." 1139 01:06:35,080 --> 01:06:38,320 I said, "Well..." He said, "Well," he said... 1140 01:06:38,320 --> 01:06:41,320 He said, "He bought me a day's worth of light ales." 1141 01:06:41,320 --> 01:06:44,520 So this guitar ended up with Ron and I think one of his kids, 1142 01:06:44,520 --> 01:06:46,800 Graham, ended up with it. 1143 01:06:49,400 --> 01:06:54,360 It had gone to a pub landlord called Ron Guest. 1144 01:06:55,400 --> 01:06:56,880 We knew that it had 1145 01:06:56,880 --> 01:06:59,440 then been passed on to his son, Graham, 1146 01:06:59,440 --> 01:07:03,320 who unfortunately had died in this terrible car crash. 1147 01:07:03,320 --> 01:07:07,000 But then we decided to look at the other children, 1148 01:07:07,000 --> 01:07:10,240 and I was able to contact Elaine Guest, 1149 01:07:10,240 --> 01:07:13,280 who was the youngest of the children, and talked to her. 1150 01:07:16,320 --> 01:07:19,560 That's me on the roof with the two dogs. 1151 01:07:19,560 --> 01:07:21,760 Because the roof was our garden. 1152 01:07:21,760 --> 01:07:24,920 I mean, I grew up with Graham always having a bass. 1153 01:07:24,920 --> 01:07:27,680 I can't remember a time when it suddenly appeared. 1154 01:07:28,720 --> 01:07:30,360 It was always Graham's bass. 1155 01:07:30,360 --> 01:07:31,960 He was just always playing. 1156 01:07:31,960 --> 01:07:34,320 You know, and he didn't mind 1157 01:07:34,320 --> 01:07:36,920 if I plonked myself down and listened to it. 1158 01:07:38,320 --> 01:07:39,920 Where was it kept here? 1159 01:07:39,920 --> 01:07:42,400 Um, in the little bedroom. 1160 01:07:45,360 --> 01:07:48,680 You don't think he would have known it was Paul McCartney's? 1161 01:07:48,680 --> 01:07:52,240 Definitely not! Definitely not! 1162 01:07:52,240 --> 01:07:54,120 I mean, when you think about it, 1163 01:07:54,120 --> 01:07:56,960 who in their right minds would buy a bass knowing it was 1164 01:07:56,960 --> 01:08:00,120 Paul McCartney's and then give it to your son, who's going to take it 1165 01:08:00,120 --> 01:08:02,160 God knows where and somebody's going to say, 1166 01:08:02,160 --> 01:08:04,600 "That's Paul McCartney's bass!" 1167 01:08:04,600 --> 01:08:05,640 But, no. 1168 01:08:06,880 --> 01:08:09,000 Do you wish you'd played it a bit now? 1169 01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:11,480 Now I know whose it is, yes! 1170 01:08:14,360 --> 01:08:17,720 Were you into The Beatles? No. No, no. 1171 01:08:17,720 --> 01:08:20,920 I always thought The Beatles were like a girlie band. 1172 01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:25,920 After Graham had died, 1173 01:08:25,920 --> 01:08:31,840 her brother Haydn took the bass from their family home. 1174 01:08:31,840 --> 01:08:35,000 Haydn got divorced in the 1990s 1175 01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:38,840 and then married someone else, and then ended up in Hastings. 1176 01:08:41,360 --> 01:08:44,720 He left his wife and kids and then got involved with somebody, 1177 01:08:44,720 --> 01:08:48,360 and that's hence why there's been no communication at all. 1178 01:08:52,560 --> 01:08:53,960 From what I can gather, 1179 01:08:53,960 --> 01:08:57,160 the bass was just in the loft in the house at Hastings. 1180 01:09:06,800 --> 01:09:09,320 We were in Los Angeles. We were rehearsing, I think. 1181 01:09:10,680 --> 01:09:12,120 # Oh, yeah... # 1182 01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:15,640 And, um, I got a phone call from a colleague, 1183 01:09:15,640 --> 01:09:18,680 said, "Somebody's turned up at the farm 1184 01:09:18,680 --> 01:09:21,320 "with a bass and they think it might 1185 01:09:21,320 --> 01:09:23,920 "be Paul's. This lost bass that everybody's talking about 1186 01:09:23,920 --> 01:09:27,240 "all of a sudden." Cos it had been in the press by then. 1187 01:09:27,240 --> 01:09:32,800 And she'd left some photos and then took the bass back. 1188 01:09:32,800 --> 01:09:34,760 So I was emailed the photos 1189 01:09:34,760 --> 01:09:37,160 and I just had a feeling. I could feel it. 1190 01:09:37,160 --> 01:09:41,360 I just thought, "Ooh, this is, this is really interesting." 1191 01:09:41,360 --> 01:09:44,520 And the next day I was with Paul in the morning 1192 01:09:44,520 --> 01:09:47,240 and I had my laptop and we were about to leave 1193 01:09:47,240 --> 01:09:48,320 for the studio and I said, 1194 01:09:48,320 --> 01:09:49,960 "I've got something I need to talk to you about." 1195 01:09:49,960 --> 01:09:51,280 And he thought it was something bad. 1196 01:09:51,280 --> 01:09:53,720 He said, "Oh, is it bad?" I said, "No, it's NOT bad." 1197 01:09:53,720 --> 01:09:56,000 And I opened up my laptop and I was shaking. 1198 01:09:56,000 --> 01:09:57,760 I was literally shaking. 1199 01:09:57,760 --> 01:10:00,320 The minute I saw the case, it was, you know... 1200 01:10:00,320 --> 01:10:02,080 HE GASPS 1201 01:10:00,320 --> 01:10:02,080 Whoa! 1202 01:10:02,080 --> 01:10:05,560 "I've got it back. Oh, my God." 1203 01:10:05,560 --> 01:10:08,320 And I'm checking it and I'm thinking, "Well, yeah, that's it." 1204 01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:10,280 And you know, that's how it looked 1205 01:10:10,280 --> 01:10:12,120 and this is definitely the case. 1206 01:10:12,120 --> 01:10:15,480 And I remember carrying it in that case. 1207 01:10:15,480 --> 01:10:18,160 So I organised for somebody to go and pick it up. 1208 01:10:20,080 --> 01:10:22,680 And then I said, "Have you got it?" 1209 01:10:22,680 --> 01:10:24,480 And he said, "Yep, it's here." 1210 01:10:24,480 --> 01:10:26,760 I said, "Keep it. 1211 01:10:26,760 --> 01:10:28,560 "Don't let anybody... 1212 01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:30,040 "Don't... Just put it away." 1213 01:10:32,480 --> 01:10:38,360 # And in the end, the love you take... # 1214 01:10:38,360 --> 01:10:40,560 LAUGHS: We've hardly let it out of our sight! 1215 01:10:40,560 --> 01:10:44,320 # Is equal to the love 1216 01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:47,600 # You make... # 1217 01:10:57,320 --> 01:11:00,720 And I'm sitting at home on my sofa. 1218 01:11:00,720 --> 01:11:03,880 Cathy's sitting over there and my mobile phone goes. 1219 01:11:03,880 --> 01:11:07,280 And this voice comes on and says, 1220 01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:10,680 "Hey, we've got the bass back. We've got the bass." 1221 01:11:10,680 --> 01:11:13,280 And I'm thinking, "Who's that? Who's this? Who are you?" 1222 01:11:13,280 --> 01:11:15,720 Then the penny dropped - the accent, the Liverpool accent, 1223 01:11:15,720 --> 01:11:18,280 and I realised it was Paul McCartney. 1224 01:11:18,280 --> 01:11:23,000 Well, we didn't quite know who to tell. Um... 1225 01:11:23,000 --> 01:11:26,800 There were factors that meant we should keep it a secret 1226 01:11:26,800 --> 01:11:29,720 for a bit longer till we got our act together. 1227 01:11:29,720 --> 01:11:33,840 Till we've absolutely had everyone verify that it was mine - 1228 01:11:33,840 --> 01:11:36,960 people like Nick. Um... 1229 01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:43,000 ..so it was sweet to be able to ring him up and say, "Guess what?" 1230 01:11:43,000 --> 01:11:44,520 It was stunning! 1231 01:11:44,520 --> 01:11:47,920 You know, it was like, "Wow. What? Really?" 1232 01:11:47,920 --> 01:11:49,320 And I think I said to Paul, 1233 01:11:49,320 --> 01:11:52,720 "I think I'm going to go and get a beer out of the fridge for this." 1234 01:11:52,720 --> 01:11:53,880 And he said, "I would." 1235 01:11:53,880 --> 01:11:57,800 He said, "Yeah, is it a German beer like I used to drink in Hamburg?" 1236 01:11:57,800 --> 01:12:01,000 It was just amazing cos I could hear Paul 1237 01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:04,640 on the phone to Nick and it was just amazing. 1238 01:12:04,640 --> 01:12:07,640 That was incredible for us to just sit here thinking 1239 01:12:07,640 --> 01:12:10,640 that Nick was in Germany, Paul was in LA, 1240 01:12:10,640 --> 01:12:12,720 the bass was in Sussex 1241 01:12:12,720 --> 01:12:14,360 and we'd done it. 1242 01:12:18,360 --> 01:12:20,600 What happened for me over the last year, 1243 01:12:20,600 --> 01:12:23,400 I've had two strokes, 1244 01:12:23,400 --> 01:12:27,880 which has certainly changed things for our life. 1245 01:12:27,880 --> 01:12:34,880 And the bass has certainly lightened that situation for us, I would say. 1246 01:12:34,880 --> 01:12:37,040 Yeah, sure - focuses the mind. 1247 01:12:42,440 --> 01:12:43,800 BIRDSONG 1248 01:12:49,240 --> 01:12:52,400 SOPHIE RAWORTH: Paul McCartney's most treasured bass guitar 1249 01:12:52,400 --> 01:12:53,640 that he had played throughout 1250 01:12:53,640 --> 01:12:57,080 the early days of The Beatles vanished without trace. 1251 01:12:57,080 --> 01:13:01,200 Now, 51 years later, it has been found. 1252 01:13:01,200 --> 01:13:04,120 James Dunham went to meet the mother-of-two who was unaware 1253 01:13:04,120 --> 01:13:07,160 she was holding on to an iconic instrument. 1254 01:13:07,160 --> 01:13:10,520 I was actually cataloguing lots of guitars that I've got. 1255 01:13:10,520 --> 01:13:12,680 And when I googled it, 1256 01:13:12,680 --> 01:13:15,080 it immediately came up. 1257 01:13:15,080 --> 01:13:16,920 I panicked and then, uh, 1258 01:13:16,920 --> 01:13:20,520 went straight to his house, because I knew he lived nearby. 1259 01:13:20,520 --> 01:13:24,720 And I eventually found it, after going through a lot of fields. 1260 01:13:24,720 --> 01:13:27,960 It had broken in the press that we were looking for this lost bass. 1261 01:13:27,960 --> 01:13:31,520 And that might have been one of the reasons Cathy thought, 1262 01:13:31,520 --> 01:13:33,480 "I'd better give it back." 1263 01:13:33,480 --> 01:13:34,960 There's this little side life 1264 01:13:34,960 --> 01:13:37,640 it's gone off and living 1265 01:13:37,640 --> 01:13:40,120 with all these people I don't know. 1266 01:13:41,160 --> 01:13:44,120 And... And it ends up with Cathy. 1267 01:13:49,960 --> 01:13:52,040 This is Paul's bass. This is something 1268 01:13:52,040 --> 01:13:53,920 he really, truly cares and loves. 1269 01:13:53,920 --> 01:13:57,160 And if you leave a guitar in a loft, it will destroy a guitar, 1270 01:13:57,160 --> 01:13:58,560 you know. 1271 01:13:58,560 --> 01:14:00,800 You've got to put it all together. 1272 01:14:02,120 --> 01:14:03,440 Put the strings on 1273 01:14:03,440 --> 01:14:05,200 and then just play that first chord 1274 01:14:05,200 --> 01:14:07,200 and just hope that you've got it right. 1275 01:14:07,200 --> 01:14:09,720 That's where the craftsmanship is, and Martin obviously 1276 01:14:09,720 --> 01:14:12,880 is an old-school craftsman in the way he works, 1277 01:14:12,880 --> 01:14:14,280 the way he does things. 1278 01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:17,800 These poor people that it means a lot to you, 1279 01:14:17,800 --> 01:14:19,360 but it doesn't really sort of... 1280 01:14:19,360 --> 01:14:21,040 I'm not that fussed about it. 1281 01:14:21,040 --> 01:14:23,320 I just think, "Get over yourself. It's just a guitar." 1282 01:14:23,320 --> 01:14:26,000 And I, you know, now I get it, I get I get it now, 1283 01:14:26,000 --> 01:14:30,400 but I still don't GET IT get it, really. You know, just leave it. 1284 01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:34,400 Thieving's nothing to be proud of. Full stop. 1285 01:14:34,400 --> 01:14:38,000 But that said, we've all done it. We've all done it, so... 1286 01:14:39,440 --> 01:14:43,880 But it's...the iconic guitar... 1287 01:14:44,920 --> 01:14:47,080 ..that he had in his hands. 1288 01:14:49,000 --> 01:14:53,800 The implication, the size of it. 1289 01:14:56,320 --> 01:15:00,560 Its meaning to obviously Paul McCartney, and other people. 1290 01:15:01,840 --> 01:15:05,360 The enormity of it all is just a bit sort of, phew, blimey. 1291 01:15:05,360 --> 01:15:07,800 Overwhelming? Yeah. A little bit, yeah. 1292 01:15:07,800 --> 01:15:11,560 I don't want... I don't want anyone 1293 01:15:11,560 --> 01:15:15,040 to think of Dad anything but a nice lad, 1294 01:15:15,040 --> 01:15:18,000 because that's what he was. He was a... He was a lovely, lovely lad. 1295 01:15:20,160 --> 01:15:22,720 But there wasn't always a receipt in the house for what we had. 1296 01:15:24,360 --> 01:15:27,480 It was just to make ends meet a little bit. 1297 01:15:31,160 --> 01:15:34,120 I don't blame him too much, you know. 1298 01:15:34,120 --> 01:15:37,520 I think it's just petty thievery. 1299 01:15:37,520 --> 01:15:39,920 It's the kind of thing we would have done 1300 01:15:39,920 --> 01:15:41,640 a little bit of in Liverpool. 1301 01:15:41,640 --> 01:15:47,000 Just, you know, just... It's there and I could nick it, 1302 01:15:47,000 --> 01:15:52,880 so I will. Um, we got out of that pretty quickly. 1303 01:15:52,880 --> 01:15:56,160 Because, luckily, the Beatles took over 1304 01:15:56,160 --> 01:15:59,000 and we found an honest profession. 1305 01:15:59,000 --> 01:16:03,000 But I can sympathise with people who don't have that kind of luck. 1306 01:16:04,080 --> 01:16:06,080 So I don't blame him too much. 1307 01:16:13,600 --> 01:16:15,600 I'm not comfortable. 1308 01:16:15,600 --> 01:16:17,960 I'm not all right with it. 1309 01:16:20,480 --> 01:16:24,360 You're sort of... You're taking the name of my dad through 1310 01:16:24,360 --> 01:16:26,720 muddy waters, and that's not what you do. 1311 01:16:29,920 --> 01:16:32,600 Growing up anyway, I don't remember my dad ever telling me he loved me. 1312 01:16:33,680 --> 01:16:35,760 Not that that was a problem for me. 1313 01:16:35,760 --> 01:16:37,480 It was just how it was. 1314 01:16:40,040 --> 01:16:44,520 When we had a little boy, 1315 01:16:44,520 --> 01:16:48,000 and I rang home, he, uh... 1316 01:16:57,600 --> 01:16:58,960 He never told me. 1317 01:16:58,960 --> 01:17:01,040 Mum told me. But, um... 1318 01:17:02,480 --> 01:17:04,640 ..I later found out that he cried. 1319 01:17:06,880 --> 01:17:09,600 Which Dad never did that. Dad never... 1320 01:17:09,600 --> 01:17:12,680 I never saw... I never saw a tear out of my dad's eye. 1321 01:17:14,600 --> 01:17:17,160 God, I can't remember, I think... 1322 01:17:17,160 --> 01:17:19,600 But apparently he cried cos, like, to Dad, 1323 01:17:19,600 --> 01:17:20,840 it meant the name would never go. 1324 01:17:32,880 --> 01:17:34,960 Did you just see the one I sent you? 1325 01:17:34,960 --> 01:17:36,320 The one with the glue? 1326 01:17:36,320 --> 01:17:38,520 Have you seen that one yet? 1327 01:17:38,520 --> 01:17:41,160 No. Oh, I've just sent... I'm watching the dowels going in. 1328 01:17:41,160 --> 01:17:42,440 Oh, I've just sent you another one 1329 01:17:42,440 --> 01:17:45,240 with Martin actually glueing the neck back on. 1330 01:17:46,320 --> 01:17:49,040 Oh, lovely. Is that Martin? Yep. Say hi. 1331 01:17:49,040 --> 01:17:51,040 Hello, Paul. Hi, Martin! 1332 01:17:51,040 --> 01:17:52,960 Your bass is saved. 1333 01:17:54,040 --> 01:17:57,040 Yeah, I know. Thanks for doing this, man. It's great. 1334 01:17:57,040 --> 01:17:58,080 You're welcome. 1335 01:17:58,080 --> 01:17:59,800 I like his workshop as well. 1336 01:17:59,800 --> 01:18:01,320 Oh, yes. Lovely workshop. 1337 01:18:01,320 --> 01:18:03,600 Well, look at his garden. 1338 01:18:03,600 --> 01:18:05,360 Oh, yeah, that's... There you go. 1339 01:18:05,360 --> 01:18:07,600 How beautiful is that? Yeah. 1340 01:18:07,600 --> 01:18:10,400 Little pond. Beautiful. 1341 01:18:10,400 --> 01:18:12,480 Yeah. I can't wait to play it. 1342 01:18:12,480 --> 01:18:14,160 Yeah, it won't be long. 1343 01:18:14,160 --> 01:18:16,200 Have a good one, Paul. Thank you. Bye. 1344 01:18:21,960 --> 01:18:24,840 I feel like, over the last 20 years or so, 1345 01:18:24,840 --> 01:18:27,320 Paul to me seems to appreciate 1346 01:18:27,320 --> 01:18:31,000 more and more how good they were and how good the songs were. 1347 01:18:31,000 --> 01:18:33,240 When he plays them, he really enjoys them 1348 01:18:33,240 --> 01:18:35,400 and he thinks, this was a great song and we really, 1349 01:18:35,400 --> 01:18:38,240 really did well, and he's so proud of what they achieved. 1350 01:18:38,240 --> 01:18:41,840 So I think now him playing them onstage is big for him. 1351 01:18:41,840 --> 01:18:43,080 I think he loves it. 1352 01:18:44,440 --> 01:18:46,000 He's come that full circle. 1353 01:18:47,680 --> 01:18:49,000 SOULFUL SONG PLAYS 1354 01:18:50,480 --> 01:18:52,960 We could have a little breakdown. 1355 01:18:52,960 --> 01:18:55,920 OK, cool. I've actually got something you might want to see. 1356 01:18:55,920 --> 01:18:57,280 You've got something for me. 1357 01:18:57,280 --> 01:18:58,880 A little something you might want to see that 1358 01:18:58,880 --> 01:19:00,520 I believe belonged to you. 1359 01:19:00,520 --> 01:19:01,920 If you want to come this way. 1360 01:19:06,960 --> 01:19:08,160 Whoa! Here it is. 1361 01:19:08,160 --> 01:19:09,680 THEY LAUGH 1362 01:19:09,680 --> 01:19:12,000 Look at that. Look at that. 1363 01:19:13,040 --> 01:19:15,000 He's done a brilliant job, hasn't he? 1364 01:19:21,000 --> 01:19:22,960 Oh... Oh, yeah, I wanted to show you that. 1365 01:19:22,960 --> 01:19:26,560 That's a little note from Martin. It's from Martin. 1366 01:19:26,560 --> 01:19:27,880 "Many times I've had the pleasure 1367 01:19:27,880 --> 01:19:32,080 "of putting music back into old broken instruments. 1368 01:19:32,080 --> 01:19:35,240 "It's been an absolute joy to do that with your bass. 1369 01:19:35,240 --> 01:19:38,000 "So thanks, and I hope you like it. 1370 01:19:38,000 --> 01:19:39,520 "Keep on trucking." 1371 01:19:39,520 --> 01:19:41,480 Well, thank you, Martin. 1372 01:19:41,480 --> 01:19:42,840 You've done a great job. 1373 01:19:42,840 --> 01:19:45,240 Yeah. I love those kind of guys. 1374 01:19:45,240 --> 01:19:46,880 PLAYS AMPLIFIED 1375 01:19:59,240 --> 01:20:01,520 50 years ago since you last played that. 1376 01:20:01,520 --> 01:20:03,400 HE CHUCKLES 1377 01:20:03,400 --> 01:20:05,720 That's crazy, isn't it? It's true, isn't it? Yeah. 1378 01:20:05,720 --> 01:20:08,120 It's over 50 years, yeah. That's crazy. 1379 01:20:08,120 --> 01:20:10,960 But I'd love to know what you were doing. Hmm. 1380 01:20:10,960 --> 01:20:13,000 Maybe rehearsing for something. 1381 01:20:13,000 --> 01:20:15,400 Yeah, and if the van had been parked. I don't know. 1382 01:20:15,400 --> 01:20:18,120 Yeah. I know, it's a long time ago. Well, the van's parked 1383 01:20:18,120 --> 01:20:21,280 and the guys go in for a couple of pints, 1384 01:20:21,280 --> 01:20:24,160 and they decide they should leave the van 1385 01:20:24,160 --> 01:20:27,440 and go home and come back in tomorrow morning. 1386 01:20:27,440 --> 01:20:30,200 Oops. Slight mistake. Big mistake. 1387 01:20:30,200 --> 01:20:34,400 So it gets nicked and then ends up with the local, uh... 1388 01:20:34,400 --> 01:20:35,720 Is that a bit short, the strap? 1389 01:20:38,680 --> 01:20:42,560 Yeah. It's kind of a bigger rounder sound, I feel. 1390 01:20:42,560 --> 01:20:45,200 HE PLAYS DAY TRIPPER BASSLINE 1391 01:20:46,400 --> 01:20:48,360 LAUGHS 1392 01:20:48,360 --> 01:20:49,400 Yeah. 1393 01:20:52,520 --> 01:20:53,600 Wow. 1394 01:20:55,840 --> 01:20:57,360 There she is. Yeah. 1395 01:20:58,720 --> 01:21:01,080 Welcome home, honey. 1396 01:21:01,080 --> 01:21:02,360 Look at that. Wow. 1397 01:21:03,880 --> 01:21:06,560 Crazy story. Yeah. Yeah. 1398 01:21:06,560 --> 01:21:08,400 INDISTINCT 1399 01:21:08,400 --> 01:21:12,160 SCOTT: You've got to go a long way to find somebody that's grown up 1400 01:21:12,160 --> 01:21:13,640 without the Beatles. 1401 01:21:14,760 --> 01:21:18,720 And I think there's something about the relationship between us all - 1402 01:21:18,720 --> 01:21:20,680 you know, normal people - and The Beatles, 1403 01:21:20,680 --> 01:21:25,000 and you sort of think you know them because you know the music. 1404 01:21:26,520 --> 01:21:28,720 Good to see Floss chasing as well. 1405 01:21:28,720 --> 01:21:31,040 VOICE-OVER: The music went global, 1406 01:21:31,040 --> 01:21:34,720 but the bass, by going off on that weird route, 1407 01:21:34,720 --> 01:21:38,280 the minute it went from that van in Cambridge Gardens, 1408 01:21:38,280 --> 01:21:43,440 it's gone into that ordinary British world. 1409 01:21:43,440 --> 01:21:48,720 It's gone missing here. It's ended up here, in ordinary streets, 1410 01:21:48,720 --> 01:21:52,080 ordinary pubs, ordinary families. 1411 01:21:52,080 --> 01:21:54,720 And there's something incredible about that in its own right. 1412 01:22:00,360 --> 01:22:01,400 BIRDS CAW 1413 01:22:03,760 --> 01:22:05,800 Dad used to say something to me. 1414 01:22:05,800 --> 01:22:08,480 I was only about four or five, I think. But he used to pick us up, 1415 01:22:08,480 --> 01:22:10,400 pick me up and I used to sit on the bar. 1416 01:22:10,400 --> 01:22:12,480 VOICE-OVER: I'm trying to be humble, but, you know, 1417 01:22:12,480 --> 01:22:16,120 I think I was an important jigsaw puzzle piece because, 1418 01:22:16,120 --> 01:22:19,360 you know, I guess if I hadn't been a Beatle fan, 1419 01:22:19,360 --> 01:22:21,000 if I hadn't have met Steve... 1420 01:22:22,480 --> 01:22:24,360 ..if I hadn't have played the guitar, 1421 01:22:24,360 --> 01:22:26,160 these little things that fall into place, 1422 01:22:26,160 --> 01:22:27,800 it might have just been a different story. 1423 01:22:27,800 --> 01:22:29,000 We might never have found it. 1424 01:22:29,000 --> 01:22:30,440 There you go, mate - for your dad. 1425 01:22:30,440 --> 01:22:32,880 Cheers. To the old man. Absent friends. Yeah. 1426 01:22:35,800 --> 01:22:37,360 We didn't get it back just for Paul. 1427 01:22:37,360 --> 01:22:40,920 We got it back for everybody who was a Beatles fan. 1428 01:22:40,920 --> 01:22:42,760 All the kids like me. 1429 01:22:42,760 --> 01:22:46,480 We were little kids back then and we're old farts now, you know. 1430 01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:50,480 They could see that bass once more, you know? 1431 01:23:04,840 --> 01:23:06,520 BASS PLAYS 1432 01:23:09,640 --> 01:23:11,280 I did take it down a bit. Yeah. 1433 01:23:12,640 --> 01:23:14,760 It's much better. The logo is totally different. 1434 01:23:14,760 --> 01:23:16,640 Yeah, but that's the old logo. 1435 01:23:16,640 --> 01:23:19,880 Oh, yeah! Early logo. Yeah, right. 1436 01:23:19,880 --> 01:23:21,280 How's it feel? 1437 01:23:21,280 --> 01:23:23,160 It feels great. Does it? 1438 01:23:21,280 --> 01:23:23,160 THEY LAUGH 1439 01:23:23,160 --> 01:23:25,360 Come on, we can go and open the doors. 1440 01:23:27,960 --> 01:23:29,400 HE LAUGHS 1441 01:23:30,640 --> 01:23:31,880 LAUGHS: Hello! 1442 01:23:31,880 --> 01:23:36,600 Always. Oh, good to see you, Nick. My love. Fantastic to see you. 1443 01:23:36,600 --> 01:23:39,680 First time ever. Hello. We meet at last. 1444 01:23:39,680 --> 01:23:42,200 Maybe he's going to play the bass. Who can tell? 1445 01:23:42,200 --> 01:23:43,240 CHEERING 1446 01:23:55,120 --> 01:23:58,480 So, a little tale to tell you here. 1447 01:23:58,480 --> 01:24:00,360 Um... 1448 01:24:00,360 --> 01:24:06,440 A while ago, I had a bass besides this one. 1449 01:24:06,440 --> 01:24:08,200 My original bass. 1450 01:24:08,200 --> 01:24:12,240 And, uh, it got nicked, tell you the truth. 1451 01:24:12,240 --> 01:24:14,800 And we've been looking for it for 50 years. 1452 01:24:14,800 --> 01:24:16,200 Well, uh... 1453 01:24:17,400 --> 01:24:18,480 ..I got it back. 1454 01:24:20,840 --> 01:24:24,120 And here to make its first stage appearance 1455 01:24:24,120 --> 01:24:27,760 in 50 years is my original bass. 1456 01:24:30,920 --> 01:24:31,960 CHEERING 1457 01:24:41,440 --> 01:24:44,000 Get Back. All right! Are you ready? Yeah! 1458 01:24:44,000 --> 01:24:45,320 Come on then. 1459 01:24:53,840 --> 01:24:57,120 # Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner 1460 01:24:57,120 --> 01:24:59,800 # But he knew it couldn't last 1461 01:25:01,280 --> 01:25:05,120 # Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona 1462 01:25:05,120 --> 01:25:07,680 # For some California grass... # 1463 01:25:09,360 --> 01:25:13,320 Well, we'd love to see it in your hands, if you're happy to grab it. 1464 01:25:13,320 --> 01:25:14,960 I have it right here. 1465 01:25:14,960 --> 01:25:16,800 HE CHUCKLES 1466 01:25:16,800 --> 01:25:18,560 There she is. 1467 01:25:18,560 --> 01:25:20,040 That's my old baby. 1468 01:25:21,120 --> 01:25:24,160 Do you find yourself getting a bit more reflective as you get older? 1469 01:25:24,160 --> 01:25:26,920 Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, definitely. 1470 01:25:26,920 --> 01:25:32,000 Um...because it's so special. 1471 01:25:32,000 --> 01:25:33,120 I don't have an amp. 1472 01:25:39,960 --> 01:25:42,720 These are just four guys in Liverpool 1473 01:25:42,720 --> 01:25:44,800 who didn't know each other. 1474 01:25:44,800 --> 01:25:50,080 I got introduced to John via a schoolmate of mine and, 1475 01:25:50,080 --> 01:25:51,760 yeah, I really liked him. 1476 01:25:51,760 --> 01:25:52,880 It's lovely to play. 1477 01:25:54,040 --> 01:25:57,680 And then George I knew off the school bus. 1478 01:25:58,680 --> 01:26:02,680 And John was looking for someone else to play guitar. 1479 01:26:03,840 --> 01:26:08,400 And I said, "I've got this mate, you know, who's pretty good." 1480 01:26:09,760 --> 01:26:12,760 Yeah, you can get right up there and you wouldn't normally use them. 1481 01:26:12,760 --> 01:26:15,600 I said to George, "Go on, play it." He's looking at me. 1482 01:26:15,600 --> 01:26:18,680 So I encouraged George. George got it out of the case 1483 01:26:18,680 --> 01:26:21,600 and he plays a thing called Raunchy, 1484 01:26:21,600 --> 01:26:24,400 which is good and he did it great. 1485 01:26:24,400 --> 01:26:27,440 Then suddenly we had three of the Beatles then. 1486 01:26:27,440 --> 01:26:33,360 And it only needed Ringo to show up for us to be complete. 1487 01:26:39,120 --> 01:26:42,880 # Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner 1488 01:26:42,880 --> 01:26:45,640 # But he knew it couldn't last 1489 01:26:46,640 --> 01:26:50,640 # Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona 1490 01:26:50,640 --> 01:26:54,040 # For some California grass 1491 01:26:54,040 --> 01:26:56,080 # Get back 1492 01:26:56,080 --> 01:26:57,480 # Get back 1493 01:26:57,480 --> 01:27:01,640 # Get back to where you once belonged 1494 01:27:01,640 --> 01:27:02,680 # Get back 1495 01:27:03,720 --> 01:27:05,360 # Get back 1496 01:27:05,360 --> 01:27:08,880 # Get back to where you once belonged 1497 01:27:08,880 --> 01:27:10,160 # Get back, Jojo 1498 01:27:20,360 --> 01:27:21,440 # Go home! #