central london
pi Cto Ria L pRESS
fitzrovia, bloomsbury & euston
Goodge Place, W1 Paul McCartney was photographed here,
sitting in his customised Mini. Numbers 49 and 51 Goodge Street, and the corner shop, 50 Goodge Street, can be identified in the picture. ¥ Goodge Street
25 Grafton Way, WC1
University College Hospital Richy and Elsie at uCh, June 1964. She brought the grapes
On 3 June 1964, with worldwide Beatlemania approaching its zenith, and on the eve of a
transcontinental concert tour, Ringo Starr collapsed with tonsillitis and pharyngitis during a photo session (see Prospect Studios, Barnes, p 144). He was taken to a local doctor and thence rushed to the private patients’ wing of this hospital, where he remained until 11 June, emerging through the doorway at 25 Grafton Way to be met and photographed by Fleet Street’s finest. He then flew to Australia to reclaim his drum stool from replacement Jimmy Nicol. Ringo’s return to this hospital six months later (1–10 December), to have the offending tonsils removed, caused – as preposterous as it will seem today – considerable worldwide concern. Indeed, the hospital switchboard was so frequently jammed by worried fans that operators at the local telephone exchange were asked to intercept all calls and, if the caller was enquiring about Ringo, give the latest, hourly state-of-health bulletin, displayed in the operators’ room on a huge blackboard. There were no such shenanigans when, in the relative calm of 1969, George Harrison underwent similar minor surgery here on 7 February, necessitating a short stay. ¥ Euston Square or Warren Street
200 Gray’s Inn Road, WC1
see ‘Mad Day’ section, p 218–219 ¥ Chancery Lane
C o RbiS
Guilford Street, WC1
58
T H E B E AT L E S’ LO N D O N
The main entrance of the Hotel President – their spring/summer 1963 abode (p 61–63) – being in Guilford Street, the Beatles were captured here by Dezo Hoffmann on 2 July 1963 in a single, lucky photograph, in which