He never returned to school lessons after the age of 13. I never wanted to do anything else from then on.’ It’s a long time to keep yourself entertained. I started using cotton bobbins to hit on the cabinet next to my bed. It was while in hospital that he began playing the drums. We’d sneak in at night to the girls’ ward and fumble around.’ We had two wards, separated by a partition, with girls in one and boys in the other. ‘It was puberty for me and when the nurses kissed us good night, it was all quite frisky. Ringo, unassuming, plainly spoken, with his sad blue eyes, was the Beatle with whom people could best identify: the little man grandmothers and small children loved Liverpool was a breeding ground for tuberculosis, especially where I lived. Instead, he roamed the Liverpool bomb-sites with pals, wanting to be either a tramp or a merchant seaman, always wanting to go somewhere.Īt 13, with his mother happily remarried, he became ill again. It means that your knowledge is so limited,’ he admits. Ringo rarely saw him.īy the time Ringo went back to school, he was hopelessly behind, and began playing truant. When he became famous, the picture he painted of his childhood (‘We never had a bathroom, but it was home, it was fine’) showed little rancour, except perhaps towards his father who had deserted his mother when he was three. He was never dim, as is clear from his wit, he just got left behind. With four years spent in children’s hospitals (he was in a coma for ten days suffering peritonitis, an infection of the stomach wall), he didn’t learn to read until he was nine, only ever having five full years of school. Of the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney (top left) was knighted 20 years ago, but Ringo (top right) just kept being overlooked While the other Beatles were suburban grammar school boys, little Richard Starkey - his real name - was from the Dingle, the poorest part of Liverpool. That was why he joined one in the first place, after a very uncertain start in life.Īn eager, if sickly child, he always had to make his own quiet, cheerful way against all the odds. He might not get the publicity of Paul McCartney’s tours, and there is no certainty that the halls he plays will always be full. The news that Ringo Starr is expected to be knighted in the New Year¿s Honours List will correct an injustice that the patient Beatle had all but given up hope of ever seeing rightedīecause Ringo, unassuming, plainly spoken, with his sad blue eyes, was The Beatle with whom people could best identify: the little man grandmothers and small children loved.Īlthough we may not hear too much about him these days, he’s been performing, touring and recording, mainly in America, for almost 30 years with Ringo’s All-Starr Band. Which is why his knighthood will make an entire generation smile with affection. While Lennon and McCartney might have dazzled, and George Harrison suggested mysticism, it was level-headed Ringo who worked as an emollient in the band when they were falling out among themselves. Ringo’s value to The Beatles went beyond music. It wasn’t just that he was the best drummer they knew. That was why they invited him to join them when they were on the cusp of fame. That is, easy for everyone but The Beatles themselves. Sitting with his drums at the back of the stage, writing none of their hits, and rarely singing, his contribution was easy to miss. Arise Sir Ringo! Beatles drummer will become second member of the band to be knighted when he receives the award in New Year's Honours List.The Christmas 'crock 'n' rollers': Festive hit makers may have aged but their jingles are still keeping the money rolling in decades after they were released.
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