They Say It's Your Birthday...

Yesterday was the birthday of John Lennon and son Sean and by coincidence I was on the Magical Mystery Tour, steering past Auntie Mimi's house, en route to Penny Lane. The bus was playing the hits, the tour guide was rolling out the information and inevitably, we stopped outside Strawberry Field, former Salvation Army home and major landmark.

There was a single flower marking the writer's birthday and plenty of graffitti to connect the fans to the scene. I've been underwhelmed by a few musical settings, but this setting was up to the legend. Jim Morrison's grave in Paris is one example of what happens when clownish admirers create havoc, but Liverpool carries it well. Apart from the poor council worker who has to replace the Penny Lane street signs, which are routinely nicked...

Liverpool 2008 is strong on music, and an exhibition called The Beat Goes On takes up a fair part of the World Museum. The obvious names are hailed, but they also credit everyone from Ken Dodd to A Flock Of Seagulls. Meantime, the Hard Day's Night Hotel is doing decent business, although the Two Of Us wedding room was disappointingly vacant.