Beatles Tour in Liverpool, England

By Melissa Jacobson

Located at a well known site called the Albert Dock, The Beatles’ museum in Liverpool holds a selection of personal belongings and musical documents’ of John Lennon. It is also the start place of a popular tour of Liverpool, called the Magical Mystery Tour, dedicated to the Beatles and John Lennon. The tour takes visitors to sites that formed the settings of many of the Beatles’ songs. The tour visits Strawberry Fields, Lennon’s childhood play place and the namesake of his New York memorial (Kruse, 2003), as well as Penny Lane and the childhood homes of all four members of the Beatles. In addition to the significant sites that the Magical Mystery Tour visits, Liverpool also boasts an airport named after Lennon featuring a memorial statue to the artist.


Sources
Kruse, R (2003). Imagining Strawberry Fields as a Place of Pilgrimage. The Royal Geographical Society . Blackwell Publishing. 35 (2). pp. 154-162.

Strawberry Fields as a Place of Pilgrimage for John Lennon Fans

By Melissa Jacobson

Strawberry Fields has become a prominent site of recognition, in relation to John Lennon. This is because his family home was located next Liverpool's Salvation Army orphanage, which was named “Strawberry Fields”. Lennon spent much of his childhood playing in the large field in the allotment playing with the children from the orphanage (Kruse, 2003). Wanting to share the memory of these years, Lennon produced the song “Strawberry Fields”. In addition it has been stated that "...Lennon's strawberry Fields Forever', problematizes the link, or crisscrossing, between our inner and outer worlds and in so in doing re-imagines the relations between selfhood, culture, and contemporary political life (Kruse, 2003; Elliot 1999).

Sources

Elliott, A (1998). Celebrity and Political Psychology: Remembering Lennon. International Society of Political Psychology. Political Psychology, 19 (4). pp. 833-852.

Kruse, R (2003). Imagining Strawberry Fields as a Place of Pilgrimage. The Royal Geographical Society . Blackwell Publishing. 35 (2). pp. 154-162.