On the Magical Mystery Tour with Neil Brannan

"For me every day is a Beatle day"


Best introduction to Beatles history is the Magical Mystery Tour. In the oldest bus Liverpool could find people from all over the world come together for a ride under the "blue subarban skies". Well, forget it. The weatherwoman was very clear yesterday: showers will be our part. But there's a guy who let the rainbow colored bus shines. Neil Brannan (37), captain of the tour for 11 years. "More and more nobody knows what's really true or not about the Beatles. It's so huge. I only give factional information."

By Dominique Verschuren

Brannan is our guide. So he was during my first trip 5 years ago. He's still making the same jokes: "During a reception Queen Elizabeth II said to Sir Paul McCartney: 'I have Beatle-records at home.' Paul answered her: 'I have Queen-records at home.'" Even the Filipino's understand it. And they are not alone. Tourists from Scotland, France, Holland, Germany, Norway, Austria, Canada, Peru... The Beatles are the strongest magnet Liverpool could wish.

Neil Brannan

No doubt about it, Brannan is an entertainer. Neil: "I'm doing it now for 11 years. I was dj in the Cavern, the club where the Beatles became big. Some guy suggests me: 'You have to be in that bus!' Me in that bus? Why? 'You speak every night to people you never met before. You have to teach that people that history.' 'But I can't teaching that,' I said. He gave me a book. I join the tour and I enjoyed it. Now I do it full time: 6 days a week. It feels like 8 days a week."

Listening to the songs with the same name in the bus we are for a moment a part of the real Penny Lane and we see a glimp of Strawberry Field. Brannan speaks with a lot of love about 'our John' or about Paul who he met a couple of times. Macca is his favorite Beatle, nevertheless he admit he's not a huge Beatle-fan. Brannan: "Everyone in Liverpool knows a Beatle-song. Every Scouser is proud they came from Liverpool. On the Beatle-fest, an event organized every year, there you met real fanatics. I can't call myself on the same level as the tourists who travel 10.000 miles to come to here. I don't go home and listening to Beatle-music. It's work for me, but it's never boring because of the music and because of the people. For me every day is a Beatle-day."

While school pupils in their uniform walks through Liverpool suburbia anno 2012, the rainbow bus from pastime paradise continues his journey. With the Magical Mystery Tour Brannan promotes a part of the legend of the Fab Four. Of course. Nevertheless he's a man of facts: "I only tells about where the Beatles lived from when till when. I'm not going to tell about the persons, cause I don't know them personally. I've met 1000's of Pauls 'cousins', you know. And they all have their own stories. But more and more nobody knows what's really true or not. I only give factional information."

That's the main reason why he skipped an old remark from 5 years ago. Only because he can't prove it. Brannan: "As we passed Sefton Park there's a big statue in the shape of a penis. Then I said that's because Ringo, cause he lost virginity in this park."

(Thanks to Helen Williams)