Anyone remember The Beatles Book (also known as the Beatles monthly)? It was an official magazine about the Beatles, edited by Sean O’Mahony, which first appeared in 1963 and continued for 77 editions until the Beatles split up in 1970. The original Beatles monthly was a magazine for fans and was filled with photos of the Fab Four going about their lives very much in the moment and appealed to a Beatles teenage audience craving information about how the Fab Four lived their extraordinary lives.
In 1982 the Beatles Monthly was revived, and new editions continued to be published until as recently as 2003 – a grand total of 321 editions.
So when a monthly publication comes out that looks very much like The Beatles Monthly, and features photos of the Fab Four you’d be forgiven for thinking the idea had revived once again. Until you saw the cover, which has the title “Teatles”.
Tea and Beatles.
How very English.
Teatles is a very 20th century idea – a fanzine – which span out of a very 21st century idea – social media. The initial simple idea: Beatles and tea, soon bloomed into something more expansive.
The end product very much carries the spirit of those monthly Beatles books in that it is a magazine for Beatles fans. This time however, instead of being a magazine about the daily lives of the Beatles, it is a magazine both written by and about Beatles fans, filled with stories about how the Fabs still touch the lives of all of us.
By avoiding potentially tired re-treads of the Beatles story, it focuses on previously unheard stories of how our lives are impacted by The Beatles, even in the most minor ways.
It is a heartwarming read, filled with stories told by fans, of artwork produced by the most talented artists, and of photographs of The Beatles drinking tea. The ‘zine’s success has resulted in online discussions about the crockery The Beatles used in to a depth that only online discussion ever can, and eBay prices for Staffordshire Bracken’s distinctive stripey mugs – as seen in the Get Back documentary – have peaked strongly in the aftermath.
It is also a fanzine I am delighted to have contributed towards in the latest issue.
Fanzines have come along way since the photocopier days of the 1970s and 1980s. This is a small but perfectly formed magazine that looks gorgeous, with a high design focus, something that the ‘zine editors of the late ‘70s could never have even dreamed of with their photostat machine-produced mono-tonal sheets.
The person behind the Teatles magazine is a Welshman living in Liverpool called Huw Spink. He produced twenty monthly Teatles books and even had his idea featured in the Daily Mirror before moving to a slightly squarer, more substantial Magazine format, called Teatles Magazine. Issue 4 will be out imminently and you can order the new issue by contacting Huw via his social media channels and signing up to the mailing list.
My first introduction to all things Beatles, prior to an epochal victory in a disco dancing competition aged ten to the sound of Stars-on-45’s “Beatles Medley”, is hearing Mull of Kintyre at number one for many weeks. I have no idea when I discovered that Wings and The Beatles shared a band member. The Beatles always seemed to have existed, but only in the half a dozen or so songs Radio 2 played. It would take the Blue and Red albums (on cassette) for me to get properly up to speed.
I asked Huw about the journey he has been on, including his own first Beatles-related memories…
Huw: “I’m pretty sure we sang Yellow Submarine in primary school. But my main one is sat on my bed, with my sister and father, listening to Oldies But Goldies on my brand new cassette player. I must have been ten. As a treat in Sunday School one christmas we got to watch Rupert and The Frog Chorus. That was the trio of events that got me.”
Not everybody becomes a huge Beatles fan, and not every Beatles fan goes on to write a fanzine, so what was the catalyst for you to a) become such a great admirer of The Beatles and b) want to create Teatles?
“I suppose like most people the first music i really liked was whatever was in the charts. For me that was mostly Jason Donovan (I used to get a thrill seeing July, August, September, October, November, December, January written down). The Beatles arrived in my life and just seemed more interesting. And they’ve never stopped being interesting. The deeper you go the higher you fly.”
“The Teatles was just a reaction to boredom. I needed somewhere to put my brain to stop it sneaking off into dark corners, it just so happened that the Beatles tea-obsession gave me a hook! It’s a lovely excuse to stick my head into Beatles.”
The Teatles concept may have started as a blog about Tea and The Beatles, but it has evolved into something more hasn’t it?
Most certainly has! I think its more about finding our own version of Beatles that fits into our own world. Our Own Personal Beatles (as the Podcast puts it). So for me tea is a way of humanising them. Other people may find something else – and the ‘zine gathers together those connections. Its the opposite of gatekeeping – celebrating our ways in the Beatledom. I’m more into thoughts and feelings than facts and figures so thats and the ‘zine reflects that I think
The stories are more about fans’ lives than about the Beatles themselves. Was this your original vision, or did it evolve into that?
“Oh no. The dream was just to write about Beatles and tea. But that would have lasted about two issues. People started sending me stuff that was faaaar more interesting than I could have imagined.”
Tell me about why you have switched to a different format for your new “Teatles” books…
Its quite hard to explain actually but i guess i just needed a fresh start. And I rather like square things. It also gave me license to include longer and even stranger things. I’d got into a bit of a routine and the new format freed me from that, if only in my silly little brain.”
I enjoyed Lisa Bennett’s story about making and attempting to gift a clay figure for Paul McCartney in the seventies… how did you come across the story?
“Lisa’s original tweet (a retweet of Books Beatles tweet) went viral! It was hard to miss. But lucky old me, she moved to Liverpool and has become a really good friend. She has written another thing for TEATLES 4.”
I have just read that – it’s really great. So what is next for Teatles?
“Issue 4 is out soon and so i’ll spend some time getting that printed and posted and then? A little sleep I think.”
“The one thing I’d still like to do is The Museum of Teatles. I’m not sure the world really needs an exhibition of Beatle-related teacups but it may well get it anyway!”
Every record tells a story 
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