THE identity of the “pretty nurse” in the Beatles’ song Penny Lane is reveal- ed in a new book about growing up in Liverpool.

It was written by Stan Williams, who attended Dovedale County Primary, Allerton, with John Lennon and George Harrison, as well as Peter Sissons, the newsreader.

Stan failed the 11-plus and went to Toxteth Technical High School, while John and Peter advanced to Quarry Bank grammar school and George became a pupil with Paul McCartney at Liverpool Institute.

But Stan kept in touch with his old friends.

A few years after they entered secondary school, John was caught up in the skiffle craze, being a member of the embryonic Quarrymen group, which, after many changes of name and pers- onnel, became The Beatles.

The washboard player with the Quarrymen was Pete Shotton, a friend of Lennon’s at Quarry Bank School.

Pete dated and then married Beth Davidson. But one day, long before that, she was dressed in her cadet nurse’s uniform, selling poppies from a tray on Penny Lane. Some boys, including Lennon, saw her near Bioletti’s barber’s shop (also mentioned).

It is generally assumed that McCartney wrote Penny Lane, but Stan, 68, is convinced that John contributed to the famous verse – “Behind the shelter in the middle of the roundabout, the pretty nurse is selling poppies from the tray, and though she feels she’s in a play, she is anyway.” Tragically, Beth died from cancer in the 1970s.

“In my mind’s eye, I still like to visit that special Oct- ober day (in 1954) when Beth had her image trapped within the lens of Lennon’s creative imagination. She was the foc- us of our attention, drama and fun. Above all, she was the sweet childhood friend who helped unlock that small door- way to self-belief,” writes Stan.

PENNY Lane Is In My Ears And In My Eyes is published by Vanguard Press, at £13.99.

davidcharters