TO MARK the 30th anniversary, Peter Grant asked John’s art school pal and Beatle expert Bill Harry – who has written a new book, In My Life: Lennon’s Liverpool – where he would take him if he returned to Liverpool in 2010.

BILL said: “Without a doubt, to the Hope Street area. It was the place where his real creative life started.

“But first of all to Oxford maternity hospital where he was born 70 years ago and then on to the Liverpool Art College.

“We could sit and reminisce in the lecture hall and talk about old friends such as June Furlong and Helen Anderson. We’d re-visit the rehearsal space where he played.

“And then we’d walk past the Liverpool Institute, next door, where Paul and George went to school. Then on to the Philharmonic pub, were John loved a pint.

“We would move on to the Ye Cracke, where I would show him a special plaque.”

Bill’s new book is an exploration of John’s journey from his birth to his “leaving of Liverpool” – including his homes, his relatives, his loves, his music, his schools, the people and places that helped make John Lennon.

Bill added: “Liverpool is what forged John.

“His early life, his upbringing, his influences, his friends, everything that made John Lennon John Lennon was indelibly stamped during his years in this city.“

IN MY Life: Lennon’s Liverpool by Bill Harry. Trinity Mirror Media £9.99. Available at www.merseyshop.com