A day in the life as Lennon peers over Cliffs of Moher

PREVIOUSLY unknown footage which shows Beatles legend John Lennon at the Cliffs of Moher, has been discovered by a Co Clare-based Beatles expert.

The 30 seconds of footage, which shows Lennon lying on his belly and peering over the 700ft tall cliff, is believed to be a tiny fragment of a much larger portion of film recorded during the Fab Four’s 1963 visit to Clare.

The footage was uncovered by Lahinch-based Matthew Kelly, who noticed a two-second clip of Lennon at the cliffs in Martin Scorsese’s documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World, which was released this year.

After recognising the Cliffs of Moher from the film, Kelly set about tracking down the footage — an investigation that eventually led him to Florida-based Beatles archivist Patti Noah.

Ms Noah was able to supply Kelly with a 30-second clip of Lennon at the landmark, taken by Slovak filmmaker Dezider Hoffmann.

Matthew said: “I could not believe it when I saw the cliffs in the Scorsese documentary. I decided to try and verify it so I went searching online to see what I would find out. I eventually found an American Beatles expert called Patti who not only confirmed that it was the Cliffs of Moher, she was also able to give me a longer piece of footage from the Cliffs.

“I also found out that a filmmaker called Dezider Hoffmann was following The Beatles during their time in Ireland and at the moment, Patti is tying to find more footage of The Beatles in Clare from her collection. She has a massive collection of Beatles video and audio and she is confident that she has a lot more unseen footage from The Beatles’ trip to Clare.”

This footage is the first documentary proof The Beatles visited the Cliffs of Moher and Doolin in 1963.

Many stories have been told about The Beatles in north Clare, including the story that John Lennon and George Harrison were about to play an impromptu gig in McHugh’s Bar in Doolin, only to be stopped by the lady of the house, Josie McHugh, who said that it was too early in the day for the “tourists” to be singing.

Matthew has a long running connection with The Beatles. His father, Bill Kelly, was a Garda sergeant in Ennistymon in 1963 when then band visited and was assigned to guard them during their Clare visit.

Last year Matthew also set up the world’s first Beatles dating agency.

BeatlesSingles.com aims to match single Beatles fans from all over the world.

He said: “I’ve been obsessed with The Beatles for my whole life and I grew up on stories of their visit to Clare. My father was assigned to guard The Beatles when they were in Clare in 1963.

“Whenever I asked him about them he would call them ‘hairy hippies’ and say that he wouldn’t cross the road to see them.

“It is also said that while in north Clare The Beatles bought a pair of boots in Walls Shop in Ennistymon — that is the shop belonging to the parents of Steve and Joe Wall from The Stunning.”