Paul McCartney's childhood home in Liverpool heads for auction
"The first house I remember was at 72 Western Avenue in Speke, which we moved to when I was four. The road was still being built and roadside grass was being sown and trees were being planted. The city always ran out where we lived, there was always a field next to us. Then the minute they built more houses on that field, we moved to another place where there was another field."
— "Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now" by Barry Miles
The humble beginnings of the four lads from Liverpool are well documented.
Now you can own own a piece of that history: a childhood home of the best Beatle*.
The three-bedroom townhouse at 72 Western Avenue in the Speke area of Liverpool, England, is to be auctioned later this month and is expected to go for about 100,000 pounds (or $152,000 at today's exchange rates).
Paul and his family lived there for a time starting when he was 4 years old. They moved there because of his mother's job — she was a nurse midwife in the area — and his father, a dedicated gardener, became secretary of the Speke Horticultural Society. His dad used to send young Paul out to collect horse manure.
"You would hope your friends didn't catch you shoveling the s**t in the bucket," Paul told biographer Barry Miles. "Then you'd have to carry it around to the garden." (Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of the home.)
His dad also tasked Paul and his brother with club recruitment:
"He had us out aged about nine. I was virtually a door-to-door salesman by the time I was twelve. We used to go, 'Knock knock, would you like to join the gardening club?' 'What's in it for me then? Why should I?' 'Well, there's free manure, and you can get seeds at a discount ...' and I had this spiel! And the people would go, 'F**k off! P**s off,' so it was a very good way to learn the territory. 'S**t, I'm not going to that house again, he's an old drunk.' I remember a blind couple there and there was only one seeing member of the family, it was quite bizarre really, looking back on it. My brain's full of all that. For some reason I worked like a b****d when I was a kid! I would be out collecting jam jars door to door, doing Bob-a-Job."
McCartney had tenderer memories, too, telling Miles:
"Whilst we weren't a poor family, we weren't rich by any means, so we never had a car, or a television till the coronation in 1953. I was the first one in the family to buy a car with my Beatle earnings.
"My mum, as a nurse, rode a bike. I have a crystal-clear memory of one snow-laden night when I was young at 72 Western Avenue. The streets were thick with snow, it was about three in the morning, and she got up and went out on her bike with the little brown wicker basket on the front, into the dark, just with her little light, in her navy-blue uniform and hat, cycling off down the estate to deliver a baby somewhere."
* Kidding! Although — no offense meant to John Lennon's acolytes or the poor benighted souls who prefer Ringo or George — it is scientifically proven.
Related on Yahoo Homes:
• Ringo Starr is selling 200-acre English 'country house' to move to L.A.
• Ringo Starr's Americana-laden Colorado ranch is on market again
• Beatles' 1964 bachelor pad listed at $2.5 million
McCartney will be performing "FourFive Seconds" live with Rihanna and Kanye West at the Grammys this weekend. Visit Yahoo Music at this link starting at 7 p.m. ET Sunday, Feb. 8, to catch all the action.
