Lord Woodbine, a key player in The Beatles early days, has been honoured in the city
19:02, 29 Aug 2025Updated 19:03, 29 Aug 2025
A plaque has been unveiled in the heart of Liverpool in honour of a Caribbean mentor of The Beatles. Lord Woodbine, born Harold Adolphus Phillips, came to Britain from Trinidad in 1943 and served as a Royal Air Force flight engineer during the Second World War.
He later returned to the UK in 1948 aboard the HMT Empire Windrush and settled in Liverpool where he performed as a musician, calypsonian, composer, band leader, and manager of The Jacaranda Club. Harold was said to be the first singer-songwriter John Lennon and Paul McCartney “ever encountered”. In a music scene dominated by cover acts, he did not tell the pair to write songs, he showed them that it was possible.
In a 1970 interview, Lennon recalled the first song he ever wrote was Calypso Rock, written in 1957, a reflection of the musical environment Lord Woodbine helped create.
Harold Phillips, otherwise known as Lord Woodbine, who arrived in Britain on HMT Windrush(Image: Carol Phillips)
Variously described as the ‘Sixth Beatle’ and ‘the man who put the beat in Merseybeat’, Lord Woodbine went on to create a lasting legacy that shaped the music and culture of, not just Liverpool, but also the rest of the world – helping to take The Beatles to Hamburg and even smuggling an underage George Harrison into the German city.
Although never formally written out of history, Harold often felt excluded from The Beatles’ story. In 1992, while attending a Beatles-themed play in Liverpool, he saw a group photo used on stage from a Hamburg trip but he had been airbrushed out.
Lord Woodbine, seated, with Allan Williams, his wife Beryl and The Beatles in Hamburg, August 1960(Image: Getty Images)
He said: “It really hurt me. Maybe the great Beatle publicity machine did not want a Black man associated with their boys.”
Still, he held no bitterness, believing simply that there was a time when The Beatles needed him, and that time had passed. Lord Woodbine passed away in 2000, aged 71.
Blue plaque unveiled for Harold Phillips, aka Lord Woodbine, at the Jacaranda.(Pic Andrew Teebay).(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The plaque, found at Slater Street’s The Jacaranda, will serve as a long overdue tribute to a man whose contribution to British music was once overshadowed and whose story will now be permanently recognised. The ECHO spoke with Lord Woodbine’s children, Hudson and Carol Phillips at the ceremony.
Carol said: “We’re all so proud, my family. He didn’t really talk about The Beatles but he had a lot to say. He was the manager of the Jacaranda at one point so I’m very happy to be here.
Carol Phillips unveiled a Blue plaque in memory of her father Harold Phillips, aka Lord Woodbine, at the Jacaranda. (Pic Andrew Teebay).(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
“A lot of research has been done about my dad, so the plaque feels very special to have. He faced a lot of racism but for him to be where he was at that time is telling of how intelligent he was.”
You can see the full interviews in the video above.