10 Things connecting The Beatles to Wales

1. Lennon apparently had Welsh ancestry. I read that a great grand or grandfather was a Calvinistic Methodist minister.
2. McCartney's aunt lived in Horseshoe Pass near Llangollen and as a boy would have visited with family
3. McCartney produced the debut single by Welsh speaking Mary Hopkin from Pontardawe
4. McCartney was best man when his brother Mike married in St Bridget's, Carrog, Merionethshire
5. Harrison also had an aunt living in Wales, in Broughton
6. Harrison loved Port Meirion and celebrated turning 50 there in 1993
7. Starr spent his early life living in Madryn Street, one of the Welsh Streets in Liverpool. These late 19th century Victorian terraced streets were in Toxteth. The houses were designed by Welsh architect Richard Owens and built by Welsh workers to house workers mainly involved in the industries on the docks; the streets were named after Welsh villages and landmarks. (Names of the streets include Voelas, Rhiwlas, Powis, Madryn, Kinmel, Gwydir, Pengwern and Treborth Street.)
8. Starr was playing drums for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes in Butlins, Pwllheli, when he got the call to join the Beatles
9. Apple Corps, the Beatles label, produced records by Badfinger, a band founded in Swansea and including more than one Welshman
10. The Beatles were in Bangor University learning about Hindu meditation when they heard of the death of Brian Epstein in 1967. There is a plaque there memorialising the fact.