14 May 2022

Mike McCartney: famous for more than being Paul’s brother

From Saturday Morning, 8:35 am on 14 May 2022

Mike McCartney, the younger brother of Sir Paul, has just received a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to the community of the Wirral, the peninsula across the Mersey from Liverpool.

An artist, photographer, and musician, Mike had his own fame under the name Mike McGear as part of comedy group The Scaffold. Their song ‘Lily the Pink’ was a 1969 number one hit both here and in the UK.  

A lavish new limited-edition book, Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool brings together McCartney’s photography, illustrations and recollections of the 1960s and ‘70s, including an intimate portrait of Sir Paul and The Beatles' early days.

Prior to receiving his British Empire Medal, Mike had met Queen Elizabeth II twice before.

The first being during his time with The Scaffold when he was offered the chance to see her during the opening of a tunnel in Liverpool.

“I thought ‘oh this is good, I will do it because I can go and tell my children and my grandchildren, I have shook the Queen of England’s hand’, and so what happens when you’re in the line and she comes down, and you shake a hand with Queen of England’s white glove.”

Liverpool lovers.

Liverpool lovers. Photo: Mike McCartney / 'Mike McCartney's Early Liverpool'

The next time was when the Liverpool museum asked him to hold an exhibition of his photographs of the city as the Queen was expected to be there for the opening.

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Photo: Sonny McCartney

“There again, ‘I’ll definitely get to shake her hands, get some skin’. This time I shook the Queen of England’s black glove,” Mike tells Kim Hill.

“This’ll show what sort of lady she is, she comes up, she’s only small, like me mum to tell you the truth … and so she says ‘oh hello, are these photographs all your photographs?’, I said ‘yeah, yeah’.

“She said ‘did you take all of these photographs?’, I said ‘yeah, yeah, and if you’d like me to take one of you, I’ll give you a special price’.

“So all the royal people the VIPs are like ‘oh my God, why have we let this lunatic in with Her Majesty?’.

“She’s quick and she immediately broke out in the biggest smile and thank God somebody [took a photo], I’ve got it on me wall now, there’s me having a joke with the Queen and the Queen totally gettin’ it. She’s a cool lady.”

Paul McCartney at 20 Forthlin Road.

Paul McCartney at 20 Forthlin Road, in a limited edition print. Photo: Mike McCartney / 'Mike McCartney's Early Liverpool'

His life with his brother in their early years at Forthlin Road, where their father raised them after their mother died, is documented in Mike’s photography.

At the time, Paul was learning music and Mike had just picked up the camera, testing out different techniques.

“My dad had to bring up two sons, two growing boys for eight to 10 years in that little house.

Mike McCartney with Nikon.

Photo: Mike McCartney / 'Mike McCartney's Early Liverpool'

“So without a mum, and being poor, we were broke, it deteriorated.

“They’ve just put one [of the photographs from that time] in The Observer Magazine here … [they said] ‘oh charming picture, wonderful, your brother has his leg over the armchair, how cool, what a lovely pose’.

“I said ‘well to tell you the truth, he knew we were taking his photograph, he wanted his photograph taken … I said he’s not putting his leg over it as a pose, it’s to hide the spring in the armchair that stuck out and ripped our clothes’.

“So that’s what it was like then, Kim. We were poor, we had no money. When we went for a bath in Forthlin Road, the ceiling joined you. It flaked off and went in the bath with you, you had to swim through the painted flakes.”

With the help of Mike’s photos from back then, the property has been restored to its original state by the National Trust, which took ownership of it in 1995.

Now the house is set to host unsigned artists in a series of performance sessions to commemorate Sir Paul's 80th birthday in June.

Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool book and a series of photographic prints are available online or to view at Hedley’s Bookshop Masterton.

Watch Paul McCartney revisit 20 Forthlin Road here: