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Do you remember that Beatles song with the line “Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name, nobody came”?

This was certainly not one of the Beatles more happier songs, and a bit out of keeping with what we had come to expect at that time.

I have often wondered who Eleanor Rigby really was, if indeed she was a real person at all, or was she just somebody whose name was plucked out of mid air.

Well as luck would have it, I was recently performing some songs in Liverpool and so during my free time I decided to look into this and see what I could find out about Eleanor Rigby.

So, I popped along to the local library, did a little bit of research, and then headed for the part of Liverpool known as Woolton.

When I arrived in Woolton I straight away visited the local church, and their in the churchyard my eye was drawn to one particular tombstone.

What did I find there? A headstone dedicated to the memory of…..Eleanor Rigby.

Now this discovery heightened my interest in my research. Could it be possible that one or more of the Beatles might have lived nearby? The answer is yes. As a child John Lennon lived in Menlove Avenue, a stones throw from the church.

Now, as a child I remember playing all sorts of games in our local churchyard. Games such as hide and seek, hiding behind the tombstones and so on. Great fun, albeit a little spooky!

Is it therefore not very likely that John Lennon, as a child, was also a frequent visitor to his local churchyard, and knew about the tombstone dedicated to Eleanor?

Now unfortunately I only had a couple of days in Liverpool so I was not able to dig any deeper into this, but I intend to return soon and continue my research.

I want to spend some time going through the church records, and I would like to see what I can find out about the other people mentioned on Eleanor,s headstone.

If you are interested in this, and want to be kept updated on my findings then this is the best thing to do. Click on the link at the bottom of the page. This will take you to another page, and near the bottom you will find my email address. Just send me a little note asking to be kept updated, and I will do so whenever I have something new to share with you.

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