When the Beatles wanted a drummer

A newly-found letter reveals McCartney offered an audition to someone in 1960, a few days before the band left for Hamburg.Somewhere, an ageing drummer (identity unknown) is probably still kicking himself.A newly discovered letter found folded in a book at a Liverpool yard sale has shed new light on the Beatles' early days, revealing that Paul McCartney offered an audition to a mystery drummer in 1960, just a few days before the band left for a formative two-month gig in Hamburg, Germany.The letter, to be auctioned next month by Christie's, has surprised Beatles scholars. It was written two years before the band bounced drummer Pete Best in favour of Ringo Starr, who arrived just in time to help the Beatles conquer first England and then the world, earning untold millions along the way.The August 12, 1960 letter handwritten by McCartney offers an audition to someone who had advertised their availability in the Liverpool Echo newspaper four days earlier.The unsigned ad said simply: "Drummer_Young_Free."McCartney, who was then playing guitar in the band while the late Stuart Sutcliffe handled bass guitar, offered the drummer an audition with the caveat that if he joins the band he must be ready to travel almost immediately to Hamburg. The Beatles honed their musical chops playing at low-rent clubs in the German city's famed red-light district."Expenses paid 18 pounds per week [approx] for two months," McCartney writes. "If interested ring Jacaranda club."The letter is signed, "Yours sincerely, Paul McCartney of the BEATLES."It is not known if the drummer came for an audition, and failed to impress McCartney and the others, or if he simply didn't follow up.The letter was discovered by a man from Liverpool who has asked to remain anonymous. The auction house said he is a devoted collector of antique coins.