Almost 50 years to the day after the Beatles released their first single, a Dales gallery is showcasing an amazing series of photographs

PAUL BERRIFF, a Bafta award-winning documentary maker and photographer, has lived and worked in exotic locations all over the world to produce his acclaimed gritty flyon- the-wall-style films.

But it was back home in his North Yorkshire attic, half-a-century after he took them, that he rediscovered stills photographs of The Beatles on their first tour.

“I started to root round in my attic and I found this box of about 800 negs,” he says. “In it were these shots from the early 60s. I was absolutely knocked out when I saw the quality and realised I should do something with them.”

The 38 pictures in the Hidden Gallery collection show The Beatles both on and off stage, including relaxing in their dressing room, and have now been released for sale as limited edition prints. They were taken at venues across the North, including the ABC Cinema in Huddersfield, Manchester Apollo and the Odeon, in Leeds.

The black and white shots are being shown at the Wensleydale Galleries, in Leyburn. “In a way, the pictures are coming home,” says gallery owner Andy Richardson. “They’ve been shown in galleries all over the world – New York, Dubai, London – but they were taken in Yorkshire by a Yorkshireman, so it’s fitting that they’ve finally landed in a Yorkshire gallery.”

Leeds-born Paul started his career as a reporter and then photographer on the Yorkshire Evening Post. He started taking pictures in the streets of Leeds as a trainee reporter, aged 17, and used his press card to get backstage at pop concerts where he took pictures of The Beatles, the Hollies and Roy Orbison.

He went on to become the BBC’s youngestever cameraman and to make documentary films, but has always considered himself, first and foremost, a photographer. “That is my real passion. Documentary film is just a series of still pictures linked together,” he says.

North Yorkshire may be a stark contrast from downtown Manhattan or the stunning Florida coast, where he used to live, but it is clear that he loves Bedale. And although he could work from anywhere in the world, this is where he wants to be.

He and his wife, Hilary, who have two grownup children, settled here four years ago. “We wanted to come back to Yorkshire, we love it.

It’s a fabulous place to live, great scenery, very nice people. We walk to the shops and people say hello,” he says.