Sylvia Hall, 77, a former teacher, spent a decade as custodian of Sir Paul McCartney's childhood home at Forthlin Road in Allerton. Her final VIP tour before retiring was with Jon Bon Jovi, who arrived at the house ahead of his 2019 Anfield performance. As she showed him around, he asked if he could ring Paul on his birthday, then handed her the phone so she could wish him a happy birthday.
She told the ECHO: "At Forthlin Road, we played host to a lot of famous people. The last person I showed round before retiring was Jon Bon Jovi. The guide who takes VIPs round Liverpool was locking up, came to the door, and asked if I had time to show someone round. When he told me it was Jon Bon Jovi, I said, ‘Yeah, sure'. He was absolutely lovely."
Birthday call from the Hamptons
After the tour, Bon Jovi asked if he could call Paul. Sylvia recalled: "After I’d shown him round and we’d shared stories about the family, Jon pulled out his phone and asked, ‘Do you mind if I ring Paul? It's his birthday.' He said they have houses near each other in the Hamptons. He got through to Paul straight away, and said 'Happy birthday, mate'. He thought 'mate' was very English. Then he handed the phone to me and asked if I wanted to say ‘happy birthday’ to Paul."
Bon Jovi then told Paul where he was standing. "Then he said to Paul, ‘You’ll never guess where I am. I’m in your old sitting room, your parlour, with Sylvia, who has been showing me around'."
A decade of family stories
Sylvia was custodian of the former council house from 2010 to 2021. Over the years she welcomed musicians James Taylor and Judy Collins, as well as May Pang and Yoko Ono when she was at Mendips. "When stars visited the house, they were all respectful and enthralled. They wanted to know about the early family stories, what records Paul listened to, and the first record he bought."
She also worked with Paul's brother Mike McCartney, who shared memories of family life. "Mike McCartney was great because he could tell me private stories about the family around the piano and how they loved to sing, particularly at New Year. His dad, Jim, would play the piano, and if you wanted a request, you put half a pint of beer on top of the piano. Mike said his dad could play anything and had little sayings like, 'Put it there if it weighs a ton', whenever they were worried about something. He also told me about his mum. She was a nurse and was always calm. If anything was wrong or they had a problem, she would say, ‘Never mind, let it be’. Of course, that became the song."
Life inside the McCartney home
Sylvia cleaned the house, working around Jim's pipe, and tended the garden, where she hung period-appropriate laundry. "Mike used to say ‘Don't bother too much with dusting, because we didn't bother too much after Mum died'."
"Mike told us stories about Paul coming home late, climbing up the drainpipe, and squeezing through the bathroom window. When the police training college was at the back, they used to sit in Mike's bedroom window at the rear of the house and watch the police dog displays."
She collected items to bring the house to life, including the first guitar Paul played, donated by a local man, and the same type of headphones Paul used to listen to Radio Luxembourg. "You got your energy back from the visitors' enthusiasm. American visitors used to ask where the refrigerator was, and I'd explain that nobody had refrigerators back then, you left the milk on the doorstep and hoped it didn't go sour in the summer. That was hard for Americans to grasp."
Many visitors were surprised by the family's background. "Many visitors were also surprised because they assumed Paul was the middle-class one, when in fact John lived at Mendips and Paul's family lived in a council house."
From Forthlin Road to the stage
Sylvia described it as "a very solid, caring family home. Mary would whistle and sing around the house. Mike mentioned that Paul would never have been allowed to go to Hamburg if his mum had been alive. She had great ambitions for him. Paul went to grammar school, and Mike followed, and she wanted him to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a teacher."
"Amazingly, the first song Paul wrote in his bedroom at Forthlin Road was ‘I Lost My Little Girl’. Almost at the exact same time, before they even knew each other, John Lennon had written ‘Hello Little Girl’ at Mendips."
Inspired by her time at Mendips and Forthlin Road, Sylvia has written her first play, Julia's Song, about Julia Lennon. It will be performed at the Epstein Theatre on September 10, 11 and 12. She said: "I wanted to put Julia centre stage, reclaim her, and show how she inspired John's music. She taught him banjo and guitar, encouraged him, and bought him his first guitar."
