Beatles' passion out of mothballs

By JO-MARIE BROWN

Brett Nelson's obsession with the Beatles began when he bought John Lennon's Double Fantasy album. He was 18.

Twenty-two years later, the proud owner of 1500 Beatles items including jigsaw puzzles, bubblebath, mothballs and Sellotape is about to share his collection with the public by opening what he believes is New Zealand's first museum dedicated to the Fab Four.

"There's even a record made of licorice of Ringo Starr."

The back room of his Hastings home has been extended twice in the past two years to hold the burgeoning collection, gathered from all over the world.

"Sixties stuff is so hard to find ... Obviously back then people didn't realise that this group was going to become as famous as they have," he said.

Mr Nelson finds most of his Beatles memorabilia in the United Kingdom and the United States through the internet, although fellow collectors and visits to New Zealand second-hand stores also have turned up treasures.

Alongside album covers, books and signed photographs of the group sit more obscure items.

A woman from Palmerston North once donated a pair of Beatles stockings to Mr Nelson. Embossed guitars and the band members' faces range down the legs.

The 40-year-old also has a rare Beatles board game made in the United States - it is now worth $750 on the international market - and a piece of staging from a demolished Hamburg club the Beatles played at before they shot to stardom.

Mr Nelson, who runs a photographic store in Hastings, admits the extent of his hobby surprises him.

"It crossed my mind that perhaps I'd get sick of it in time, but the opposite has happened," he says.

"As I've got older and collected more stuff I've become more enthusiastic and more involved ... And this has all come about really because I wanted other people to share it and enjoy it."

The Beatles Museum opens officially at Mr Nelson's house in mid-November.

He has taken legal advice on using the Beatles name and does not believe the museum will breach copyright or trademark laws.

"There's an Elvis Presley museum in Hawera, and it's been going for quite some time."

Mr Nelson, who is confident his collection - worth between $30,000 and $50,000 - will be popular, has transformed the museum's exterior into a yellow submarine featuring cartoon Beatles characters.

"It's a bit of history," he said.

"The older generation are going to know who the Beatles are and think, cool, we'll go and reminisce and have a look. The younger generation will, hopefully, like the cartoons."