Letter: Pick Strawberry Fields for the heritage beat

Sir: While respecting Mark Haines' undoubted love of Britain's ancient 'Heritage' (Letters, 21 June), I would like to assure him that there is much to admire in Britain's post- war cultural contribution to the modern world. Just ask some of the thousands of tourists who come to Liverpool, to visit the ancestral and stately homes of the four Beatles.

My experience as a Beatleguide in the city has taught me that there is room for all points of view, and that foreign tourists welcome any chance to observe modern historic sites like 'Strawberry Fields' and the 'Eleanor Rigby' headstone in St Peter's churchyard, Woolton, while pondering on the sandstone magnificence of the church architecture, and reflecting on the meeting of Lennon and McCartney in July 1957 at that self-same site.

Tourism is changing, for a new generation now walks the highways of England. They are not snobs, they are here to view the making of the British nation in all its senses. More often than not, they listen to the musical soundtrack of British musicians, of whom we should be proud, for it is, in many cases, those musicians who brought these people to England in the first place.

Sincerely,

GERALD MURPHY

Project Co-ordinator

Northern Song Project

Birkenhead, Merseyside