Statue unveiled in Liverpool honouring Ringo Starr’s 85th birthday
A new statue has been unveiled in Liverpool to honour the 85th birthday of Beatles legend, Ringo Starr.
Starr celebrated his milestone birthday on July 7th, and as has become customary every year, the musician sends his classic “peace and love” mantra to mark the occasion.
In this spirit, a replica statue of Starr’s hand giving the peace sign, originally seen in his home in Beverley Hills, California, was revealed at the Beatles Story Museum in his native city.
Members of the local community, as well as pupils from Starr’s former primary school, St Silas CE, were invited to celebrate the event, although the main man was not in attendance himself.
Instead, Starr posted a video to TikTok on the day, encouraging his audience to adopt the peace and love mantra in his honour. In reaching his 85th birthday, Starr is the oldest surviving Beatle, two years ahead of Paul McCartney, who recently turned 83.
He said in the video: “On Monday it’s my birthday, what does that mean? It means at noon wherever you are all over the world anywhere, you go ‘peace and love’. This is my gift to you. Peace and love.”
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Starr revealed the origins of his mantra, as he explained: “It actually came, for me, from San Francisco, where the hippies were. They were, of course, great peace and lovers, and then it changed. But I found a picture the other day of the four of us [giving the peace sign] – I didn’t invent it, I just picked it up. John [Lennon] was a big proponent of peace and love, and it just came to me.”
Asked how his life motto has resonated into the space he finds himself in now, Starr responded: “I think it’s important every day – and right now the world is going through a madness. Maybe it’ll help.”
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