Much of his appeal lay in the fact that he always seemed to be a resolutely ordinary man catapulted into extraordinary circumstances. Even his birthplace has an absurdist Ringo-ish charm to it – the Dingle. He worked as a barman on the Mersey ferry and as an apprentice joiner before, in 1962, John Lennon sought him out at Butlins in Skegness, where he was playing in a group called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and offered him the job with the Beatles. The pay was £25 a week, on the condition that he shave off his beard and brush his hair forward. He was, however, allowed to keep his "sidies".