Four weeks later their lives were to change forever.

But in this photograph the Beatles can still enjoy a quiet few hours sunbathing without, it appears, a care in the world - or being swamped by fans.

It was taken in July 1963 during a week when the group had packed out the Odeon cinema in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

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Pictured from the left: George Harrison, 20, Paul McCartney, 21, John Lennon, 22, and Ringo Starr, 23, relax in the sun in Weston-Super-Mare during a week's appearance at the local cinema

The band had already had three top ten hits - Love Me Do, Please Please Me and From Me To You.

But it was to be August of that year, when She Loves You shot straight to number one, that saw Beatlemania unleashed and the transformation of the four young Liverpudlians into global stars.

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In the deckchairs pictured from the left: Management organiser Tommy Quickly, George Harrison, John Lennon and a waving Ringo Starr

In the calm before the storm, the band was captured in a scene typical of an English resort of that era.

The lack of response to their presence from the holiday crowds can be judged by the dozing sunbather in the picture who lies there in his underpants without a flicker of interest in the soon-to-be superstars.

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Famous bands: The Beatles chat with Gerry and The Pacemakers in the Weston-Super-Mare hotel in July 1963

The unknown photographer who took this shot was persuaded to part with the copyright-by Beatles publicist Tony Barrow.

The picture has remained unseen since.

Mr Barrow, who worked with the group between 1963 and 1968, said: "This is before the pressures of the Beatles got to them, they are not putting anything on for the camera.

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Tea time: The Beatles and Gerry and The Pacemakers enjoy a drop of tea at the hotel

"They just wouldn't be able to do this again in a month's time, there's a real innocence here."

The picture is from a collection Mr Barrow aims to publish in a book about the Beatles.