Unseen Beatles photos go on display in London

A collection of unseen photos of The Beatles just before they rose to fame is to go on display.

The 37 shots of the Fab Four on a tour with Helen Shapiro in 1963 were unearthed after languishing in an attic for almost 50 years.

Photographer/journalist Paul Berriff discovered the pics at his home in north England. The photos, which chronicle the band members rehearsing onstage, smoking in their dressing room, and relaxing with drinks and snacks backstage, will go on display at London's Menier Gallery on April 28.

"I started to root around in my attic and I found this box of about 800 negatives, and in it were shots of these old pop groups in 1963. I was absolutely knocked out when I saw the quality and realised I should do something with them," the Daily Express quoted Berriff as saying.

Berriff took the pics after the boy band gave him unlimited access on tour when he was a teenage snapper - just months before Beatlemania gripped the world.

The photographer had stored the negatives at his home, along with hundreds of other images of musicians in the 1960s.