Sir Paul McCartney reunited with ‘stolen’ Hofner guitar after 50 years thanks to search driven by The Lost Bass Project
Sir Paul McCartney has been reunited with his bass guitar, on which he strummed the famous tunes Twist And Shout and She Loves You for The Beatles, after it went missing more than 50 years ago.
The Hofner 500/1 bass, which is now estimated to be worth £10m, went missing in 1972.
It was allegedly stolen from the back of a van in Notting Hill, London.
Its whereabouts were unknown for decades but in 2018 a group intent on tracking down the German-made instrument, The Lost Bass Project, launched a search for it.
The pace of the search was initially slow but picked up after worldwide media coverage and soon the project received dozens of leads and hundreds of people willing to help.
Receiving the tip-off that it had been stolen, the group – which includes Hofner executive Nick Wass – discovered the violin-shaped bass was allegedly sold to a pub landlord in the Ladbroke Grove area.
The project suspected it had remained in the landlord’s family.
After numerous TV interviews and media coverage, the group said the instrument had ended up in the attic of a house in Hastings, on the south coast of England.
Due to the widespread publicity, the owner realised they had the highly sought-after item and returned the bass to Sir Paul’s company in December, after which it was authenticated.
The Beatles in 1962. Pic: Black Country Images/Alamy
The bass is still complete and in its original case but will need some repairs to make it playable again, the project added in a statement.
A spokesperson for the former Beatle said he is “incredibly grateful” for those who were involved in the hunt for it.
Now considered one of the most iconic instruments of all time, Sir Paul bought the bass for £30 in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961.
Speaking in a 1966 Beat Instrumental interview, McCartney said: “I have had a Hofner ever since I started. I’ve got three models but the ancient one is still my favourite. It has seen so much work that some of it is held with sellotape!”
He used it in his decade-long career with the band, including on their first two albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles.
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The Hofner was eventually dubbed the “Beatle bass”.
A statement from The Lost Bass Project said the group were “extremely proud” of playing a part in solving the mystery.
It added: “It has been a dream since 2018 that it could be done. Despite many telling us that it was lost forever or destroyed, we persisted until it was back where it belonged.
“We want to thank everyone who helped with the search, all those who sent us leads and ideas and many who just wanted to lend their support to us. Thank you all so very much. Very much indeed! We did it!”
Dean Cain has been branded the “worst superman ever” as he announced he will join the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “ASAP”.
The 59-year-old, who was cast as Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, announced he had joined the team amid the federal agency’s unprecedented immigration raids.
He told Fox News on Wednesday his recruitment video on Instagram had gone viral and since then, “I have spoken with some of the officials over at ICE and I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP”.
“You can defend your homeland and get great benefits,” he said in the Instagram post where he appealed for his followers to join ICE.
Speaking with the Superman theme song in the background, he said “hundreds of thousands of criminals” had been arrested since US President Donald Trump took office.
He then told his followers they would get a series of benefits if they joined ICE, including a $50,000 (£37,407) signing bonus and student loan repayment.
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“If you want to help save America ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America’s streets,” he said, before adding: “I voted for that.”
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Mr Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
Cain’s post on Instagram received some backlash, with one user commenting: “Worst superman ever”.
Another said: “Shame on you Dean – that’s the most un-Superman thing you could possibly advocate.”
One fan turned against him and said: “Until I saw this I was such a fan. What a sad human being you must be.”
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Oasis gig at Murrayfield in Edinburgh beats Taylor Swift for most ‘ground-shaking’ concert
Oasis provided the most “ground-shaking” performance at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium when they last performed there in 2009, according to analysis of seismic data.
The Gallagher brothers’ last Scottish gig has topped the chart for the most powerful seismic concert at the venue in the past 20 years, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.
Oasis’ June 2009 gig beat the Red Hot Chili Peppers in June 2004, Kings of Leon in June 2011 and Taylor Swift in June 2024 – when measuring the peak earthshaking power of each event.
Noel Gallagher. Pic: PA
The measurements were taken from a seismic monitoring station, some 4km from the venue.
At peak power of 215.06kW, the Oasis gig was more than twice as powerful as the next strongest one by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at 106.87kW.
Murrayfield Stadium’s most seismic concerts:
• Oasis: 17 June 2009, 215.06kW
• Red Hot Chili Peppers: 14 June 2004, 106.87kW
• Kings of Leon: 26 June 2011, 96.18kW
• Taylor Swift: 8 June 2024, 82.56kW
• Foo Fighters: 8 September 2015, 78.65kW
• Harry Styles: 26 May 2023, 65.38kW
• Beyonce: 20 May 2023, 29.31kW
• Robbie Williams: 31 May 2025, 14.18kW
• Bon Jovi: 22 June 2011, 13.20kW
• Spice Girls: 8 June 2019, 10.63kW
• One Direction: 3 June 2014, 6.82kW
The rankings were revealed ahead of Oasis’ return to the Scottish capital this weekend as part of their comeback tour.
The power output is not related to the volume of the band or the crowd; rather, it is the movement of fans jumping and dancing in time to the music, with the height of the jumping and weight of the crowd also potential factors.
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BGS seismologist Callum Harrison said: “In 2009, seismic signals generated by Oasis fans were consistent with a crowd energy of 215kW at its peak – enough to power around 30 of the scooters featured on the iconic Be Here Now album cover.
“Our network of sensors around the country is sensitive enough to pick up ground movement from a source miles away that may not be detectable to humans – and precise enough to register exact timestamps for when the events occur.
“The peak energy reading was recorded around 8.30pm on that June evening back in 2009, which correlates to the time the band first took the stage and performed Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, which couldn’t be more fitting in terms of topping our seismic music chart.”
The BGS keeps an archive of continuous ground motion recordings from seismic sensors around the country, dating back several decades.
Mr Harrison said: “Improving our understanding of historical earthquakes is an important part of BGS research in trying to understand and mitigate the seismic risk around the country.”
Oasis will take to Murrayfield’s stage on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, so there is potential for another “shakermaker”.
Mr Harrison said it is “certainly possible” the band could top their 2009 gig, adding: “We’ll just have to wait and see.
“The main contributing factors are going to be how energetic the crowd is. If they’re jumping along with the music, how high or how fast are they jumping?”
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