The next best thing to the Fab Four themselves, the Bootleg Beatles are celebrating 35 years of performing hundreds of gigs around the world with a UK tour.

Formed from the original cast of West End show Beatlemania, 35 years ago, and authentic to the very last detail, the band performed the world’s most famous songbook in Australia, the far East, Holland, France, Belgium, Denmark and Russia in 2014 alone.

From costumes to authentic period instruments, perfect vocal mimicry and even Liverpudlian banter, the Bootlegs even bear an uncanny resemblance to John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Neil Harrison, who was the original Lennon for 30 years and is now the band’s manager, says keeping the band together after the West End show ended just seemed like a good idea at the time, and they never expected to be such a phenomenon for so long.

He says: "We had learnt the songs, grown our hair like the Beatles, but we never for a moment thought it would go on like this.

"I was a massive Beatles fan and to be able to make a living out of playing the music you love and travelling all over the world doing it, it can’t get any better."

A long audition process saw Harrison hand the role of Lennon over to 27-year-old Adam Hastings, whom Harrison says is the perfect Bootleg John.

He says: "He had all the requisite traits to do the job and had a sort of aura of Lennon about him, the way he stands and speaks to the audience, and his vocals are incredible."

  • The Bootleg Beatles; Richmond Theatre, The Green, Richmond; February 24, doors open 7pm, show starts 7.30pm; £37.22; visit ticketmaster.co.uk or call 0844 8717651.