RECENTLY, there have been several letters in The Northern Echo debating the relative merits of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

I wondered if any readers can tell me who this local group is?

I came across this photograph a few weeks ago.

All I know is that it has Middlesbrough stamped on the back but the musicians could have been from any local town or city.

It looks like it was taken in the early 1960s. Maybe some of them will recognise themselves.

I wonder if any of them became famous?

Peter Jefferies, Durham City

IT’S interesting that people still compare The Beatles and the Rolling Stones nearly 50 years after their supposed rivalry was first mooted.

This was actually a media creation by Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, whose philosophy was that all publicity was good publicity.

I find it hard to compare the groups so directly, The Beatles split up as the 1960s ended, the Stones continue to this day.

In the 60s, the Stones were rock’s primal beating heart, The Beatles were trendsetters, progressing music as they went.

If you must compare two groups, then the Stones should be compared to The Who. Both London bands, both left their R ‘n’ B roots for a more art-pop sound, both changed into rock behemoths in the 70s, in the mould of Led Zeppelin.

The Beatles would have to be compared to another successful British beat combo that also progressed their sound, only to split before the 70s started. Step forward The Small Faces, a band that went from gritty R ‘n’ B to concept albums in just a few years.

But really, to make such a comparison would be pointless, because The Beatles are actually incomparable to anyone, an entity in a field of one.

Paul Hardy, Darlington