Rare images emerge of the Beatles playing the Cavern Club in 1961

Photographs show band performing at Liverpool venue more than a year before release of first official single

Rare photographs have been discovered of the Beatles playing at the Cavern Club in Liverpool before they had officially released any music.

The images were captured in July 1961, more than a year before the band released their debut single Love Me Do. They show John Lennon and Paul McCartney at the microphone, with George Harrison on guitar and a partially obscured Pete Best, the group’s original drummer.