Harrison lived the first four years of his life at 12 Arnold Grove, a terraced house on a cul-de-sac.[17] The home had an outdoor toilet and its only heat came from a single coal fire. In 1949, the family was offered a council house and moved to 25 Upton Green, Speke.[18] In 1948, at the age of five, Harrison enrolled at Dovedale Primary School.[19] He passed the eleven-plus exam and attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys from 1954 to 1959.[20][21] Though the institute did offer a music course, Harrison was disappointed with the absence of guitars, and felt the school "moulded [students] into being frightened".[22]
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In 1974, Harrison founded Dark Horse Records as an avenue for collaboration with other musicians.[291] He wanted Dark Horse to serve as a creative outlet for artists, as Apple Records had for the Beatles.[292] Eric Idle commented: "He's extremely generous, and he backs and supports all sorts of people that you'll never, ever hear of."[293] The first acts signed to the new label were Ravi Shankar and the duo Splinter. Harrison produced and made multiple musical contributions to Splinter's debut album, The Place I Love, which provided Dark Horse with its first hit, "Costafine Town".[294] He also produced and played guitar and autoharp on Shankar's Shankar Family & Friends, the label's other inaugural release.[295] Other artists signed by Dark Horse include Attitudes, Henry McCullough, Jiva and Stairsteps.[296]
Harrison restored the English manor house and grounds of Friar Park, his home in Henley-on-Thames, where several of his music videos, including "Crackerbox Palace", were filmed; the grounds also served as the background for the cover of All Things Must Pass.[384][nb 26] He employed ten workers to maintain the 36-acre (15 ha) garden.[388] Harrison commented on gardening as a form of escapism: "Sometimes I feel like I'm actually on the wrong planet, and it's great when I'm in my garden, but the minute I go out the gate I think: 'What the hell am I doing here?'"[389] His autobiography, I, Me, Mine, is dedicated "to gardeners everywhere".[390] The former Beatles publicist Derek Taylor helped Harrison write the book, which said little about the Beatles, focusing instead on Harrison's hobbies, music and lyrics.[391] Taylor commented: "George is not disowning the Beatles ... but it was a long time ago and actually a short part of his life."[392]
Harrison had an interest in sports cars and motor racing; he was one of the 100 people who purchased the McLaren F1 road car.[393] He had collected photos of racing drivers and their cars since he was young; at 12, he had attended his first race, the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree.[393][394] He wrote "Faster" as a tribute to the Formula One racing drivers Jackie Stewart and Ronnie Peterson. Proceeds from its release went to the Gunnar Nilsson cancer charity, set up after the Swedish driver's death from the disease in 1978.[395] Harrison's first extravagant car, a 1964 Aston Martin DB5, was sold at auction on 7 December 2011 in London. An anonymous Beatles collector paid 350,000 for the vehicle that Harrison had bought new in January 1965.[396] 2ff7e9595c
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