Read an Excerpt
chapter 1
1966: Take This, Brother
January 5 John Lennon attends a party at the home of singer P. J. Proby in London.
January 8 While Paul visits his family in Liverpool, the rest of the Beatles attend a party at Mick Jagger’s London townhouse.
January 12 John and Ringo fly to Port of Spain, Trinidad, for a vacation with their wives.
George and Pattie nightclub at Dolly’s disco with Mick Jagger.
January 21 George marries Patricia Ann Boyd at Esher Register Office; in a reversal of Ringo’s wedding, Paul is the only other Beatle in the country and stands in as best man. A reception follows at Kinfauns.
January 23 John and Ringo return to London from their vacation in Trinidad.
January 31 Paul and George, with Jane and Pattie, attend the premiere of the play How’s the World Treating You? at Wyndham’s Theatre in London.
February 3 Paul attends Stevie Wonder’s show at the Scotch of St. James nightclub.
February 4 George and Pattie attend the play Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs at the Garrick Theatre.
February 8 Newlyweds George and Pattie fly from London to Barbados for their honeymoon.
February 12 John and Ringo nightclub at the Scotch of St. James.
February 13 John, Paul, and Ringo attend a party at Brian Epstein’s house.
February 21 U.S. release of “Nowhere Man”/“What Goes On” single.
February 23 Paul attends a performance of electronic music by Luciano Berio at the Italian Institute.
February 25 George and Pattie return to London from their Barbados honeymoon.
March 4 UK release of Yesterday EP.
Maureen Cleave’s interview with John is published in the Evening Standard. Buried in the middle of the piece is the following quote from John: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first—rock-and-roll or Christianity.” Reaction is minimal in Britain; when read within the context of the entire article, the statement is less inflammatory.
March 6 Paul and his girlfriend, Jane Asher, fly from London to Klosters, Switzerland, for a brief ski vacation.
March 20 Paul and Jane return to London.
March 24 The Beatles, their wives, and Brian Epstein attend the premiere of the film Alfie (in which Paul’s girlfriend, Jane Asher, plays a small role) at the Plaza Haymarket Cinema.
March 25 Robert Whitaker shoots a series of photos of the Beatles at Oluf Nissen’s studio in the Vale, Chelsea. Most notably, the group pose in butchers smocks surrounded by raw meat and dismembered baby dolls.
March 26 Paul and his brother Michael watch their father’s racehorse win the Hylton Plate at Aintree Race Course.
March 28 George and Ringo attend Roy Orbison’s concert at the Walthamstowe Granada Cinema.
April 1 John and Paul visit the Indica Gallery, which opened the previous month with a £5,000 contribution from Paul.
April 6 Sessions for the Revolver LP begin at EMI Studios.
April 18 John and George attend the Lovin’ Spoonful’s concert at the Marquee Club.
May 1 The Beatles give their final British concert, performing at the New Musical Express Poll Winners’ Concert at the Empire Pool. Though most of the show is videotaped for ABC, the Beatles’ set goes undocumented due to contractual disputes.
May 19 John and Paul, along with Keith Moon, spend all night listening to the advance copy of Pet Sounds, brought over by Beach Boy Bruce Johnston.
May 20 John and Cynthia attend a party in London with Mick Jagger.
May 27 John and Bob Dylan are filmed in the backseat of Dylan’s limo en route from John’s Weybridge home to the May Fair Hotel. That night, John and George attend Bob Dylan’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall; later, Paul, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones socialize at Dolly’s, a nightclub.
May 30 U.S. release of “Paperback Writer”/“Rain” single.
John’s limo is pulled over for speeding while attempting to evade a carful of Beatles fans.
May 31 Ringo is photographed at home for Beatles Monthly magazine.
June 1 George attends Ravi Shankar’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall; soon afterward they meet for the first time at Peter Sellers’s home.
June 10 UK release of “Paperback Writer”/“Rain” single.
June 16 Paul purchases a farm near the Mull of Kintyre in Campbeltown, Scotland.
The Beatles receive cholera vaccinations (for their upcoming far eastern tour) at BOAC Air Terminal, Victoria Railway Station.
June 20 U.S. release of “Yesterday” . . . And Today LP.
June 22 The Beatles attend the pre–opening night celebrations at Sibylla’s, a nightclub cofinanced by George.
June 23 The Beatles fly from London to Munich to begin their final world tour.
June 27 The Beatles fly from Hamburg to London Airport to catch a connecting flight to Japan, their next scheduled destination. A decidedly unscheduled typhoon reroutes them to Alaska, where they spend the night at a hotel in Anchorage.
July 3 The Beatles fly from Tokyo to Manila with a stopover in Hong Kong.
July 4 The Beatles offend Imelda, wife of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, by missing a ceremonial luncheon at Malacañang Palace.
July 5 The Beatles are harassed by police, government officials, and angry mobs as they make their way to the airport without the promised escorts. They fly from Manila to India via Bangkok, arriving at New Delhi to hundreds of Indian Beatles fans, much to their bewilderment.
July 8 The Beatles return to London Airport in the early morning hours.
UK release of Nowhere Man EP.
July 29 Datebook, a U.S. teen fan magazine, publishes Maureen Cleave’s March 4 interview with John, under the misleading banner headline “More Popular Than Jesus.”
August 2 George visits his mother-in-law’s home in Devon.
August 5 UK release of Revolver LP.
UK release of “Yellow Submarine”/“Eleanor Rigby” single.
August 8 U.S. release of Revolver LP.
U.S. release of “Yellow Submarine”/“Eleanor Rigby” single.
August 11 The Beatles fly from London to Chicago (via Boston) for their final concert tour; that night, John explains his remarks about religion, with a pair of remarkable press conferences at the Astor Towers Hotel in Chicago.
August 19 At the evening concert at Memphis’s Mid- South Coliseum, a cherry bomb is thrown onstage during “If I Needed Someone.”
August 29 The last Beatles concert, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, is taped by press officer Tony Barrow on a C-60 cassette with a portable recorder pointed toward the general direction of the stage. On the flight back to Los Angeles after the show, the Beatles agree to cease touring for at least the immediate future.
August 30 The Beatles fly overnight from Los Angeles to London.
August 31 The Beatles arrive back at London Airport.
September 5 John flies to Hanover, West Germany, to the set of How I Won the War.
September 6 John has his hair cropped into a crew cut for his role as Private Gripweed; filming begins for How I Won the War.
September 14 Shooting of How I Won the War concludes at Celle, West Germany.
George and Pattie Harrison fly to Bombay to study yoga and meditation; George also begins sitar lessons under the guidance of Ravi Shankar.
September 15 Paul attends a free-form music concert at the Royal College of Art.
John and Neil Aspinall travel to Paris.
September 16 Paul and Brian Epstein join John and Neil for the weekend.
September 18 John and Neil travel to Almeria, Spain, to continue filming How I Won the War.
September 19 George holds a press conference at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay.
Shooting for How I Won the War continues on location in Carboneras, in southern Spain.
September 27 Brian Epstein checks in to the Priory Hospital for recuperation and a complete physical following his apparent suicide attempt earlier in the month.
October 4 Ringo and Maureen fly from London to Spain and join John on the set of How I Won the War.
October 15 Dressed in an Arabian costume, Paul attends the opening night celebration for the underground paper International Times, held at the Roundhouse in London.
October 22 George and Pattie fly from India to London.
October 26 George welcomes Ravi Shankar on the arrival of Ravi’s flight at London Airport.
October 31 Donovan arrives at George’s bungalow for a week-long visit.
November 6 John’s last day of location shooting How I Won the War.
Paul flies from Kent to France and spends a week driving through the countryside before meeting up with Mal Evans at Bordeaux.
November 7 John flies from Madrid to London.
November 9 John is formally introduced to Yoko Ono, the artist of Unfinished Paintings and Objects, the day before the avant-garde exhibit opens at the Indica Gallery.
November 11 John and Cynthia attend a Ben E. King performance at the Scotch of St. James nightclub.
November 12 Paul and Mal drive from Bordeaux to Spain, where they had intended to visit John on the film set. Since his part has wrapped early, they drive to Seville, fly to Madrid, have a layover in Rome, and finally arrive in Nairobi, Kenya, for a safari vacation.
November 19 Paul and Mal Evans return to London from their African safari.
November 20 John and George attend a party in honor of the Four Tops at Brian Epstein’s house.
November 24 The Beatles reconvene at EMI Studios for new sessions, beginning with “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and culminating in the LP Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
December 1 Paul attends the Young Rascals show at the Scotch of St James nightclub.
December 2 Paul attends another Young Rascals show at Blaises nightclub in the Imperial Hotel.
December 9 UK release of A Collection of Beatles Oldies LP.
December 16 UK release of Pantomime: Everywhere It’s Christmas, the Beatles’ fourth annual Christmas flexi- disc for fan club members.
December 18 Paul and Jane Asher attend the world premiere of the film The Family Way at the Warner Cinema. Paul composed the movie’s incidental score.
December 31 George, Pattie, Brian Epstein, Eric Clapton, and friends decide to take their patronage elsewhere after George is refused admittance to Annabel’s, an upscale nightclub, for not wearing a tie. Instead, the party rings in 1967 at J. Lyons & Co., a small restaurant in southern Soho.
1. Studio session
Date: 5 January 1966
Location: CTS Studios, London
Producer: George Martin
Broadcast: 1 March 1966, 8:00–8:50 p.m.
BBC1
The Beatles at Shea Stadium
[A.] Dizzy Miss Lizzy (2:47)
[B.] Can’t Buy Me Love (2:05)
[C.] Baby’s in Black (2:07)
[D.] I’m Down (2:07)
[E.] I Feel Fine (2:06)
[F.] Help! (2:19)
[G.] Ticket to Ride (2:14)
Although it wasn’t exactly publicized at the time, the Beatles didn’t cover up the fact that most of the Shea concert film had to be overdubbed in a studio due to technical limitations. To their credit, they had already refused to release both Hollywood Bowl concerts recorded by Capitol for similar reasons, but with NEMS putting their own money into the Shea project (via Subafilms), the group was persuaded to bring the recordings up to par. This was achieved in a London film-dubbing studio, with George Martin at the helm and the Beatles doing their best to match their new vocals and instrumental tracks to the images on celluloid.
Paul beefed up his bass tracks for A–D, with John also fortifying his organ on the latter song, probably having a ball trying to re-create his manic elbow stylings. Both E and F were completely rerecorded by the whole band, and the studio atmosphere is most evident on these numbers, although they do a good job of investing the songs with concert-level energy. It’s not clear whether any overdubbing was done to G, and as “A Hard Day’s Night” was largely obscured by dialogue, it was left untouched.
There wasn’t time to fix up “Twist and Shout” or “Act Naturally,” so earlier recordings were added to the soundtrack. In the case of “Twist and Shout,” Capitol’s 1965 Hollywood Bowl recording was deemed suitable, but “Act Naturally” proved more difficult. A couple of shows into the tour, the group had dropped the song in favor of “I Wanna Be Your Man,” and thus no suitable live recording existed. Instead, the original studio version was sweetened with crowd noise and dropped in. Although the record featured acoustic rather than electric rhythm guitar, it’s doubtful many viewers noticed the difference.
RELEASE HISTORY
The Beatles at Shea Stadium soundtrack has been released on dozens of bootlegs over the years; the earliest titles on vinyl included Shea, the Good Old Days and the misleading Last Live Show. The best CD source is probably Shea!/Candlestick Park.
2. Newsreel footage G
Date: 22 January 1966
Location: London
Broadcast: 22 January 1966
ITV
Length: 0:59
As Ringo had a year earlier, George consented to meet the press the day following his wedding to Patricia Boyd. This ITV News footage from the press conference captures the newlyweds’ entrance, Pattie sporting a knitted beret, as the couple sit on a desk and kiss for the benefit of photographers. As Tony Barrow struggles to control proceedings in the background, George professes his desire to take things slow when it comes to starting a family.
RELEASE HISTORY
This footage was included on the video compilation Beatles 1962 to 1970.
3. Interview G
Date: 22 January 1966
Location: London
Broadcast: 25 February 1966
WABC-AM, New York City
Length: 1:45
One interview from this press conference seems to originate from an ABC-TV report with an unknown American journalist. George doubts that the marriage will have much of an impact on the Beatles’ popularity, hoping that the fans are becoming more interested in the music and less concerned with their personal lives.
He also refuses to rise to the bait when the reporter presses him to speculate about Paul’s marriage plans. Pattie says she wants to have three children, which prompts George to sing a line from Len Barry’s recent hit “1-2-3” (ironically, Barry’s follow-up single, which entered Billboard’s Top 40 this very day was titled “Like a Baby”!). Pattie patiently answers a couple of patronizing questions before smooching George for the benefit of ABC’s cameras.
RELEASE HISTORY
This interview circulates among collectors in good quality from a radio rebroadcast on George’s twenty-third birthday.
4. Interview G
Date: 22 January 1966
Location: London
Length: 1:47
In this interview for a Reuters newsreel, Pattie expresses a wish to remain away from the public eye, much as Cynthia and Maureen were doing. She reiterates her desire to have three children (“Thirty- nine,” interjects George), but sadly the couple failed to produce any progeny during their eleven-year marriage. The newlyweds then recount their meeting on the film set of A Hard Day’s Night, with George revealing that Pattie snubbed him on his initial request for a date.
RELEASE HISTORY
1996: 46 seconds of this interview was released on Fab Four CD & Book Set. The full clip circulates on video.
4a. Newsreel footage G
Date: 22 January 1966
Location: London
Length: 4:37
British Pathe’s archive has several minutes of silent footage of the newlyweds’ press conference, including shots of George’s parents, Brian Epstein, and Tony Barrow watching the proceedings, and Pattie showing off her wedding ring for the cameras. At the end, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison squeeze onto a couch with the new Mr. and Mrs. Harrison and pose for further pictures.
RELEASE HISTORY
This silent footage circulates on video.
5. Newsreel footage G
Date: 8 February 1966
Location: London Airport
Length: 0:23
George and his new bride decided to wait a couple of weeks before taking off to Barbados for a lengthy honeymoon. Cameras followed the couple through the terminal at London Airport to the steps of their BOAC flight, George in a casual suit and Pattie in a mod black-and- white outfit with stylish shades.
RELEASE HISTORY
This footage circulates on video, and was included in ITV’s Reporting ’66: End of Beatlemania.