Wikipedia:WikiProject The Beatles/The Beatles' miscellanea

This article is about The Beatles, as it provides information—with numerous links to other pages—about the people who incorporated aspects of The Beatles music into their own work, worked with them, or who wanted to be associated with them.

The articles are listed alphabetically in their relevant sections.

Business

Apple versus EMI

EMI building in London

The surviving Beatles and relatives of the band's late members sued EMI for unpaid royalties.

The argument between The Beatles, EMI and its sister company Capitol Records goes back three decades. The Beatles alleged—in a 1979 suit—that the two companies underpaid the band by more than £10.5m. A settlement was reached in that case in 1989, which granted the band an increased royalty rate and required EMI and Capitol to follow more stringent auditing requirements.

Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the relations of George Harrison and John Lennon now claim that EMI should have paid them record royalties for albums that were supposedly given away, but were sold to the public. They claim that EMI and Capitol wrongly classified copies of Beatles recordings as destroyed or damaged, and secretly sold them—pocketing the proceeds. Apple Corp chief Neil Aspinall said:

“ We have tried to reach a settlement through good faith negotiations and regret that our efforts have been in vain. Despite very clear provisions in our contracts, EMI persist in ignoring their obligations and duty to account fairly and with transparency. Apple and The Beatles are, once again, left with no choice but to sue EMI." ”

BEA

British European Airways, or BEA, was formed in 1946 by an Act of Parliament. In late 1963, Brian Sommerville arranged a publicity deal with British European Airways that involved The Beatles. It was agreed that they would carry BEA(tles) flight bags and were photographed holding them as part of the contract. The Beatles (and their companions) then received three weeks of unlimited air travel between Paris and London. In late August of 1963, John flew with Cynthia Lennon to Paris (on BEA) for a 3-day belated honeymoon.

BEA ceased operations in 1974, and was merged with the British Overseas Airways Corporation to form British Airways.

The National Trust

The "National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty" (usually known as The National Trust) is a preservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Lennon sang about The National Trust in "Happiness Is a Warm Gun":

"A soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to The National Trust".

In recent years the Trust has sought to broaden its activities and appeal by acquiring properties such as former mills (early factories), workhouses, as well as Paul McCartney's and John Lennon's childhood homes.

Films

Up Against It

Joe Orton (born John Kingsley Orton 1933-01-01, Leicester, England – 1967-08-09, Islington, London) was a successful English writer who was asked to write a film screenplay for The Beatles, which Orton called Up Against It. Orton received a $12,000 advance from Walter Shenson and was told by McCartney to "Do whatever you want", so he did.

Orton: "by page 25 they had committed adultery, murder, dressed in drag, been in prison, seduced the daughter of a Priest, I mean the niece of a Priest, blown up a war memorial and all sorts of things like that."

The screenplay was not accepted by Epstein or the band.

Yellow Submarine

Although The Beatles added their own vocals to the songs of Yellow Submarine, the real voices behind the animated characters are relatively unknown.

Peter Batten is probably best known as the voice of George Harrison in the 1968 movie Yellow Submarine. The cast later found out that he was a deserter from the British Army when he was arrested during recording. Geoffrey Hughes (born 1944-02-02 in Wallasey, Cheshire, England) is an English actor, best known to UK TV viewers of a certain age, for his portrayal of Eddie Yeats, Hilda Ogden's lodger in Granada Television's soap opera Coronation Street, a role he played from 1974 – 1983, and in Keeping Up Appearances. He was the voice of Paul McCartney in Yellow Submarine, but recorded the rest of Harrison's voice after the untimely exit of Peter Batten.

On the Anthology DVDs, Ringo Starr said that each of The Beatles was happy with the other three actors´ voices but were not happy with their own. He also said that he has often been asked by children from all over the world why he "pushed the button?" (Before he was ejected from the submarine.)

General

Cher

Cher's first solo recording was the novelty single "Ringo, I Love You", which was released under the pseudonym of "Bonnie-Jo Mason", and was produced by Phil Spector.

Inspired by

A "Beatles buff" and radio host (Spencer Lee, from Liverpool) made claims that The Beatles song, Yesterday, was inspired by a song called "Answer me, my love", which was made famous by Nat King Cole. "Answer Me, My Love" is a popular song, originally written (with German lyrics, under the title "Mutterlein") by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Ravich. The English lyrics were written by Carl Sigman in 1953. Sigman first wrote the song as a religious-themed song, "Answer Me", (in which the first line reads "Answer me, Lord above") as a question to God about why the singer has lost his lover, which became a #1 hit for Frankie Laine in the United Kingdom in 1953. He then rewrote the lyrics to address the lost lover directly, under the title "Answer Me, My Love".

A spokesman for Paul McCartney said that "The two songs are about as similar as Get Back, and God save the Queen."

Popularity contest winners

The Beatles were voted Britain's most iconic image in 2006, and are more popular than The Queen, Harry Potter and the BBC.

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were named by more than a third (34%) of those surveyed as the "Best of British"—leaving The Queen (18%), Harry Potter (14%) and the BBC (14%) trailing a long way behind. In second place—after The Beatles—came the local English public house (32%) which was followed by the British countryside (27%). Shakespeare was named as the "Best of British" by only 13 per cent.

Postage stamps

The Beatles will be (in 2007) on Royal Mail Postage stamps for the very first time, which is more than 40 years after they became famous. A set of six stamps will show some of The Beatles album covers. The collection features Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road, Revolver, Let It Be, Help! and With the Beatles. The designs show records on top of each other with the uppermost showing one of the six album covers.

As well as the set of 6 'album covers' stamps, Royal Mail will issue a 'miniature sheet' of 4 stamps showing Beatles memorabilia from the collection of Pete Nash. A special presentation pack (also showing memorabilia) will contain both the set and the sheet, and should be available from all Post Offices.

The last photo and meeting

The last known photograph of John Lennon and Paul McCartney together was auctioned on the internet in December, 2004 The black and white photo was part of a collection of the late Who drummer Keith Moon´s memorabilia. The photograph, which was taken with some colour Polaroids, was taken in 1974, during the recording of US singer Harry Nillson's album Pussycats, which Lennon was producing.

The last reported meeting of McCartney and Lennon was on 25 April 1976. Paul McCartney reportedly showed up unannounced at Lennon's apartment in New York with a guitar. Lennon was busy and/or annoyed and turned him away.

Musicians

Billy Preston

Billy Preston (1946-09-02 – 2006-06-06) played on their 1970 Let It Be album and on the songs "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Something", from 1969's Abbey Road. After being signed to the Apple label in 1969, Preston released the album That's the Way God Planned It and a single of the same name, which was produced by George Harrison.

Preston later played appeared as Sgt. Pepper in the film version of The Beatles album. In 2001 Preston was part of the all-star tribute to George Harrison at The Concert for George.

James Taylor

James Taylor (born 1948-03-12) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in Belmont, Massachusetts.

In 1968, Taylor moved to London. He was signed to Apple Records after sending a demo tape to Peter Asher (of Peter & Gordon) and released his debut album, James Taylor. Despite The Beatles connection (and the presence of Paul McCartney and George Harrison on one track), the album did not sell very well and Taylor's addiction to heroin worsened. The Beatles wanted to tear up Taylor's contract when he said he wanted to "move on", but Allen Klein wanted to hold Taylor to his obligation to Apple records. The Beatles won the argument and Taylor was released.

Kurt Cobain and Nirvana

Kurt Cobain expressed his love for The Beatles in many interviews. According to his Journals, his song "About a Girl", was written while listening to "Meet the Beatles!" (one of his favorite records) on a loop for a day. In 1991, Cobain wanted to hide the experimental track "Endless, Nameless" in various pressings of the Nirvana breakthrough album Nevermind because he liked the way "Her Majesty" was hidden at the end of Abbey Road.

In March 1994, before his death, Cobain was fleshing-out ideas for a new Nirvana release, the concept having been described as similar to that of The White Album. Dave Grohl, ex-Nirvana drummer, has said that his life would be complete if he could write a song like "Julia", and, according to record producer Butch Vig, the song was sometimes played by Cobain at Nirvana recording sessions in 1991.

Mary Hopkin

Mary Hopkin was born in Wales on the 1950-05-03, in Pontardawe, which is just north of Swansea. Mary found stardom following her successful appearances on the ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks —which was hosted by Hughie Green—which she won for ten consecutive weeks. Twiggy recommended her to Paul McCartney, who met her and agreed to record some songs.

Her single, Those Were the Days (produced by Paul McCartney) was released in the UK on 1968-08-30 (catalogue number APPLE 2). Despite competition from a well-established star, Sandie Shaw, who released her version of the same song as a single that same year, Hopkin's version became a #1 hit in the UK singles chart, and reached #2 in the US. The next single was Goodbye, written by Paul McCartney (but credited to Lennon-McCartney) was released on 1969-03-28 (APPLE 10); it reached #2 in the UK singles chart. It was kept off the top of the charts by the Beatles' single Get Back.

Pet Sounds

The catalyst for the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album was The Beatles' LP, Rubber Soul — the US version and not the UK version — which was released in December 1965.

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (more often the Bonzo Dog Band or to fans simply the "Bonzos") were the brainchild of a British art-school set of the 1960s. Part jazz band, part pop group, the 'Bonzos' came to the attention of a broader British public through a children's television programme, Do Not Adjust Your Set. Roger Ruskin Spear (former member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) remembers meeting The Beatles

“ We were asked to play at the wrap up party (for MMT) and John Lennon personally invited us. We were up north doing some wretched gig when our management rang up and said we'd been invited to The Beatles' party and "by the way they want you to perform. Unfortunately you can't go because you're due in Washington!" So complete explosions went on and so Brian Sommerville (our publicist) said, "Oh you guys have got to do it. I could never get together a publicity party like this." So we moved heaven and earth and it cost us a fortune.

We went down and did it, but in the end it really didn't do us any good at all. It was just a big booze-up with John Lennon throwing up in the toilet and all that sort of thing. But from then on, I suppose, we knew The Beatles.

”

The Bonzo Dog Band (with Neil Innes) had a hit single in 1968, with "I'm the Urban Spaceman" which was produced by Paul McCartney under the pseudonym "Apollo C. Vermouth". The Beatles were great fans of the group and featured them performing the "Death Cab for Cutie" song in the Magical Mystery Tour.

Phil Spector

Harvey Phillip "Phil" Spector (born 1940-12-26) is an American record producer who produced some of the best-known popular music of the 1960s and 1970s. As the originator of the "Wall of Sound" production technique, Spector first rose to prominence as the mastermind behind the 1960s girl-group sound.

The Beatles themselves had recorded the Teddy Bears' "To Know Her Is to Love Her"— Spector's first hit—with an obvious change of gender, for their failed Decca Records audition. In 1970, Allen Klein, manager to three of The Beatles, brought Spector to England to possibly record with the group, or to produce for Apple Records. (Spector first met The Beatles on their historic first visit to the USA in 1964.)

After successfully completing "Instant Karma!" in a single session for the John Lennon solo release, Spector was invited by Lennon and George Harrison to take on the task of turning the tapes from the abandoned "Get Back" recording sessions into an album (which became Let It Be). Spector added sweeping choir and orchestral arrangements to Lennon's "Across the Universe" and Harrison's "I Me Mine". Most contentious was his alteration of "The Long and Winding Road", which infuriated Paul McCartney—especially since the work had been done without his knowledge, or the opportunity to listen to the finished results. This angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in court for breaking up The Beatles as a legal entity, he cited the treatment of "The Long and Winding Road" as one of six reasons for doing so.

Spector later returned to public prominence when he was indicted for murder.

The Rolling Stones

Released in December, 1967, 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' was not well-received, and was seen as an attempt to copy The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It has influences which are based on music-hall, which The Beatles often used.

The band themselves collected the props, and the clothes that they were photographed in, but also put photos of The Beatles in various places. Lennon is above a camel, at the bottom right, and Harrison is on the left, near Keith Richards' elbow. McCartney and Starr are also there. The connections between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are numerous — from John Lennon and Paul McCartney writing The Rolling Stones' first hit: "I Wanna Be Your Man", to Mick Jagger being present in the audience during the live TV recording of "All You Need Is Love". Lennon talked about the writing of "I Wanna Be Your Man" in a Playboy interview in 1980:

“ Paul and I finished that one off for the [Rolling] Stones. We were taken down by Brian [Epstein] to meet them at the club where they were playing in Richmond. Paul and I went off in the corner of the room and finished the song off while they were all sitting there, talking. We came back and Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] said, 'Jesus, look at that. They just went over there and wrote it'. It was a throwaway [song]. We weren't going to give them anything great, right? Anyway, Mick and Keith said, 'If they can write a song so easily, we should try it.' They say it inspired them to start writing together. ”

Places

Portmeirion

Parts of 'Portmeirion' were used for some of The Beatles Anthology interviews. Patrick McGoohan made Portmeirion famous in the 1960s TV series, The Prisoner, and the producers of the series used "All you need is love" in the last episode of the programme series.

Portmeirion was the vision of the architect Clough Williams-Ellis, who wanted to create a Mediterranean atmosphere in north-west Wales. He designed every house in a different way, so as to create a collage of architectural styles. The so-called "village" is in fact a large hotel, and is probably the only hotel that admits thousands of visitors every year who just want to walk around its grounds, and not stay overnight.

Shea Stadium

Shea Stadium from the air

'Shea Stadium' is the long-time home of the baseball team known as the New York Mets, and the historic site of the world's first stadium concert. "Stadium Rock" was born here in August 1965, when The Beatles opened their North American tour on 1965-08-15, at Shea Stadium to a record audience of 56,000. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were present, and watched the concert in the dugout.

John Lennon displayed his usual brand of humour when a reporter asked him:

"Does it bother you that you can't hear what you sing during concerts?"

Lennon: "No, we don't mind. We've got the records at home."

Shea Stadium has been used for varying events over the years: Pope John Paul II was among those who appeared there for a large gathering in 1979, and the stadium has hosted numerous concerts. The most recent was a three-night engagement by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band in early October 2003. Musicians think of playing in Shea Stadium as a high point, if only because The Beatles played there.

Politics and Police

Harold Wilson

File:Handmwilson.jpg

Harold and Mary Wilson in the 1960s.

Harold Wilson exhibited his populist touch in 1965, when he decided to have The Beatles honoured with the MBE award. (Such awards are officially bestowed by The Queen but in actuality are always nominated by the Prime Minister of the day.) The award was enormously popular with young people and contributed to a sense that the Prime Minister was "in touch" with the younger generation. There were some protests against the award by conservatives and elderly members of the military who were earlier recipients of the award, but such protesters were in the minority. Critics claimed that Wilson decided on the award to solicit votes for the next general election (which took place less than a year later) but defenders noted that since the minimum voting age at that time was 21 this was hardly likely to impact many of The Beatles' fans who at that time were predominantly teenagers.

It cemented Wilson's image as a modernistic leader and it linked him to the burgeoning pride in the 'New Britain' typified by The Beatles. This style of leadership was later copied by Tony Blair. Blair used to play guitar with a Rock band called Ugly Rumours, and has a guitar in his toilet.

Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos (born 1929-07-02 in Manila City) is a former First Lady and a political figure in the Philippines. She is renowned for her excessively large collection of shoes, and is reported to own more than 1,000 pairs.

She is also known for the incident when The Beatles were brutally thrown out of the Philippines, because they did not turn up for a breakfast party that she had organized. The Beatles claimed that they had not heard about it, and that they would have been too tired to go anyway. The incident was widely circulated throughout the Philippines, and the story was slanted to make it look as if The Beatles had deliberately "snubbed" Imelda, as a personal insult to her and the whole country. Crowds booed and kicked The Beatles on the way to the airport, and the money they had earned whilst they had been there was taken off them by Marcos´ security guards.

Jeffrey Archer

Archer met The Beatles at Brasenose College, Oxford.

Jeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, when a student in Oxford took part in organising a charity fund-raising drive for OXFAM. During a concert that The Beatles played at the college he was told that The Beatles "Don't get involved with charities", but he coerced them into having a photograph taken with him.

Archer proudly held up an OXFAM collection tin for the camera (as did Starr and McCartney, whilst Lennon put some coins into Archer's collection tin) and Harrison held a "WANTED—1,000,000 pounds" poster, in the Senior Common Room at Oxford's Brasenose College. Having his picture taken with The Beatles (apparently) endorsing his OXFAM appeal certainly did it no harm (he collected £500,000) and was later accused of having taken a much larger percentage of the money collected—for his own expenses—which was deemed by OXFAM to be much more than "usual". He bought a house in Weston-super-Mare for £5,000 after he had collected the money, and when he was still a student at Oxford.

He later played a large part in Margaret Thatcher´s years as Prime Minister. On 19 July 2001, Lord Archer was found guilty and sentenced to a total of four years imprisonment for perjury.

Norman Pilcher

Detective Sgt. Norman Pilcher (born 1936) was a British police detective. He became infamous for arresting a number of celebrities during the 1960s on drug charges, such as Mick Jagger, Donovan, and also two members of The Beatles: George Harrison and John Lennon. He used an ordinate amount of policemen and "sniffer dogs", when raiding the houses of the rich and famous. He raided Harrison's house on the same day as Paul McCartney was getting married to the then Linda Eastman (later Linda McCartney).

He targeted the most popular people in London—who were known users of drugs—and Pilcher was an integral part of the "last gasp" of the establishment to stamp out the use of illegal drugs in London society. The celebrities that Pilcher arrested for drug use complained that Detective Sergeant Pilcher framed them or was only carrying out raids and arrests to satisfy the tabloid newspapers. It was often reported that journalists and photographers arrived very shortly after Pilcher started his raids. On 1972-11-08, Pilcher was extradited from Australia and arrested for "conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" after it was alleged he had committed perjury. This meant the planting of evidence, and tampering with the scene of a crime. He was convicted and sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Lennon's conviction later triggered a deportation order from the United States in 1971.

Radio

Rolf Harris

Rolf Harris was formally trained in the UK—although born in Australia—and attended the City and Guilds Arts School, in Kennington, in the early 1950s.

Rolf soon began making a name for himself on his own television series when he effortlessly produced huge paintings in a short space of time. His catch-phrase was, "Can you tell what it is yet?" He recorded a song called "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", and sang it (with The Beatles singing backing vocals) in the first edition of the From Us To You BBC radio shows, in December, 1963. Harris customized the original lyrics to a version that was especially written for The Beatles:

"Cut yer hair once a year boys

Don't ill-treat me pet dingo, Ringo

George's guitar is on the blink, I think

Prop me up by the wall, Paul

Keep the hits coming on, John".

Religion

Maharishi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is believed to have been born near Jabalpur, India in 1917, and graduated from Allahabad University with a degree in physics.

The Beatles first met the Maharishi on Thursday, 1967-08-24, at the Hilton Hotel, London, in 1967. They later visited Bangor University, North Wales, to attend a meditation seminar, held by the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was here that they heard of the death of their manager Brian Epstein. They decided—after the seminar—that they would publicly renounce drugs, as they claimed that they no longer needed them. They later visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi´s ashram and several other artists—including Mike Love of The Beach Boys, and Donovan—also visited the site at the same time to contemplate and meditate. Ringo Starr took two suitcases: one of clothes and the other full of tins of baked beans, because he was allergic to lots of foodstuffs, and he thought Indian curries would only aggravate his problem.

Paul McCartney (Anthology) said that the Maharishi offered only one of The Beatles a chance to take a helicopter ride with him; there being only enough room for two passengers and the pilot. John was adamant that he would be the first, and when he came back McCartney asked Lennon why he had been so keen to go. Lennon answered: "I thought he would slip me the answer."

There are two theories about why Lennon and Harrison chose to leave the ashram (Starr and McCartney had left earlier). One is that Lennon heard that the Maharishi had made a pass (a sexual proposition) at Mia Farrow but the other is that the Maharishi had scolded them for taking drugs and had then asked them to leave. Lennon later wrote "Sexy Sadie" about the Maharishi, although Harrison was later reconciled with the Maharishi. In her autobiography, What Falls Away, Mia Farrow admits she probably misunderstood the Maharishi's embrace. It is an honor and a tradition to be touched by a Holy Man after meditation, and Mia later recounts "at my level of consciousness, if Jesus Christ himself had embraced me, I would have misinterpreted it."

Bangor University bosses recently unveiled a plaque at its Hugh Owen Hall to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the trip.

Maureen Cleave

The London Evening Standard employed the journalist Maureen Cleave to interview The Beatles on many occasions, and she interviewed Lennon when he talked about Christianity, as well as many other subjects.

She also interviewed Lennon and Yoko Ono when they were campaigning for World Peace, but disagreed with them about their ideals.

Reunions

Live

The Concert for Bangladesh was two benefit concerts held on the afternoon and evening of 1 August 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York. It reunited Ringo Starr with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Bob Dylan, and Billy Preston. Clapton and Preston had both played on Beatles´ recordings.

Pete Ham (from Badfinger) played acoustic guitar with Harrison on "Here Comes the Sun". Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were asked to perform as well. McCartney declined, deciding it was too soon after the break-up. Lennon agreed to perform, but argued with his wife, Yoko Ono, days before the show. She wanted to be a substantial part of his act, but, in a rare instance of him disagreeing with her on the subject, he felt that she should be content to sit onstage. The disagreement was serious enough for Lennon to drop out of the concert.

Video

Video of George Harrison and Ringo Starr playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (live) with Eric Clapton, Elton John, Mark King, and Phil Collins. Harrison's video for "When We Was Fab", was filmed with Starr, and a left-handed bass player in a Walrus mask. Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr reunited to overdub music onto John Lennon's demos, for the Anthology project.

On 29 November 2002- on the first anniversary of George Harrison's death - McCartney played Harrison's "Something" on a ukulele at the Concert for George, with Ringo Starr on drums.

Scientific

Minor Planets (Asteroids)

4 Vesta, 1 Ceres, and the Moon.

As a tribute to The Beatles, four asteroids were named after each member:

The "Minor Planet Circular" announced its approval of the naming of four new asteroids discovered by astronomer B. A. Skiff after the four Beatles. The names of the asteroids are: (4147) Lennon, discovered on 01/12/83; (4148) McCartney, discovered on 07/11/83; (4149) Harrison, discovered on 03/09/84; and (4150) Starr, discovered on 08/31/84. In addition, the minor planet 8749, discovered 1998-04-03 by J. Broughton at Reedy Creek Observatory, was named after The Beatles.

To name an asteroid, the discoverer can only suggest a name of 16 characters or less. The suggested name is then sent to the International Astronomical Union's Small Bodies Names Committee, along with a brief explanation as to why that name is appropriate. If an asteroid has not been named after ten years of its discovery, then anyone can propose a name.

Paleontology

In 1993, a pair of paleontologists, Edgecombe & Chatterton, named a series of fossil trilobite species Avalanchurus lennoni, Avalanchurus starri, and Struszia mccartneyi, but there are many organisms named after The Beatles and related people, including: Struszia petebesti, Struszia epsteini, Struszia martini, Struszia onoae, Struszia mccartneyi, Struszia harrisoni, Bushiella (Jugaria) beatlesi, Greeffiella beatlei.

"Lucy"—a famous fossilized hominid of the species Australopithecus afarensis—was named after The Beatles' song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". Australopithecus afarensis is a hominid that lived between 3.9 and 3 million years ago, belonging to the genus Australopithecus, of which the first skeleton was discovered on 1974-11-24 by Donald Johanson, Yves Coppens and Tim White in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.

Medicine

From 1961 'till 1976, Godfrey Hounsfield developed the first computer tomograph for EMI Laboratories. This costly development was largely financed by the profits from the sale of records by the Beatles.

TV

Ed Sullivan

In 1964, their first live American TV appearance was on The Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles first appearance, on 1964-02-09, was the most-watched program in TV history to that point. An estimated 73 million people watched The Beatles that night. and it remains one of the most-watched TV programs of all time.

The Beatles appeared—either in person or on video tape—nine times on the Sullivan Show. For their first visit, and the next two, The Beatles received $10,000, plus their expenses.

The Beatles appeared on 1964-02-16. This was a live performance from their hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. In preparation for this appearance, The Beatles played to a live audience during the afternoon at the hotel, and then at 8 p.m., they performed live for the Sullivan Show via satellite. The Beatles sang six songs: "She Loves You", "This Boy", "All My Loving", "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me To You", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

The next performance was on 1964-02-23. This was (technically) their first performance, because The Beatles recorded this performance on 1964-02-09, before their historic "first" appearance. That program was taped that afternoon for broadcast three Sundays after. The Beatles played three songs: "Twist and Shout", "Please Please Me", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand". Ed Sullivan thanked The Beatles for being "four of the nicest youngsters".

On Sunday, 1964-05-24, The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast an interview with The Beatles where they talked about their new movie, A Hard Day's Night. Combined with this interview was a tape of The Beatles singing, "You Can't Do That", from the movie. Although seen that night, this video section did not make it into the final film cut. When The Beatles went back to America, in 1965 (and also whilst preparing for their famous concert at Shea Stadium in New York) they taped six songs on August 14, to be aired on the Sullivan Show on 1965-09-12. The Beatles played six songs: "I Feel Fine", "I'm Down", "Act Naturally", "Ticket To Ride", "Yesterday" and "Help!" Although taped, this would be the last "live" performance The Beatles did for The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Beatles appeared a few more times, via tape. On 1966-06-05, the show aired two music "videos". They were: "Rain" and "Paperback Writer".

More than a year later, The Beatles appeared again on video. On 1967-11-26, The Beatles sent a video of The Beatles performing "Hello, Goodbye". The Beatles had two more appearances on the Sullivan Show via music videos. The next came on 1967-02-12 with "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", and the final performance was on 1970-02-15. In this they played "Two Of Us", and "Let It Be".

Sullivan's show was not a music programme, but was based on a cabaret format, which meant that not only musicians performed on it, but clowns, dancers, comedians, jugglers, and even Britain's Pinky and Perky (two pig puppets) had a chance to be seen by American audiences.

William Shakespeare and The Beatles

A TV clip exists of The Beatles performing a short excerpt from Shakespeare´s "A Midsummer Night's Dream", with Lennon dressed as a woman, and Starr as a lion. Long John Baldry was a heckler in the audience.

Theatre

LOVE - Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Photo: Harry Wad

'LOVE' (performed by the Canadian acrobatic and theatrical troupe Cirque du Soleil—at the Mirage Hotel—which combines the music of The Beatles with athletic and artistic feats of an international cast of 60 performers. A joint venture between Cirque and The Beatles' company, Apple Corps Ltd, it is the first production that Apple Corps Ltd. has partnered in. A press release states:

“ LOVE will bring the magic of Cirque du Soleil together with the spirit and passion behind the most beloved rock group of all time to create a vivid, intimate and powerful entertainment experience." ”

The whole Beatles "family" were present on the opening night in July of 2006, including: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison, and son Dhani Harrison. Also there was John Lennon's first wife Cynthia Lennon and her son Julian Lennon, as well as Yoko Ono, and her son Sean Lennon.

Media

Mersey Beat

Mersey Beat was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College. The paper had news about local Liverpool bands, and also about stars who came to Liverpool to perform. When Liverpool's Mersey Beat magazine was founded, Lennon was often asked to contribute. His first piece was about the origins of The Beatles and contained the line, "A man appeared on a flaming pie, and said you are Beatles with an 'A'."

The phrase Mersey Beat was also used to describe local music of the time, sometimes also called Mersey Sound.

Playboy

Playboy is an American adult entertainment magazine, founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner. The Beatles first interview for Playboy was in February 1965, and was one year before the Maureen Cleave article on 4 March 1966.

Lennon: "We're not quite sure what we are, but I know that we're more agnostic than atheistic."

Playboy: Are you speaking for the group or just for yourself?

Lennon: "For the group."

Harrison: "John's our official religious spokesman."

McCartney: "But believe it or not, we're not anti-Christ."

Starr: "Just anti-Pope and anti-Christian."

McCartney: "But you know, in America…"

Harrison: "They were more shocked by us saying we were agnostics."

Lennon (with Yoko Ono) and McCartney (with Linda McCartney) both gave separate, but in-depth and revealing interviews to Playboy. Lennon gave his in a Playboy interview (1980) which was shortly before his murder, and McCartney gave his in 1984, which revealed McCartney's innermost feelings about Lennon and The Beatles.

See also

• Category:The Beatles
• The Beatles' influence on popular culture

References

• Giuliano, Geoffrey (1999). Glass Onion: The Beatles in Their Own Words. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306808951.
• Lennon, Cynthia (2006). John. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340898283.
• Miles, Barry (1998). Many Years From Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 0-7493-8658-4.
• Orton, Joe (1998). Head to Toe & Up Against It. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306808364.
• Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Little, Brown and Company (New York). ISBN 1845131606.

External links

Up-to-date Beatles miscellanea:

• What goes on
• The Beatles reference library