Fab_ An Intimate Life Of Paul McCartney Part 6

10.

h.e.l.lO, GOODBYE.

THE WANDERER RETURNS.

Having searched long and hard for a new movie project, the Beatles now committed to two films, both of which originated with Paul. His airplane doodle about the group going on a charabanc ride had been sanctioned by the others, who promptly recorded an introductory song similar to 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', with fairground huckster introduction - 'Roll up! Roll up!' - and bra.s.s fanfare. Fun though it is, 'Magical Mystery Tour' lacks the charm and polish of its forerunner - a criticism that can be levelled at the whole project - though the Beatles would record some very good songs for Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour, not least Paul's 'The Fool on the Hill'.

The second movie was an animated feature based on Paul's children's song 'Yellow Submarine'. Starting in 1965, an animated children's TV series, The Beatles The Beatles, had been running on American television, and syndicated internationally, each half-hour episode based on a Beatles song. The series proved popular with children, but not the band because the American producer, Al Brodax, used American actors to voice their characters. 'I couldn't have them sounding like themselves because the American kids would not understand them,' reasons Brodax, who now had the idea of spinning a feature-length movie out of 'Yellow Submarine'. It would complete the Beatles' three-picture deal with United Artists, while requiring them to do little work. 'They wanted to go to India,' remembers Brodax. 'I said, "You go to India. I'll do the picture." That's how I got the deal, really.'

The agreement was reached in May 1967, Brodax arranging to have the animation done in London by TV Cartoons (TVC), the same company that made The Beatles The Beatles series. It was TVC executives John Coates and George Dunning who had the inspired idea of hiring German poster artist Heinz Edelmann to create a Pop Art look for the film, which was rush-produced on an 11-month schedule for release in 1968, when it was hailed as a masterpiece. Interestingly, Paul didn't like it. Although McCartney has gone out of his way in recent years to make the public aware that he was the Beatle most in tune with modern art in the 1960s, in his authorised biography series. It was TVC executives John Coates and George Dunning who had the inspired idea of hiring German poster artist Heinz Edelmann to create a Pop Art look for the film, which was rush-produced on an 11-month schedule for release in 1968, when it was hailed as a masterpiece. Interestingly, Paul didn't like it. Although McCartney has gone out of his way in recent years to make the public aware that he was the Beatle most in tune with modern art in the 1960s, in his authorised biography Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, and elsewhere, the star singularly failed to appreciate the Pop Art aesthetic of Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine. 'He thought that a modern-day animation feature would [look like] a Disney production,' says TVC boss John Coates, who didn't warm to McCartney. Paul was also unhappy at being characterised as John's number two in the picture, as he had been in the cartoon series; and he didn't like the voice the film-makers gave him. Though the Beatles were voiced by British actors in the film, McCartney considered the Liverpudlian accents too broad. 'He was always worried about what impression everyone was making. That seemed to be one of his hang-ups,' says Coates. 'He seemed so wrapped up in himself.' As far as making a contribution to this film, the Beatles were contracted to record three new tunes, palming the film-makers off with their leftovers to a degree, though Paul's 'All Together Now' was another attractive children's song.

At the end of May, Brian Epstein threw a weekend house party at his new country retreat in Suss.e.x, to which all four Beatles were invited. Epstein had a grand piano brought down from London so Paul could play. But Paul didn't show. 'Why couldn't he have come?' Brian asked his staff. The answer was that Jane Asher was due back from the USA and Paul had to get the house ready. 'He could have tried,' Brian whined. 'This was so important to me.'

Cavendish was in a heck of a state, having served as a bachelor pad for Paul and his mates for the past four and a half months. In the hours before Jane's return, on Monday 29 May, Paul dashed about cleaning, and herding waifs and strays out the door. Nico and Prince Stash had finally left, but Dudley Edwards was still painting the wallpaper. Paul hinted that it was time for Dudley to move on, too. Pausing to shave off his moustache, Paul drove to Heathrow, arriving at the airport in time to meet Jane making her way out of arrivals, a pack of pressmen closing in on the couple as they reunited. Reporters asked when they planned to marry. 'Not now,' replied Jane, travel-weary and nervous about meeting a lover who had been like a stranger to her for months, their Rocky Mountains tryst notwithstanding. After posing for a quick photo, Paul drove Jane home, which was the cue for the last house guest to leave. 'When Jane came back I think I was probably in the way,' says Dudley Edwards. 'Paul told me that Ringo actually wanted a mural painted in his place, and so I straight away went over to Weybridge to stay with Ringo.'27 Three days later, on 1 June 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was officially released, acclaimed by press and public as a triumph, enjoyed as a popular work of art, and taken seriously by critics. Composer Ned Rorem told was officially released, acclaimed by press and public as a triumph, enjoyed as a popular work of art, and taken seriously by critics. Composer Ned Rorem told Time Time that Paul's 'She's Leaving Home' was as good as any of Schubert's songs. Sir Joseph Lockwood, chairman of EMI, hoped the company would sell seven million copies of the alb.u.m. 'I'm sure everyone will want one ...' He was right. that Paul's 'She's Leaving Home' was as good as any of Schubert's songs. Sir Joseph Lockwood, chairman of EMI, hoped the company would sell seven million copies of the alb.u.m. 'I'm sure everyone will want one ...' He was right. Sgt. Pepper Sgt. Pepper went straight to number one, in Britain and America, selling more than 11 million copies in the United States alone. Moreover, went straight to number one, in Britain and America, selling more than 11 million copies in the United States alone. Moreover, Pepper Pepper has become recognised as the key transition record from pop to the more self-consciously serious form of rock music, perhaps the most significant alb.u.m in the history of rock. A considerable amount of the credit goes to Paul. has become recognised as the key transition record from pop to the more self-consciously serious form of rock music, perhaps the most significant alb.u.m in the history of rock. A considerable amount of the credit goes to Paul. Pepper Pepper had been his idea, he contributed the largest number of songs, and he oversaw the packaging. The successful release of the LP was therefore a personal triumph, perhaps the high point of his career. Even John conceded in later years, when he usually spoke about Paul with scorn, that ' had been his idea, he contributed the largest number of songs, and he oversaw the packaging. The successful release of the LP was therefore a personal triumph, perhaps the high point of his career. Even John conceded in later years, when he usually spoke about Paul with scorn, that 'Pepper was a peak all right', the last time he worked properly in partners.h.i.+p with Macca, 'especially on "A Day in the Life"'. was a peak all right', the last time he worked properly in partners.h.i.+p with Macca, 'especially on "A Day in the Life"'.

To celebrate the release, Paul and Jane threw a party at Cavendish Avenue that lasted all weekend. Sunday evening they went to the Saville Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue - a building Brian was leasing - and saw Jimi Hendrix perform 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' as part of his act. Paul was thrilled to hear a significant fellow artist already covering the material.

IN THE HIGHLANDS.

Paul and Jane then packed their bags, grabbed Martha the sheepdog, and hopped on a plane to Scotland, where Paul had recently bought a holiday home, one that was to become very important in his life. The house was on the Kintyre peninsula, a finger of land trailing in the seas off western Scotland, the Firth of Forth on one side, the Atlantic Ocean on the other. The Mull of Kintyre, which Paul later made famous in song, is the headland at the southern end of this peninsula. Just short of the mull lies the 'wee toon' of Campbeltown, home to 6,000 people, many of whom work in fis.h.i.+ng, boat-building and on the small farms that dot the hill country. Paul had bought one of these farms, or steadings as they are known, as his holiday home.

The princ.i.p.al attraction of High Park Farm was its remoteness, and thereby the privacy it afforded a man who, while he enjoyed his fame, sometimes felt the need to get away from it all. High Park is only ten minutes' drive from Campbeltown, but Campbeltown itself is one of the remotest towns in the United Kingdom, 500 miles from London, the last 138 miles of road, from Glasgow, through wild and mostly empty country. Even if Paul broke his journey by stopping off to see Dad at Rembrandt, it was a seven-hour drive from Merseyside. Paul and Jane made the journey by car the first time they came up to High Park. As they headed into the Highlands they entered a seemingly more ancient land, the long and winding road leading past lochs reflecting snow-capped mountains, which gave Paul an idea. ' [I] was in Scotland, there was a road sort of stretching off up into the hills, you could see it go for miles, and I thought [of], "The Long and Winding Road."' The final leg of the journey was south along the A83, beside long, empty Atlantic-facing beaches, into Campbeltown and thereby the end of the road. People don't come to Campbeltown en route en route, because there is nowhere to go from here, unless you get on a boat, so every visitor is noticed, especially a Beatle and an actress in a sports car. But once local people got over the surprise of seeing Paul about the place he found that they treated him much the same as anybody else and were in fact quietly protective of his privacy, helping make Kintyre an ideal retreat.

Like most of the neighbouring farms, High Park was originally owned by the Duke of Argyll, sublet to a tenant farmer named John Brown, who kept 60 sheep and eight dairy cows on his 183 acres. Old man Brown was ready to retire when Paul's lawyers bought the farm, without revealing the ident.i.ty of their client. The tenant farmer was tending his stock when McCartney came by for the first time. 'Christ, it's a Beatle!' the old boy exclaimed. His farmhouse proved to be a basic single-storey stone cottage, built in the nineteenth century, with one bedroom, a roughcast floor, an old cooking range, open fires and corrugated tin roof. There was no heating or running hot water. Many friends wondered why Paul bought such a place when he could afford luxury. It was the peace and quiet that appealed, also the rustic contrast to his metropolitan life, while a penchant for roughing it on holiday is often found among the moneyed English. Jane thought the cottage delightful and Paul, who had adopted some of her upper-crust ways, agreed.

The setting was beautiful. A meadow lay between the farmhouse and Ranachan Hill, which rose steeply in the near distance. Planted in the meadow between house and hill was a phallic finger of rock, 12 feet tall, one of the mysterious standing stones that are a feature of this part of Scotland, erected time out of mind by the Celts. Up on top of Ranachan Hill were the remains of an equally ancient fort, possibly built as a defence against the Vikings. These artefacts caught Paul's imagination and fuelled an interest in Celtic mythology. As Ranachan Hill guards High Park on the south, the steading is closed in to the north by woodland, the fields between bright with flowering primroses in spring, turning purple with the heather in autumn. Crystal clear water ran through the burn. Rabbits, hares and foxes scampered hither and yon, a veritable Eden, dead quiet, with fabulous starry skies. When Paul climbed Ranachan Hill he could look across the sea to Ireland, which helped him connect with his ancestry.

Paul introduced himself to the neighbours. 'He wanted to meet his neighbours, and he came to see us [with] Jane Asher,' recalls Katie Black, who welcomed the Beatle into her cosy kitchen at Tangy Farm. The Blacks were musical, Archie Black loving nothing better than a singsong around the piano, and Paul joined in, though Mrs Black's elderly mother was unimpressed when the music went past her bedtime. One night when they were all having a session downstairs, the old lady stomped on the floor. 'What is that noise? ' she asked her daughter when she came upstairs to ask what she wanted.

'Mother, it's Paul McCartney.'

'I don't care if it's Winston Churchill, I'm not having it!'

Firm friends.h.i.+ps were formed with established farming families like the Blacks, who proved loyal and discreet. When fans and members of the press started trickling up in search of Paul, the neighbours didn't say where he lived, nor did they trouble Paul for autographs, or resent the fact he wasn't a real farmer. Paul employed a local man to look after High Park, a fellow named Duncan Cairns, later Duncan's son Robert, but they didn't work the land for profit any more.

Paul also found the townsfolk agreeable. He could wander about Campbeltown doing his shopping, and using the pub and wee cinema, without being bothered, while also feeling welcomed into a small, tight-knit community with an everyday friendliness less common in more populous parts of the U K. New friends.h.i.+ps were formed in town. One day a drummer from the Campbeltown Pipe Band - ordinary working men who came together in the evenings and at weekends to play traditional Scottish music on bagpipe and drum - introduced himself to Paul, who invited the band to High Park to make a home movie with him and Jane. 'He wanted us to go down in this park well below the farm, playing up and down, and Jane was supposed to be lost out in the hills, and she'd hear the band and come running down as we are marching up and down,' recalls drummer Jim McGeachy. 'We played there for an hour or so. He made a film of it.' Later Paul's a.s.sociation with the pipe band would lead to one of his most successful recordings.

When the sun shone, there seemed no better place to be than High Park, and the weather was glorious when Paul and Jane visited in June 1967, so nice they stayed a few days longer than they'd intended. And when they had to go home, they were able to fly to London. Another attraction for Paul was that, while Kintyre was very remote, private planes could use nearby RAF Machrihanish, which meant he could get back to Beatles business within two hours.

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.

Paul had only just got home to Cavendish when a Sunday People Sunday People reporter knocked on his door asking about a story in reporter knocked on his door asking about a story in Life Life magazine that Paul had taken LSD. Paul asked the reporter inside, confirming that he had used LSD, four times, and had no regrets. magazine that Paul had taken LSD. Paul asked the reporter inside, confirming that he had used LSD, four times, and had no regrets.

[It] opened my eyes to the fact there is a G.o.d. A similar experience could probably do some of our clergy some good. It is obvious that G.o.d isn't in a pill, but it explained the mystery of life [to me]. It was truly a religious experience.

He added that he hoped world leaders would try LSD, commenting, 'I believe the drug could heal the world.' The interview made the front page of the Sunday People Sunday People on 18 June 1967, Paul's 25th birthday: BEATLE PAUL'S AMAZING CONFESSION 'Yes - I took LSD'. When a television crew came to Cavendish to follow up, Paul told them much the same, helping create a major news story, though his drug confessions were only partial. on 18 June 1967, Paul's 25th birthday: BEATLE PAUL'S AMAZING CONFESSION 'Yes - I took LSD'. When a television crew came to Cavendish to follow up, Paul told them much the same, helping create a major news story, though his drug confessions were only partial.

Paul had succ.u.mbed to peer pressure to try LSD when his late friend Tara Browne offered him acid some months back, after a night at the Bag o' Nails. Paul's first trip wasn't pleasant. He became overly conscious of how dirty his s.h.i.+rt was, and felt too exhausted the next day to do any work. Then came a time, during the making of Sgt. Pepper Sgt. Pepper, when John took acid by mistake. George Martin led John up to the roof of the EMI building to get some fresh air, not realising John was tripping. Paul rescued his friend from this perilous situation, taking him home to Cavendish, where he dropped acid to keep John company. Again, Paul found the experience less than pleasurable. He had a vision of John as 'a king, the absolute Emperor of Eternity', which would seem to betray an unconscious inferiority complex. Paul had taken acid once or twice since then, not nearly as often as John and George Harrison, but as he revealed in his authorised biography many years later, he had tried other, harder drugs. His art dealer Robert Fraser introduced Paul to cocaine, a legal, pharmaceutical supply of which the Beatle kept at home for a time, as we have seen. But Paul didn't like the come-down from a c.o.ke high. A normally upbeat person, he didn't see the point in making himself depressed, so he stopped using it, a demonstration of his strength of character. Paul also sniffed heroin with Fraser. 'I said afterwards, "I'm not sure about this, man. It didn't really do anything for me," and [Fraser] said, "In that case, I won't offer you again." And I didn't take it again.'

Paul didn't share his c.o.ke and smack experiences with the press in 1967; that came 30 years later. The little he said about his use of LSD at the time caused enough fuss, coming when the newspapers were full of stories about pop stars and their a.s.sociates being busted for drugs. A photographer friend of the Beatles, John 'Hoppy' Hopkins, was jailed for possession of marijuana the day Sgt. Pepper Sgt. Pepper was released. Following the police raid at Keith Richards's country house, Robert Fraser, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were ultimately sentenced to six, 12 and three months respectively. The Stones were released on bail in a matter of days, pending an appeal, but Fraser served four months in Wormwood Scrubs (an experience he likened to being back at Eton). Although the intelligentsia took the view that unjust sentences had been handed down-the editor of was released. Following the police raid at Keith Richards's country house, Robert Fraser, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were ultimately sentenced to six, 12 and three months respectively. The Stones were released on bail in a matter of days, pending an appeal, but Fraser served four months in Wormwood Scrubs (an experience he likened to being back at Eton). Although the intelligentsia took the view that unjust sentences had been handed down-the editor of The Times The Times writing a celebrated leader that helped the Stones win their appeal-there was a feeling that the police, encouraged by and in cahoots with the tabloid press, were working up to the biggest prize of all-busting a Beatle. Paul's LSD confession was therefore awkward for John, George and Ritchie, who found themselves the subject of unwanted scrutiny about their own drug use, while the irony was that Paul had been the writing a celebrated leader that helped the Stones win their appeal-there was a feeling that the police, encouraged by and in cahoots with the tabloid press, were working up to the biggest prize of all-busting a Beatle. Paul's LSD confession was therefore awkward for John, George and Ritchie, who found themselves the subject of unwanted scrutiny about their own drug use, while the irony was that Paul had been the last last among them to try acid. 'It seemed strange to me,' George Harrison commented sardonically years later for the among them to try acid. 'It seemed strange to me,' George Harrison commented sardonically years later for the Anthology Anthology, 'because we'd been trying to get him to take LSD for about 18 months-and then one day he's on the television talking about it.' George appeared to suggest by saying this that Paul craved the attention.

Paul's Liverpool family were concerned by the news of their Paul taking drugs. Aunt Ginny called a family conference to discuss what to do, with the result that Ginny came down south to have it out with Paul. 'So she goes to London to stay with Paul,' says family member Mike Robbins. 'About five days later she comes back and we all meet - I'll always remember - in her little cottage, in Mersey View, [my wife,] me, Milly.' The family asked if Ginny had been able to see Paul, whereupon the 57-year-old took a spliff out of her handbag and asked dreamily: 'Have you ever tried one of these?' The 'relies' sparked up and had a smoke of Paul's weed. 'We laffed like b.l.o.o.d.y drains,' says Mike. 'That was Ginny, see.'

As it turned out, Paul's drug confessions didn't do the Beatles' reputation any serious harm. The boys were still loved by the British press and public, deemed fit to represent the nation in a prestigious television broadcast that summer. Television stations around the world were marshalled together on Sunday 25 June 1967 for a unique TV show, Our World Our World, featuring contributions from 18 countries via the new technology of a satellite link-up, the Beatles appearing on behalf of the United Kingdom briefly at the start and again at the end of the show, when they would perform a specially written song, John's 'All You Need is Love,' live from Abbey Road.

As with the orchestral climax to 'A Day in the Life,' Studio One was transformed into a Beatles happening for the broadcast, the band joined by their friends and family. Sitting at the Beatles' feet before the cameras were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, together with Pattie Harrison (nee Boyd, having married George the previous year), Jane Asher, Mike McCartney and other McCartney relations. During the show, audience members paraded for the cameras with 'All You Need is Love' spelled in different languages on sandwich boards. One of Paul's cousins held up a sign that read 'Come Back Milly!' intended to be read by Paul's aunt who had recently gone to Australia. Boyd, having married George the previous year), Jane Asher, Mike McCartney and other McCartney relations. During the show, audience members paraded for the cameras with 'All You Need is Love' spelled in different languages on sandwich boards. One of Paul's cousins held up a sign that read 'Come Back Milly!' intended to be read by Paul's aunt who had recently gone to Australia.

Presiding over everybody was George Martin, the picture of cool in a white linen suit, though he was having a trying week. George's father had died on Tuesday; his second wife Judy (formerly his secretary) was expecting their first daughter; and the Martins were moving house. On top of this, George was finding the Beatles increasingly wilful: George Harrison had tested his patience to the utmost in the run-up to the Our World Our World broadcast by expressing the desire to play violin, even though he didn't know how. An ensemble of professional session musicians would fill that role, Martin hiring a selection of string and bra.s.s including David Mason, the trumpet-player on 'Penny Lane'. The session men would perform the introduction to the song, and a collage of background tunes that included 'La Ma.r.s.eillaise', to lend an international flavour to proceedings. The whole thing was so complex, it was almost bound to go wrong, yet it worked perfectly on the night, John delivering an immaculate vocal, the band playing without a hitch to speak of, all looking happy and confident as they sent their message of love to the world. broadcast by expressing the desire to play violin, even though he didn't know how. An ensemble of professional session musicians would fill that role, Martin hiring a selection of string and bra.s.s including David Mason, the trumpet-player on 'Penny Lane'. The session men would perform the introduction to the song, and a collage of background tunes that included 'La Ma.r.s.eillaise', to lend an international flavour to proceedings. The whole thing was so complex, it was almost bound to go wrong, yet it worked perfectly on the night, John delivering an immaculate vocal, the band playing without a hitch to speak of, all looking happy and confident as they sent their message of love to the world.28 Released as a single a few days later, 'All You Need is Love' went to number one in Britain and the USA and embodies all the charm and optimism of the hippie era, as well as the intellectual vacuity of the beaded and bearded. It is the quintessential sound of the summer of love. Released as a single a few days later, 'All You Need is Love' went to number one in Britain and the USA and embodies all the charm and optimism of the hippie era, as well as the intellectual vacuity of the beaded and bearded. It is the quintessential sound of the summer of love.

A FOOLISH AFFAIR.

The Beatles were due a huge amount of money from EMI. The reason was technical. In 1966 the band's recording contract with EMI had lapsed. While Brian Epstein renegotiated their deal, EMI temporarily stayed payment of royalties. Then in January 1967, with the new contract in place, the company paid over a very large sum in back royalties, with much more to come thanks to new, enhanced royalty rates. If the Beatles retained this avalanche of cash as income they would suffer punitive surtax. If they invested the money in business they could legally avoid taxation. So the Beatles decided to establish a company, Apple Corps, a madcap enterprise the very name of which was a joke (a pun on apple core), and embarked on the weird, often comic final phase of their career.

Although Apple was a tax dodge, the Beatles were sincere about creating a company that had the financial clout of a major corporation, but that was run with kinder hippie ideals, creating and selling the groovy things they and their friends were interested in, at a fair price, to like-minded people - a kind of hippie socialism. From the main apple tree would hang many little apple companies, dealing in all sorts of things: records, of course, Apple would be prominent in the music business, its record label based on the Magritte picture of an apple that hung in Paul's drawing room; movie-making was also an important part of what Apple Corps would be about; but there would be many, smaller and more off-beat enterprises: Apple clothes, Apple Electronics, a spoken-word recording unit named Zapple; even an Apple school for Beatles children and the children of their friends. Paul's pal Ivy Vaughan was put in charge of this venture, which like so much that Apple tried to do, was well intentioned but hopelessly unrealistic.

Apple started life in offices at 94 Baker Street, a couple of bus stops from St John's Wood, which made it convenient for Paul. While Apple business was conducted upstairs, the ground floor became the Apple Shop, managed by former Quarry Man Pete Shotton, whose head Lennon had once crowned with a washboard, the intention being to sell hippie clothes and other items designed mostly by the Fool, an art group led by an attractive young Dutch couple, Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger.

Having travelled around Europe together, Simon and Marijke established themselves as members of the London in-crowd in 1966, befriending Brian Epstein firstly, and through him meeting the Beatles. George Harrison invited the Fool to paint a mural over the fireplace of his new home in Esher, Surrey. Pattie Harrison and other Beatle womenfolk began wearing Fool clothing, giving them the look of gypsy fortune-tellers, while Simon and Marijke were invited to Beatles sessions and the Our World Our World telecast, during which Marijke was seen shaking a tambourine. telecast, during which Marijke was seen shaking a tambourine.

Despite having had their design for the Sgt. Pepper Sgt. Pepper sleeve rejected by Paul, Simon and Marijke were now commissioned to decorate the Apple boutique, inside and out, and to produce posters and affordable hippie garments for sale. 'It is wrong that only a few should be able to afford our things,' Simon told the newly launched American music magazine sleeve rejected by Paul, Simon and Marijke were now commissioned to decorate the Apple boutique, inside and out, and to produce posters and affordable hippie garments for sale. 'It is wrong that only a few should be able to afford our things,' Simon told the newly launched American music magazine Rolling Stone Rolling Stone. 'We want to be for everyone.' The concept was confused from the outset. 'I don't know why it was labelled a boutique as it was intended to be more of a cultural centre with books and musical instruments, art lectures, etc.,' says Marijke. 'Unfortunately the whole thing was badly managed, which was nothing to do with the Fool. We were just the creative idea[s] people.' To decorate the facade of the Apple building, Marijke painted a fabulous picture of a genie, four storeys tall, transforming an everyday London street corner into a psychedelic fantasy. It was the best thing about the shop.

Marijke regularly visited Paul at nearby Cavendish Avenue, giving the Beatle private Tarot readings (he kept drawing the Fool). One thing led to another and they ended up in bed. 'Paul's was a sympathetic and warm personality and he had a great sense of humour,' remembers Marijke. 'I saw empathy in the way he dealt with his hired help and he loved animals. As a lifelong animal-lover and vegetarian I could really relate to that.' Simon guessed something was going on between Paul and his girlfriend - 'Paul and Marijke were very good friends - they had this electricity' - and stormed into Cavendish one morning to confront Paul. He found the Beatle in his kitchen eating breakfast and reading his fan mail.

'What the f.u.c.k is going on?' Simon yelled.

Paul admitted the affair. He said he couldn't help it, and gave Simon to understand that Jane had found out, too. 'He had a problem, with Jane, of course ... There was also hurt on Jane's side.' The men agreed that the affair would end, and they remained friends, just about. Not long afterwards, Simon and Marijke took LSD with Paul, a strange and disturbing trip for Simon, the drug serving to make the Dutchman intensely aware of what had transpired between Paul and his girlfriend. 'That was a tough trip.'

AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY, 1967.

Simon and Marijke were not the only colourful characters to enter the Beatles court at this time. Another new face was Alex Mardas, a Greek-born TV repairman whom the clever but ever-credulous John Lennon came to believe was an electronics genius, and duly made head of Apple Electronics. Magic Alex was set up in a workshop behind Marylebone Station where he strove to develop such stupendous inventions as light-emitting paint and a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p that could be powered by the engine from George Harrison's Ferrari. Unsurprisingly these inventions didn't work. Alex also took the Beatles back to his homeland that summer, shopping for a Greek island the band could buy as a commune. After looking at several islands the boys lost interest and flew home, where they fell under the sway of another absurd character.

Born Mahesh Prasad Varma in India sometime around 1917 (n.o.body was sure), the self-styled Maharis.h.i.+ Mahesh Yogi had studied maths and physics at Allahabad University before going into the Himalayas and re-emerging as a holy man whose message for the world was that heavenly bliss could be experienced through 'transcendental meditation' or TM. Knowing which side of his poppadom had curry on, the Maharis.h.i.+ went to Los Angeles to set up his Spiritual Regeneration Movement, which, rather than helping initiates for free - in the Indian tradition - asked for a week's wages (the more you earned the more you paid). In exchange for this donation, one received a mantra - simply a phrase - to repeat endlessly until lulled into a state of oneness with the universe. Many wealthy Californians signed up.

Next the Maharis.h.i.+ came to London, where he recruited more rich, unhappy fools. Pattie Harrison was first in the Beatles circle to embrace the Spiritual Regeneration Movement, informing her husband that the Maharis.h.i.+ was giving a talk on Thursday 24 August. They had to go. Perhaps surprisingly for a Himalayan yogi, the Maharis.h.i.+ was meeting the people of Britain at the Hilton Hotel, the luxurious high-rise favoured by the Rolling Stones' sybaritic manager Allen Klein. George Harrison obtained the tickets - 'I needed a mantra - a pa.s.sword to get through into the other world' - and corralled John, Cyn, Paul, Jane Asher and Mike McCartney into joining him and Pattie at the master's feet. When all were a.s.sembled the yogi emerged from behind a curtain to greet his audience, giggling and clutching flowers. He was a funny, happy little fellow with long hair like a girl. The Beatles were amused and impressed by the yogi's shorthand route to nirvana, and acceded to an invitation to spend a few days with him at a teacher-training college in Bangor, Wales, where the holy man was to give a series of seminars starting that bank holiday weekend.

The Beatles arrived at Euston Station just in time to catch the 3:50 to Bangor on Friday 25 August, before the metropolis disgorged its workers for the weekend. The weather was warm and sunny and there was a holiday mood in the Beatles party, which included Magic Alex, Donovan, Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger, who trailed about after the Beatles like their kid brother these days, eager to be where the action was. In the inevitable kerfuffle at the station, Cynthia Lennon was held back by a policeman who mistook her for a fan. 'Tell them you're with us!' John yelled to his wife, but the train left without Mrs Lennon. 'It was horribly embarra.s.sing,' Cynthia later wrote of the moment she found herself standing tearfully on the platform, watching her husband's train pull away. 'My tears were not simply because of the missed train. I was crying because the incident seemed symbolic of what was happening in our marriage. John was on the train, speeding into the future, and I was left behind.'

There were other pockets of darkness surrounding the Beatles that August week. Two days earlier, Joe Orton had been found battered to death by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, who then committed suicide. 'A Day in the Life' was played at Orton's funeral. Then there was Brian Epstein, who had been in decline since the Beatles' last, unhappy tour, which reached its shabby conclusion in LA when Brian's boyfriend stole his briefcase. Not long after that depressing incident Brian took an overdose at Chapel Street, leaving an 'I can't take it any more' note, according to Peter Brown, who found him and took his friend's word that he wouldn't try anything so silly again. 'When I discovered him, when I found him that night, you know, when I took him to the Priory [Clinic], and they pumped his stomach and everything, obviously we had a conversation subsequent to that. The conversation was him full of remorse.'

The main problem was that Brian had become dependent on amphetamines, which made him erratic. Once so immaculate, so businesslike and well organised, Brian now slept late, missing appointments and key events, such as the Beatles' last concert in Candlestick Park. 'So that showed, you know, bad behaviour,' notes Brown. The stable of acts Brian had built up and made good money with during the heady days of the Mersey Beat looked tired. The Mersey Sound was yesterday's music, and Brian's recent signings hadn't made much impact. His new group Paddy, Klaus and Gibson had, for example, already disbanded. Then, in January 1967, Brian merged NEMS with the Robert Stigwood Organisation, allowing Stigwood, a young Australian, to take over part of his company. Brian kept the Beatles, but now that the boys had given up the road they didn't need him on a daily basis. Brian had never been welcome in the studio, and his suggestion that Sgt. Pepper Sgt. Pepper should be packaged in a plain brown sleeve showed how out of touch he was with the lads. He had successfully renegotiated the band's contract with EMI in January, but the rumour was that when his own management contract came up in the autumn the Beatles might drop him in favour of Allen Klein, who'd impressed Paul by getting the Stones a $1.25 million (816,993) advance from Decca. should be packaged in a plain brown sleeve showed how out of touch he was with the lads. He had successfully renegotiated the band's contract with EMI in January, but the rumour was that when his own management contract came up in the autumn the Beatles might drop him in favour of Allen Klein, who'd impressed Paul by getting the Stones a $1.25 million (816,993) advance from Decca.

Brian had always found Paul slightly difficult, more questioning and less biddable than the other Beatles. One Liverpool acquaintance recalls Paul 'taking the p.i.s.s' out of Brian's s.e.xuality, 'sort of mincing along after him', though McCartney's friends.h.i.+p with the art critic Robert Fraser, who was openly gay, is evidence against him being truly h.o.m.ophobic. When Paul went to Paris with Fraser to shop for pictures, some of his fellow Beatles made comments, as Paul later recalled in his authorised biography: 'Because he was gay [but] I was secure about my s.e.xuality. I always felt this is fine, I can hang out with whoever I want and it didn't worry me.'

Above and beyond having a laugh at Brian's expense, as all the Beatles did to a degree, there is, however, evidence that Brian Epstein had problems with Paul. When Epstein was dictating his memoirs to his a.s.sistant Derek Taylor, published in 1964 as A Cellarful of Noise A Cellarful of Noise, he said critically: 'Paul can be temperamental and moody and difficult to deal with,' adding that McCartney had a tendency not to listen to what he didn't want to hear and possessed an 'angry exterior'. Yet Brian's American business partner Nat Weiss insists that Paul and Brian were on better terms by the summer of '67, having resolved many of their issues, adding that he expected Brian to retain management of the Beatles. 'As a matter of fact I think Brian - and I can say this from a conversation I had with him - his thinking was to keep Cilla Black and the Beatles for himself and let Stigwood handle the rest of NEMS artists, and adjust the commissions down to 15 per cent.'

Still, Brian was increasingly volatile, bad-tempered and drug dependent, sleeping late at Chapel Street and losing his temper with his staff when he did get up. In May he checked back into the Priory Clinic. In July Brian's father died, which he took hard. His mother Queenie came to stay at Chapel Street. Paul saw Brian and his mother there on 24 August. Brian minded Martha while Paul and Jane went to see the Maharis.h.i.+ speak at the Hilton. When the Beatles told Brian they were going to Bangor to spend more time with the yogi, he said he'd join them after the weekend, which he planned to spend in the country with Peter Brown and Geoffrey Ellis from the office. Brian drove down to Suss.e.x in his white Bentley convertible on the Friday, while the band was travelling to Bangor. He had arranged for some young men to visit over the weekend, but dinner came and went without the guests arriving. Brian tried to rustle up other companions but, being a bank holiday, his contacts were unavailable. He told Pete and Geoff that he was driving back to town, and headed off into the night.

London has an enervated feeling during bank holidays, especially the August bank holiday when the streets are empty, the shops closed, and many residents are away. Those who remain in the city are often lonely people like Brian, who returned home to Belgravia in his ghostly car in the middle of the night and went to bed. He telephoned his country guests the following afternoon, and a.s.sured them he was coming back. He also mentioned that he'd taken some sleeping pills. Sunday dawned. Brian didn't stir. His staff knocked on his bedroom door to see if he wanted anything, but there was no answer. The door was locked. Eventually they called a doctor, who forced the door and found Epstein dead, surrounded by pill bottles. Peter Brown called the Beatles in Bangor, getting Paul on the line. 'Paul was shocked and saddened but strangely sedate.' The press were on hand to cover the Beatles' weekend with the Maharis.h.i.+. They clamoured for a reaction. John looked lost. George spoke twaddle about there being 'no such thing as death'. Paul muttered that he was deeply shocked and put his arm around Jane, who looked increasingly like she was in a play she wanted her agent to get her out of.

11.

PAUL TAKES CHARGE.

ROLL UP! ROLL UP! FOR PAUL MCCARTNEY'S MYSTERY TOUR

'EPSTEIN DIES AT 32', screamed the front page of the Daily Mirror Daily Mirror on Monday 28 August 1967, adding in parenthesis that Epstein was 'The Beatle-making Prince of Pop'. There was a hint in the coverage that the Prince of Pop may have taken his own life, but Brian's friends agree with the coroner that the death was accidental. Brian had been taking too many pills for too long and had finally overdone it. He left no note, which counted against self-murder. Likewise he had plans for the week ahead. Still, there was a sense that Brian had been going downhill for a while, and despair can come suddenly and overwhelmingly in the night. 'Brian's death was a tragedy,' says his lawyer Rex Makin, 'but a tragedy waiting to happen.' on Monday 28 August 1967, adding in parenthesis that Epstein was 'The Beatle-making Prince of Pop'. There was a hint in the coverage that the Prince of Pop may have taken his own life, but Brian's friends agree with the coroner that the death was accidental. Brian had been taking too many pills for too long and had finally overdone it. He left no note, which counted against self-murder. Likewise he had plans for the week ahead. Still, there was a sense that Brian had been going downhill for a while, and despair can come suddenly and overwhelmingly in the night. 'Brian's death was a tragedy,' says his lawyer Rex Makin, 'but a tragedy waiting to happen.'

When their manager had been laid to rest, the Beatles convened a series of meetings to decide how they should proceed without him. Robert Stigwood had an option to take over all of NEMS, and thereby the management of the Beatles, which the boys didn't want. Stigwood was paid off and the Beatles remained with the rump of the old company, now headed by Brian's brother Clive. At a meeting at Ringo's London flat, in Montagu Square, it was decided that the reins of the band's day-to-day management should be picked up by Brian's a.s.sistant and friend, Peter Brown, a member of the original Liverpool 'family' who'd come down to London with the boys (the others being, notably, Neil, Mal, 'Measles' Bramwell and Brian himself). Paul doubted frankly that Brown was up to the job. Who was Peter, after all, but a mate of Brian's who used to sell records in Lewis's? Peter himself felt out of sorts at the first band meeting after Brian's death. 'I was emotionally very distraught, and I wasn't sure what I could do, and I wasn't sure whether I was ready to [lead] the band.' During a break in discussions, he got up and walked to the window.

The next thing I felt was arms being put around me and somebody hugging me and it was John - it always upsets me to tell the story - and he just looked at me and said, 'Are you alright?' And I realised that only he and I felt this enormous emotional loss of Brian.

Certainly Paul was the most businesslike this day and during the days ahead. 'Then Paul took the initiative of saying, "We've gotta do something. We'll do Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour." Paul took the lead and everyone went along with it, disaster though it was.'

Having already recorded some material for Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour, Paul led the Beatles back into the studio in September with a renewed sense of purpose, laying down John's mighty 'I am the Walrus', and George's typically insubstantial 'Blue Jay Way', as well as the instrumental 'Flying', all of which would feature in the forthcoming picture. The Beatles were in a hurry to get these songs down, and the film made, because they wanted to spend time with their new guru, the Maharis.h.i.+, at his ashram in the Himalayas. It was Paul who decided Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour could be shot very quickly indeed, having observed a two-man TV crew filming the Maharis.h.i.+ at the London Hilton. If the Beatles worked in a similar way, Paul figured they could make their film in a matter of weeks. Pre-production was therefore hurried and absurdly inadequate. The Beatles didn't even have a director, just a mate of Barry Miles's named Peter Theobald, a young film-maker who'd been hired as a 'Director/Cameraman', handed 15 pages of notes and told he had six weeks to shoot the picture. 'We never want that could be shot very quickly indeed, having observed a two-man TV crew filming the Maharis.h.i.+ at the London Hilton. If the Beatles worked in a similar way, Paul figured they could make their film in a matter of weeks. Pre-production was therefore hurried and absurdly inadequate. The Beatles didn't even have a director, just a mate of Barry Miles's named Peter Theobald, a young film-maker who'd been hired as a 'Director/Cameraman', handed 15 pages of notes and told he had six weeks to shoot the picture. 'We never want that Help! Help! scene again,' McCartney told Theobald, who noted that the band 'didn't want chalk marks to walk to, with lines to get right, or "Take for the 28th time - ACTION!"; they wanted it to be freewheeling, to pick up things as they happened, and they scene again,' McCartney told Theobald, who noted that the band 'didn't want chalk marks to walk to, with lines to get right, or "Take for the 28th time - ACTION!"; they wanted it to be freewheeling, to pick up things as they happened, and they did did want it to be want it to be their their film as well as being film as well as being in in it'. it'.

Paul's initial discussion with Theobald took place on Wednesday 6 September 1967. Madly, Paul decreed that the Beatles would start filming the following Monday. His idea was to hire a coach, put the Beatles in it, along with a diverse cast of supporting actors, to be plucked from the pages of the show business directory Spotlight Spotlight, then motor down to the West Country, which Paul had fond holiday memories of, and film an impromptu road movie with musical interludes. Not only did Theobald have no script; no budget had been prepared, the coach hadn't been hired, and no actors had been engaged. John Lennon spent an afternoon floating in his swimming pool thinking of the sort of people he might like to have in the picture, and decided he'd quite like a music hall comic he'd once seen named Nat 'Rubber Neck' Jackley, so Nat received a call. Meanwhile, no one thought to consult the relevant trade unions, which had considerable control over how films were crewed in the United Kingdom at the time. As far as the unions were concerned, the whole production would be illegitimate, which caused problems later on.

The starting point for this misconceived adventure was Allsop Place, a quiet turning behind Madame Tussaud's museum, traditionally used as an embarkation point for provincial package tours of the type the Beatles once played with Helen Shapiro. Allsop Place was also close to Paul's London home. The auteur arrived bright and early on Monday 11 September 1967, dressed in costume (Paul's normal clothes, plus a Fair Isle sweater), to meet his hastily a.s.sembled crew and cast which, in addition to 'Rubber Neck' Jackley, included a heavy-set actress named Jessie Robbins, who would play Ringo's aunt; the eccentric Scots performer Ivor Cutler, who would play a courier named Buster Blood-vessel who l.u.s.ted after the aunt; a dolly-bird guide; a dwarf photographer; and an accompanying team of friends and a.s.sociates including Magic Alex, Nell Aspinall and Mal Evans.

Where was the coach? It still hadn't shown up. So Paul went for a cup of tea at the nearby London Transport canteen. By the time he came back, the coach had arrived. It was a Bedford VAL hire coach, of the type commonly used to take school kids to the swimming baths and pensioners on touring holidays, its sides freshly painted yellow and decorated with hippie decals and the words MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR. The coachwork was so freshly painted the paint was still wet. Everybody climbed aboard and drove west out of London, pausing in Surrey to pick up the three suburban Beatles.

Filming began immediately all four stars were aboard, the starting point of the plot, such as it was, being that Ringo was taking his Aunt Jessie on a coach trip. Along the way there would be songs and semi-improvised set pieces influenced by the Goons, the Theatre of the Absurd (which Paul was familiar with from seeing plays such as Ubu Roi Ubu Roi) and recent LSD trips. Viewed afresh, it all looks strikingly like Monty Python's Flying Circus Monty Python's Flying Circus, which is a compliment to the Beatles because Python Python didn't come into existence until the following year. Unlike didn't come into existence until the following year. Unlike Python Python, however, Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour wasn't funny. wasn't funny.

The picture was a hoot to make, though. By evening, this twentieth-century s.h.i.+p of fools had reached picturesque Teignmouth, in Devon, where everybody checked into the Royal Hotel. One of the many aspects of film-making the Beatles hadn't put sufficient thought into was the logistics of looking after a cast and crew on location; Paul found he had to spend hours making sure everybody had a room for the night and something hot to eat - a terrible bore. After breakfast the following day they got back on the coach and drove towards Dartmoor, intending to film at Widecombe Fair. Negotiating the narrow country byways, the Beatles' coach got stuck on a hump-back bridge, causing a traffic jam of angry, honking motorists, who were themselves held up behind a convoy of press. Frustrated by the delay, John leapt out and started tearing the stickers off the side of the Beatles' coach in a rage. Then it rained, causing the still-wet paint to run down the sides of the vehicle.

The Beatles abandoned Widecombe Fair and drove instead to the seaside resort of Newquay, in Cornwall, where they checked into the Atlantic Hotel. The original idea had been to stay in a different location every night, but that was obviously impractical, so the Beatles used the Atlantic as their base for the remaining three days of the tour. Despite the chaos, Paul showed every sign of enjoying himself, riding a tandem on the beach with dwarf actor George Laydon, leading a singsong in a pub in Perranporth, and chatting up female holiday-makers, such as 17-year-old bikini-clad Catherine Osborne, who, on the final day of her summer vacation, found herself to her surprise in a Beatles movie. 'All I wanted was an autograph,' she told the man from the Daily Express. Daily Express.29 When they got back to London the boys filmed a striptease scene at the Raymond Revue Bar in Soho, hiring the absurdist Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, with whom the Beatles had become friendly, to perform a piece of nonsense t.i.tled 'Death Cab for Cutie' (a headline Bonzo member Neil Innes had spied in an American crime magazine). Innes recalls John and Ringo filming everything with their own 16mm cameras, while Paul directed the main production. 'What are you doing?' Innes asked.

'We're doing the Weybridge version,' Lennon replied laconically, revealing the (perhaps) tantalising prospect of an entirely different cut of Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour.

To complete the picture the Beatles needed a studio. As n.o.body had thought to book Twickenham, they shot the requisite scenes at a disused air force base at West Malling in Kent, including a wacky car chase and the Beatles miming to John's 'I am the Walrus', the only real point of interest in the whole film, for this was weird and powerful music, performed by Lennon wearing an egg-head while his fellow Beatles donned strangely disquieting animal masks. Paul put on the head of a hippo.30 The lads then moved into a hangar to shoot 'Your Mother Should Know', which gave Paul an opportunity to emulate Fred Astaire, putting on a white tuxedo and dancing down stairs with his band mates. The whole thing was truly nutty, as visitors observed. 'The day I went down, Paul was directing 40 a.s.sorted dwarfs, vicars, footballers, mums and dads with prams full of babies and George and Ringo dressed as gangsters,' journalist Hunter Davies reported for the The lads then moved into a hangar to shoot 'Your Mother Should Know', which gave Paul an opportunity to emulate Fred Astaire, putting on a white tuxedo and dancing down stairs with his band mates. The whole thing was truly nutty, as visitors observed. 'The day I went down, Paul was directing 40 a.s.sorted dwarfs, vicars, footballers, mums and dads with prams full of babies and George and Ringo dressed as gangsters,' journalist Hunter Davies reported for the Sunday Times Sunday Times. 'As a starting rocket went off, [Paul] had them all charging across the empty airfield, then charging back again. John was asleep in his Rolls Royce.' Paul was now directing full time, Peter Theobald having left the production after a dispute blew up with the unions over the crewing of the picture.

At the end, the Beatles threw a wrap party at which the Bonzos again performed, the band's drummer 'Legs' Larry Smith doing a tap dance while wearing false b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ('Come on, Larry, show us yer t.i.ts!' heckled Lennon. 'We've all seen them before.') Paul then edited the picture in a Soho cutting room, which took most of October, at the end of which he popped over to France to film himself miming to 'The Fool on the Hill' as additional footage. Paul didn't bother to take his pa.s.sport or money, but being a Beatle he managed to get there and back. With a little more work in the cutting room the whole bag of nonsense was tied up by November, Paul capping the project by directing a promotional film for the band's lightweight but enjoyable new single, 'h.e.l.lo Goodbye', featuring the boys in their Sgt. Pepper Sgt. Pepper suits on stage at the Saville Theatre. The single and the accompanying double EP of songs from suits on stage at the Saville Theatre. The single and the accompanying double EP of songs from Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour proved a great success in Britain, while a full-length proved a great success in Britain, while a full-length Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack was released as a regular LP in North America. Featuring all the film tunes, plus 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'Penny Lane' and 'All You Need is Love', this is a surprisingly strong alb.u.m. soundtrack was released as a regular LP in North America. Featuring all the film tunes, plus 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'Penny Lane' and 'All You Need is Love', this is a surprisingly strong alb.u.m.

It was Paul's mistaken decision to sell first rights to Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour to the BBC, rather than open the picture theatrically at cinemas. The Corporation didn't pay much money for the rights, but its controllers agreed to broadcast the film on Boxing Day, when it would be guaranteed a ma.s.sive audience. Paul, who like most British people held the BBC in affection and respect, thought the audience size the main thing. The problem was that the BBC intended to show what was a colour film in black and white at a time when the Corporation was still phasing in colour transmission, and the BBC wanted cuts to the picture before showing it to a family audience at Christmas. Scenes of Ivor Cutler canoodling with Ringo's aunt would have to go; bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s would be covered up. to the BBC, rather than open the picture theatrically at cinemas. The Corporation didn't pay much money for the rights, but its controllers agreed to broadcast the film on Boxing Day, when it would be guaranteed a ma.s.sive audience. Paul, who like most British people held the BBC in affection and respect, thought the audience size the main thing. The problem was that the BBC intended to show what was a colour film in black and white at a time when the Corporation was still phasing in colour transmission, and the BBC wanted cuts to the picture before showing it to a family audience at Christmas. Scenes of Ivor Cutler canoodling with Ringo's aunt would have to go; bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s would be covered up.

With this unsatisfactory deal done, Paul and Jane went to Scotland for a few days' holiday at High Park, missing the opening of the Apple Shop on 5 December. During their stay in Kintyre, Paul and Jane called in on their farmer neighbours, the Blacks, whose teenage son Jamie was home from boarding school for the festive season. 'My vivid memory is that he played "Lady Madonna" on that piano in the living room, before he released it, which was just [fantastic],' recalls Jamie, whose school friends never believed his story, even though Paul gave him an autograph to endorse it. 'Lady Madonna' was a good and important new song, in the style of Fats Domino, that went to number one the following year. While the song has a rollicking tune, and the words are put over with brio, the lyric is also tender and personal, evoking the image of Mary McCartney as midwife, tending mothers and their babies in Liverpool as she had during Paul's childhood. The phrase 'Lady Madonna' also has a clear Christian meaning, of course, conflating Paul's memory of his mother with the Virgin Mary in what is a boogie-woogie hymn.

The trip to Scotland gave Paul and Jane a chance to talk about their relations.h.i.+p. There had been problems before Jane went to the USA with the Bristol Old Vic, and when she came back she found Paul, if anything, even more difficult to live with. 'Paul had changed so much. He was on LSD, which I hadn't shared. I was jealous of all the spiritual experiences he'd had with John. There were 15 people dropping in all day long. The house had changed and was full of stuff I didn't know about,' she confided in Hunter Davies, in one of the very few interviews she ever gave on the subject of her relations.h.i.+p with Paul. Davies enjoyed unparalleled access to the Beatles and their a.s.sociates while researching an authorised biography of the band. Gamely, Jane tried to fit in with Paul's new world. She went along with him and the others to see the Maharis.h.i.+, even though she (in common with the sensible George Martin) didn't think much of the yogi. Jane put up with the drug-taking, and got along as best she could with Paul's hippie friends. When wallpaper painter Dudley Edwards came back to Cavendish for a visit, Jane traded her Ford Popular with him for a statue of s.h.i.+va. 'At that time they seemed to be very much a couple,' comments Dudley, 'everything seemed to be fine.' Others weren't so sure. During visits to Rembrandt, Jim and Angie McCartney overheard arguments. Jim hoped the youngsters would be all right. Everybody liked Jane, and thought her a positive influence on Paul.

The Scottish break seemed to do Paul and Jane good. Afterwards, the couple invited Paul's father and Angie and her daughter Ruth to Cavendish for a family Christmas. When they were all gathered around the tree on Christmas Day, unwrapping their presents, Jane opened a special gift from Paul to reveal a diamond engagement ring. He asked her to marry him, and she said yes. The engagement was announced to the press shortly thereafter. Whatever problems they had had, the couple seemed to have reached an understanding by which Paul would stop being jealous of Jane's career. 'I always wanted to beat Jane down,' Paul admitted to Hunter Davies. A striking phrase, beat her down beat her down, but one that summed up the way men of his background typically treated women. John, Paul, George and Ritchie all expected their partners to stay home. Cyn, Mo and Pattie didn't work after they married into the band. Even though his own mother had worked, Paul didn't want Jane to have a career. 'I wanted her to give up work completely,' he told Davies during a joint interview with his fiancee for the book.

'I refused,' Jane interjected. 'I've been brought up to be always doing something. And I enjoy acting. I didn't want to give that up.'

'I know now I was just being silly,' admitted Paul. 'It was just a game, trying to beat you down.'

With Paul and Jane's future apparently settled, the McCartneys sat down together at 8:35 p.m. on 26 December 1967 to watch Magical Mystery Tour Magical Mystery Tour on BBC1, as did millions of people across the U K. It was a huge disappointment. The film was plotless and, although apparently meant to be amusing, failed to raise a laugh. Even though there were several good songs, and the film was less than an hour long, it dragged, and the decision to broadcast what was a colour picture in black and white robbed the flick of the modic.u.m of visual appeal it originally possessed. Viewers called the BBC with complaints, others wrote to the newspapers to express how let down they felt. 'Everyone was looking for a plot. But purposely it wasn't there ... We did it as a series of disconnected, unconnected events. They were not meant to have any depth,' commented Paul, defending the picture to Don Short of the on BBC1, as did millions of people across the U K. It was a huge disappointment. The film was plotless and, although apparently meant to be amusing, failed to raise a laugh. Even though there were several good songs, and the film was less than an hour long, it dragged, and the decision to broadcast what was a colour picture in black and white robbed the flick of the modic.u.m of visual appeal it originally possessed. Viewers called the BBC with complaints, others wrote to the newspapers to express how let down they felt. 'Everyone was looking for a plot. But purposely it wasn't there ... We did it as a series of disconnected, unconnected events. They were not meant to have any depth,' commented Paul, defending the picture to Don Short of the Daily Mirror Daily Mirror. At least the Beatles had tried tried to do something different. As he said: 'We could always write and do nice things and become more and more famous. But we wanted to try something different ... It doesn't mean that we won't go on trying.' Indeed, the remaining months of the Beatles' existence as a working band would be marked by an unswerving, and laudable, commitment to innovation. to do something different. As he said: 'We could always write and do nice things and become more and more famous. But we wanted to try something different ... It doesn't mean that we won't go on trying.' Indeed, the remaining months of the Beatles' existence as a working band would be marked by an unswerving, and laudable, commitment to innovation.

THE BEATLES IN THE HIMALAYAS.

The Beatles flew to India in mid-February 1968 for what George Harrison described, with his facility for a phrase, as 'the world famous "Beatles in the Himalayas" sketch'. They travelled in two groups. John, Cynthia, George and Pattie flew first to Delhi on 15 February, with Pattie's sister Jenny and Mal Evans. Paul, Jane, Ritchie and Maureen followed four days later. They then drove 200 miles to Ris.h.i.+kesh in a fleet of old, British-made cars that served locally as taxis. As ever, the Beatles were trailed by a pack of reporters and photographers, who were having a fine time following the crazy Beatles around the world. The press found George difficult; he pretended to sleep all the way to India, for example, so they couldn't ask him questions. Ringo was good for a laugh. He'd brought a case of Heinz baked beans with him, claiming not to be able to stomach foreign food. John was also entertaining, but unpredictable; while Paul was the newspaperman's pet, the sensible Beatle they could usually count on to say a few words and pose for a picture, as he did on the Lakshman Jhula bridge crossing the Ganges into Ris.h.i.+kesh.

The Maharis.h.i.+'s ashram was situated on a 15-acre