The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow Arena


The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow

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This programme contains some strong language.

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He'd driven back to London.

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We don't know what happened after that. He stayed up all night.

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Then the next day, the house man called me

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and said that he was still in his room and there was no sign of life.

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NEW SPEAKER: It was Sunday, August 27th, 1967.

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I switched the TV on and it was announced that he was dead.

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And I cried, like other people I knew had cried.

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-NEW SPEAKER:

-I think he woke up in the night and thought, "I haven't had my sleeping pill,"

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and took a couple more.

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Since then, there's been millions of rumours - Suicide? Murder?

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NEW SPEAKER: He was certainly in a very positive state of mind.

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He'd made a plans for the future, I'd spoken to him two days before. He was anything but suicidal.

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He was just a beautiful fella.

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-It's terrible.

-What are your plans now?

-We haven't made any.

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We've only just heard.

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The two strange expressions he used prior to his death were

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"Beware the ides of March," - this was three weeks to a month before he died.

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And also, "I feel as thought I am a Svengali who's created a monster."

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BELL TOLLS

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WOMAN: He had such immense charm. Immense.

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And his strongest card...

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Say you're measuring him up against someone like Robert Stigwood,

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his strongest card is that he cared for the community he served - us,

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this group of young artistic free spirits,

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ranging from Mick Jagger to John Lennon to Joe Orton

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to Edward Bond to Bill Gaskill to everywhere you could possibly go.

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Andy Warhol... Everybody, it was all connected.

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And somebody like Robert Fraser was doing artwork.

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Brian was going to be the synthesising force, with the help of The Beatles, of course.

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We totally believed in him, thought he was a great man.

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I don't think we ever questioned his judgment. It was very sound.

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Brian was the fifth Beatle.

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I was pretty close to Brian

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because if somebody is going to manage me, I want to know them.

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He told me he was a fag and all that.

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I introduced him to pills - which gives me a guilt association for his death -

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to make him talk and find out what he was like.

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"Though I didn't seek it, the fame has overtaken me, and this is not always pleasant.

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"I believe in democracy,

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"but I like to see one man in charge, answerable for his mistakes.

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"There ARE penalties.

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"The chief of them is loneliness, for I must bear the strain alone.

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"Not only the office or theatre, but at home in the small hours.

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"I suffer the most because I hold myself responsible.

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"It isn't the money that worries me, it's the failure.

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"Partly because of my youth, partly because of my background and partly because of my provincial origins."

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ORGAN PLAYS: "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"

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This was to my parents.

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It was written on the 15th of August 1946.

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They were on holiday in Grange-over-Sands.

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It says, "Dear Gramma and Grampa..." With Ms!

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"..I hope you are well. I am having a most enjoyable holiday.

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"Yours, Brian." And underneath, "Love to Auntie Stella."

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"My father Harry was the eldest of six. There were 18 years between him and Stella.

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"He fulfilled his father Isaac's dream of settling in business in England."

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My father was born in Lithuania in a village called Hudan.

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He came over here when he was probably about 18 or 19.

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He had a furniture shop.

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He bought another shop which was next to the furniture shop and made a way through

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so that you could get from one to the other.

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It's a picture of Queenie and Harry on their wedding day.

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Two pages, two bridesmaids - I was one of those.

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Brian was born on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

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We're now coming up to my old house.

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And, er...

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Here it is, with the conifers I planted 20 years ago

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which have never been pruned.

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Next door to the Epstein house with its overgrown front bushes

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which were, I think, holly trees that have never been pruned.

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They built their home themselves and it was a very nice house.

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It was a detached house with five bedrooms

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and plenty of living rooms. It was very nice indeed.

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"I am an elder son, a hallowed position in a Jewish family

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"and much was to be expected of me.

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"My mother was intensely proud that her first-born was a boy.

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"When, 21 months later, my brother Clive arrived,

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"the Epsteins looked like being a happy family unit."

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Queenie was very close to the boys. She really loved them.

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They were a very happy family. It looked like a golden family,

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quite like a fairy story.

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Unfortunately, later on, things would become very, very sad.

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MUSIC: "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles

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He had an immense affection for his parents and for his brother.

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He didn't want, consciously, to upset them.

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He was elegant, fastidiously so,

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and he had a very great...presence.

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He was good looking, well mannered.

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He was temperamental.

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Volatile.

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He could be very effusive or he could be very taciturn.

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He felt himself a square peg in a round hole from a long, long time

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and wanted to escape the background which he'd been brought up in.

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CANTOR SINGS IN HEBREW, CONGREGATION RESPONDS

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HE SINGS IN HEBREW, CONGREGATION RESPONDS

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"My parents despaired many times over the years. I don't blame them.

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"Throughout my school days, I never quite fit.

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"I was nagged and bullied, beloved of neither boys nor masters.

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"At the aged of ten, I had already been to three schools and liked none of them.

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"My father had been a solid and successful grammar school boy

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"and he found it difficult to know why I was so wretched a pupil.

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"Recently, referring to a diary I kept then,

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"I found I had written in reference to the next term at my ninth school,

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"'I go only for my parents' pleasure.'

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"But I don't blame my parents for anything concerning my upbringing.

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"Their wrongdoings were committed with the best intentions,

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"with love and devotion."

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The family expected Brian to go into the business,

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follow in his father's footsteps,

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as Harry had done.

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But that wasn't to be because Brian was not interested in that sort of thing.

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He would have liked to have been a dress designer.

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I didn't even know this at the time. I found this out later.

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I think Harry and Queenie must have gone up the pole!

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"This caused a great deal of distress.

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"For the masters at my last public school, nothing could be less manly than dress designing.

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"Although I knew good design from bad, though I could create dresses and draw them,

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"though to be a dress designer was all I wanted to be, I dutifully went to work in the family business.

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"I began to study all the various aspects of retail furnishing.

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"I was, and still am, very interested in the way things should be displayed,

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"how things should be designed and presented.

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"And I have a self-devouring passion for quality.

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"I placed chairs in the windows with their backs to the shoppers.

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"Backs on view?! Unheard of!

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"Yet in every home, you see the backs of chairs.

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"You cannot enter a room without seeing the back of a chair.

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"I was very keen on splayed legs.

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"Slowly the post-war austerity hangover was diminishing

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"and sellers and buyers were reluctant to return to the ugliness of '30s design."

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They were like nobility to me.

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Brian's father was in the retail furniture business.

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My father made furniture for Brian's father's business.

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And of course that's how we knew each other.

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MUSIC: "The Street Where You Live"

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# I have often walked

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# Down this street before

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# But the pavement always stayed... #

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We liked stage shows, musicals. We liked musical films.

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Brian and I would discuss how, er, our feelings were different.

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First of all, you notice that you don't discuss girls so much.

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But you discuss, er... leading players

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and shows and cinema. Things like that.

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You're more attracted to a star.

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And then you gradually realise that you've got to be as honest as possible.

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But at the same time, the people that you don't want to hurt

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are your parents.

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And in those days, you were a queer.

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And it wasn't a very nice thing to hear about yourself

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because you know that you're NOT queer in your head.

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So you do resent that.

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So you try and fight what you're being called.

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Brian and I realised

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that we were breaking the law to be gay.

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We knew of people who were taken away to a place called Rainhill

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which is ten miles outside Liverpool.

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Well, it was a loony bin, a lunatic asylum.

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And there was no way I was going to there.

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There was no way I wanted Brian to go there.

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"The design of the store was becoming my responsibility.

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"My mother and father were quite pleased with their Brian.

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"The future seemed firm and bright and assured.

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"But on December the ninth, 1952, a letter came to tell the young son and heir

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"that he was to present himself for a medical exam for the army.

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"Several of the public schoolboys who shared my moans at first

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"were snatched away to become officer cadets, but I was not included.

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"I cannot imagine anything worse for morale, than Lieutenant Epstein in charge under heavy fire!

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"I reported to the barracks doctor

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"who, after a long, fruitless talk about my problems and the need to pull myself together,

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"referred me to a psychiatrist.

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"They decided I was a compulsive civilian and unfit for military service.

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"I was no use to the army or it to me, with which view I agreed."

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I don't think he had a clue who he was or liked being who he was.

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Like he created The Beatles, he also had plans for himself.

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The sort of people he wanted to mix with, the people at the Playhouse Theatre.

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Alas, she hath from France too long been chaste,

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and all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,

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corrupting in its own fertility.

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Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, unpruned, dies...

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"Even so, our houses and ourselves and children

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"have lost the sciences that should become our country.

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"But grow like savages,

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"as soldiers will that nothing do but meditate on blood.

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"To all that seems unnatural."

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This is the speech that I chose for Brian for his audition for RADA

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because it embodies his maturity which went beyond his years,

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his soulful quality

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and his air of dignified quiet authority.

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"By night I was seeking escape in the cool and cultivated dusk of the front stalls of the Playhouse.

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"The Playhouse was a brilliant group of young actors, designers and writers,

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"plus a settled, soon to be stolid, furniture salesman from Walton."

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There was a sort of wistfulness about him.

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He wanted to belong

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to what he perceived was a charmed circle.

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He thought we inhabited a magic world and he wanted to become a part of it.

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He asked me quite out of the blue,

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when we first started to work on choosing the audition piece...

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It was obviously uppermost in his mind.

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He said, "When you first met me, or when I come into a room,

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"are you aware that I'm Jewish?"

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And I said, er, "No.

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"Is it important? Are you worried about the fact that people might think you are Jewish?"

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And he said,

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"Well, you see, I think I'd like to do possibly Henry V.

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"Will they think I should never choose Henry V because I'm Jewish?"

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I said, "There are very cogent reasons why you shouldn't choose Henry V.

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"I simply don't see you as a man of action, as a soldier."

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Once more...unto the breach, dear friends!

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Once more, or close them all up with our English dead!

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In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility.

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But when the blast of war blows in our ears...

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"I saw a play at the Arts Theatre Club

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"and after a quiet coffee, I took a tube home to Swiss Cottage.

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"When leaving the tube, I saw a young man staring hard at me who I will refer to as X.

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"Then I saw X go into the lavatory. I followed him.

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"After a minute, I know he turned his face to glance at me

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"and then walked out and waited outside. I followed.

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"He loitered, I loitered.

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"After several minutes passed, I decided it was dangerous and stupid.

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"I walked away towards home.

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"I turned to look back and see that he was not following me. He nodded.

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"He stood, looking pathetic. I crossed to him. 'Hi,' I said.

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"'Hello,' he said. 'What are you doing out so late?' I said. 'Nothing.'

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"Long silence. 'Know anywhere to go?' I asked. 'No, do you?'

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"'There's an open field along the way.

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"'I have to be home early,'" I said. 'All right,' he said.

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"I left him and walked hurriedly away. My mind was in great fear and turmoil.

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"I looked back and saw X with another man, following me.

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"I walked on quickly, forgetting where I was going.

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"After a few minutes, they arrested me for 'persistently importuning'.

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"When he gave evidence, he included,

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"'persistently importuning seven men.'

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"I believed that my own willpower

0:23:330:23:36

"was the best thing with which to overcome my homosexuality.

0:23:360:23:41

"The criminal methods of the police

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"and the subsequent capture leaves me finished.

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"If I am remanded or given a prison sentence,

0:23:490:23:53

"please telephone my father, Harry Epstein, at Liverpool North 3221.

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"I apologise for my writing which I realise is difficult to read.

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"I was unable to procure a typewriter and my hand is nervous."

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Originally, when he lived at home,

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he had wanted to present the image of a normal person.

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It didn't really work because he always knew

0:24:170:24:20

and I believe that his family knew

0:24:200:24:23

that he was homosexual. When he lived in London

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and when he visited America - he was fascinated with the American homosexual scene -

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he behaved sometimes in a way which was very dangerous.

0:24:370:24:41

And he was conscious of this.

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In some ways, he sought out danger.

0:24:440:24:47

It gave him a thrill but, of course, led him into many very awkward situations.

0:24:470:24:54

I think, deep down, he didn't want to be homosexual,

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but paradoxically, he enjoyed his homosexual experiences.

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"So, after the end of my third term at RADA,

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"I returned home, nursing a decision never to leave home again

0:25:160:25:20

"and hiding a sense of inadequacy which was almost complete."

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I'm afraid that his time at RADA

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was quite short and he didn't really enjoy it in the end.

0:25:370:25:42

So he decided to come back and go into the business.

0:25:420:25:47

"The family business went from strength to strength.

0:25:490:25:53

"In 1959, we opened another store.

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"It had a small record department and I was put in charge of that."

0:25:570:26:02

# If I say I love you, do you mind?

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# Make an idol of you, do you mind...? #

0:26:080:26:13

My offices in the centre of the city occupy the space that used to be used by Brian Epstein for his office.

0:26:130:26:21

# Honey, this is how I think of heaven, do you mind? #

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This was the beginning of Brian's entrepreneurial skill.

0:26:270:26:33

"It was opened by Anthony Newley

0:26:340:26:37

"and I persuaded a Decca representative to introduce us.

0:26:370:26:42

"Newley was an exceedingly friendly, diffident young man, very modest, and we got on well."

0:26:420:26:50

Lights? Give me some light.

0:26:500:26:52

"He spent a day with me and my family

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"and I recall thinking this was how a real star should behave.

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"That is how MY artists behave when they're permitted."

0:27:010:27:05

Right, two up, two down and a Wyatt Earp. Hit it!

0:27:050:27:12

-# Johnnie is a joker

-He's a bird!

0:27:150:27:18

-# A very funny joker

-He's a bird... #

0:27:180:27:22

"I wanted to be known as the record dealer who had everything -

0:27:220:27:28

"hit songs, small sellers, specialist records, the lot!

0:27:280:27:32

"I established a system for showing when a record pile needed renewing so we never ran out out anything.

0:27:320:27:39

"I turned no-one away with a 'Sorry, we don't have it.'"

0:27:390:27:43

# When the mists are rising and the rain is falling

0:27:540:27:58

# And the wind is blowing cold across the moor

0:27:580:28:02

# I hear the voice of my darling

0:28:050:28:09

# The girl I love and lost... #

0:28:090:28:11

Brian said, "Do you ever watch a programme called Compact?

0:28:110:28:16

"I've got this press blurb. There's a guy called John Leighton who's going to be singing this song."

0:28:160:28:24

So, I heard it and I thought it was diabolical. I said, "One copy in each shop."

0:28:240:28:31

He said, "Put it on." He just stood there.

0:28:310:28:35

# Johnny

0:28:350:28:38

# Remember me... #

0:28:380:28:41

And he said, "Right, we'll have 250, 300."

0:28:410:28:44

And I just looked at him and said, "Brian, you're joking!"

0:28:440:28:49

And, of course, it roared away,

0:28:490:28:52

and we were the only shop in the North-West to have copies.

0:28:520:28:57

# Remember me... #

0:28:570:29:01

My initial impression was that it was just a shop we went into

0:29:010:29:06

to admire all the beautiful record covers

0:29:060:29:11

and, occasionally, to buy a record.

0:29:110:29:14

NEMS stood for North End Music Stores.

0:29:140:29:18

Brian's dad, Harry, had once sold a piano to my dad.

0:29:180:29:23

So there was a family connection before I even knew him.

0:29:230:29:27

So for people who like to think things are fated,

0:29:270:29:31

it was even before I knew him.

0:29:310:29:34

# Johnny

0:29:340:29:37

# Remember me

0:29:370:29:39

# Yes, I'll always remember... #

0:29:390:29:46

The ceiling was lined with LP covers.

0:29:460:29:49

And it was like, "Wow, how did you think that one up?"

0:29:490:29:53

No other shop had it.

0:29:530:29:55

# Johnny, remember me... #

0:29:550:30:00

Saturday, it'd be packed and we had turntables behind the counter.

0:30:000:30:05

We would play records and there was a row of booths.

0:30:050:30:10

All the kids came in and a lot of them never bought anything.

0:30:100:30:15

WOMAN: We just wanted to listen to music.

0:30:150:30:20

You'd ask for a certain record to come on.

0:30:200:30:23

There'd always be a couple of friends there.

0:30:230:30:27

# Walking, talking, living doll... #

0:30:270:30:31

We didn't have any money.

0:30:310:30:34

If one person bought a record,

0:30:340:30:37

out of about 10 of us,

0:30:370:30:40

they were lucky.

0:30:400:30:42

Other people bought records, but people I was with didn't.

0:30:420:30:46

This is where all the classical stock was kept.

0:30:510:30:55

And downstairs? >

0:30:570:31:00

Downstairs here, which we can't go down to,

0:31:000:31:05

but it's down there, in Brian's old office -

0:31:050:31:11

he had his own office for running the shop -

0:31:110:31:15

that we actually signed the first contract with The Beatles.

0:31:150:31:22

And we had two windows of course.

0:31:220:31:26

Brian's great secret was that he didn't just put new records in,

0:31:260:31:31

he made displays - there'd be cocktail glasses and a chair...

0:31:310:31:36

He created a picture. He'd make it like a theatrical set.

0:31:360:31:43

"To write at all, I found it necessary to consume five whiskies

0:31:520:31:57

"before putting pen to paper.

0:31:570:32:00

"Of course, I'd planned writing for a long time.

0:32:000:32:03

"This was the only way to rid myself

0:32:030:32:07

"of humdrum, dreary, god-forsaken suburbia.

0:32:070:32:11

"The thing is to get away from it all. I fancy Rome.

0:32:110:32:15

"That's why I'm writing. If I plant Rome in a text, you'll know why.

0:32:150:32:21

"I should add that I want to live there in great luxury for a long time.

0:32:210:32:27

"To live Italian,

0:32:270:32:29

to add myself to that attractive, ridiculous little group

0:32:290:32:34

"that newspaper hickeys call 'the international set'."

0:32:340:32:39

I thought I should get to know him as he was rich, attractive.

0:32:450:32:50

He intended going places.

0:32:500:32:53

He wore monogrammed shirts and went to La Plage for his holidays, mixing with "the better people".

0:32:530:32:59

He was not a happy person.

0:33:110:33:13

But it would take an unhappy person who was sure of themselves,

0:33:130:33:18

with all those illusions of grandeur - maybe they weren't illusions -

0:33:180:33:22

it would take someone as mad as that to have the dreams that he had, and accomplish what he did.

0:33:220:33:31

It did have to be someone as strange as him.

0:33:310:33:35

This is my club - at least all that's left of it.

0:33:550:34:00

Behind that door there's a dark passage.

0:34:000:34:03

We kept it dark so no-one knew it was here.

0:34:030:34:07

Brian came once a week.

0:34:070:34:09

I had some attractive young men coming in - waiters from the Adelphi.

0:34:090:34:15

I bought most of the music from Brian.

0:34:150:34:19

The music was good,

0:34:190:34:21

so, naturally, he would come, and he was presentable and he mixed in very well.

0:34:210:34:28

Wherever homosexuals were, they had to be secretive.

0:34:330:34:37

There's lots of, um, beliefs, sort of amongst tough men

0:34:380:34:43

that so called "poofs and pansies" have a harder time, but it isn't so.

0:34:430:34:49

Lots of poofs and pansies are as tough as...uh

0:34:490:34:55

people can be in a tough city like Liverpool.

0:34:550:35:00

He'd left my house about 10.00pm and by quarter to midnight he was back on my doorstep.

0:35:040:35:13

And he left my house in a beautiful white shirt,

0:35:130:35:18

but when he came back on my doorstep, it was a brilliant red.

0:35:180:35:23

He'd been knocked about so much, and he didn't even come back in his car that night.

0:35:230:35:29

I bathed him, I got him right.

0:35:290:35:32

He did stay the night.

0:35:320:35:35

He went back home, or wherever he went the next morning, looking reasonably, reasonably good.

0:35:350:35:43

NEW SPEAKER: The whole blackmail situation happened before I knew him and I didn't know about it

0:35:490:35:57

until he felt comfortable enough to let me into this embarrassing secret,

0:35:570:36:02

which, actually, was pretty well contained within Liverpool, though obviously some people knew about it.

0:36:020:36:10

He explained it to me - it had been a devastating experience,

0:36:100:36:14

not only the being beaten up and the blackmail, but the embarrassment to the family,

0:36:140:36:21

to himself with the family and the family's embarrassment.

0:36:210:36:26

RABBI CHANTS IN HEBREW

0:36:270:36:32

He had everything going for him, he was successful at what he was doing.

0:36:510:36:56

The record shops would have got bigger,

0:36:560:37:00

it would have become a small chain. It would have been an achievement but it had already lost its interest.

0:37:000:37:06

There was an element of danger seeker.

0:37:060:37:09

There was an element of the gambling instinct - he had a gambling trait.

0:37:090:37:15

# Mashed potato, yeah

0:37:150:37:17

# Oh, yeah

0:37:170:37:19

# Oh, yeah

0:37:190:37:21

# Oh, shake it

0:37:210:37:22

# Hey, baby

0:37:220:37:24

# Yeah, oh, yeah

0:37:240:37:26

# Yeah

0:37:260:37:28

# Hey, baby

0:37:280:37:30

# Come on, baby

0:37:300:37:31

# Mashed potato, yeah

0:37:340:37:35

# Woh, right

0:37:360:37:38

# Whaah right... #

0:37:380:37:41

NEW SPEAKER: In Liverpool, there would have been 40 skiffle bands, skiffle groups...

0:37:420:37:48

Rock 'n' roll blossomed in Liverpool - we had a million groups.

0:37:480:37:53

The nice thing was there were also a lot of venues to play.

0:37:530:37:57

We could play every night for six months at a different venue.

0:37:570:38:02

All I wanted to do was to continue playing.

0:38:020:38:07

I worked on the railways, and finished there to go to Hamburg.

0:38:070:38:12

If I could make a living as a musician, that's what I want. That's all I wanted to do.

0:38:120:38:19

MUSIC: "Violin Concerto No. 1" by Max Bruch

0:38:200:38:24

"Although I now ran the biggest record store in the North-West with many teenage clients,

0:38:300:38:37

"and although I had an ear for a Top Twenty hit

0:38:370:38:41

"I wasn't interested in pop music and had little idea of the burgeoning Liverpool pop scene.

0:38:410:38:47

"I'd come back from a holiday in Spain during which I'd wondered how I could expand my interests."

0:38:470:38:56

MUSIC: "Violin Concerto No. 1" by Max Bruch

0:38:590:39:04

"By autumn 1961, the store was running like an 18-jewelled watch.

0:39:300:39:35

"It was showing good returns and the systems were so automatic that I was again becoming bored.

0:39:350:39:42

"Life was getting too easy.

0:39:420:39:44

"Then, suddenly, an 18-year-old boy in jeans and black leather jacket came into the store and said,

0:39:440:39:52

"'Have you got a disc by The Beatles?' His name was Raymond Jones."

0:39:520:39:58

This is one of those myths.

0:40:000:40:04

What happened was I got fed up with youngsters coming and asking for The Beatles' record.

0:40:040:40:10

It was called "My Bonnie" by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers.

0:40:100:40:15

So I put the name Raymond Jones in the order book.

0:40:150:40:20

We had to order a minimum of 25, on import from Germany.

0:40:200:40:24

I bought one, to cover Raymond Jones.

0:40:260:40:30

Brian did a hand-written notice in the window, "Beatles record available here."

0:40:300:40:36

In an hour or so, it was sold out. The other 24 had gone.

0:40:360:40:41

Brian said, "Let's have lunch and we'll drop in the Cavern and see this band."

0:40:410:40:47

We've been accused that we must have known they were from Liverpool, but we weren't interested in pop music.

0:40:470:40:54

It was only later we thought, "We know them. We've seen them in the shop!"

0:40:540:41:00

# I'm gonna Kansas City

0:41:040:41:07

# Gonna get my baby one time, Yeah, yeah

0:41:070:41:11

# It's just a one, two, three, four

0:41:110:41:14

# Five, six, seven, eight, nine

0:41:140:41:16

# Ahhhh, Woooh...#

0:41:160:41:20

This is Matthew Street.

0:41:220:41:25

It's amazing. It's full of Beatles - a John Lennon bar, a Beatles shop, Cavern pub...

0:41:250:41:32

The one thing that isn't here, ironically, is the original Cavern.

0:41:320:41:37

It's gone. This is where it was,

0:41:370:41:42

where Brian and I walked down the steps on that fateful day, November 9th, 1961.

0:41:420:41:49

"Never had I thought of managing an artist or representing one.

0:42:000:42:04

"I'll never know what made me say to them that I thought a further meeting might be helpful.

0:42:040:42:10

"But something must have sparked between us,

0:42:100:42:14

"because I arranged a meeting at the Whitechapel store at 4.30pm on December 3rd, 1961,

0:42:140:42:20

"just for a chat."

0:42:200:42:22

"On that cold, grey afternoon in December in my office,

0:42:220:42:26

"I entered a whole new world."

0:42:260:42:30

NEW SPEAKER: Now they're The Beatles and all very rich,

0:42:380:42:42

but if you saw them at my mother's they were just scruffy boys.

0:42:420:42:47

Who'd look at them?

0:42:470:42:49

George sulking cos he fancied our Joan and she was marrying Sam.

0:42:490:42:54

You know, you've got John breaking eggs on beehives.

0:42:540:42:59

But they were a scruffy bunch of boys - I wouldn't bother with them.

0:42:590:43:05

But then, Brian stood out, he looked like the real thing.

0:43:050:43:11

He was handsome, tall, immaculate.

0:43:110:43:14

Then my mum in the background was saying, "He's different".

0:43:140:43:19

I hadn't had anything to do with pop management

0:43:210:43:26

or management of pop artists before that day I went to the Cavern and heard The Beatles play.

0:43:260:43:33

This was quite a new world for me.

0:43:330:43:36

I was amazed by this sort of dark, smoky, dank atmosphere with this beat music playing away.

0:43:360:43:45

And, um...

0:43:450:43:47

The Beatles were then just four lads on that rather dimly lit stage,

0:43:470:43:54

somewhat ill-clad and the presentation left a little to be desired as far as I was concerned,

0:43:540:44:02

cos I've been interested in the theatre for a long time.

0:44:020:44:06

But amongst all that, something tremendous came over.

0:44:060:44:11

I was immediately struck by their music, their beat,

0:44:110:44:16

and their sense of humour on stage.

0:44:160:44:19

When I met them after, I was struck by their personal charm.

0:44:190:44:24

My Dad said, "This could be a really good thing".

0:44:250:44:29

He thought Jewish people were good with money. This was the common wisdom.

0:44:290:44:35

So he thought Brian would be very good for us - very sensible, very charming

0:44:350:44:41

and he was right.

0:44:410:44:43

Having gone to RADA, he was different from everyone else.

0:44:430:44:49

He was quite different from anybody else.

0:44:490:44:52

"I went to see a lawyer friend, Rex Makin, to discuss management

0:44:530:44:58

"and to try and share some of my excitement about The Beatles.

0:44:580:45:03

"Makin, who'd known me for years, said, 'Oh, another Epstein idea.

0:45:030:45:08

"'How long before you lose interest?'

0:45:080:45:11

"It was justifiable but offended me because I felt I would permanently be involved with The Beatles.

0:45:110:45:18

REX MAKIN: He had enthusiasms.

0:45:200:45:24

And he had sudden bursts of flights of fancy,

0:45:240:45:27

but he wasn't really very stable.

0:45:270:45:29

So he was rather like a butterfly.

0:45:310:45:35

And, of course, butterflies are very colourful and don't settle for very long with any one object.

0:45:350:45:43

# How do you do what you do to me

0:45:460:45:50

# I wish I knew

0:45:500:45:53

# If I knew how you do it to me I'd do it to you... #

0:45:530:45:57

Brian was the last person I would have said would make a good manager.

0:45:590:46:05

He was just selling records in his Dad's shop - nice guy,

0:46:050:46:09

well brought up, great family, his mum and dad and his brother.

0:46:090:46:14

I never thought he would have the strength. Although he wasn't strong, he had the strength to manage.

0:46:140:46:21

It took a lot to manage The Beatles - Lennon was no push-over, nor was Paul.

0:46:210:46:26

We were no push-over either, so, yes, it did surprise me.

0:46:260:46:32

# ..You do what you do to me, if I only knew

0:46:320:46:36

# Then perhaps you'd fall for me like I fell for you... #

0:46:360:46:40

NEW SPEAKER: We'd been to the Knotty Ash club,

0:46:490:46:53

for my sister's engagement, and The Beatles played there,

0:46:530:46:59

and Rory and a few other groups.

0:46:590:47:02

Afterwards, as usual, we all went back to the house.

0:47:020:47:06

Brian came along - quite a lot of people, you know, from the night.

0:47:060:47:13

And Brian came over for the drinks - you know, Brian liked to drink.

0:47:130:47:19

He stuck by the bar talking to me most of the night.

0:47:190:47:24

He asked me to dance and I said, "I can't leave the bar."

0:47:240:47:29

So I didn't want to dance.

0:47:290:47:32

Then, he said,

0:47:320:47:34

"OK, if you won't come over this side, I'll come over there." And he ducked into the cloakroom with me.

0:47:340:47:42

And he stayed there all night.

0:47:420:47:45

To me, Brian was just an ordinary... Not just ordinary, he was one of the sexiest fellas I'd ever met.

0:47:450:47:54

But then, people say, "Oh, well, Brian was gay," but he wasn't very gay with me.

0:47:540:48:00

He was just like any other man, and more.

0:48:010:48:06

When I first saw him, I thought he was very stiff, standoffish, superior.

0:48:060:48:11

You see, in the shop, Brian seemed like a man, like your Dad, shouting at you and superior,

0:48:110:48:20

an attitude of superiority.

0:48:200:48:23

And then, in the house...

0:48:230:48:26

I thought he was a very passionate, loving person, but he was like two different people.

0:48:260:48:32

If there's a third person involved - this gay person - I just say he's a helluva man,

0:48:320:48:39

to be able to please everybody.

0:48:390:48:42

MUSIC: "Some Other Guy" by The Beatles

0:48:480:48:52

We went back to Germany and we bought leather pants

0:49:060:49:10

and looked like four Gene Vincents, only a bit younger.

0:49:100:49:15

That was it, we kept the leather gear until Brian came along.

0:49:150:49:20

It was a bit old hat - all wearing leather gear.

0:49:200:49:24

And we decided we didn't want to look ridiculous going on,

0:49:240:49:28

because, more often than not, most people would laugh.

0:49:280:49:33

We didn't want to appear as a gang of idiots and Brian suggested we wore ordinary suits.

0:49:330:49:40

So we got what we thought were good suits and got rid of the leathers.

0:49:400:49:45

# Some other guy, now

0:49:450:49:47

# Has taken my love away from me, oh now

0:49:470:49:50

# Some other guy, now

0:49:500:49:52

# Has taken away my sweet desire, oh now

0:49:520:49:55

# Some other guy, now

0:49:550:49:57

# I just don't wanna hold my hand, oh now

0:49:570:50:00

# I'm the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel

0:50:000:50:03

# All right, some other guy

0:50:030:50:06

# Is sippin' up the honey like a yellow dog, oh no

0:50:060:50:09

# Some other guy, now... #

0:50:090:50:11

Brian's father, Harry, would come in to the shop and I daren't tell him cos sometimes Brian would say,

0:50:130:50:22

"Don't tell Daddy.

0:50:220:50:25

"Don't tell him where I've gone." And he'd be down in London.

0:50:250:50:30

I used to think of all sorts of excuses of where Brian was - he was late back from lunch,

0:50:300:50:37

or at another meeting, and Harry wasn't silly, he began to cotton on that Brian was away too often.

0:50:370:50:44

John and I used to wait at Lime Street Station,

0:50:460:50:51

in a coffee bar called Punch And Judy.

0:50:510:50:54

We'd wait for Brian coming back from London.

0:50:540:50:59

We'd look at his face to see if it was good news or bad - it was always bad.

0:50:590:51:05

We'd have a coffee and discuss what happened.

0:51:050:51:08

He'd say, "People aren't interested. It's gonna be a hard sell."

0:51:080:51:14

"Dear Mr White, as I haven't heard from you with regard to the matter we discussed last week,

0:51:140:51:22

"I thought I'd try to impress you with my enthusiasm for the potential success of The Beatles.

0:51:220:51:30

"If I didn't mention they are so much better in reality,

0:51:300:51:34

"it was because I assumed you'd heard it all before.

0:51:340:51:37

"Next week, they'll be heard by Decca's A&R men.

0:51:370:51:41

"I mention this because, if we could choose, it would be EMI.

0:51:410:51:46

"They play mostly their own songs. One of them is the hottest material since 'Living Doll'."

0:51:460:51:54

GEORGE MARTIN: He'd been rejected by everybody. Absolutely everybody had turned it down.

0:51:540:52:01

They did rock 'n' roll standards and some of their own stuff which wasn't very good.

0:52:010:52:07

"Love Me Do" was the best and things like

0:52:070:52:11

"Your Feet's Too Big" by Fats Waller. They had an enormous repertoire.

0:52:110:52:15

I was quite impressed with his devotion and zeal,

0:52:170:52:21

which made me want to see them.

0:52:210:52:24

I hadn't got a great deal to lose, and when I met them and worked with them,

0:52:240:52:31

I got the same feeling he'd got - it was a kind of falling in love.

0:52:310:52:37

They had tremendous charisma which no-one else had recognised.

0:52:370:52:42

# Love, love me do

0:52:560:52:59

# You know I love you

0:52:590:53:02

# I'll always be true

0:53:020:53:06

# So ple-e-e-e-ase

0:53:060:53:10

# Love me do

0:53:100:53:13

# Woh-oh, love me do... #

0:53:130:53:16

He was living at home.

0:53:160:53:18

There was a point, I think just before the Beatle explosion, where he got himself

0:53:180:53:26

a small apartment in the centre of Liverpool not far from me.

0:53:260:53:32

I know it was never a place where he was thinking of living - it wasn't furnished -

0:53:320:53:38

if Brian was gonna live there he'd have done a whole job on it, which he never did.

0:53:380:53:45

Very soon, I think, after he got it, then, of course, John Lennon married Cynthia

0:53:450:53:53

and she was pregnant and had Julian, and he gave it to them to live in.

0:53:530:53:58

Cyn was having a baby and the holiday was planned.

0:53:580:54:04

I wasn't gonna break the holiday for a baby - that's what a bastard I was.

0:54:040:54:10

I just went on holiday and I watched Brian picking up the boys.

0:54:100:54:16

We were just Liverpool guys, so the word was "queer" not "gay".

0:54:180:54:24

We didn't have a problem, we just made fun of it.

0:54:240:54:28

We didn't actually know any, well, we probably did,

0:54:280:54:33

but you did talk about it. The word was out that Brian was gay.

0:54:330:54:38

Um, the great thing for us was that it didn't really affect us in any way.

0:54:380:54:45

I think we suspected he might hit on one of us,

0:54:450:54:50

so in the early days,

0:54:500:54:54

we were slightly wondering if that was his interest in us.

0:54:540:54:59

But in my personal knowledge, he didn't.

0:54:590:55:03

I don't know the truth of the John rumour.

0:55:030:55:07

All I can say is I slept with John a lot, cos you had to sleep and there was no more than one bed,

0:55:070:55:15

and to my knowledge, John was never gay.

0:55:150:55:19

I suspected that the John thing and Brian was a power play - cos John was a political animal.

0:55:190:55:26

I suspect John went away on that Spanish holiday

0:55:260:55:30

one, cos no-one went on holiday, anyone would have gone - a free holiday, yes, I'm there!

0:55:300:55:37

Two, I'm sure John took Brian aside, and said, "You wanna deal with this group, I'm the guy you deal with."

0:55:370:55:45

John was like that - very sensible, very pragmatic.

0:55:450:55:48

I'm sure that was the reason John went.

0:55:480:55:52

As to whether there was any gay dalliance, I don't know, I can't tell you that.

0:55:520:55:59

But Brian was very straightforward with me about it.

0:55:590:56:03

We could talk very openly about it.

0:56:030:56:07

Um, and I say, he never hit on me, there was never any question of it at all.

0:56:070:56:13

We lived so intimately together that there would have been one day, if it was in his character to do it.

0:56:130:56:20

JOHN LENNON: We didn't have an affair, not an affair.

0:56:240:56:29

I liked playing a bit faggy, you know, it was enjoyable...

0:56:320:56:38

But there were big rumours in Liverpool. It was terrible, very embarrassing.

0:56:400:56:47

PETER BROWN: The amphetamines started around that time.

0:56:520:56:57

He was introduced to these by The Beatles and other groups.

0:56:570:57:02

I'm sure some of Brian's initial reasons for the amphetamines

0:57:060:57:12

was to be part of the group, part of The Beatles -

0:57:120:57:16

to be cool, to show that he was cool, and, you know, hip,

0:57:160:57:21

and it did help - he was under pressure and these stimulants do work.

0:57:210:57:28

The amphetamines would keep you up and then you'd take sleeping pills and then you wake up feeling rotten

0:57:280:57:35

as a result of the sleeping pills and that would start the cycle off - it was a horrendous cycle.

0:57:350:57:42

"Many other things happened in that first, extraordinary year.

0:57:450:57:50

"I'd become the manager of several first-class artists.

0:57:500:57:55

"After The Beatles, I signed Gerry And The Pacemakers,

0:57:550:57:58

"Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas and a group called The Big Three.

0:57:580:58:05

"I was interested in a slim thing called Priscilla White and a freckled lad called Quigley.

0:58:050:58:12

"It was, in fact, all happening."

0:58:120:58:15

Artists credit him with a unique judgment of what will be a hit.

0:58:150:58:20

Nearly all of them earn more than the Prime Minister.

0:58:200:58:25

-May we talk to you about Brian Epstein?

-Certainly.

0:58:250:58:29

-What does he mean to you?

-Brian? Money!

0:58:290:58:33

No, seriously, he's done a lot for us.

0:58:330:58:37

He tells us what to do, made us wear suits and everything.

0:58:370:58:44

-Even in our private lives, he does a lot.

-What other things,

0:58:440:58:48

-apart from telling you what suits to wear?

-Well, sort of little things.

0:58:480:58:55

If you have any money troubles, you can always go to Brian

0:58:550:59:00

and ask him what to do. He'll always tell you as a pal.

0:59:000:59:04

NEW SPEAKER: When Brian said, "Maybe I can get a record deal for you," we thought he was crazy.

0:59:040:59:12

"OK, let's make a record. We can tell our kids about it and maybe get a few more quid."

0:59:120:59:19

Never thinking for one second that we would become famous, if that's the word,

0:59:190:59:25

or that The Beatles would become the biggest thing since sliced bread.

0:59:250:59:30

It was just Brian's great foresight that saw what would happen.

0:59:300:59:35

The Beatles didn't know. London didn't know about The Beatles.

0:59:350:59:40

# Say the words I long to hear

0:59:400:59:43

# I'm in love with you Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!

0:59:430:59:48

# Oh, I've known a secret for a week or two

0:59:480:59:51

# Nobody knows, just we two... #

0:59:510:59:56

They arranged all our travel for us.,

0:59:560:59:58

They arranged our hotels.

0:59:581:00:02

You know, just about everything.

1:00:021:00:05

No matter where we were in the world,

1:00:051:00:08

Brian always made sure that we were taken care of financially.

1:00:081:00:13

This envelope arrived every Saturday

1:00:131:00:16

with a cash float.

1:00:161:00:19

And we would all each have a cheque...

1:00:191:00:24

for the balance of what we'd earned to be sent to our accounts.

1:00:241:00:29

Billy J Kramer is another from the stable who gets a frenzied welcome from his public.

1:00:291:00:36

Epstein says Kramer's good looks will take him to the top.

1:00:361:00:41

As no-one listened to the song, this is important.

1:00:411:00:45

SCREAMS DROWN OUT SONG

1:00:451:00:51

SCREAMS INCREASE

1:00:561:00:59

He'd come and see a show and critique it.

1:00:591:01:03

He'd really rip it apart.

1:01:031:01:06

You know, I used to see

1:01:061:01:08

different members of his stable on Jukebox Jury -

1:01:081:01:14

The Beatles, Cilla Black, Gerry Marsden.

1:01:141:01:18

And I'd ask Brian, "Why can't I do Jukebox Jury?"

1:01:181:01:22

And he says, "Because you don't speak well enough."

1:01:221:01:27

You know, he says, "Your diction and the way you speak is terrible.

1:01:271:01:32

"You need elocution lessons."

1:01:321:01:34

STRONG LIVERPUDLIAN ACCENT: He tried to stop us talking like that.

1:01:341:01:40

SOFTER ACCENT: So we had to change and try to be a bit more metropolitan in our accent.

1:01:401:01:47

# We've got a dance in Liverpool

1:01:521:01:56

# The cats and chicks think it's cool

1:01:571:02:02

# It started off with just a romp

1:02:021:02:05

# Now they call it the Cavern Stomp

1:02:061:02:09

# Let's stomp, let's stomp... #

1:02:091:02:12

The Big Three was really a rhythm and blues band.

1:02:121:02:17

We tried our best to be true to what we all liked.

1:02:171:02:23

We just wanted to be rough and ready. You know, down-home rockers.

1:02:231:02:29

But Brian tried to single me out, to be a front man

1:02:311:02:35

with the tight trousers and you know.

1:02:351:02:38

But I couldn't be a Jess Conrad type and sing Little Richard songs.

1:02:381:02:44

# Do the Cavern Stomp... #

1:02:441:02:48

"When I took on The Big Three, the group had a very good sound.

1:02:581:03:03

"But there was a lack of discipline.

1:03:031:03:06

"This cannot be tolerated because it's bad for business and extremely bad for morale.

1:03:061:03:13

"I was sorry to lose them because Johnny Gustafson, now with the Merseybeats, is a fine property -

1:03:131:03:20

"strong musically and physically and very good looking."

1:03:201:03:25

We were different from The Beatles. We were more working class.

1:03:251:03:29

They were more middle class, I think.

1:03:291:03:32

They had a different train of thought. They thought further ahead than we did.

1:03:321:03:38

We didn't wear the suits he provided.

1:03:381:03:42

If we went away on tour, the suits stayed in the van. We wore jeans

1:03:421:03:47

and scruffy shoes.

1:03:471:03:49

We'd forget our gear, leave it on the pavement and borrow stuff when we got there.

1:03:491:03:55

We'd never had a PA. He used to give us money for hotels. We'd sleep in the van and spend it in the pub.

1:03:551:04:03

Just things like that he didn't take too kindly to!

1:04:031:04:08

So he just fired us!

1:04:081:04:10

AMERICAN ACCENT: I was sitting in my office one day

1:04:141:04:18

and I got a call from a Brian Epstein. I didn't know who he was.

1:04:181:04:23

I picked up the phone and he said, "Why won't you put out The Beatles?

1:04:231:04:30

"Have you heard them?" I said no. "Please listen and call me back." So I said sure.

1:04:301:04:36

Columbia Records, RCA - then RCA Victor records -

1:04:361:04:41

Decca Records, a very big company, A&M Records.

1:04:411:04:46

Everyone turned them down. They finally got Swan Records who put out two records.

1:04:461:04:53

And nothing happened and Swan gave them up, didn't want them any more.

1:04:531:04:59

And that could have been the end of The Beatles in America.

1:04:591:05:03

"By early 1963, my acts were the most successful in the country.

1:05:031:05:09

"But no-one had heard of us in America.

1:05:091:05:13

"All of my boys idolised America's rock and roll stars.

1:05:131:05:17

"But there seemed little chance of the compliment being returned.

1:05:171:05:22

"Then one evening, the phone rang."

1:05:221:05:25

MAN: Brian was still working out of his home, so I called him in Liverpool.

1:05:251:05:32

His mother answered - Queenie.

1:05:321:05:35

We talked about the book review of the New York Times.

1:05:351:05:40

Finally she said, "Let me get my son, Mr Bernstein."

1:05:401:05:45

I heard footsteps. He was coming down from his workshop.

1:05:451:05:49

And he said, "Mr Bernstein, can I help you?"

1:05:491:05:54

And I said, "I'm interested in your group."

1:05:541:05:58

He said, "Why would you want to commit suicide? We can't get any airplay in New York."

1:05:581:06:05

I had not at this time heard a note of their music, but I was obsessed with the idea of presenting them.

1:06:051:06:13

He said, "Do you know how much money we get?" I said, "I've no idea."

1:06:131:06:19

He said, "We get 2,000 a night for one show."

1:06:191:06:23

I said, "I will give you 6,500 for one day for two shows."

1:06:231:06:29

And he said, "Wait till I tell the boys that some crazy American

1:06:291:06:34

"wants to give me 6,500 for two shows in one day."

1:06:341:06:38

He says, "You've got a deal!"

1:06:381:06:42

MUSIC: "Someone To Love"

1:06:421:06:45

I'm so happy to be here tonight.

1:06:451:06:48

So glad to be in your wonderful city.

1:06:481:06:51

And I have a little message for you.

1:06:511:06:54

And I want to tell every woman and every man tonight

1:06:541:06:58

that's every needed someone to love,

1:06:581:07:01

that's ever had somebody to love,

1:07:011:07:05

that's ever had somebody to understand them,

1:07:051:07:08

that's ever had someone that needs their love all the time,

1:07:081:07:12

someone that's with them when they're up and they're down.

1:07:121:07:17

If you ever had somebody like this, you better hold onto them.

1:07:171:07:21

Let me tell you something, sometimes you get what you want

1:07:211:07:26

and you lose what you had...

1:07:261:07:28

"Operation USA started in November 1963. I went to New York and took Billy J Kramer with me.

1:07:281:07:35

"The trip cost me £2,000 because we stayed in an extremely good hotel

1:07:351:07:40

"and we lived demonstrably to impress the Americans that we were important.

1:07:401:07:46

"Actually, we were of no great importance to the Americans.

1:07:461:07:51

"We were two ordinary travellers. I only had the names of three contacts."

1:07:511:07:58

I was walking with Brian and Billy J Kramer through Times Square

1:08:021:08:08

and Billy caught sight in one of the shop windows of a Western style fringed shirt.

1:08:081:08:16

"Oooh," he said, "I like that!"

1:08:161:08:18

And Brian said, "No, Billy, not your style at all!" And Billy didn't buy it.

1:08:181:08:25

Brian was always very conscious of how his artists ought to look

1:08:251:08:30

and Billy's style was clean cut.

1:08:301:08:33

That's the image Brian wanted him to retain. No country and western!

1:08:331:08:39

KRAMER: Then he went on to give me a big lecture in a restaurant.

1:08:391:08:44

"If you lost some weight, we could make some fantastic movies and you could have a different career."

1:08:441:08:51

I said, "I have a hard time miming to records, never mind acting."

1:08:511:08:57

I was smart and had the boy-next-door image

1:08:571:09:01

and he thought maybe I was the one that was gonna do it.

1:09:011:09:05

GERRY MARSDEN: Brian used to say, there's no bad publicity.

1:09:051:09:10

Once we made the records, Brian realised we needed it worldwide.

1:09:101:09:15

He was trying to get us abroad,

1:09:151:09:17

to get on TV. Brian was the first to realise how important that was.

1:09:191:09:25

"Ed Sullivan had the number-one show on American TV.

1:09:251:09:29

"I heard that he'd witnessed Beatlemania at London Airport.

1:09:291:09:34

"He agreed to see me and I found him a most genial fellow.

1:09:341:09:40

"I demanded that The Beatles had top billing.

1:09:401:09:44

"After a lot of resistance

1:09:441:09:47

"Sullivan relented and we got our top billing.

1:09:471:09:51

"The show attracted the highest audience in the history of US TV."

1:09:511:09:57

GEORGE MARTIN: That year, 1963, I had 37 weeks in the number-one spot.

1:09:571:10:03

All these acts were Epstein acts.

1:10:031:10:06

And he then realised that he had the makings of a a latterday Diaghilev.

1:10:061:10:12

He saw himself as an impresario with a stable of great stars.

1:10:121:10:17

Brian wanted to be a star. That's the essential part of Brian.

1:10:171:10:22

And he couldn't do it as an actor.

1:10:221:10:24

And now he could do it as a man who was a manipulator, a puppeteer, if you like.

1:10:241:10:30

It's a pretty heady wine when everything you do becomes successful.

1:10:301:10:35

"For years, The Beatles had watched the American charts with remote envy.

1:10:351:10:43

"The US charts were unattainable.

1:10:431:10:45

"Only Stateside artists ever made any imprint.

1:10:451:10:49

"Always America seemed too big, too vast, too remote and too American.

1:10:491:10:55

"I remember the night we heard about the number one.

1:10:551:10:59

"I said to John, 'There can be nothing more important.'

1:10:591:11:04

"Adding a tentative, 'Can there?'"

1:11:041:11:06

# Oh, yeah, I'll tell you something

1:11:151:11:19

# I think you'll understand

1:11:191:11:22

# When I say that something

1:11:221:11:26

# I wanna hold your hand

1:11:261:11:30

# I wanna hold your hand

1:11:301:11:34

# I wanna hold your hand

1:11:341:11:37

# And when I touch you... #

1:11:371:11:40

"Whatever happens tomorrow, one thing is certain.

1:11:401:11:45

"It must not be allowed to look after itself.

1:11:451:11:50

"Tomorrow must be under my control.

1:11:501:11:53

"Yesterday was a wonderful day.

1:11:531:11:56

"It was warm and the sun shone and The Beatles were brilliant. Today is nice too.

1:11:561:12:03

"There's still no change in the weather, but we must be on our guard.

1:12:031:12:09

"It might be as well to carry our raincoats. Then it won't rain.

1:12:091:12:13

"It's a great privilege being the weatherman, keeping The Beatles dry.

1:12:131:12:18

"I enjoy it far too much to relax.

1:12:181:12:21

"However much I socialise with the famous,

1:12:211:12:25

"best of all and far beyond anything that money can buy,

1:12:251:12:29

"I love to lean on my elbows and watch the curtain rise on

1:12:291:12:34

"John, Paul, George, Ringo, Billy, Tommy, Cilla. They've stunned the world.

1:12:341:12:40

"I think the sun WILL shine tomorrow."

1:12:401:12:44

# ..I think you'll understand

1:12:441:12:47

# When I feel that something

1:12:471:12:51

# I wanna hold your hand

1:12:511:12:55

# I wanna hold your hand

1:12:551:12:59

# I wanna hold your hand

1:12:591:13:02

# I wanna hold your ha-a-a-a-and! #

1:13:021:13:08

Subtitles by BBC Subtitling, 1998

1:13:551:13:58

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