0:00:05 > 0:00:10This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:31 > 0:00:32Hello.
0:00:32 > 0:00:40Although it's 1.00pm at home, Grandstand begins six hours earlier.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43The time now is just after 7.00am
0:00:43 > 0:00:47and I'm on the observation platform at London airport.
0:00:48 > 0:00:56By February 1964, Brian Epstein had steered The Beatles to glory on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Not only were they number one in the US Top 20,
0:01:00 > 0:01:07on their first visit there they'd achieved the highest TV audience ever on the Ed Sullivan Show.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13Back home, Epstein's stable of stars had occupied the top position in the charts
0:01:13 > 0:01:16for 37 weeks in 1963.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22In a year, he'd gone from running a record department in his father's store,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26to being one of the world's most successful impresarios.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32When he returned to Britain, he was still living at his parents' home in Liverpool.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46# She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
0:01:46 > 0:01:49# She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51# With a love like that
0:01:51 > 0:01:54# You know you should be glad...#
0:01:54 > 0:01:59COMMENTATOR: This is the music Liverpool has sent around the world.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02# I think it's only fair
0:02:02 > 0:02:05# If I should hurt you, too
0:02:05 > 0:02:07# Apologise to her
0:02:07 > 0:02:09# Because she loves you
0:02:09 > 0:02:12# And you know that can't be bad...#
0:02:18 > 0:02:23INTERVIEWER: The Mersey Sound, a phrase you don't like,
0:02:23 > 0:02:29was coined because of the crop of groups coming from Liverpool.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32- EPSTEIN:- It was a peg to hang it on.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37The Liverpool area seemed to give it some strength.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41But you've moved to London. Is that a mistake?
0:02:41 > 0:02:45It's a pity. I've moved with great reluctance,
0:02:45 > 0:02:50because I like Liverpool and its people, obviously.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53I probably owe the city quite a lot.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02REPORTER: How much to do get? What's your percentage?
0:03:02 > 0:03:09Well, it's fairly well known in broad terms that I take 25%.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13Some people accuse you of taking more than that.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16People say you might have 60% of them,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and 85% of your other artists.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23Well, I don't. I make no difference between any of the artists.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26They all have similar contracts.
0:03:29 > 0:03:35# Little children, you'd better tell on me
0:03:37 > 0:03:40# I'm telling you, little children
0:03:41 > 0:03:44# You'd better tell what you see...#
0:03:44 > 0:03:48REPORTER: What about the staff to support this?
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Well, it varies slightly, because we've just moved to London.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58We're gathering new staff, but it's approximately 25.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04- What sort of size of empire do you have?- We have seven acts.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08I call them acts, because five of those are groups
0:04:08 > 0:04:15and two are soloists. That's Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Gerry and the Pacemakers, Tommy Quickly,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22The Fourmost, Cilla Black and Sounds Incorporated.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28Let's talk about your family. What sort of family is your family?
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Middle class background, perhaps a little better.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Shop - you know, retail stores.
0:04:36 > 0:04:42Old, established. It was started by my grandfather.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47Principally in furniture. When I left school, at the age of 16,
0:04:47 > 0:04:55I had ambitions to be a dress designer and an actor, but my family weren't keen on this.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59I allowed myself to be swayed into the business.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Were you into music at school?
0:05:02 > 0:05:06'I was taught the violin and was interested in classical music.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10'I went to a lot of concerts in Liverpool.'
0:05:10 > 0:05:18- Do you think that modern pop is good music?- I don't know about good. But it's an art form anyway.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22- An art form? You pitch it as high as that?- Yes.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27INTERVIEWER: Would you be here without Brian Epstein?
0:05:27 > 0:05:32- CILLA BLACK:- No. Nobody wanted to know about Liverpudlians,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36until Brian Epstein came on the scene.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40It was a handicap if you were one, because of the accent.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43How's he changed you?
0:05:43 > 0:05:49Erm... You'd have to ask my parents and friends. I can't see any change.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53But I know I'm more temperamental now.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56# Anyone who had a heart
0:05:56 > 0:06:01# Would take me in his arms and love me too
0:06:01 > 0:06:06- CILLA BLACK:- # Who, couldn't be another heart that hurt me
0:06:06 > 0:06:12# Like you hurt me and be so untrue
0:06:12 > 0:06:14# Anyone who had a heart
0:06:14 > 0:06:17# Would simply take me in his arms
0:06:17 > 0:06:20# And always love me
0:06:20 > 0:06:28# Why won't you? #
0:07:00 > 0:07:07I think he wanted to live in one of the more exclusive residential areas.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10You know, he was newly rich.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14At the time, Brian was very very into modern erm...
0:07:14 > 0:07:18architecture and modern furniture.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22This suited perfectly, because it was a brand new building
0:07:22 > 0:07:26and considered rather splendid in those days,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29of erm...the early '60s.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34Now, I looked at it recently, it doesn't look too splendid at all.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41George and Ringo, who were bachelors, had no homes.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45He found them accommodation in the same building.
0:07:45 > 0:07:51They looked to Brian to help them find somewhere and he found this.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58- WOMAN: - He has enormous respect for them.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04They are called "the boys". His other acts are "my other artists".
0:08:04 > 0:08:10The boys called him Eppy. He respects them and their music,
0:08:10 > 0:08:16unlike a lot of managers who make a fortune out of their clients and, I think, despise them.
0:08:16 > 0:08:24What about taste? Is he interested in the effect he's having in this worldwide mania?
0:08:24 > 0:08:30I think it's hard for him to affect The Beatles, as far as taste goes.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33They admire him, because he's got some.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38They like the fact he has a Bentley, a Jaguar and a coloured servant.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43They like the riches and the glamour that his life has
0:08:43 > 0:08:48and the fact that he talks differently from them.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52The fact that he's well off anyway, they like,
0:08:52 > 0:08:59and the fact that he's used to wearing a dinner jacket. They think he's a cut above.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06Every morning, Mr Epstein had the same thing for breakfast.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Grapefruit...and tea.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12He liked it, er...
0:09:12 > 0:09:15with the segments separated.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18He didn't even have sugar with it.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26He always sort of... had a white shirt and a dark suit...
0:09:28 > 0:09:31..and black shoes. Always black shoes.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38The tea was just ordinary tea bags. Nothing grand.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41I think he had two spoons of sugar.
0:09:43 > 0:09:49Every day, come rain or shine, breakfast consisted of the same thing.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55Grapefruit and tea, until the cows came home.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01He said I was his "personal man".
0:10:03 > 0:10:06But I mean, he wasn't...
0:10:06 > 0:10:11He'd never had anybody as a servant for himself.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13He was learning.
0:10:13 > 0:10:19Because we hear that Epstein came from this well-to-do family...
0:10:19 > 0:10:24But if you looked at his apartment during the day, it was all G-plan.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Let's go to Hullabaloo, London. Mr Brian Epstein!
0:10:32 > 0:10:35APPLAUSE
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Hello again from London Hullabaloo.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48This week, it is my pleasure to introduce a beautiful girl
0:10:48 > 0:10:52who recently a name for herself - Marianne Faithfull.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59I know we looked at them as being very provincial, very straight
0:10:59 > 0:11:04and sort of a little bit behind London people,
0:11:04 > 0:11:10which is very patronising and not really true. Brian crossed the line.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15He was quite a lot in the grown-up world,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18but also able to play with us.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24# I'll send away all my false pride
0:11:27 > 0:11:30# And I'll forsake all of my life
0:11:32 > 0:11:36# Yes, I'll be as true as true can be
0:11:39 > 0:11:42# If you'll come and stay with me...#
0:11:44 > 0:11:49'I think that what Brian Epstein realised
0:11:49 > 0:11:55'was that we were almost a new form.'
0:11:55 > 0:12:01In some ways, the actual artists - and I consider myself one of them...
0:12:01 > 0:12:07There wasn't much that had gone before that was quite like me or John Lennon or Mick Jagger.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12The only person who was like Mick - I remember discussing with Brian -
0:12:12 > 0:12:18was somebody like Nijinski or Nureyev or Valentino, maybe.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24But still, it was a not much understood form, yet.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27But Brian understood all that.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32He was a grown-up and we needed a few people like that.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38How long is it since you laid the first track on As Tears Go By?
0:12:38 > 0:12:42- About six months ago. - What was the story behind it?
0:12:42 > 0:12:44I met Andrew Oldham.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49He asked me to make a record, as he thought my face would sell.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54- What did you think?- Fine. Perhaps I have.- Had you sung before?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57- 'No.- Not at all?'
0:12:58 > 0:13:02He was going on a hunch and an idea
0:13:02 > 0:13:08and he was very afraid of being shot down in flames, of being unmasked.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11If you think about the period,
0:13:11 > 0:13:16of England at this time and being gay, and being powerful,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and being rich, and having a vision -
0:13:19 > 0:13:27it was all quite a combustible and dangerous mix that could go up in flames any minute.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30But amid all the gaiety and glamour,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33how ruthless does Epstein find the business?
0:13:33 > 0:13:39- INTERVIEWER: How ruthless do you think you've got to be?- Er...
0:13:39 > 0:13:44Not very. It may be a fault of mine that I'm not ruthless enough.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Do you feel that you exploit teenagers?
0:13:48 > 0:13:51- No.- Talent?- No.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55I develop teenage talent, not exploit it.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59# Life
0:13:59 > 0:14:02# Goes on day after day
0:14:05 > 0:14:08# Hearts
0:14:08 > 0:14:11# Torn in every way
0:14:14 > 0:14:18# So ferry across the Mersey
0:14:18 > 0:14:22# Because this land's the place I love
0:14:22 > 0:14:25# And here I'll stay
0:14:28 > 0:14:31# People
0:14:31 > 0:14:34# They rush everywhere...#
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Brian wasn't an ordinary man.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42He got fascinated by things and ran with them 100%.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Brian and I always went on holiday together.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51The first big holiday we took,
0:14:51 > 0:14:57since he became a rich impresario, was in the spring of '64,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00when we went to Spain for the bullfights.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15A lot of these matadors came from poverty-stricken families
0:15:15 > 0:15:22and were found and developed by these powerful managers.
0:15:29 > 0:15:37He was very knowledgeable about bullfighters, since he managed the only English one, Henry Higgins.
0:15:37 > 0:15:44I think his fascination with bullfighting and bullfighters was the danger of it.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49Brian was always fascinated by dangerous situations.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54It's almost as if danger was a turn on for him.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57But psychologically,
0:15:57 > 0:16:04he used to talk about this instant confrontation with danger and death,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07right before his eyes.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Brian was a man of many moods.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20As many people who met him, if you interview each of them,
0:16:20 > 0:16:25you will get an impression of a multi-faceted person.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36Bullfighters to him were what The Beatles were to many music fans.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39They were his idols.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52I suppose bullfighting isn't that surprising. It's a spectacle.
0:16:52 > 0:17:00It's grandiose. It attracts a lot of other highly intellectual and interesting people.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05We saw Ken Tynan there, who we knew from London,
0:17:05 > 0:17:11who introduced us to Orson Welles and they were part of this group,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15who went from bullring to bullring, all around Spain.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20They were fascinated to meet him and we became part of them.
0:17:20 > 0:17:26It was great fun for Brian to be hanging out with those people,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29who respected him as a known quantity.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33He'd become famous. They respected him.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37He'd turned the entertainment world around.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41For the address of Elvis Presley.
0:17:41 > 0:17:445451...and it's Colonel Parker?
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Fine. Thank you very much indeed. Bye-bye.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53Write a cable there. "Mr Presley, stop.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56"Boys and myself, er...
0:17:56 > 0:17:59"most appreciative...
0:18:00 > 0:18:02"..of...
0:18:02 > 0:18:05"er...gesture.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13"Regards and best wishes."
0:18:16 > 0:18:19BOB DYLAN: # Ramona, come closer
0:18:19 > 0:18:22# Shut softly your watery eyes
0:18:25 > 0:18:31# The pangs of your sadness will pass as your senses will rise...#
0:18:31 > 0:18:38Were you timid about going into new technical areas without a great deal of experience?
0:18:38 > 0:18:45Not really, because one studies quite a lot, from an outsider's point of view
0:18:45 > 0:18:50and I managed The Beatles and the others without any experience.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58HE SIGHS
0:18:58 > 0:19:03WABC is the...the er... broadcasting station.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06< Yes. The ABC network.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10< It's one of the three big ones in America.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14I gave erm...an interview to them...
0:19:14 > 0:19:19- NAT WEISS:- 'Brian was also getting adjusted to an American mentality.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22'As he became more involved with the US,
0:19:22 > 0:19:27'he became more open, professionally and personally.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30'He felt like a liberated person.'
0:19:30 > 0:19:33- < There's nothing like this in England?- No.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37You can't call into a programme for a conversation.
0:19:37 > 0:19:45Because the boys have been speaking on the telephone and listening to it on the set.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48PAUL McCARTNEY: We were in New York
0:19:48 > 0:19:55and Bob Dylan came to visit with a couple of people, friends of his
0:19:55 > 0:19:59and they were the people who had the party.
0:20:00 > 0:20:07- Hello, WI 10-10!- 'That was the first night we all smoked pot.'
0:20:07 > 0:20:10The manager's name is Mr Brian Epstein.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15George and I were on this bed and Brian was lying grandly, as he would.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20He was very grand. Brian's... Oh!
0:20:20 > 0:20:24This was Brian's expression. "What do you think?" "Oh!"
0:20:24 > 0:20:26You knew exactly what he meant.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30So he's lying on the bed, beautifully dressed.
0:20:30 > 0:20:36I have this image of him with tiny butt, like an old tramp,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41trying to be graceful with this terrible little fag end.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45We all got stoned and we're giggling. It was giggling time.
0:20:45 > 0:20:53We're giggling uncontrollably and Brian was looking at himself, going "Jew". Hysterical.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08# You wouldn't read my letter if I wrote you
0:21:10 > 0:21:16# You ask me not to call you on the phone...#
0:21:16 > 0:21:20McCARTNEY: We would go to a late-night drinking club.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25There were often all men there, but we didn't go, "Ooh, it's all men."
0:21:25 > 0:21:30It was just that happened to be the nature of the club.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36- NAT WEISS:- There was a bar called Kelly's Bar on 45th Street
0:21:36 > 0:21:42between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, which was a famous servicemen's bar.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48Just across the street from Kelly's was the Peppermint Lounge.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53There was another country-and-western place - The Wagon Wheel.
0:21:53 > 0:22:00We used to go there. That was a rough and wild place and Brian liked that too.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05Brian was always attracted to a, sort of, crass macho person.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08A hard hat construction worker type.
0:22:08 > 0:22:15# You gave up the only one that ever loved you
0:22:16 > 0:22:24# And went back to the wild side of life. #
0:22:26 > 0:22:32He told me about the fact that he had to move his business to London,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35that he had to expand a great deal.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40There was a lot of work to do. He didn't like office work.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44He did like to have around him people he knew.
0:22:49 > 0:22:56He said there were lots of people in London who would love to work for The Beatles' management.
0:22:56 > 0:23:02He was leery of a lot of people's motives, so I agreed to work for him.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05I knew nothing about pop music,
0:23:05 > 0:23:11the music or entertainment business. I didn't like pop music.
0:23:12 > 0:23:19At the time I joined NEMS, there were a lot of outstanding problems, matters, concerns.
0:23:19 > 0:23:27One of the most difficult items was that concerning the merchandising of Beatles related objects.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32Wigs, pens, guitars, heaven knows what and it transpired, I found out,
0:23:32 > 0:23:39that manufacturers had approached Brian and asked him for the rights
0:23:39 > 0:23:43to manufacture and sell Beatles related objects.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47The deal which they had done with Brian
0:23:47 > 0:23:53was for them to do the licensing, collect the income
0:23:53 > 0:23:58and pay NEMS, for the account of The Beatles, 10% of the proceeds.
0:24:01 > 0:24:07Looking at it now, and then, this was extraordinary. It should've been reversed.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12The Beatles should've got 90% and the licensors,
0:24:12 > 0:24:18who were in fact no more than agents, should have got a small agency commission.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24Brian realised it was a bad deal and he only got 10% for The Beatles
0:24:24 > 0:24:28from all these enormous payments being made.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32The effect of...this...
0:24:33 > 0:24:39..unhappy experience on Brian was to depress him very considerably.
0:24:41 > 0:24:47McCARTNEY: To give him his due, we did not know about those things.
0:24:47 > 0:24:53British people at that time didn't know about that stuff.
0:24:53 > 0:24:59I think the problems arose in as much as he was from Liverpool.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04He had the theatricality, but he hadn't done this before.
0:25:04 > 0:25:11I think some of the deals that he got us were great for the time, but not as it turned out.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16I can say, "He could've done that," but no-one knew about that then.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It was very early days.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35We were making it up as we went along. Everything.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41What Brian did in business, what we did in our social lives, was all...
0:25:41 > 0:25:44We did it as we went along.
0:25:51 > 0:25:58Brian and I would be in the office during the day and he had the NEMS company to run.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03At night, we would have dinner and then go to clubs.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08You couldn't go just anywhere, because they'd be mobbed.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12They were very small, incredibly small.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17The first one I remember was The Ad Lib, then there was The Scotch.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22Later, there was The Cromwellian. They were very exclusive.
0:26:22 > 0:26:28You had to be a Rolling Stone or a Beatle or some such person.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32MAN READS: "It was best to arrive at midnight.
0:26:32 > 0:26:40"If you were one of the chosen few, you'd be let in to join the cast of gossip-column fantasy.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43"Business rumours abounded in The Scotch.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47"We learnt how little Epstein got for The Beatles,
0:26:47 > 0:26:53"how a manager was threatened for wooing a group,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55"and who gave whom the clap."
0:27:04 > 0:27:11As a manager, you had to aspire to be Brian, manager of the biggest success ever.
0:27:11 > 0:27:17There was this innate jealousy of not being as big as he was.
0:27:17 > 0:27:24Therefore, to have dinner with him and get second-hand the experience and all you wanted to ask.
0:27:24 > 0:27:30Everybody wanted to ask what it's like being The Beatles or their manager.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Do you ever envy The Beatles?
0:27:34 > 0:27:38- No. No. - What DON'T you envy about them?
0:27:38 > 0:27:43Er... Well, obviously, I couldn't do what they do.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45It's not my job.
0:27:45 > 0:27:52Stress has been on being gay or fancying John Lennon,
0:27:52 > 0:27:57but it was more being a loner and then part of a group. That was it.
0:27:57 > 0:28:03That brought him into a broader group. He wanted to be one of them.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06That's what he could never have.
0:28:06 > 0:28:12Just once, he stood at the back with the girls at an American concert
0:28:12 > 0:28:15and he screamed with the girls.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19He said it was what he always wanted to do.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23He'd spent his whole life being restrained.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27He became the mad fan he wanted to be.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34I thought he was a very nice, sweet man,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37who was very lonely.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44He was lonely because he couldn't find a partner.
0:28:44 > 0:28:50The only partners he could find were the ones that he had to pick up.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54He had two affairs that I knew of.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59One was an actor called Michael and it was wonderful.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04Then he had this lover boy that he picked up in California
0:29:04 > 0:29:09and brought back from their second tour of America.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12This was Dizz Gillespie.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15Dizz looked a bit like Gene Pitney.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18A clean-cut sort of young man.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22As far as I was concerned,
0:29:22 > 0:29:28it was a nice time, because Epstein was playing host.
0:29:34 > 0:29:43- PETER BROWN:- All the time I knew him, I don't think he had any long-term relationship.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48I think, partly, it could've been he wasn't comfortable being gay
0:29:48 > 0:29:54and therefore, I suppose that led to an unsuccessful relationship.
0:29:54 > 0:30:00The inability to have one, because it was not an ideal way to live.
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Subconscious as it may have been, I don't think that was unusual.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12One evening,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16he wanted me to cook dinner for his mother and father.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21He and Dizz were there, so I went out and did the usual thing.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26Grapefruit, large Dover soles, veg and a simple pudding.
0:30:28 > 0:30:34And we were...halfway through the meal when Dizz stood up...
0:30:34 > 0:30:40and said something nasty to Epstein and walked out the flat,
0:30:40 > 0:30:47whereupon Queenie and Harry were sitting there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.
0:30:47 > 0:30:53Then Epstein left the flat, leaving me and Harry and Queenie there and...
0:30:53 > 0:31:00they decided to get their coats, because there wasn't going to be a complete meal that evening.
0:31:00 > 0:31:08As they got ready to leave the flat, Queenie said to me, "Lonnie, look after my son."
0:31:30 > 0:31:35ANNOUNCER: The number one showman of the world and most importantly,
0:31:35 > 0:31:40- a truly great American. Mr Ed Sullivan!- Thank you, Ted!
0:31:40 > 0:31:42DEAFENING CROWD NOISE
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Now, ladies and gentlemen...
0:31:47 > 0:31:53honoured by their country, decorated by their Queen...
0:31:54 > 0:31:59..and loved here in America. Here are The Beatles!
0:32:02 > 0:32:07It was always "the boys". Brian always referred to "the boys".
0:32:07 > 0:32:12And always the security right - have you taken care of this?
0:32:12 > 0:32:15Planning in advance for their safety.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23The stage was right there, behind the pitcher's mound on second base.
0:32:24 > 0:32:30I was standing right about there... when the boys came out...
0:32:30 > 0:32:34with Brian, as proud as he could be.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38They rushed out...
0:32:38 > 0:32:41to incredible screams, to the stage.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47CROWD SCREAMS
0:33:12 > 0:33:15# It's been a hard day's night
0:33:16 > 0:33:19# And I've been working like a dog
0:33:19 > 0:33:22# It's been a hard day's night
0:33:22 > 0:33:25# I should be sleeping like a log
0:33:25 > 0:33:28# But when I get home to you I find the things that you do
0:33:28 > 0:33:31# Make me feel all right...#
0:33:31 > 0:33:33SCREAMING DROWNS OUT MUSIC
0:33:33 > 0:33:39- EPSTEIN:- In terms of popular music, The Beatles express a cross quality
0:33:39 > 0:33:42of happiness and tragedy.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46This is what great entertainment is made up of.
0:33:46 > 0:33:47# ..a hard day's night
0:33:47 > 0:33:51# I should be sleeping like a log...#
0:33:51 > 0:33:57I'm very much a Beatle fan. I realise I've always been like this.
0:33:57 > 0:34:05I felt, probably, everything that any erm...male Beatles fan has ever felt.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09All the things I've liked is what the fans like.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13And more, because of the personal relationship
0:34:13 > 0:34:21and the marvellous quality in their music and general manner is that they, in fact,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25do original things as they go along. Their songs are new.
0:34:25 > 0:34:31So are their performances, in different, small, subtle ways.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33# I had a hard day's night...#
0:34:33 > 0:34:37PAUL McCARTNEY: We can't read music.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42But what we do, we do by ear. We just picked it up and put it down.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47We don't bother to analyse it, because it's not worth it.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50# You make me feel all right
0:34:50 > 0:34:53# You know I feel all right
0:34:53 > 0:34:58# You know I feel all right. #
0:35:04 > 0:35:08- NAT WEISS: - Brian was in unchartered waters.
0:35:08 > 0:35:15When Brian came to America, there were no groups to fill stadiums or Madison Square Garden.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19We had Elvis, in a limited sense...
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Brian created a lot of these things.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26The idea of touring stadiums
0:35:26 > 0:35:31and large arenas and organising all these things was new.
0:35:32 > 0:35:38So Brian was breaking new ground. It became THE manager image.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42To this day, Brian is the image everyone aspires to.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52It was the first of the ballpark concerts.
0:35:52 > 0:35:58The world totally - of show business - totally turned around,
0:35:58 > 0:36:02just as it did a year before at Carnegie Hall.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05It changed show business.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15# Sometimes a man might want to cry
0:36:16 > 0:36:20# Sometimes a man might want to die
0:36:23 > 0:36:27# He wonders why he's standing all alone
0:36:29 > 0:36:33# It's because he's got no love to call his own...#
0:36:35 > 0:36:41A typical day for me was to get to work at ten, go up to the office.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46As I passed his bedroom, there were often notes left for me.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50They could be anything from "Wake me at three"...
0:36:50 > 0:36:54Three o'clock in the afternoon. They could be...
0:36:54 > 0:36:59some money in an envelope. "Please bank my happiness."
0:36:59 > 0:37:02He may have gone to a club, gambling.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06The downstairs... Downstairs was the staff quarters.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09His housekeeper and her husband lived here.
0:37:09 > 0:37:15You went up stairs to the sitting room. Behind that was the study.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18The second floor was his suite.
0:37:18 > 0:37:24You went in through his dressing room, then into his bedroom.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29Then through there to his bathroom, which was unique. All white.
0:37:29 > 0:37:35The whole of one wall was El Cordobes. It was very imposing.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41Then the rest of the top floor was two rooms knocked into one.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46It was the office by day, the play room by night.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49It was where he had his memorabilia
0:37:49 > 0:37:54and his present from Elvis that Elvis and Tom gave him.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58It was just full of Brian's treasures.
0:37:58 > 0:38:05It was where people went at night to play and at the weekend, I put my typewriter under my desk.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13BILLY J KRAMER: I would see Brian on important occasions.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17If it was my birthday, he'd show up.
0:38:17 > 0:38:23He'd always show up with a gift and take me out to dinner.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26When you asked if he changed, I don't think so.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29I think people changed towards him.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Let's face it, he had a difficult life.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37People say he made a fortune, but there was a lot of pressure.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41He was in charge of a lot of people.
0:38:41 > 0:38:47I got annoyed with Brian spending more time with The Beatles.
0:38:47 > 0:38:53I'd say, "How come you've gone a week with The Beatles and one day with me?"
0:38:53 > 0:38:58He'd say, "Gerry, these four guys are the biggest stars.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00"You're a little light bulb."
0:39:00 > 0:39:04I used to get jealous, but I realised in the end,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08Brian was right. He had to give them more time.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23It's the capacity to take a risk voluntarily
0:39:23 > 0:39:27that is quite rare and, I think, to be admired.
0:39:27 > 0:39:33We all run endemic risks when we cross roads, don't we?
0:39:33 > 0:39:38But some people seek risks and take risks voluntarily.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42I think this is a spirit that is to be admired.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46It built the prosperity England enjoys today.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49But gambling is what you make of it.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52It can be squalid or romantic.
0:39:52 > 0:39:58Brian and I looked for other places, the more exclusive gambling clubs.
0:39:58 > 0:40:05The most interesting one at that time was the one John Aspinall ran in Berkeley Square,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08which was the Clairmont Club.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14That was very chic and I think we're just about to go past it.
0:40:14 > 0:40:19It's above Annabel's, which is world renowned.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22I think we're coming up to it here, now.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26This is the Clairmont Club. Just here.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29With the blue door.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Lord Lucan was there quite often.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37There were high stakes. It was big drama.
0:40:38 > 0:40:45- INTERVIEWER: Are you, in your opinion, a particularly good businessman?- As a businessman, fair.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48I've got a business background
0:40:48 > 0:40:52and probably a reasonable business brain.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55I'm no sort of genius.
0:40:55 > 0:41:00What are your defects? Why aren't you better than you think you are?
0:41:00 > 0:41:03I'm probably...sort of...
0:41:03 > 0:41:07too conscious of ideas, rather than erm...
0:41:07 > 0:41:11finance behind ideas.
0:41:12 > 0:41:13# Here I stand
0:41:13 > 0:41:16# Head in hand
0:41:16 > 0:41:19# Turn my face to the wall...#
0:41:19 > 0:41:24Soon, there were so many acts vying for his attention.
0:41:24 > 0:41:31Of course, every act went to NEMS expecting to be treated like The Beatles.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Consequently, there were many acts that didn't happen.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38# Each and every day
0:41:38 > 0:41:42# I can see them laugh at me
0:41:42 > 0:41:47# And I hear them say...#
0:41:47 > 0:41:51Brian was ambitious for his business
0:41:51 > 0:41:55and he wanted to diversify a great deal,
0:41:55 > 0:42:02hence his acquisition of the Savile Theatre, which we all had high hopes for.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07A number of the artists were not very successful, either.
0:42:07 > 0:42:13All these were counterbalanced by the continuing success of The Beatles
0:42:13 > 0:42:21and Cilla Black and Gerry and the Pacemakers, who were high earners and very popular performers.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26MARIANNE FAITHFULL: He may not have been the world's greatest businessman.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31He may well have made mistakes. He probably did. Not that I care.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35I couldn't care less about licensing T-shirt deals.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38It just isn't interesting.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43I don't think it's bad to not be good at that thing.
0:42:43 > 0:42:51He obviously wasn't very good at that, so you could pick holes in Brian Epstein, if you wanted to.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55And...he...
0:42:57 > 0:43:00..to me...had a sort of golden...
0:43:00 > 0:43:07I could see he had this golden future, which wasn't going to be just managing The Beatles and Cilla.
0:43:07 > 0:43:12He was in the English impresario tradition.
0:43:12 > 0:43:19I can't remember all their names, but Binky Beaumont comes to mind and all those kind of guys.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22He fits into the Noel Coward genre.
0:43:22 > 0:43:28He really was in that great actor/manager tradition, actually
0:43:28 > 0:43:33and his greatest moment, for me, was the Savile Theatre.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38It didn't last very long and everybody's forgotten about it.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44INTERVIEWER: Were you any good as an actor?
0:43:44 > 0:43:48Not at the time. I like to think I may have been.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53Has it left you with a distaste for or a real taste for theatre?
0:43:53 > 0:43:57- A real taste for theatre. - Real theatre?- Yes.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01I would like so much to produce and...
0:44:01 > 0:44:06..dare I say it...act in a play.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09What sort of plays?
0:44:09 > 0:44:14Possibly something by Chekhov or a modern straight drama.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18What sort of dramatist?
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Osborne. Something that one knows about.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45Managing, managing artists - what does a manager do for the artist?
0:44:45 > 0:44:51Let's assume The Beatles. Four bright boys - why couldn't they cope with this?
0:44:51 > 0:44:56They wouldn't be bothered to do so, as they are.
0:44:56 > 0:45:01- Would they be where they are now without you?- No, I don't think so.
0:45:01 > 0:45:07They were playing around the clubs in Liverpool and having great fun.
0:45:07 > 0:45:13I don't think they would have bothered to do anything about it or do it right,
0:45:13 > 0:45:20because there's so much work involved in what we call the management,
0:45:20 > 0:45:26or the organisation, of The Beatles that they couldn't do it themselves.
0:45:26 > 0:45:33Do they need YOU as a manager or could anybody manage them who knew the technical side?
0:45:33 > 0:45:37I don't think that anybody could manage them,
0:45:37 > 0:45:42because I don't think The Beatles would BE managed by anyone else.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47- Is it this personal relationship - - I shouldn't say that.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50I think that it's true.
0:45:51 > 0:45:57That was the beginning of the horrendous tours of 1966.
0:45:57 > 0:46:03That was us arriving at Munich airport, Germany, in June, I think, 1966.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Everything had become difficult.
0:46:09 > 0:46:16There'd been Germany, which we'd done on the train, which hadn't been easy.
0:46:16 > 0:46:23It was all that kind of business of hiding away in rooms with sealed...doors,
0:46:23 > 0:46:28with wet towels, so nobody could smell the marijuana being smoked.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46And then we went to Japan, where there was an attempt on their lives
0:46:46 > 0:46:53and this right-wing group promised they would be assassinated at this time.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58This was immediately followed by the Philippines,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02where the awful Mrs Marcos invited us to lunch
0:47:02 > 0:47:07and it was Brian's policy not to go to official functions.
0:47:07 > 0:47:14She turned it round as if it was a stab at the Philippine people. There was a riot.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18I think our lives were in danger.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21It was very bad.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25There were five sort of real big funny-looking fellas,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28with guns and the rest of the gear.
0:47:28 > 0:47:33They just had arranged... It was so obvious they'd arranged
0:47:33 > 0:47:39to give us the worse time possible before we arrived at the airport.
0:47:39 > 0:47:47Brian, literally, was so ill with nerves and horror and feeling it was his fault.
0:47:47 > 0:47:53On the plane from Delhi to London, he came out in hives all over his skin.
0:47:53 > 0:48:00So bad that the pilot radioed ahead and an ambulance met us at the airport.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05INTERVIEWER: Will you change The Beatles' itinerary
0:48:05 > 0:48:10to avoid areas where radio stations burn their records and pictures?
0:48:10 > 0:48:13If any of the promoters were so concerned
0:48:13 > 0:48:19and wished the concert to be cancelled, I wouldn't stop them.
0:48:23 > 0:48:29AMERICAN MAN: The Beatles made a statement that they're better than Jesus himself.
0:48:29 > 0:48:35The Ku Klux Klan, being a religious order, will come out to The Coliseum.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39I will have 50 men in robes and some in the stadium.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48McCARTNEY: We'd had enough of it, with the trouble we ran into.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53I finally agreed with the other guys. I thought we'd tour forever.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57I realised it was getting to be a problem.
0:49:01 > 0:49:08- NAT WEISS:- Brian said this would be the last time The Beatles would perform together.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12He said, "They will never tour again."
0:49:16 > 0:49:19We didn't go to the last concert.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22On that day, erm...
0:49:22 > 0:49:26'Dizz showed up miraculously. This is after two years.
0:49:26 > 0:49:33'Brian assured me - I mean - that he's changed and he's there because he loves Brian.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37'That evening, when I went to get my briefcase,
0:49:37 > 0:49:44'it was gone, so was Brian's briefcase and so was Dizz gone. That depressed Brian.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48'That accounts for his first major depression.'
0:49:48 > 0:49:54That was the beginning of him... of his loss of self-confidence.
0:49:54 > 0:50:00Starting that January, '67, Brian began to go downhill.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05And that was the era that er... That was the acid era.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12He was taking so many drugs. Amphetamines, which fuck you up
0:50:12 > 0:50:18and leave you deeply depressed and then you take uppers and so forth.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23So the combination of the amphetamines, the LSD, the hash -
0:50:23 > 0:50:27who knew what, in fact, was causing what?
0:50:29 > 0:50:35AMERICAN DJ: We are very happy to welcome Brian Epstein of England.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38It's a delight to have you on the show.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43- BRIAN SLURS:- Welcome to America. - And all that kind of jazz.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48A year's difference - it has been great in many fields.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52How has it changed as far as your own thinking...
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Has there been a change for you?
0:50:55 > 0:51:03It's changed because today it takes a long time to break through with anything important.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Nothing that's important breaks through quickly, except...
0:51:07 > 0:51:13In England - many of your listeners won't know about Jimi Hendrix,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16who is nothing to do with me.
0:51:16 > 0:51:22But you can take, for example, Jimi and he's broken through big now.
0:51:22 > 0:51:29I suppose to the general public in England, it looks like an overnight success,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33but no star or...success is born overnight.
0:51:36 > 0:51:42Of course, when I first came over here with Billy Kramer,
0:51:42 > 0:51:45I only knew two people in New York.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49And...really, it was beyond everything then.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Because I didn't... know what was going on.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59One acted sensibly, with common sense...
0:52:00 > 0:52:03..as much as anything else, but the success
0:52:03 > 0:52:07with the records was so unbelievable...
0:52:07 > 0:52:13and the acceptance of the boys... was so great...
0:52:13 > 0:52:18that one didn't quite know what was going on.
0:52:19 > 0:52:25I sold records over a counter in a Liverpool store for a long time.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Six years, I think.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33It was only because I was getting bored with doing that,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37because I could almost anticipate demand,
0:52:37 > 0:52:43that I went away for a little while, to Spain, actually... and came back...
0:52:43 > 0:52:47and... then The Beatles thing happened,
0:52:47 > 0:52:51but that was a long time ago. That was 1961.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55It took a long time to break through.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04JOANNE PETERSON: I felt he was having more and more trouble coping.
0:53:04 > 0:53:10Not with The Beatles, they were never a problem for him to cope with.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13It was the general pressures of life.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15The Beatles never got put on hold.
0:53:15 > 0:53:23He never didn't carry out his duties where The Beatles were concerned. That was the love of Brian's life.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26The Beatles were his life.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31He couldn't conceive life without them. That became a problem for him.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34When we did finish touring,
0:53:34 > 0:53:39I suppose, Brian felt his role was decreasing.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44That was a sadness to him. I think that was what was happening.
0:53:44 > 0:53:51We started to feel we didn't need much management - we're now making Sgt. Pepper.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56Brian kept out. He kept out of our face in the studio.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59We actually wanted him to visit more.
0:53:59 > 0:54:05He was very... "No. I won't interrupt. I'm just...two seconds. Got to go."
0:54:07 > 0:54:11- NEW SPEAKER: - I did worry about that man.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16Sometimes he'd talk. He'd ask about my kids and say how lucky I was.
0:54:16 > 0:54:22That seemed to be one of his things...I think loneliness.
0:54:22 > 0:54:27For all his standing in the crowd, he was lonely.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31He was very shy. Most of the blase bit was acting.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34He was a very shy man.
0:54:34 > 0:54:40Other times he'd be very morose and he wouldn't say a bloody word.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06I rushed round to the house.
0:55:06 > 0:55:12I can't remember, it was late at night, and broke the door down.
0:55:12 > 0:55:19Outside the house was the Bentley Continental which is not conducive to carrying bodies around in.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25I rolled him up in a blanket, threw him over my shoulder
0:55:25 > 0:55:28and got him into the car.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33We rushed him up to Putney Heath.
0:55:34 > 0:55:41Peter Brown was worried that someone might see. Who'd see at that time, wrapped in a blanket!
0:55:41 > 0:55:43They pumped him out.
0:55:43 > 0:55:48He was moaning and crying. I was watching them pump him out.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55MARIANNE FAITHFULL: The drugs already there were hard to handle.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00Being on acid was not the easiest place to live.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03But we managed.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11- NAT WEISS:- He wasn't mainstream. He had no middle-class values.
0:56:11 > 0:56:17He was the Pied Piper of any new...any new attitude.
0:56:38 > 0:56:46- PETER BROWN:- He wanted to get out of the day-to-day activity which he knew he wasn't any good at any more.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51He didn't have the fire and the depression was getting deeper.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55The thing was to eliminate the business
0:56:55 > 0:57:01of having to look after the other groups, managing them, agenting for them and so forth.
0:57:06 > 0:57:11ROBERT STIGWOOD: He just wanted to change his life.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17He wanted to retire from the music business
0:57:17 > 0:57:22and actually manage bullfighters in Spain.
0:57:24 > 0:57:30He wanted me to become joint-managing director of NEMS
0:57:30 > 0:57:37and look after everything there - except The Beatles.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41He gave me an option, I think it was for six months.
0:57:41 > 0:57:47If I paid him, er..£500,000, then the controlling shares -
0:57:47 > 0:57:53it was 51% because his brother and a few others were involved -
0:57:53 > 0:57:57they'd be transferred to me and my company.
0:57:57 > 0:58:02I would control the company - including The Beatles.
0:58:02 > 0:58:11PAUL McCARTNEY: There was no question for us that if we were to be managed, it would be by Brian.
0:58:11 > 0:58:16He said, "Robert Stigwood wants to buy you." We said, "Oh, yeah?"
0:58:16 > 0:58:24He said, "We're having a meeting with him and one of his people." We said, "We're not keen, Brian."
0:58:24 > 0:58:29We waited till the meeting. They were talking about the conditions.
0:58:29 > 0:58:33We said, "We're not going to be sold to ANYONE.
0:58:33 > 0:58:38"You can continue to manage us. We're not going to be sold."
0:58:38 > 0:58:43We said, "If you do actually manage to pull this off,
0:58:43 > 0:58:51"we can promise you one thing, we will record God Save The Queen for every single record we make
0:58:51 > 0:58:54"and we'll sing it out of tune!
0:58:54 > 0:58:59"That is a promise. If this guy buys us, that's what he's buying."
0:58:59 > 0:59:03MUSIC: "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles
0:59:05 > 0:59:09# Love, love, love
0:59:10 > 0:59:14# Love, love, love
0:59:14 > 0:59:18# Love, love, love...#
0:59:50 > 0:59:54# Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
0:59:54 > 0:59:56# It's easy
0:59:59 > 1:00:01# All you need is love... #
1:00:18 > 1:00:23- NAT WEISS:- By June, he was beginning to emerge from depression.
1:00:23 > 1:00:28He had more positive moments than depressive moments.
1:00:28 > 1:00:33At that time, he was in a very creative mode.
1:00:33 > 1:00:39Brian was always concerned about doing something bigger and better than anyone had ever done.
1:00:39 > 1:00:44He arranged for the worldwide broadcast of All You Need Is Love.
1:00:44 > 1:00:48This was to be the biggest TV show in history.
1:00:48 > 1:00:53The Beatles were seen live by 400 million people around the world.
1:00:57 > 1:01:01#..Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
1:01:02 > 1:01:04# It's easy
1:01:07 > 1:01:09# All you need is love
1:01:12 > 1:01:14# All you need is love. #
1:01:16 > 1:01:23'24 Chapel Street, London SW1. August 23rd, 1967.
1:01:23 > 1:01:31'Dear Nat, just got yours this 21st. Sunday and Monday I'd like to take a yacht trip
1:01:31 > 1:01:35'on similar lines to that which we took last year
1:01:35 > 1:01:40'when I came to the States in connection with Jesus Christ.
1:01:40 > 1:01:44'Maybe we could have all manner of pretty, mortal persons aboard.
1:01:44 > 1:01:51'I hope I'm not asking for too many things, but I want this to be a good trip for us both.
1:01:51 > 1:01:57'Love, flowers, bells, be happy and look forward to the future.
1:01:57 > 1:01:59'With love, Brian.'
1:02:02 > 1:02:09This was the last letter that Brian had written me. It was written three days before he died.
1:02:09 > 1:02:15This is also the letter that was introduced at the inquest in London,
1:02:17 > 1:02:25as evidence the Brian Epstein did not commit suicide but that his death was accidental.
1:02:30 > 1:02:35At the time of the August Bank Holiday in 1967,
1:02:37 > 1:02:44Brian invited Peter Brown and myself to stay with him in his house in Sussex.
1:02:44 > 1:02:47We joined him on Friday.
1:02:52 > 1:02:57- PETER BROWN:- His mother stayed, about ten days, at Chapel Street.
1:02:57 > 1:03:01He adored his mother and she adored him.
1:03:01 > 1:03:08This was not long after his father had died. That was one reason why he wanted to look after her.
1:03:08 > 1:03:15After she went back, he felt like playing and what was offered was a weekend in the country.
1:03:15 > 1:03:23JOANNE PETERSON: At 4pm we walked down the stairs of Chapel Street and he was in a very relaxed mood.
1:03:23 > 1:03:27He seemed very sunny.
1:03:27 > 1:03:33He said, "Have a good weekend. I hope it's an enjoyable weekend."
1:03:33 > 1:03:38He got in the car and as he pulled away, he turned and waved and smiled.
1:03:38 > 1:03:42That was the last time I saw Brian alive.
1:03:50 > 1:03:57- PETER BROWN:- There was an idea of some young men who would come for the weekend
1:03:57 > 1:04:00and would be fun to have around.
1:04:00 > 1:04:05They kept saying that they were coming and then didn't come.
1:04:05 > 1:04:09Brian, in his agitated state, was confronted
1:04:09 > 1:04:17with the fact that there was this long weekend yawning ahead with no apparent entertainment arriving
1:04:17 > 1:04:22and all he was stuck with was two of his oldest friends.
1:04:25 > 1:04:29GEOFFREY ELLIS: Brian decided that he would go up to London.
1:04:31 > 1:04:36- PETER BROWN:- He assured me that he was going to be all right.
1:04:36 > 1:04:41Nobody knows for sure, I don't think, what happened that evening.
1:04:41 > 1:04:49He called me the next afternoon, late afternoon, in very, rather, woozy speech.
1:04:49 > 1:04:53He apologised
1:04:53 > 1:04:57for not coming back and for maybe letting us worry.
1:04:57 > 1:05:02Although we knew he was in the house as I'd spoken to the staff.
1:05:02 > 1:05:06He was going to stay in London for another night.
1:05:06 > 1:05:14He was relaxing at home in bed and so Peter Brown and I were left again to our own devices in the house.
1:05:14 > 1:05:19JOANNE PETERSON: On the Sunday, I got a call from Antonio and Maria,
1:05:19 > 1:05:22they were the housekeeper and butler.
1:05:22 > 1:05:30Antonio said that he was very concerned that Brian had come back from Sussex on Friday.
1:05:30 > 1:05:35His car hadn't moved since Saturday, and it was now Sunday lunchtime.
1:05:35 > 1:05:38He was very concerned about Brian.
1:05:40 > 1:05:45I got to Chapel Street, I had a key and let myself in.
1:05:45 > 1:05:52I knocked on the door and called out his name. I called, "Answer the door! Are you there?"
1:05:52 > 1:05:58I then called down to Sussex and spoke to Peter Brown.
1:05:58 > 1:06:01I asked, "Why did Brian come back?"
1:06:01 > 1:06:10He said that Brian was bored. I said, "I'm very concerned. Brian hasn't been out of his room since Saturday.
1:06:10 > 1:06:14"I'm going to have them break the doors down."
1:06:14 > 1:06:18Then I tried Doctor Cowan. He was away.
1:06:18 > 1:06:24I called Peter back. He suggested I call his doctor, John Galway.
1:06:24 > 1:06:30I called him and said that I was concerned about Brian and could he come over. He said he would.
1:06:30 > 1:06:33I called some other people.
1:06:33 > 1:06:38I found Alistair. I asked him to come to the house.
1:06:38 > 1:06:44John Galway arrived. Antonio and John broke the door down.
1:06:44 > 1:06:49I could just see part of Brian in the bed.
1:06:49 > 1:06:54ALISTAIR TAYLOR: Joanne opened the door and pointed at the stairs.
1:06:54 > 1:06:58As I was halfway up, I heard splintering wood.
1:06:58 > 1:07:01The doctor was looking at Brian.
1:07:01 > 1:07:04Brian just looked asleep.
1:07:04 > 1:07:11The room looked so normal. There was a plate of biscuits on the bed,
1:07:11 > 1:07:14some correspondence, typical of Brian.
1:07:14 > 1:07:20A half bottle of bitter lemon. No sign of any alcohol.
1:07:20 > 1:07:27On the bedside-table there were eight pill bottles - prescribed drugs.
1:07:27 > 1:07:30They were all half full.
1:07:30 > 1:07:36I searched the room for anything incriminating and I found one joint in a draw.
1:07:44 > 1:07:49JOANNE PETERSON: Harry had died six weeks before.
1:07:49 > 1:07:52Queenie came and stayed with Brian.
1:07:52 > 1:07:59He was very attentive, he was very caring about his mother - that she had lost Harry.
1:07:59 > 1:08:06He very much cared about her grief and all the rest of it.
1:08:06 > 1:08:14So, the idea that he would kill himself six weeks after Harry died, and that he would do that to Queenie
1:08:14 > 1:08:17just didn't seem possible.
1:08:17 > 1:08:22If it was suicide, I can't imagine why he would have done that.
1:08:22 > 1:08:27Queenie lost her son and her husband within six weeks.
1:08:41 > 1:08:47RINGO STARR: We were in Wales with Maharishi, we'd just gone down.
1:08:47 > 1:08:50I don't know. Somebody came up to us.
1:08:50 > 1:08:56The press were there cos we'd gone down with this strange Indian.
1:08:56 > 1:09:00They said, "Brian's dead."
1:09:00 > 1:09:03We were...I was...
1:09:03 > 1:09:06..stunned and we all were.
1:09:06 > 1:09:11The Maharishi, we went in to him, "What? He's dead."
1:09:11 > 1:09:16He was saying, "Forget it. Be happy."
1:09:16 > 1:09:18Fucking idiot!
1:09:25 > 1:09:33REPORTER: I understand that Maharishi conferred with you. What advice did he give you?
1:09:33 > 1:09:41He told us not to get overwhelmed by grief and whatever thoughts we have about him, to keep them happy.
1:09:41 > 1:09:46Because any thoughts we have will travel to him, wherever he is.
1:09:46 > 1:09:52- REPORTER: Had he met Mr Epstein? - No, but he was looking forward to it.- Tomorrow?- Yes.
1:09:52 > 1:09:56REPORTER: What were your feelings?
1:09:56 > 1:10:01RINGO STARR: The feeling that anyone has when someone close to them dies.
1:10:01 > 1:10:04A little hysterical.
1:10:04 > 1:10:10The other feeling is, "What the fuck? What can I do?"
1:10:10 > 1:10:13I knew that we were in trouble then.
1:10:13 > 1:10:20I didn't have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music.
1:10:20 > 1:10:23I was scared.
1:10:23 > 1:10:27I thought, "We've fucking had it now."
1:10:27 > 1:10:30MUSIC: Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton
1:10:37 > 1:10:42# When the mists are rising and the rain is falling
1:10:42 > 1:10:47# And the wind is blowing cold across the m-o-o-r
1:10:51 > 1:10:54# I hear the voice of my darling
1:10:54 > 1:11:01# The girl I loved and lost a year ago
1:11:03 > 1:11:09# Johnny, remember me
1:11:10 > 1:11:13# Well it's hard to believe
1:11:13 > 1:11:17# I know that I hear her singing in the sign of the wind
1:11:17 > 1:11:20# Blowing on the tree-tops
1:11:27 > 1:11:35# Johnny, remember me
1:11:35 > 1:11:42# Yes, I'll always remember
1:11:42 > 1:11:48# Till the day I die
1:11:48 > 1:11:52# I'll hear you cry
1:11:52 > 1:11:59# Johnny, remember me. #
1:12:18 > 1:12:26It's my memory of him in his polka-dotted scarf at the back of the crowd, very proud of "his boys".
1:12:26 > 1:12:32No-one else was going to stack up against Brian, in my mind.
1:12:32 > 1:12:37They couldn't have the flair, the wit, the intelligence that Brain had.
1:12:37 > 1:12:42They would be money-managers. Brian was far more than that.
1:12:42 > 1:12:49It gave people the opportunity to make approaches, but they were destined not to work.
1:12:49 > 1:12:52Brian was just too good.
1:12:53 > 1:12:55# Some other guy now
1:12:55 > 1:12:58# Has taken my love away from me
1:12:58 > 1:13:00# Oh now, some other guy now
1:13:00 > 1:13:04# Has taken away my sweet desire, oh now
1:13:04 > 1:13:07# Some other guy now...#
1:13:50 > 1:13:53Subtitles by BBC Subtitling 1998