Take A Look Inside Abbey Road Studios Courtesy of Google.

Step Inside: Google Presents 'Inside Abbey Road: A Virtual Tour'.

This is possibly the coolest thing that Google has done with its street view webcam technology. Of course, the whole taking pictures of every street in the world is pretty cool too as well as enormously helpful, both to stalkers and lost people. They might be the same thing, we may never know.

Studio One: Famous film scores from Star Wars to Harry Potter have been recorded in this room.

Google has effectively mapped out in pictures the most famous studio in the world, Abbey Road Studios in St. John's Wood, London. People who have never been inside can now see the interior of Studio One (which is the BIG one that's normally used for scoring films with large orchestras), Studio Two (Perhaps the most famous studio in the world) & Studio Three (Which is perfect for the more intimate recordings. Great for solo artists who only work with a couple of instruments).

Studio Two: This is the room where most artists want to record in. All because of four guys from Liverpool.

You also get to explore the Mastering suite where so many legendary recordings were and still are transferred from tape to disc and where final alterations could be made before the record was released to the public.

Studio Three: This is the smallest of the 3 studios in the building, perfect for an intimate recording session.

Mastering Suite: Where the finishing touches are put to the albums before the public can hear them! Is that a copy of 'Abbey Road' I spy on the table?

For anyone who's been inside the studios, you'll know that they are not just any studios, they are THE studios. Abbey Road was officially opened by EMI in 1931 by Sir Edward Elgar and in Studio One is where he recorded 'Land Of Hope & Glory' (That's the 'Graduation Theme' for anyone who grew up Stateside). Back then it was just any old recording studio until the late 50s when Cliff Richard and The Shadows started to record there.


It was in June 1962 when a van rolled up in the car park, after driving 200 miles from up north in Liverpool, that the studios destiny was about to be irrevocably changed. The Beatles and George Martin first met on that day and went on to make all their music (bar the Let It Be album) in these studios, including their final recorded album in summer 1969 which, if the studios weren't already famous enough, the album made sure they were for all time. The 'Abbey Road' album has the distinctive cover of George, Paul, Ringo and John walking across the pelican crossing just outside the studio. To this day, fans and tourists alike flock to this site to have their photo taken doing the same thing, much to the annoyance of motorists.

Nobody puts the Hofner in the corner...

Explore Abbey Road Studios for yourself here:

https://insideabbeyroad.withgoogle.com/en

The Beatles In Review: 'Magical Mystery Tour' (1967)

Magical Mystery Tour was conceived of by Paul McCartney on a trip to the United States in early 1967. On the plane back he'd simply drawn a circle.

"Paul comes into the studio one day and says 'I've got this idea' and shows us this piece of paper with a circle on" - Ringo Starr

The circle was eventually made into a pie chart with each section being listed like so:

Paul's idea for Magical Mystery Tour and what the Beatles ended up working from.

 There was no script. The band just hired a bus and had it painted in a lot of colours and had "Magical Mystery Tour" emblazoned on the sides. Hired a load of weird and wonderful characters and jobbing actors and told them to "Be on the coach on Monday morning" and set off for the West country and film whatever happened on the way.

The Walrus was Paul: The whole film was Paul's idea and the others went along with it.

What actually happened was bugger all. This soon became apparent to John, George and Ringo but Paul pressed on, believing in the Beatles mantra that had seen them to the toppermost of the poppermost: Something will happen. But nothing did. Over 10 hours of footage was shot over a two week period which was edited down to an hour.

At RAF West Malling in Kent filming the 'I Am The Walrus' sequence.

When Britons sat down to watch their Televisions on Boxing Day 1967 they saw on BBC One, in black and white, a 40,000 pound, hour long home movie by the Beatles and their friends. Critical reaction was largely negative with people denouncing the Beatles as having "gone too far this time, with their shoveling Spaghetti onto fat women's plates and their Paul McCartney prancing about!"

Where's the Bus?!: Even though the film was considered a flop, the bus is still instantly recognizable as part of Beatles lore.

"We don't say it was a good film. It was our first attempt. If we goofed, then we goofed. It was a challenge and it didn't come off. We'll know better next time but I mean, you couldn't call the Queen's speech a gas either, could you?" - Paul McCartney

Oddly enough, the Queen had commented to head of EMI Joseph Lockwood earlier in the year; "The Beatles are turning awfully funny, aren't they?".

They are the Eggmen: 'I Am The Walrus' in full swing.

Personally, my favourite parts of the film were the Spaghetti shoveling scene with John, Ivor Cutler and Jessie Robins, Victor Spinetti as the Army Sergeant and the Aunt Jessie/Mr. Bloodvessel scene on the Beach. I think it's a good documentation of were the Beatles were at that point in the career; A bit crazy with the death of their manager and hoping a coach to the coast would do them some good. 

Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Beatles on the roof of the bus.

Sadly though, most of the passengers of the Magical Mystery Tour are no longer with us: John, George, Jessie Robins, Victor Spinetti, Derek Royle, Ivor Cutler and Mandy Weet.

End Song: 'Your Mother Should Know' was given the glitzy treatment for the film's big finish.

For a long time, there was confusion over what had actually happened to Mandy Weet who played Miss Wendy Winters in the film. It was later discovered that she had changed her name to Miranda Forbes (Mandy Weet was her birth name) and acted in many small parts on British TV up until 1998. She sadly died in 2001 of leukemia. It was never known whether she changed her name because she was afraid she'd never work again due to the film's poor critical reception but I hope she was proud to have been a part of the Beatles' legacy.

Cast:

John Lennon - Himself/Ticket Salesman/Magician with Coffee/Aunt Jessie's Waiter/Narrator
Paul McCartney - Himself/Major McCartney/Brown Nosed Magician
George Harrison - Himself/Magician looking through Telescope
Richard Starkey - Himself/Talkative Magician
Victor Spinetti - Army Sergeant
Jessie Robins - Ringo's Aunt Jessie
Derek Royle - Jolly Jimmy Johnson
Ivor Cutler - Buster Bloodvessel
Miranda Forbes - Hostess Wendy Winters (as Mandy Weet)

The Beatles In Review: 'Help!' (1965)

The Beatles second feature film was filmed in a "haze of Marijuana" according to Paul McCartney. Indeed, it took several takes to get a scene right due to the Beatles' frequent fits of giggles. Richard Lester was also increasingly annoyed by Paul's tinkering with a song that he was writing on a conveniently placed piano. "If I hear that once more I'll have that bloody piano taken away! What's it called, anyway?" Lester fumed one day "Scrambled Eggs" Paul replied. 'Help!' had a plot line that centred around Ringo, due to his acting in 'A Hard Day's Night' being roundly praised. Ringo had been sent a ring by a fan who was mixed up in an Eastern cult and apparently she cannot be sacrificed to the dreaded "Khali" without the ring so Clang and his minions, including the lovely Ahme, leave for London to get Ringo and chaos breaks out with the Beatles being chased all over the world by the Cult, Two mad scientists and Scotland Yard.

Paul realizes he's accidentally touched a part of the girl he didn't mean to.

By the time Help began filming the Beatles were bonafide world-wide superstars so their box office success with this movie was assured. Despite them being stars of the movie, the band felt like more time was being spent on the supporting cast, which included Leo McKern as the villainous 'Clang'. McKern would go onto find a place in the hearts of the British public as London Barrister Horace Rumpole in the ITV series 'Rumpole of the Bailey' and Eleanor Bron, who it is rumoured had an affair with John during filming. "We felt like extras in our own fucking film!" Lennon complained in an interview years later. Eleanor Bron gives a slightly over the top performance as the double agent Ahme but she serves her purpose.

Fans line up to see the film at a Cinema in Chicago, 1965.

It is generally felt that 'Help!' is a rather disappointing follow up to 'A Hard Day's Night' but I think some of the sequences showcased the Beatles' talent for oddball comedy and the Monty Python Team were watching and listening closely. Victor Spinetti saved the day when the film showed signs of flagging, putting in a wonderful performance as the mad scientist Professor Foot, along with his "fiendish semi-human assistant" Algernon, played with genius subtlety by Roy Kinnear, who's perhaps better remembered for his turn as Veruca Salt's father in the 1971 musical 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory'.

All in all this movie was like Elvis' movies. An excuse to see the Beatles in action and in colour.

Sadly though, some of the cast are no longer with us; John Lennon, George Harrison, Leo McKern, Victor Spinetti, Roy Kinnear, Patrick Cargill, Peter Copley & Alfie Bass.

Cast:

The Beatles - Themselves
Leo McKern - "Clang"
Eleanor Bron - "Ahme"
John Bluthal - "Bhuta"
Victor Spinetti - "Professor Foot"
Roy Kinnear - "Algernon"
Patrick Cargill - "Superindendant Gluck of Scotland Yard"
Peter Copley - "Jeweller"
Warren Mitchell - "Abdul"
Alfie Bass - "Doorman at Indian Restaurant"
Bruce Lacey - "Lawnmower"

L-R: John Lennon, George Harrison, Leo McKern, Victor Spinetti, Roy Kinnear, Patrick Cargill, Alfie Bass & Peter Copley.

The Beatles In Review: 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964)

The Beatles starring in their first feature film at the height of the mania surrounding them was bound to be a success even if they'd just been filmed standing around smoking cigarettes. As it happens, the plot of the film was a day in the life of the Beatles which was the cleverest thing they could have had as a plot as it satirizes the craziness that surrounded them very well and still stands up today as a fresh, hilarious movie. George even met his first wife while working on the film.

The thing about 'A Hard Day's Night' is that it wasn't anything like 'The Girl Can't Help It', a music film which the Beatles loved, in that film, a buxom Jayne Mansfield was being pushed by her Mobster boyfriend (Edmond O'Brien) to be a singing star despite the fact that she couldn't sing and didn't have any interest in being a star. During the course of the movie, every American Rock & Roll Idol of the Beatles performed, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, just about everybody except Elvis was in it. While it served to spur the young Beatles on, the movie itself was an exploitation of what they thought was a fad at the time.

"This bloke's in my spot!" 

'A Hard Day's Night' was no doubt thought of in the same terms and that way of thinking was confirmed by director Richard Lester when, in early 1969, he inquired at United Artists about the existence of deleted scenes and out-takes from the Beatles' films and was told that they'd all been destroyed. Today only photographs remain of scenes that were left out of 'A Hard Day's Night', these include; a scene depicting the four in a pair of prams with John typing and Ringo answering a telephone, Paul McCartney's solo scene when he happens upon a young aspiring actress (played by Isla Blair) rehearsing, a scene where the boys are stuck in a traffic jam with their chauffeur (played by Frank Thornton). The character of Paul's grandfather who Wilfred Brambell plays with relish, may seem a strange character in a movie about a pop group but works, especially with the references to his character in the BBC sitcom 'Steptoe & Son' who is constantly called a "Dirty Old Man" by his onscreen son. Here in A Hard Day's Night, however, he is praised for being very clean! which he seems happy about. John Junkin's character of 'Shake' is instantly likeable, loosely based on Mal Evans, the Beatles longtime roadie and bodyguard, Shake is the Beatles gopher and, like anybody at that time would, loves every minute of it. Norman Rossington plays Norm with a vigour that is in stark contrast to the character he played in 'Carry On Sergeant'. Incidentally, Norman Rossington would go on to star alongside Elvis Presley in 'Double Trouble' in 1967 giving him the distinction of sharing screen time with two giants of the music industry.

"Can we have our ball back?!"

The role that is probably best remembered in 'A Hard Day's Night' is that of Victor Spinetti as the frantic T.V. Director who is desperately trying to get the Beatles to rehearse for their television concert. Spinetti would go on to become extremely good friends with the Beatles, John Lennon in particular, and star in their next feature film and their TV film.

Between takes of the "If I Fell" scene.

Ringo also came in for a round of praise for his solo scenes down by the river with child actor David Janson, who grew up to inherit the role of Herr Flick from Richard Gibson in the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!

A rare colour photograph of Ringo during his "Parading" scene.

Sadly, only a handful of the cast are still alive. John Lennon, George Harrison, Wilfred Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti, Richard Vernon, Edward Malin, Derek Guyler and Robin Ray are all no longer with us.

A Hard Day's Night was brilliant, funny and it captured the Beatles at a time when everything was still somewhat fun in their lives. Every time I see it playing on the telly i think to myself; "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

One of the deleted scenes.

And it's goodnight from them....

Cast:

John Lennon - "John"
Paul McCartney - "Paul"
George Harrison - "George"
Richard Starkey - "Ringo"
Wilfred Brambell - "Paul's Grandfather"
Norman Rossington - "Norm"
John Junkin - "Shake"
Victor Spinetti - "T.V. Director"
Anna Quayle - "Millie"
Derek Guyler - "Police Inspector"
Richard Vernon - "Man on Train"
David Janson - "Charlie - Young boy Ringo befriends"
Edward Malin - "Hotel Waiter"
Lionel Blair - "T.V. Choreographer"
Robin Ray - "T.V. Floor Manager"
Alison Seebohm - "Secretary"

From L-R: John Lennon, George Harrison, Wilfred Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti, Richard Vernon, Robin Ray, Edward Malin & Derek Guyler.