Fact #105891
When:
Short story:
The Beatles perform All You Need Is Love on the BBC's international tv broadcast, Our World from studios in Wembley, London, England, UK, Europe.
Full article:
Steve Race (tv presenter) : We started at 2pm on the Sunday by which time the studio was piled high with floral displays and balloons. The Beatles climbed into their garish psychedelic outfits. Cameramen cursed as they cannoned into floral displays that hampered their tracking lines.
Richard Lush (Abbey Road tape operator) : Lennon was very nervous that day. He might not have looked it but I was used to working with him and you get to know when someone is nervous.
Steve Race : I dashed home to collect my daughter Nicola and we were pleased when Paul came to my booth to say hello. I introduced Nicola to him and he immediately replied "Ah yes," and sang the first few bars of a tune I'd written for her which had won the Ivor Novello Award for Instrumental of the Year in 1962. We were both delighted.
Tony Bramwell : I remember Mick arriving with this beautiful painted coat on, and Eric had just had his hair permed again, as had Gary Leeds (Walker Brothers). It was the thing to do that year because Hendrix was just becoming big. Rosy Nash and Jennifer Eccles were there, she was always fun.
There was no pecking order. Everyone just sat down where the gear was set up, under Paul's feet! Keith Richards sat next to Ringo, then everyone else tried to sit next to John, as he was the vocalist, and likely to get the best shots. I think Mick was a bit embarrassed, because the Stones were trying to do Satanic Majesty's at the same time, and here he was, seemingly at the beck and call of The Beatles.
Geoff Emerick (engineer) : We went on the air forty seconds early. George (Martin) and I were having a shot of Scotch when we got the word over the intercom. There was a big panic to hide the bottle and the glasses. We were shoving them under the mixing console!
George Martin : The tv producer was actually giving us the countdown, and he suddenly said 'Oh no, quick, I've lost contact with the studio. George, you'll have to relay everything for me." I just fell around laughing. I thought, well, if you're going to make a fool of yourself, you might as well do it in front of 200 million people.
Mike McCartney (musician, brother of Paul) : When the 'live' button was pressed, I did my best to liven things up a little by throwing streamers, pulling faces behind the cameras, holding cue cards up with 'Smile' and 'Laf now' on them, and was most impressed to see that Anne Danher, one of my relatives, immediately grasped the idea and scrawled, in lipstick, a message to our aunt in Australia - 'Come home, Milli, all is forgiven'. I made sure they got that on camera.
Tony Bramwell : Much of the backing was on tape but there were some live vocals, John's mainly, and some of the musicians were live. Paul's She Loves You and Dave Mason's bits on the piccolo trumpet. I stood at the back wearing one of those sandwich boards, and then came in towards the end.
Barry Miles (friend of Paul McCartney) : It was marvellous, because of all the pot that was being smoked right in front of the cameras. Jagger and I were sharing a huge joint.
Terry Reid (Peter Jay And The Jaywalkers] : Everyone was running around with balloons. I wondered what the hell was going on. There were just as many people in the corridor as there were in the studio. (Source : interview in The Independent, 3 July, 2007)
Tony Bramwell : The girls wanted to dance around, but they weren't allowed to as they would have got in the way of the cameras, so everyone had to sit politely until the final choruses when everyone could join in. Everyone had bells on anyway so there was a lot of jangling and noises and hand clapping at the end. Nobody was difficult, only the EMI staff and the BBC technicians who were incapable of joining in with anything that was unexpected.
Steve Race : When it was over, the producer Derek Burrell-Davis thanked everybody, but the party carried on into the night. On the way home, Nicola was unusually silent. I think she was quietly fancying Paul. As for me, I was singing over and over again "Love is all you need".
Ringo Starr (drummer, The Beatles) : We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love. It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time. I even get excited now when I realise that's what it was for: peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.
(Source : Anthology)
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Richard Lush (Abbey Road tape operator) : Lennon was very nervous that day. He might not have looked it but I was used to working with him and you get to know when someone is nervous.
Steve Race : I dashed home to collect my daughter Nicola and we were pleased when Paul came to my booth to say hello. I introduced Nicola to him and he immediately replied "Ah yes," and sang the first few bars of a tune I'd written for her which had won the Ivor Novello Award for Instrumental of the Year in 1962. We were both delighted.
Tony Bramwell : I remember Mick arriving with this beautiful painted coat on, and Eric had just had his hair permed again, as had Gary Leeds (Walker Brothers). It was the thing to do that year because Hendrix was just becoming big. Rosy Nash and Jennifer Eccles were there, she was always fun.
There was no pecking order. Everyone just sat down where the gear was set up, under Paul's feet! Keith Richards sat next to Ringo, then everyone else tried to sit next to John, as he was the vocalist, and likely to get the best shots. I think Mick was a bit embarrassed, because the Stones were trying to do Satanic Majesty's at the same time, and here he was, seemingly at the beck and call of The Beatles.
Geoff Emerick (engineer) : We went on the air forty seconds early. George (Martin) and I were having a shot of Scotch when we got the word over the intercom. There was a big panic to hide the bottle and the glasses. We were shoving them under the mixing console!
George Martin : The tv producer was actually giving us the countdown, and he suddenly said 'Oh no, quick, I've lost contact with the studio. George, you'll have to relay everything for me." I just fell around laughing. I thought, well, if you're going to make a fool of yourself, you might as well do it in front of 200 million people.
Mike McCartney (musician, brother of Paul) : When the 'live' button was pressed, I did my best to liven things up a little by throwing streamers, pulling faces behind the cameras, holding cue cards up with 'Smile' and 'Laf now' on them, and was most impressed to see that Anne Danher, one of my relatives, immediately grasped the idea and scrawled, in lipstick, a message to our aunt in Australia - 'Come home, Milli, all is forgiven'. I made sure they got that on camera.
Tony Bramwell : Much of the backing was on tape but there were some live vocals, John's mainly, and some of the musicians were live. Paul's She Loves You and Dave Mason's bits on the piccolo trumpet. I stood at the back wearing one of those sandwich boards, and then came in towards the end.
Barry Miles (friend of Paul McCartney) : It was marvellous, because of all the pot that was being smoked right in front of the cameras. Jagger and I were sharing a huge joint.
Terry Reid (Peter Jay And The Jaywalkers] : Everyone was running around with balloons. I wondered what the hell was going on. There were just as many people in the corridor as there were in the studio. (Source : interview in The Independent, 3 July, 2007)
Tony Bramwell : The girls wanted to dance around, but they weren't allowed to as they would have got in the way of the cameras, so everyone had to sit politely until the final choruses when everyone could join in. Everyone had bells on anyway so there was a lot of jangling and noises and hand clapping at the end. Nobody was difficult, only the EMI staff and the BBC technicians who were incapable of joining in with anything that was unexpected.
Steve Race : When it was over, the producer Derek Burrell-Davis thanked everybody, but the party carried on into the night. On the way home, Nicola was unusually silent. I think she was quietly fancying Paul. As for me, I was singing over and over again "Love is all you need".
Ringo Starr (drummer, The Beatles) : We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love. It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time. I even get excited now when I realise that's what it was for: peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.
(Source : Anthology)