These are some of the behind-the-scenes Beatles photos from A Hard Day's Night and Help!  Unseen photos of The Beatles, taken by a crew member shooting their films, have been sold at auction.

The archive was listed as three lots by auctioneers Richard Winerton in Lichfield, Staffordshire, on Monday and went under the hammer for a total of £1,720. The Beatles photos had a guide price of £500 to £700 and sold for £660, film scripts and movie photos estimated at £750 went for £600, while pop music and 1980s autographs expected to fetch £250 to £350 went for £460.

The collection came to light during a day of filming in Coventry for ITV antiques programme Dickinson's Real Deal.

The collection belonged to Edward Tucker, from Cambridgeshire, who worked for decades in the movie industry, before he died eight years ago aged 83.  Items also included behind-the-scenes images from Help! and A Hard Day's Night, and were brought to auction by Mr Tucker's family.

Photos from the set of A Hard Day's Night feature Ringo Starr filming in April 1964 in Edgehill Road, West Ealing.

Director Richard Lester was in one shot taken while "working out the comedic scene where the hapless drummer is arrested after a woman falls down a hole in the road he covered with his coat," according to the auctioneers.

Other photos showed Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison. The auctioneers said Mr Tucker was a grip - a technician responsible for building and maintaining equipment supporting cameras and other production gear.

Source: Richard Price/bbc.com

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band begins darkly, with tolling bells that Lennon had slowed down in the studio to mimic a horror film he’d recently watched. The bells open “Mother”, a despairing song revealing Lennon’s feelings of abandonment.

But the anguish in “Mother” quickly gives way to “Hold On”, a comforting hymn aimed inward. He was reeling from the chaos of The Beatles’ break-up, global events, and fame. And he needed to be sure he’d survive.

Midway through the album, Lennon sings “Love”, a song one might view as both a declaration and a plea. With The Beatles, he once sang how love is all you need. But the Summer of Love had come and gone. The 1970s arrived, war continued, and so he soothed himself with “Hold On”.
About “Hold On”

Lennon directs the comforting message of “Hold On” mostly at himself, but also at Yoko Ono and the rest of the world. Written against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Lennon’s optimistic lyric reads like a lonesome and desperate appeal.

When you’re by yourself,
And there’s no one else,
You just have yourself,
And you tell yourself,
Just to hold on.

The track was co-produced by Lennon, Ono, and Phil Spector. It features Ringo Starr on drums and Klaus Voormann on bass. And the sparse mix stands apart from the dense and highly orchestrated mixes Spector was famous for creating. Subconsciously, Lennon may have preferred a spacious arrangement to combat his fears at the time. The last thing he needed was Spector’s overwhelming Wall of Sound.

Oh, and when you’re one,
Really one,
Well, you get things done,
Like they’ve never been done,
So, hold on.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Thom Donovan

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Behind every great man there’s a great woman, the saying goes – and now the fabulous four women behind The Beatles are to be portrayed by four great Hollywood actresses.

Skyfall director Sam Mendes, who is producing four linked films, each focusing on a different member of The Beatles, has now cast the Fab Four’s wives for the ambitious project.

White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood, 31, will play George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, while Irish Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, 31, has been cast as Linda McCartney, the muse to many of Paul McCartney’s songs.

Anna Sawai, 33, who has made a name for herself in the US drama series Shogun, will appear as John Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono, and British actress Mia McKenna-Bruce, 28, will play Maureen Cox, the wife of Ringo Starr.

In Mendes’s four films, Saltburn star Barry Keoghan, 33, plays Starr, Fantastic Four actor Joseph Quinn, 31, will be Harrison, leading Triangle Of Sadness cast member Harris Dickinson, 29, takes on the Lennon role and Gladiator II hunk Paul Mescal, 29, will be McCartney.

Irish Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan , 31, has been cast as Linda McCartney, the muse to many of Paul McCartney’s songs

Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney, of British rock group Wings, at Abbey Road Studios to record the album 'Venus And Mars' in 1974

White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood , 31, will play George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd. Guitarist George Harrison poses for a portrait with his Pattie Boyd in 1966. Anna Sawai, 33, who has made a name for herself in the US drama series Shogun, will appear as John Lennon ’s wife Yoko Ono

John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their home at Tittenhurst Park in 1970. 

Source: Katie Hind Consultant/dailymail.co.uk

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The strangest rumour started floating around just as the Beatles were breaking up – that I was dead. We had heard it long before, but suddenly, in that autumn of 1969, stirred up by a DJ in America, it took on a force all its own, so that millions of fans around the world believed I was actually gone.

At one point, I turned to my new wife and asked, “Linda, how can I possibly be dead?” She smiled as she held our new baby, Mary, as aware of the power of gossip and the absurdity of these ridiculous newspaper headlines as I was. But she did point out that we had beaten a hasty retreat from London to our remote farm up in Scotland, precisely to get away from the kind of malevolent talk that was bringing the Beatles down.

But now that over a half century has passed since those truly crazy times, I’m beginning to think that the rumours were more accurate than one might have thought at the time. In so many ways, I was dead … A 27-year-old about-to-become-ex-Beatle, drowning in a sea of legal and personal rows that were sapping my energy, in need of a complete life makeover. Would I ever be able to move on from what had been an amazing decade, I thought. Would I be able to surmount the crises that seemed to be exploding daily?

Source: Paul McCartney/theguardian.com

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On January 30, 1969, for just shy of 45 minutes, The Beatles delivered what would be the final public performance of their decade-long career. A bittersweet but ultimately very cool moment, the Fab Four took to the roof of Apple Corps headquarters in London, with session musician (and often-labeled Fifth Beatle) Billy Preston in tow. The group performed nine songs. However, they only performed different takes of five new songs that would be found on their final record, Let It Be. The Beatles’ rooftop concert also featured a rendition of “God Save The Queen”.

 This is one of The Beatles’ best songs of all time, and one of John Lennon’s most impassioned performances. Interestingly enough, “Don’t Let Me Down” would go through quite a few changes before this first public performance of the song. In the weeks leading up to the concert, “Don’t Let Me Down” went through a number of changes before it was completed. Lennon also admittedly struggled with the high notes found in the chorus of the song. Lennon also hoped that the recording of that first take during The Beatles’ rooftop concert would be good enough for the album. Sadly, Lennon forgot the lyrics in the last verse, which led to a second take later.

If you were there or remember this performance, it was around this time that the cops started to show up to shut down the impromptu concert.

Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com

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On a November day in 1970, at a momentous time in the most consequential year of his life, one of the most famous people in the world was sitting alone on a blanket by the ocean south of the pier in Deerfield Beach, as far away from the pressure of being George Harrison as he could get.

The Beatles guitarist and songwriter had just days before put the finishing touches on his solo album, “All Things Must Pass,” a deeply personal statement that would forever change critical perceptions of Harrison as an artist. As he sat on the beach, the album was mere weeks away from being revealed to the public on Nov. 27.

At the same time, the album’s release would be tangible evidence, if the world still needed it, that the long and winding road of the Beatles’ fractious breakup was coming to an end. Paul McCartney would file a lawsuit to dissolve the partnership the following month.

The rumor of Harrison’s presence over the course of some 10 days in Deerfield Beach — closely guarded by locals, some who admit to never having actually seen him — sounds so unlikely, so fantastical, that it’s fair to wonder if it actually happened. George Harrison in Deerfield Beach? Seriously?

Longtime resident Jeff Fisk, a Beatles fan from an early age who bought the 45 of Harrison’s single “My Sweet Lord” on the day it was released, was a fifth-grader when the chatter hit the playground at St. Ambrose Catholic School in January 1971.

The story he heard, which had spread through the local surfing community, was too good to be true: Harrison was at the beach when he was recognized by a surfer chasing after his board and, upon questioning, admitted his identity. The surfer, a respected figure on the waves in Deerfield Beach, was named Paul McCartney.

Source: Ben Crandell, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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