1985

1985



"John was the best collaborator I have ever worked with ..."

- Paul


January

In the UK, Argos software, with the assistance of Paul, releases the Give My Regards To Broad Street computer game.

In America, the National Coalition on Television Violence recommends John belatedly and Paul for their "pro-social" music videos.

In Liverpool, many a tear is wept when The Beatles Cavern Mecca museum in Mathew Street closes down due to co-proprietor Liz Hughes's ill health and various financial problems.


Wednesday January 2

From England, Paul turns down an offer to appear in the glitzy top American TV soap opera Dallas. He is offered nearly £1 million to appear in just eight episodes, which works out at approximately £110,000 a show. If Paul have taken the role, he would have been cast as a wealthy British landowner who visits Dallas to look for property. Paul turns it down because he "didn't wish to be apart from his family".


Friday January 4

Paul, Linda and family escape the arctic weather gripping Britain by flying off to New York for a holiday. His place on the Concorde flight is booked in the suitable name of "Mr. Winters".


Sunday January 6

An interview with Paul is broadcast on MTV's repeat showing of The Tube in America. The segment was previously transmitted on Channel 4 in the UK the previous year.


Wednesday January 9

BBC2 in England broadcasts (between 7:35 and 7:40pm) the British TV premiere of Linda's animated short film Seaside Woman, which was the 1980 Golden Palm short subject winner at the annual Cannes Film Festival in the South of France.


Friday January 11

Paul's big-screen film Give My Regards To Broad Street goes on general release across London. It will open nationwide at the end of this month.


Wednesday January 16

On the fifteenth anniversary of their seizure, eight explicit lithographs by John, which were confiscated by police from the London Arts Gallery in 1970, are put on display in Liverpool's Beatle City museum. The drawings, part of a collection of 14 called Bag One, show John and Yoko on their honeymoon in 1969 engaging in various acts of lovemaking.


Friday January 18

The world premiere of the Handmade film Water takes place at the Odeon Cinema in London. (Because a large chunk of funding for the movie was withdrawn on the eve of filming, the production almost never took place. In order to complete the film, George and Denis O'Brien, his partner in Handmade, are forced to find extra funds in the space of a weekend.) The film features cameo appearances by George, Ringo and Eric Clapton during the performance of 'Freedom' by Billy Connolly, Christopher Tumming and The Singing Rebels Band. This clip, filmed at Shepperton Studios in London, is also used by Handmade as a promotional video. Two other songs in the film, 'Celebration' and 'Focus Of Attention', are co-written by George and performed in the film by Jimmy Helms. (George plays guitar on the soundtrack.) The tracks 'Freedom' and 'Celebration' are released as a single in the UK. Water will open in major provinces on January 25 and go on general nationwide release on February 22.

Wilfred Brambell, Paul's grandfather in A Hard Day's Night and the co-star of BBC TVs long-running comedy series Steptoe & Son, dies aged 72 in a London hospital.


Saturday January 19

In America, Paul is featured on the television programme Night Flight.


Tuesday January 22

In England, Ringo's eldest son Zak is married to Sarah Menikides at a private ceremony in a registry office in Bracknell, Berkshire. Both parents of the happy couple are not informed and therefore do not attend the ceremony.


Thursday January 24

At their Tittenhurst Park mansion in Ascot, Ringo and his wife Barbara, organise a small wedding reception for Zak and Sarah, two days after their wedding.


Saturday January 26

George adds slide guitar and performs backing vocals on the recording of 'Children Of The Sky', which is not released until November 7, 1986, and then only in the UK as a single and on the Mike Batt concept album The Hunting Of The Snark.

Tonight on BBC1 (between 11:41pm and 1:23am), the 1979 Dick Clark produced made-for-TV film The Birth Of The Beatles is screened for the second time.


Tuesday January 29

In order to re-appraise the Handmade film A Private Function, George slips in unnoticed to watch the film at a private screening in London.


Thursday January 31

The Handmade film A Private Function receives its grand provincial premiere in Leeds, with its co-star Michael Palin in attendance. A news crew from BBC2's Newsnight programme covers the event, the highlights of which are transmitted on the station tomorrow evening. (Handmade are doing very well at the box office with two of their films [Water and A Private Function] in the top five London films.)


February

In America, exploitation of The Beatles' classic music reaches an all-time low when the first licences are issued for Beatles songs to be used in television commercials. 'Help!' is used for six months by Lincoln-Mercury in America, for a fee of $100,000, and Schweppes, the soft drinks giant, pay $11,000 to use 'She Loves You' on Spanish television. In order to reduce licensing costs, cover versions of The Beatles' songs are used instead of the original Beatles' EMI recordings. (Nevertheless, The Beatles' original 1968 recording of'Revolution' is later used in a Nike commercial.)

In Japan, VAP Video releases the home video of the televised Beatles June 30, 1966, concert at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo.

Yoko records, at her Dakota apartment, a two-hour interview with Helen Leicht for the programme Breakfast With The Beatles, a show celebrating its ninth anniversary on the radio station WIQQ of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.


Friday February 1

In an extremely rare television appearance, a pre-recorded interview with George, carried out by Robin Denselow in the Handmade offices at 26 Cadogan Square, London, is transmitted in tonight's edition of BBC2's Newsnight programme (transmitted between 11:17 and 11:38pm). During this 19-minute extended feature, George talks about his role in Handmade films, admitting: "I don't want to be a film star, I don't even want to be a pop star. I just want to live in peace."


Monday February 4

A special 21-track home video compilation, a benefit fund-raiser for the Ethiopian Appeal, is released in the UK and features Paul's rarely screened promotional video for the disco version of 'No More Lonely Nights'.


Friday February 15

The 115-minute, 1978 film The Last Waltz, featuring an appearance by Ringo during The Band's farewell concert in San Francisco on Wednesday November 24, 1976, is released in the UK on Warner Home Video.


Friday February 22

Metromedia TV broadcasts the special Visions Of Yesterday And Today, which features segments on The Beatles and includes a black-and-white clip of the 'Give Peace A Chance' promo-film, taken at John and Yoko's June 1969 'bed-in'.


Monday February 25

On what has been long recognised as George's birthday, it is reported that George, Ringo and Yoko, in New York's State Supreme Court, have filed a $8.6 million lawsuit against Paul for breach of contract. They allege that Paul is earning a "preferential royalty from Beatles records to the others, as an incentive for him to re-sign with Capitol as a solo artist." Lawyers on behalf of Paul are quick to point out that "although this fact is true, Capitol did not decrease royalty payments to John, George and Ringo".


Wednesday February 27

In Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 30-year-old American Michael Keith Reibel is arrested by the FBI at his parents' home, accused of stealing a master tape containing unreleased music and conversations by The Beatles. The tape in question proves to be nothing more than the previously released Beatles 1963 to 1969 Christmas fan club recordings.


Thursday February 28

In England, EMI, following the re-release of the mid-price version on MFP last September, deletes the full-price version of the 1977 album The Beatles Live At The Hollywood Bowl.


March (periodically until May)

At his private studios in Sussex, working with the producer Hugh Padgham, Paul begins recording tracks intended for his Press To Play album. (The sessions will continue in October and then again in December, concluding on the 6th.) Tracks recorded during this period include: 'Stranglehold', 'Good Times Coming'/'Feel The Sun', 'Talk More Talk', 'Footprints', 'Only Love Remains', 'Press' (including a slower version), 'Pretty Little Head', 'Move Over Busker', 'However Absurd', 'Angry', 'Write Away', 'Tough On A Tightrope' and 'It's Not True'. (Final production work is completed during January and February, 1986.) An early tape of Paul, performing several songs from the album, includes the unreleased song 'Yvonne'.


Friday March 1

The New York premiere takes place of the Handmade film A Private Function.

A benefit concert for Liz and Jim Hughes of Cavern Mecca is arranged by George Downey of the new Cavern Club in Mathew Street, Liverpool. Shortly after this, Paul arranges for the Hughes to visit his MPL London offices where he thanks them personally for their many years of support.


Saturday March 2

Plexus publications in the UK release the book Beatle by Pete Best and Patrick Doncaster.


Sunday March 3

BBC2 screens, for the third time on UK TV, the excellent 1978 Beatles spoof The Rutles, featuring a cameo appearance by George.


Tuesday March 5

Paul's Give My Regards To Broad Street film is released on CBS/Fox home video in America.

The Beatles' former drummer Pete Best appears on BBC2's Whistle Test programme to promote his new book Beatle.


Friday March 8

In tonight's edition of The Tube, transmitted on Channel 4, Paul, in a piece recorded at Abbey Road, gives a short interview about Little Richard.

At the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, John's first wife Cynthia appears on the BBC1 chat show Wogan, hosted by Terry Wogan.


Sunday March 10

At 7pm this evening, the Suffolk-based radio stations Radio Orwell and Saxon Radio transmit (between 7:00 and 8:00pm) a one-hour Beatles Hour, hosted by Andy Brobbin, and featuring a host of rare Beatles music.


Monday March 11 & Tuesday March 12

At Fulham Town Hall in west London, Ringo appears in a non-musical cameo role in the charity video Willie And The Poor Boys - The Video, an ambitious project put together by Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, in aid of ARMS, Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis. Ringo, who is seen without his beard and with his hair slicked back Fifties style, plays the part of the town hall caretaker and is seen, brush in hand, wearing a grey overcoat, sweeping up after the all-star band has finished playing. His wife Barbara also appears in the video, among the crowd in a concert sequence. A report of the making of Willie And The Poor Boys is transmitted on the TVS/ITV programme Coast To Coast on June 13. PolyGram Music Video in England releases the completed 30-minute film on May 25.


Wednesday March 13

In London, at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Paul receives an Ivor Novelle Award for 'We All Stand Together' as Best Film Theme of 1984. Linda is not present as she is unwell.


Thursday March 14

In America, the soundtrack album Porky's Revenge, featuring George's version of 'I Don't Want To Do It' is released. (The album is released in the UK on July 1.)


Saturday March 30 & Sunday March 31

Michael Jackson visits Paul and Linda's Sussex farmhouse.


April

Rumours in the film industry suggest that Ringo and Harry Nilsson are to co-fund the movie Road To Australia, to be made in the style of the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Road To ... movies made in America between 1940 and 1952. Ringo is tipped to be playing the Bob Hope role with his wife Barbara in the role immortalised by Dorothy Lamour.

A new 56-track recording console is installed in George Martin's AIR Studios in Oxford Street, London. Unfortunately, the new equipment is too large to fit through AIR'S doorway and has to be installed through an open window of the fourth floor with the aid of a crane, which disrupts busy Oxford Street traffic. Once fitted, Paul immediately books a session utilising the new recording console.

An exclusive pre-recorded interview with Paul is transmitted on the German TV station ZDF.


Thursday April 4

The Daily Mirror newspaper prints another completely untrue "Beatles Reunion" story, suggesting that Paul, George and Ringo will be getting together for recordings with Julian.


Monday April 8

John's eldest son Julian makes his first live concert appearance with three nights at the Beacon Theater in New York.


Sunday April 14

John Lennon's 82-year-old Aunt Mimi Smith gives her most moving ever interview in a two-part feature for the Sunday People, announcing: "John is always with me. Sometimes I imagine I can see him. Is it him? I like to think so." (Part two is on April 21.)


Tuesday April 16

It is revealed that the American computer group Hewlett-Packard is to pay £1,000 a week for the next year for the rights to use Lennon & McCartney's song 'We Can Work It Out' in a £1 million TV advertising campaign. The song, re-recorded at Abbey Road by a Beatles sound-a-like group, is meant to attract businessmen in their thirties who grew up with The Beatles. Julian Appleson of ATV Music, which owns all but four of The Beatles' songs, says of the deal: "Our company is anxious not to spoil The Beatles' image. There seems to be some consternation among Beatles fans if Beatles music is used in commercials."


Saturday April 20

The 20th anniversary reissue of 'Ticket To Ride' reaches number 70 in the UK singles chart.


Monday April 29

In the UK, PMI home video releases the 20-minute tape The Beatles Live: Ready, Steady Go Special Edition featuring The Beatles' musical performance from their May 6, 1964, Associated Rediffusion UK TV special Around The Beatles. The Midsummer Night's Dream play, cum Beatles comedy sketch, performed on the original broadcast, is not included on the release.


May

In America, Ringo appears as the Mock Turtle performing the Steve Alien track 'Nonsense', in the CBS TV musical presentation of Lewis Can-oil's Alice In Wonderland, a show put together by Sammy Davis Junior. The two-part show is premiered in America on December 9 and 10, across the CBS TV network. Clips from Ringo's dialogue only later appear on the soundtrack album Alice In Wonderland.

A single featuring a different mix of George's recording of 'I Don't Want To Do It', from the film Porky's Revenge, is released in the US.


Monday May 13

In a simple ceremony at Lime Street station in Liverpool, British Rail unveils a new Pullman locomotive, which has been christened John Lennon.


Wednesday May 15

Paul records a 17-second message of sympathy for the victims of the Bradford City football stadium fire disaster of May 11. The message is released on the B-side of Gerry Marsden's charity single 'You'll Never Walk Alone'/'Messages', credited to The Crowd and released as a single in the UK only on May 24. A 12-inch edition is released on June 7.


Friday May 24

Ringo and Barbara are among the guests present at the London charity premiere of Wild Geese II. Joining them tonight are Ingrid Pitt and Anthony Quayle.


Tuesday May 28

In America, an interview with Cynthia Lennon is transmitted on the CBS TV programme Entertainment Tonight.


June

In America, Yoko appoints the New York company Marigold to handle all future projects dealing with John Lennon's name.

In anticipation of imminent legal problems, Toshiba/EMI in Japan delete their compact disc version of The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.

The Dutch Beatles Fan Club Beatles Unlimited sends a letter to Paul at MPL in Soho Square, London, featuring a petition signed by 782 members, all asking for the lifting of any obstacles which may prevent the release by EMI of any unreleased Beatles material.


Sunday June 2

As a tribute to Roy Plomley, who died recently, BBC2 re-screen the 1982 Arena documentary on Desert Island Discs, originally transmitted on February 23 and which features Paul's appearance on the show from January 30.


Tuesday June 4

The UK release of the special compilation album Greenpeace, which features George's new recording of 'Save The World'. (The American release takes place on August 19.)


Monday June 10

The Beach Boys, simultaneously in the UK and in America, release the album The Beach Boys, which features Ringo drumming on the track 'California Calling'.


Wednesday June 12

In America, a pre-recorded interview with Paul is transmitted on the MTV programme Rock Of The Eighties.


Saturday June 15

In London, John's single 'Nobody Told Me' receives a BMI (British Music Industry) award.

In the UK, as a preview to the forthcoming compilation series of Ready Steady Go!, Channel 4 transmits a taster for the series tonight, between 4:50 and 5:05pm, hosted by the DJ Gary Crowley and titled The Weekend Starts Here.


Friday June 21

In the UK, Channel 4 begins transmitting a series of seven special Ready Steady Go! compilations, which feature highlights of The Beatles' 1963 and 1964 appearances on the show, spread evenly over the seven weeks. (Friday evening's show is repeated the following Tuesday.)


Tuesday June 25

In America, the singer/actor Mark Lindsay is notified that he has been dropped from the lead role of John Lennon in the NBC-TV film production of John And Yoko: A Love Story. The news comes less than a week after he had been cast for the role. Lindsay is fired after Yoko and NBC both discover that the actor's real name is none other than Mark Chapman.


Friday June 28

A plan by Warner Brothers to release today The Beatles' 1970 film Let It Be is scrapped due to contractual difficulties. One of the major obstacles in its release may well have been the sleeve's original design, which surprisingly features a solo picture of John. The scheduled release today of Ringo and Frank Zappa's 1971 film 200 Motels still materialises.


Saturday June 29

At the Sotheby's rock memorabilia auction in New York, John's psychedelically painted 1966 Phantom V Rolls Royce is sold for an amazing $2.2 million. The reserve price for this prize exhibit was only between $200,000 and $300,000.


Friday July 5

The 20th Century Fox comedy film Porky's Revenge, featuring on its soundtrack George's version of the Bob Dylan track 'I Don't Want To Do It', opens in London.


Saturday July 13

At Wembley Stadium in London, Paul is one of many top rock stars to perform before a crowd of 90,000, as part of the massive Live Aid concerts. The all-day event is organised by former Boomtown Rat Bob Geldof, who, only eight months previously, had arranged the 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'/'Feed The World' single. Like that, this Live Aid concert is aimed at raising funds for the starving people in Africa. Simultaneously in Philadelphia, another fundraising concert is being held and the entire event, in both England and America, is televised live around the world throughout the day and also broadcast live, simultaneously, on the radio. It attracts the largest worldwide television audience in history, estimated at over 1.5 billion people! Paul's appearance comes at the close of the Wembley concert when he performs 'Let It Be' solo at a piano. Unfortunately, due to a mishap by Queen's technicians, the lead on Paul's microphone fails to function during the first half of the song. Eventually Paul's vocals ring out loud and clear and the audience sing along with him, and as they do, Paul is joined on stage by Geldof, Pete Townshend, David Bowie and Alison Moyet. Paul, as well as Linda, remains on stage for the finale, when all the stars of the Wembley concert reappear to sing 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'


Sunday July 14

The day after his Live Aid appearance, Paul records a new studio version of 'Let It Be' at the BBC TV Centre in Wood Lane, London. He overdubs a new vocal on top of his visual Live Aid performance for use should it ever be released officially. This never happens, although a brief clip of this new 'vocalised' Live Aid performance does appear in the BBC2 Live Aid highlights programme which is transmitted on December 31.


Thursday July 25

Two months after its US release, CBS/Fox in the UK issue on home video Paul's film Give My Regards To Broad Street, priced at a hefty £55.


Saturday August 3

John's former wife Cynthia is a special guest on this morning's TV AM breakfast show.


Tuesday August 6

Cynthia Lennon keeps up her hectic promotional activities by appearing on the TVS/ITV network afternoon talk show Regrets.

BBC1's weekly nostalgia series Time Of Your Life, hosted by Noel Edmunds, transmits a clip from Yoko's 1967 film Bottoms, a film print of which was sent personally by Yoko from New York.


Saturday August 10

From under the noses of both Paul and Yoko, Michael Jackson purchases for $47.5 million (around £34m) ATV Music, which includes the complete Northern Songs catalogue, thereby acquiring the ownership of the Lennon and McCartney songbook. AU of the Lennon and McCartney songs, with the exception of 'Love Me Do', 'P. S. I Love You' (now both owned by Paul's MPL company), 'Please Please Me', 'Don't Bother Me' and 'Ask Me Why' (all owned by Dick James) are included in the sale, along with approximately 4,000 other song titles. To obtain the catalogue, Jackson outbids stiff competition from EMI, CBS, the Lawrence Welk Group and the Coca-Cola Corporation.


Thursday August 22

An interview with Derek Taylor, to promote his new book Fifty Years Adrift, is featured on the BBC Radio Two programme The John Dunn Show.


Thursday August 29

At the annual Sotheby's rock and pop memorabilia auction in London, Paul's original handwritten letter to Melody Maker in 1970 (published on Saturday August 29 - see entry) sells for £10,000 and an audio tape of The Beatles playing at the Cavern Club in July 1961 sells for £2,100. The purchaser of these items is none other than Paul himself.


Saturday August 31 & Sunday September 1

In America, many radio stations broadcast a special called The Beatles - Yesterday, a 20th anniversary tribute to Paul's classic song.


September

During the month, at both AIR Studios in London and at his private studio in Rye, Paul records the song 'Spies Like Us', intended for inclusion in the Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd film comedy of the same title.

At the end of the month, rumours in the book industry suggest that Ringo has signed a one and a half million pound deal to write a "warts and all" book on his days in The Beatles. (The stories prove to be untrue.)

In the UK, the BMI (British Music Industry) announces that Paul's song 'Yesterday' has now been broadcast over four and a half million times in America alone.

George is seen at the Silverstone Grand Prix, where he is interviewed by a TV news team from Brazil.

Location filming for the American NBC made-for-TV production of John And Yoko: A Love Story takes place at various sites across London, Liverpool and Black Park in Berkshire. (Filming returns to the US in early October.)


Wednesday September 4

The London traffic warden, Meta Davies, the "lovely Rita Meter Maid" who inspired Paul to compose the Sgt. Pepper's track 'Lovely Rita' back in 1967, retires from her duties. Fittingly, her last ticket is written out in Abbey Road, just around the comer from Cavendish Avenue where Paul had received his ticket from Meta back in 1966.


Friday September 6

In the Bahamas, the sale of ATV Music, the holder of Northern Songs, becomes final and Michael Jackson becomes the proud owner of the works of Lennon and McCartney. Paul, naturally, is none too pleased. Part of the deal is that Jackson will go to Australia, the home of Robert Holmes A'Court, the seller of ATV Music, to take part in a two-day charity telethon in Perth on October 19 and 20.

To coincide with this year's rather uneventful Buddy Holly Week, MCA Records in the UK re-release their 1984 box set of Buddy Holly singles.


Saturday September 7

Ringo becomes the first BeaUe grandfather when his daughter-in-law Sarah Menikides Starkey, the wife of Ringo and Maureen's eldest son Zak, gives birth to a 7lb 2oz girl, Tatia Jayne, in a private hospital in Ascot.


Wednesday September 11

In London, Paul and Linda are the hosts of a Buddy Holly luncheon to which 30 VIP guests have been invited.


Thursday September 12

A one minute 26 second extract from the 1958 Quarry Men acetate recording of 'That'll Be The Day' is broadcast for the very first time on the MPL/BBC TV co-production Arena special Buddy Holly on BBC2 in England. The latter part of this recording is obscured by Paul's voiceover narration, who is also seen strumming 'Love Me Do' and Words Of Love' on an acoustic guitar. (The scenes were shot in a barn at Paul's Sussex farmhouse.) In America, viewers have a chance to see the 65-minute programme when it is aired as The Real Buddy Holly Story. (An excerpt of the 'That'll Be The Day' acetate is released on The Beatles Anthology I compilation in 1995.)


Saturday September 14

Paul and Linda are present at the annual Buddy Holly Week get-together in London.


Friday September 20

In America, as part of the preparations for an upcoming American radio series, Yoko registers the copyright, posthumously, for 28 John Lennon song titles. Their "date of creation" is listed as 1980. Interestingly enough, two of the copyrights registered have nothing at all to do with John. The songs 'Lullaby For A Lazy Day' was originally recorded in 1968 as 'Lullaby' by Grapefruit and 'Have You Heard The Word' was written by Steve Kipner and Steve Groves. The confusion probably arose because the latter has appeared on numerous bootlegs over the years where it has been mistakenly listed as an unreleased track by The Bee Gees and John Lennon. The other 26 songs are home demos which are later transmitted on the American Westwood One radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes. These include The Beatles' 1996 "comeback" singles 'Free As A Bird' (1995) and 'Girls And Boys', which is released as 'Real Love', together with 'Dear John', 'When A Boy Meets A Girl', 'Whatever Happened To ...?', 'She Is A Friend Of Dorothy's', 'Gone From This Place', 'The Happy Rishikesh Song', originally written in India back in 1968, 'Life Begins At Forty', a track originally given by John to Ringo to record in 1980 for his album Can't Fight Lightning and 'Serve Yourself'.)


Saturday September 21

The musical tribute stage play Lennon, first unveiled in Liverpool at the Everyman Theatre on October 28, 1981, re-opens across England, beginning tonight at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. (Following its successful run in Liverpool, the play moves to New York where it fails badly.)


Wednesday September 25

In London, at Hamilton's Gallery, in Mayfair, Ringo and Barbara are among the guests present at the launch party for Terry O'Neill's new book Legends.


October

During the month, Paul re-signs with Capitol Records in America. He had been with Columbia Records since 1979.

In England, Ringo re-records the narration for eight of the 26 Thomas The Tank Engine TV shows for a commercial release on audio cassettes in the UK only. The issue forms a part of the Pickwick Records' Tell-a-Tale series, produced in association with Ladybird Books.

Around the middle of the month Beatle City in Seel Street, Liverpool, closes its doors for business and towards the end of the month moves its operations to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, where it will be titled Beatle City's World Of The Beatles Exhibition. (Beatle City is scheduled to reopen in Liverpool in May 1986. (Incidentally, during its first year of business, the exhibition centre in Liverpool makes a loss of £25,000.)


Tuesday October 1 (periodically until Friday December 6)

At his private home studios in Scotland, Paul resumes the recordings for his album Press To Play.


Monday October 7 (until Monday October 28)

An exhibition of Dezo Hoffman's photographs from his book John Lennon is shown at the Cuts Gallery in West London.


Wednesday October 9

In America, to coincide with what would have been John's 45th birthday, a section of New York's Central Park, dedicated to John and renamed Strawberry Fields is officially opened to the public, with Yoko and Sean in attendance. Yoko, who donated $1 million towards the project, also conceived the idea for the three-and-a-half-acre site. The Strawberry Fields area has been landscaped and planted with trees, shrubs and flowers from all over the world, including the Soviet Union, Jordan and Israel.

At 8pm this morning, in London at Abbey Road Studios, Paul films the promotional video for 'Spies Like Us', co-starring the stars of the film, Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase. The white Rolls Royce used in the video is loaned from Dave Clark, of Dave Clark Five fame, who is currently at work in Studio One at Abbey Road. The 'Spies Like Us' clip, which is directed by John Landis, receives its UK premiere on November 16, as part of BBC1's The Late Late Breakfast Show, on which Paul and Linda also appear live. In America, the premiere of the clip takes place on MTV on November 17. Due to the insistence of the Musicians Union, and in order to get valuable UK TV screenings, Paul re-cuts the original version of the clip, which features non-Musicians Union members, such as Chevy Chase, Vanessa Angel and Donna Dixon, who are seen performing and singing on the track.


Monday October 14

In the UK, principal photography commences on the Handmade film Mona Lisa, starring Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins.

Ringo and Barbara attend the Chelsea Arts Club ball at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They are seen partying with John Hurt and George Melly.


Monday October 21

At the Limehouse Television Studios, Canary Wharf, London E14, George and Ringo, before an audience of 250 specially invited guests, videotape an appearance with Carl Perkins for his TV special Blue Suede Shoes, which also features Eric Clapton, Roseanne Cash, Dave Edmunds and former members of The Stray Cats. During the programme George performs 'Glad All Over', shares lead vocals on 'Your True Love', contributes backing vocals and guitar on 'Blue Suede Shoes' (performing lead vocal on the encore), 'Gone Gone Gone', 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On', and a medley which includes 'That's All Right (Mama)', 'Blue Moon Of Kentucky' and 'Night Train To Memphis'. Ringo is seen performing 'Honey Don't', shares lead vocal with Carl Perkins and Eric Clapton on 'Matchbox', and plays the drums in the show and bangs the tambourine during the medley sequence. (Two further songs, 'Right String But Wrong Yo Yo' and 'Sure To Fall', are performed and recorded but are cut from the broadcasts.) Crews from American TV, for the programmes CNN Showbiz Today, Entertainment Tonight, Entertainment This Week, Cinemax and TNN, tape rehearsals for the show. The programme, which sports the full title of A Rockabilly Session With Carl Perkins And Friends, is premiered in the UK on New Years Day, January 1, 1986 on Channel 4. In America, the show is premiered on the Cinemax station, featuring songs not included in the UK transmission, on January 5, 1986. (To accompany the Channel 4 screening, a simultaneous broadcast, this time in stereo, is aired on the Capital London radio station.) A report on the recording session, featuring interviews with both George and Ringo, is transmitted the following day, Tuesday October 22, on the BBC Radio One lunch time show Newsbeat.


Saturday October 26

The ITV network transmits the London Weekend Television programme An Audience With Billy Connolly, featuring Ringo and Barbara among the star-studded audience. (The show was recorded at the London Television Studios on the South Bank on October 21.)


Monday October 28

MTV in America premiere Yoko's promotional film clip for the song 'Hell In Paradise'


Saturday November 2

The stage play Lennon opens at the Astoria Theatre in London. Fans are able to purchase special 'Ticket To Ride' season tickets, whereby they can obtain three tickets for the price of two.

In Germany, ZDF TV transmits the 45-minute documentary entitled 25 Jahre Beatles Phanomenen Und Legende.


Tuesday November 5

At the Royal Albert Hall, Ringo, Barbara and Olivia Harrison, are in attendance at the Fashion Aid evening, an event to aid the African famine relief fund and the Band Aid trust. The former members of 10cc and now respected film makers Kevin Godley and Lol Creme capture the evening's events on film. Paul and Linda, who could not make the event, send a supportive audiotape message which is played over the hall's PA system, and includes the McCartneys singing a short improvised ditty, aptly called 'Fashion Aid'.


Wednesday November 6

In the States, the New York Post print a story about Paul, headlined "Imagine: John Tried To Steal My Songs". The article features quotations from Paul in which he was alleged to have said: "Lennon was a manoeuvring swine!" Yoko declines to comment on the accusations.


Monday November 11

John and Yoko's 1972 film Imagine is released on PMI home video in the UK, featuring an edited running time of 60 minutes. (The American release, featuring the same 60-minute version, takes place the following year.)

An additional two Thomas The Tank Engine audio cassettes, featuring a specially recorded Ringo narration, are released today in the UK.

The release today, in both the US and UK, of Paul's single 'Spies Like Us' fails to materialise, with a Monday November 18 release date now scheduled.


Thursday November 14

The Virgin home video Rupert And The Frog Song, which also features the short animated feature films Seaside Woman and Oriental Nightfish, is released in the UK today. Unfortunately, the clip for 'Oriental Nightfish' upsets many parents due to the cartoon representation of a naked lady. They angrily claim that no mention of this was made on the cardboard video box, which carries a "Uc" certification, meaning the video is intended "especially for young children". Subsequent video certificates on the box became simply 'U', although Oriental Nightfish still remains a part of the release.


Friday November 15

Yoko appears on the NBC TV show Friday Night Videos, promoting her new Starpeace album.


Saturday November 16

At the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, London, Paul appears again as a special guest on the live BBC1 Saturday Night variety show The Late Late Breakfast Show, where he participates in a mock question and answer session with the host Noel Edmonds. Because the questions put by Noel are quite ludicrous, the former Beatle later reveals that he did not enjoy this appearance. The short segment also features the UK premiere of the European promotional film for 'Spies Like Us'.

In the UK, BBC Radio One, in FM-Stereo, repeats the special The Beatles At The Beeb in two one-hour parts. Part two, again between 2:00 and 2:59pm, is transmitted on the station one week later on November 23. (This is the third BBC radio programme centred around the Beatles' Sixties radio recordings.)


Monday November 18

After a one week delay, the simultaneous American and UK release takes place of Paul's single 'Spies Like Us'/'My Carnival' in both 7- and 12-inch versions. In the States, the tracks become the first release under his new contract with Capitol Records. The single, when it reaches the charts, becomes Paul's 100th single in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, 65 of which were with The Beatles.

The UK release also occurs today of John's single 'Jealous Guy'/'Going Down On Love'. The 12-inch release also included the track 'Oh Yoko'. To promote the release, a four-minute montage of various clips from the 1972 Imagine film is distributed to various television stations such as MTV and Channel 4 for transmission on The Tube.

Due to the success of the first Thomas The Tank Engine series, Ringo today, and continuing through until December 20, begins recording the narration for 26 additional Thomas adventures. (The episodes are pencilled in for an end of 1986 airing.) During these sessions, Ringo also records the narration for a Thomas Christmas Show, also scheduled for broadcast at the end of next year.


Thursday November 21

At BBC Broadcasting House, in Portland Place, London, Paul appears live on Gloria Hunniford's BBC Radio Two show in an appeal for BBC TV's annual fund-raising appeal Children In Need. During the feature, he reveals to Gloria: "I may tour to promote the new album ... maybe starting in Liverpool."


Friday November 22

In the UK, Yoko releases the record Starpeace, her third solo album since John's death. To coincide with its release, Channel 4's tea time rock show The Tube, screens the UK TV premiere of the promotional clip to accompany the song 'Hell In Paradise'. dt In the States, Paul promotes 'Spies Like Us' by appearing on the NBC TV show Friday Night Videos.


Saturday November 30

The concluding part of a two-part interview with Yoko is transmitted on the CBS TV programme Entertainment This Week, in which she naturally talks about John, her Starpeace album and the recent, alleged, remarks made by Paul about John (see entry for November 6).

In Belgium, a pre-recorded interview with The Beatles' former drummer Pete Best is transmitted on the BRT1 television programme Terloops.


December

Paul officially withdraws from the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Capitol/ EMI over the unpaid Beatles royalties. Media commentators further remark that his action may have been related to his new Capitol Records recording contract. George, Ringo and Yoko, though, continue with their legal action and immediately increase their demand to $30 million in compensation, $50 million in damages and the custody rights to all The Beatles' master tapes and pressings.

George spends time writing with Alvin Lee. One song is the unreleased 'Shelter In Your Love'.

John's white Rolls Royce is auctioned at the Christie's auction house.


Monday December 2

The world premiere of the 150-minute made-for-TV Johnny Carson film John And Yoko: A Love Story takes place on NBC-TV in America. In New York today, the BBC disc jockey Andy Peebles interviews Yoko in her Dakota apartment for the 15-minute programme Yoko Ono: A Life After John, which will be transmitted on BBC1 on Friday December 6.


Thursday December 5

To tie-in with the various artists Greenpeace compilation album, Weiner-World/Vestron Video release today in the UK the Greenpeace: Non-Toxic Video Hits home video compilation, which features George's song 'Save The World' set to newsreels showing Greenpeace ships and their activities. (The American release takes place on April 16, 1986.) Acting upon instructions from George himself to the programme's producer Ian Weiner, Harrison does not appear anywhere during the clip.


Friday December 6

Paul records an interview with Alan Grimadell of the National Association of Hospital Broadcasting Organisations. The interview is titled Paul McCartney: The Man, and is intended purely for broadcast to UK hospital patients.

BBC1 transmits (between 9:26 and 10:55pm) the drama programme John Lennon: A Journey In His Life, which takes a reflective look back at John's life and stars Bernard Hill, the star of The Boys From The Black Stuff, in the title role. As a last-minute addition to the evening's programmes immediately following the 64-minute show BBC1 screens a 15-minute programme entitled Yoko: A Life After John, which features the exclusive interview with John's widow at her Dakota apartment in New York last Monday. To coincide with this special John Lennon influenced programming, this week's edition of the BBC listing's magazine Radio Times (dated November 30 to December 6) features John on the cover.


Saturday December 7

In Studio 7 at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, London, Paul makes a 40-minute live appearance on the BBC1 Saturday morning children's show Saturday Superstore, hosted by the DJ Mike Read. During the broadcast, Paul takes part in an audience phone-in and introduces the promotional films for both 'Spies Like Us' and, to close the show, 'We All Stand Together'. In The Times newspaper today, an interview with Paul, conducted by Patrick Humphries, is published.

Later this evening, London Weekend Television, the ITV station which serves the London based area of the ITV network, repeat the US documentary Yoko Ono: Then And Now.


Sunday December 8

On the fifth anniversary of John's death, Paul, by way of a pre-recorded insert, is interviewed in England on TV AM's Good Morning Britain television show, where he calls John "the best collaborator I have ever worked with". Also appearing on the show this morning is Shout! author Philip Norman. In America, there is a tribute to John on the ABC TV programme Eyewitness News.

BBC Radio One broadcasts a one-hour tribute to John, produced by Kevin Hewlett and entitled The Words And Music Of John Lennon, which tells the story of his life through archive interviews. (The show is also syndicated to various US radio stations soon after.)


Monday December 9

In America, part 1 of the CBS musical film Alice In Wonderland, featuring Ringo as the "Mock Turtle" who sings the Steve Alien track 'Nonsense', is premiered on CBS TV. (Part 2 of the programme, which does not feature Ringo, is transmitted the following night.)


Wednesday December 11

Ringo becomes yet another ex-Beatle to make a guest appearance on the Thames/ITV network programme This Is Your Life, when tonight he appears in the Thames Television studios in Euston Road, London, to honour his good friend Terry O'Neill, the show business photographer.


Wednesday December 18

One week after Ringo's appearance on the show, Paul is seen again on the Thames/ITV network show This Is Your Life, this time by way of a pre-recorded videotaped message, in a show honouring his fellow Liverpudlian musician, Gerry Marsden, formerly of Gerry And The Pacemakers.


Thursday December 19

Paul is seen at his MPL offices in Soho Square, London, prior to joining Linda for Christmas shopping in Regent's Street.


Sunday December 22

In London, at BBC Broadcasting House, Paul gives a lengthy interview to the DJ Janice Long for transmission on the BBC Radio One programme Listen To What The Man Said, transmitted this morning between 10:00am and 12:29pm.


Wednesday December 25

A previously taped video message from Paul, where he wishes viewers a "Happy Christmas" is transmitted during the Caring Christmas Campaign this morning on TV AM in the UK.


Thursday December 26

At 10:35pm, the Irish Television station RTE TV broadcasts, for the first time in over 22 years, an interview with The Beatles conducted with Frank Hall as they land at Dublin Airport on November 7, 1963.


Monday December 30

As part of a whole evening celebrating the 30th anniversary of Granada Television, Channel 4 in England broadcasts, for the first time in 20 years, the programme The Music Of Lennon And McCartney. During the 50-minute special, originally transmitted on December 17, 1965, The Beatles are seen performing their, then, latest single 'Day Tripper'/'We Can Work It Out'. John and Paul are also seen comically introducing acts, such as Marianne Faithfull, Henry Mancini and Lulu, who have recorded some of their songs. Also this evening, over on BBC2, the UK premiere takes place of the 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles.


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