Beatles’ last ever live performance not halted because ‘none of us really knew what to do’ – ex-cop
The Beatles’ last ever live performance, up on the rooftop of 3 Saville Row, is a legendary moment in music history and an event that Peter Jackson’s new three-part Disney documentary charts.
Based on around 56 hours of film that for 50 years remained hidden within Apple’s vaults, the three-parter also gives an in-depth insight into the recording sessions for their album Let It Be.
Having mused over where they’d first perform some of the tracks, the band joke about being arrested. In the footage, Paul McCartney says: “We should do the show in a place we’re not allowed to do it, getting forcibly ejected.”
Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison in Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back documentary. Pic: Apple Corps Ltd
But, a young policeman who was there that day, has told Sky News the rooftop gig wasn’t halted because nobody “knew what to do”.
Ken Wharfe was 21 at the time. He’d been on traffic duty when he received a call from his “grumpy old sergeant” asking if he could hear a “dreadful noise”.
“We walked up Regent Street and suddenly it became clear I could hear the music Get Back just sort of flowing over the rooftops of Soho.”
When he arrived on Saville Row, there was a party atmosphere in the street.
Ken Wharf was a 21-year-old police officer when The Beatles performed on the London rooftop
Mr Wharfe said: “I remember thinking I needed a piece of this action, so I literally went into number three and ascended the stairs. I remember…Ringo Starr in that sort of tangerine coat and I thought ‘this is the best thing that’s ever going to happen to me in the police service’.
The documentary showcases hours of unseen footage that has been held in Apple’s vaults. Pic: Apple Corps Ltd
“None of us really knew what to do….because there wasn’t a problem, there wasn’t a crime, at worst it was noise but it was a pleasant noise.”
While the band might have expressed a desire to be dragged off stage by police, Mr Wharfe says he and his colleagues were too busy enjoying the best seats in the house.
“I think that one or two of my colleagues, you know, had to make a stand but the bulk of us, we were more interested in actually getting a better viewpoint and listening!
Peter Jackson produced and directed the documentary. Pic: SNPA/Ross Setford
“It was the last concert that The Beatles ever performed so, of all the things that I did in my career, I have to say this is the one thing that I remember more than anything else because it was just an amazing occasion.”
In Beatles mythology, so it goes that the Let It Be recording sessions were fractious and unpleasant.
However, the new footage shows it wasn’t anywhere near as miserable as we’d been led to believe as the band can be seen laughing and enjoying making music.
Sky News has spoken to one of the band’s sound engineers, Dave Harries, who was also there that day having helped them record the album.
Subscribe to the Backstage podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
“They were so good, so talented,” he says. “Their harmonies, you know, all the harmonies were brilliant.”
Mr Harries believes the only real conflict stemmed from the boys’ frustration at the recording process.
“They weren’t very happy with the fact that the studio wasn’t completed and running properly…that was a shame because they deserved better.”
The documentary is a compelling insight and one that finally allows every Beatles fan the ending they’d always wanted – four young friends who might be ready to go their separate ways but who aren’t at each other’s throats but who are laughing and enjoying making music together.
Get Back is out on Disney+ now.
Entertainment
Rageh Omaar says he was ‘determined to finish presenting programme’ after becoming unwell live on air
Entertainment
Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report
A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.
Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.
Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.
The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.
“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.
“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.
Read more:
Injuries after explosion at Iraq military base
UK soldiers ‘exposed’ to toxic chemical in Iraq must get answers
In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.
After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.
But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.
R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court.
The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.
He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.
The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.
He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.
Read more on Sky News:
Newsreader ‘receiving medical care’ after on-screen behaviour worries fans
Actress Emma Stone says she ‘would like to be’ called by her real name
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.
“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment11 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports6 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Technology3 years ago
Game consoles were once banned in China. Now Chinese developers want a slice of the $49 billion pie
-
Politics2 years ago
Have the last few wobbly weeks seen a turning point for Johnson as PM?