WHO KILLED THE BEATLES?

Millions of words and hours have been spent on the break-up of the Beatles. But now, half a century on, the history books are being rewritten, old scapegoats exonerated and new culprits brought to light.

- TOBY CRESWELL

It was 53 years ago today (give or take three months) that Sgt. Pepper and the band last played. The sight of the Beatles rocking away in the icy wind on the roof of Apple Corps in January 1969 is an iconic image from an iconic decade. The history books all said this was both the last hurrah and the bitter end of the Beatles, but recently unearthed footage and audio recordings have sparked a re-examination of the band, their marriages and the last days of their career.

The ’60s belonged to the Beatles. They embodied a new way of looking, of sounding, of thinking. It was a hope for the future. But what we didn’t see was the price they paid personally.

Sydney-based DJ Bob Rogers was the fifth Beatle for almost two months in 1964, following every step of the band’s only Australian tour. Almost 60 years later, in the sunshine of his Mosman backyard, the memory of it all still makes him weary. He says the pressures on the Liverpool lads were enormous.

As Bob recalls, from the first moment to the last Beatlemania was on. Thousands of fans besieged the group. Girls climbed up the outside of their Sydney hotel. Streets were blocked. They were imprisoned in their suites, where teenage girls were delivered to them like room service. Bob found himself, typically, summoned to breakfast in bed with John Lennon. The most important meal of the day was a bottle of a “very nice red”. And the chaos went on from there.

“By the time they left, I was completely exhausted,” Bob recalls. “I thought at best they had two or three years left.”