On October 13, 1963, at 8pm, London became the centre of the known pop universe. Why? Because that is when appeared on . Their 12-minute performance was watched on black-and-white TVs by a record 15 million people – including a bright spark of a sub-editor on the , who coined the term ‘Beatlemania’ for Monday’s edition.
A few weeks later The Beatles gained the royal seal of approval when they headlined the televised Royal Variety Show. And London began to Swing into action. Even an anti-establishment figure like was caught in his own rush.
He compared the period to Ancient Rome. “We were like Emperors: nothing we couldn’t have. It was like Fellini’s Satyricon.
When we hit the town, we hit it. There was no pissing about. If we couldn’t have groupies we had whores and everything else.
Whatever was going.” Despite their provincial background, The Beatles were circumscribed by London. Both their first and last albums feature iconic images of the capital – the staircase of the EMI building in Manchester Square, Abbey Road in St John’s Wood.
They lived in London, they invented psychedelia in London, they opened Apple in London. John and Paul McCartney met their lovers in London. They gave the city a groove that didn’t run out.
Pop stars in the 60s flocked to London’s flagstones paved with promise. and the Pretty Things arrived from the sticks; were born in Muswell Hill. in the West and the Small Faces in the East created Mod and entrepreneurs sold it in th.