The Beatles vs. the Taxman: A Former Manager Recalls Yesterday

(L-R) Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon (1940-1980) and George Harrison (1943-2001) of the Liverpudlian pop group The Beatles with their manager Brian Epstein (1935-1967) at the premiere of their first film "A Hard Day's Night" on July 6th, 1964. Photographer: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Fifty years ago this weekend, four guys got on TV before a screaming audience and drew more U.S. viewers than any show ever had. Over the next six years, they made sublime music, girls faint and a ton of money. Below, Peter Brown, right hand to Beatles manager Brian Epstein, remembers how they did it all. Republished from March of last year.

The small, framed photograph might not strike visitors to Peter Brown's Manhattan home as noteworthy. It features indiscernible figures lounging about a grassy estate under a high sun. But those figures -- which include the four Beatles, their significant others, plus their personal assistant Neil Aspinall and Brown -- are captured in repose at the peak of the band’s creativity and influence.