Epstein’s personal assistant Alistair Taylor arrived at the house. Those who found Epstein’s body were still in a state of shock, and went to the study to have a brandy. They delayed calling the police as they wanted to first make sure there were no illegal substances in the house.
Within literally very few minutes of the police being informed, there’s a ring on the doorbell and it’s a reporter I knew. He just looked at me and said, ‘What are you doing here? I hear Brian’s ill.’ And I said, ‘No, he’s fine. He’s gone out. He just called me over, actually. You know what he’s like, you know, typical Brian. I’ve come over specially on a Sunday morning and he’s gone out in the car.’ Then I wondered if the garage door was closed because if the car’s sitting there the reporter’s going to say, ‘Which car?’ I was concerned that, before this news broke, somehow we had to get hold of [Epstein’s mother] Queenie, and we couldn’t find her.
The Brian Epstein Story, Deborah Geller
#OTD 1967: Brian Epstein, The Beatles’ manager, passed away. pic.twitter.com/2xcsegQnWN
— The Beatles (@thebeatles) August 27, 2017
Joanne Newfield was surprised at the reactions of Geoffrey Ellis and Peter Brown when they arrived at Chapel Street.
Peter and I were good friends, and I was really wanting him to get back. I remember the first thing I asked was why did Brian come back from Kingsley Hill? Neither of them answered. They just started to go up the stairs. And I remember thinking that they seemed weird and I knew there was something wrong.They appeared distant when I expected them to be grief-stricken. I expected that Peter would give me a hug, but he didn’t. He was just cool and I’m not sure that it was shock. I’ve asked myself many times what happened in Kingsley Hill. It’s just one of the question marks I have about Brian’s death.
The Brian Epstein Story, Deborah Geller
An inquest found the cause of death to be accidental, resulting from ‘incautious self-overdoses’ of Carbrital, a drug taken to assist sleep.
I don’t think there was anything sinister in his death. There were rumours of very sinister circumstances, but I personally think it was a drink-and-sleeping-pills overdose. I think what happened – and there’s no evidence whatsoever except people I talk to – was that Brian was going down to his house in the country. It was a Friday night, and there were going to be friends there. Brian was gay and I think there were going to be young men at the house. Brian went down with one of his friends, but no one had showed up – so he thought: ‘Ugh – it’s Friday night! I’ve got time to get back to London if I rush. Then I can get back to the clubs.’ It seems feasible to me, knowing Brian. Then he drove back up to London and went to the clubs, but they were all closing and there was not a lot of action.So he had a few bevvies, then to console himself had a sleeping pill or two before to bed Brian always did that, he was quite into the pills. And then I think he woke up in the middle of the night and thought: My God, I can’t sleep. I haven’t had a pill.’ Then he had a few more pills, and I think that could have killed him.
I went round a couple of days later and saw Brian’s butler. He didn’t seem to feel there was anything suspicious, nor that Brian was in any kind of black mood. My feeling was that it was an accident.
Also on this day...
- 2001: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland
- 1989: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver
- 1968: Tape copying: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Blackbird, Not Guilty, Revolution 9
- 1967: Interview: John, George and Ringo in Bangor, Wales
- 1966: Day off in Los Angeles
- 1965: The Beatles meet Elvis Presley
- 1964: The Beatles live: Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati
- 1963: The Beatles live: Odeon Cinema, Southport
- 1963: Television: The Mersey Sound
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Casbah Coffee Club, Liverpool
- 1960: The Beatles live: Indra Club, Hamburg
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
Rest in Peace.
The day he died was the Beatles’ beginning of the end.
Sadly, you are right.
I just finished reading “A Cellarful of Noise” which Brian wrote in 1963. It’s a well-written and revealing book in which he bares his soul about his history and then-current feelings about the Beatles.
Someone wrote on here that his death was the beginning of the end for the Beatles. I can see what they were getting at because he was a major uniting force for the group. But it seems to me that the seeds were planted much earlier.
At the end of the book, Brian writes about how Beatlemania had worn on all of them by 63. He even considered selling the Beatles (for 150,000 pounds!) and retiring. He was planning an American tour at the end of the book and none of them were really looking forward to it. And the rest – as they say – is history.
I agree its a very informative read all be it a very sanitised version of events. The thing that surprised me most though was his criticism of McCartney in one or two comments. It seems it wasnt John who was the most problematic to manage as you would perhaps expect but Paul.
Until recently I always thought that Yoko was the reason the Beatles broke up, but I have changed my thinking. Of course, nothing is ever simple, and there were likely many reasons, but I think Brian’s death was the biggest one, or maybe just the one that finished them off. It seems like, after Brian’s death, Paul assumed a pseudo-manager role (which was reasonable because he seemed to be the only one who took business seriously – at least, a little bit) and the others resented it. I get this idea from listening to interviews and reading about the band. Paul wanted the band to accept the Eastman’s (his in-laws) management and the rest of the band wanted Allen Klein – probably as a way of rebelling against Paul. Yoko figures into it as do a lot of other things, but without Brian there was no longer a center.
I’m sure that someone might write that I don’t know what I am talking about – and I don’t. I wasn’t there, I don’t know. It is just a feeling I get after many years and much introspection.
Nobody knows,Luther. But it is important to remember: why did they want Allen klein? Because John chose him. And why did John chose him? Because Yoko wanted. He had promised he would care for Yoko’s career as well. He promised John would be the leader showing he had no idea about what the Beatles represented to us fans. We didn’t want a leader. The Beatles never had a leader, They were a quartet complementing each other. Yoko arrived filling John’s mind with poison, saying he was like Mozart and Paul only a Salieri. So, her participation in the spli was fundamental. John himself said she gave him the strengh to split. Of course there were other problems, and I do think it started with Brian’s death. I agree with you about that. It is true Paul made a terrible mistake thinking they didn’t need any other manager. Nobody cared for business! And didn’t know how to deal with that. They created the Apple Corps, for God’s sake! They could not handle that. Paul thought he could but he was too naive. Besides, as he was the only one who cared, he had to take decisions, leading the other to resent, imagining he was over the top. When he saw they were loosing money he understood they needed a manager. He asked John to suggest names, he didn’t think of his father in law at once. But all names were rejectted. So he suggested Mr Eastman. Possibly it was Linda’s idea. His father was in fact, very good with finances and was a manager. He could solve their problems. It didn’t seem to be so terrible because all of them used to contract relatives and close friends from Liverpool to work for them. Petar Asher, Jane’s brother, worked for Apple. Jenny Boyd, Georges sister in law, worked for the Apple Boutique. John called his almost brother Pete Shotton for the same boutique. So, Paul might had thought nobody would be so upset he wanted Mr. Eastman. But they did. And here I see Yoko’s finger. Without her they would have accepted Mr Eastman with no problem. George said later she stepped in only to separate them. There were other problems, but she was that for this reason. Without her the other problems could be solved. With her it was not possible. And they contracted the Monster of Rock for their manager.
I agree with you, Virginia. It was a terrible mistake for Paul to not think they needed another manager and it also would’ve been a very different story had Lee Eastman, not Allen Klein, managed them after Brian’s death. Paul clearly became a better businessman, thanks to the Eastmans, and he himself has acknowledged some crucial advice on publishing or something from Lee.
In the end they just ran out of things to achieve. Thats what probably finished them. Though if you are looking for an event which started the decline I would argue the Chicago press conference where Lennon was ‘forced’ to apologise for his ‘bigger than Jesus’ comments. I think John felt betrayed and abandoned ( yet again) and he was never the same again.From that point forward the group was no longer his be all and end all. He was on the look out for his next big thing. Enter Yoko.
Sad Anniversary Today. 47 years to the day!
He was a nice person.Many aquaintances but few friends. A gentle man.
The more you read about Brian, the more you understand his importance to the guys from a historic standpoint. R.I.P. Brian!
I was born in 1965 in Queensland Australia, Rockhampton in fact. And one of my first memories I can recerlect is my two older sisters listening to the Beatles in their bedroom on their little dansett record player. Priceless Time.
Joe-Michael here.
Always, in revisiting the past, a movement or a world experience and eventual maturity enables us to grasp more information from past records, films, photographs, articles, etc. Where the world was heading towards from late 1966 into June 1967 was a very anxious time; exciting and nervous … exhilarating. All art forms were maturing and blossoming into a true Renaissance, only prior to the horrible excess that was looming just around the corner. In old photographs of Brian and John and Cynthia on vacation, they are odd; for me, I feel that there was something between John and Brian … once reciprocated perhaps for success and exposure, … gain … maybe still a lot more to their relationship than ever given credit for. If the homosexual rumors were anywhere near truthful then Cynthia must have felt awful but went along with it … the elephant in the room, John must have felt awful and began medicating himself; enter Yoko. In the photographs where Brian is smiling … in 1967 … he is beautiful and it is visible to see how success has enabled and empowered him, as well. BEATLEMANIA … The situation that alters and changes your life forever and for the better soon becomes the bone of contention; those screaming fans that won’t even listen to our music. They scream off-key and out of beat and syncopation. Annoying, a period, a phase to evolve to get to Sgt. Pepper. Brian asked for a brown cover to the album; a little out of the loop from the Beatles at this point; they were experimenting with LSD. Was Brian? Who Knows? We only care about these beautiful people who beautified our young and beautiful lives on our way to each our destiny. Brian’s was short-lived. The fiasco of Magical Mystery Tour more than points out Brian’s proper guidance, i.e. business approach. Without Brian, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy (Meet the Beatles was released here in the United States on November 22, 1963) the Beatles might not have ever occurred. Maybe not though, because they were THAT good; they still are. I like to imagine what if Sgt. Pepper’s had been the Beatles last album … WOW!! what an exit. Or at the very least, without their knowing that their fans were not going anyplace without them, the Beatles might should have taken some time off. Caught off guard, enter into the situation people like Allen Klein. Easy pickings. Brian was the solid foundation and he anchored the Beatles into world history forever. My God, isn’t 32 years young? If the rumors were true, about Brian and John, then what if John had left Cynthia for Brian instead of Yoke, had Brian lived until the end of 1968?
All you need to know about the “relationship” between Brian Epstein and John , you’ll find in the book “In my life” by Pete Shotton. I think it was released in 1983 so it might not be easy to find it today, but it’s worth a try. And John Lennon was far from being gay, like many people in the 60s and 70s, he was curious. Enough of these insanities, Forget about Giuliano and Goldman!
In the discovery of ,and the management of any artist I do honestly believe you have to literally love that artiste.Brian Epstein would of loved that group of course he would fiercely,but what it would have taken to ride that astonishing. roller coaster is another thing.We can only feel for Mr.Epstein a sad loss and and an immense loss to the Beatles.Gosh ,what a story,what a tale and what a band.
This was a very, very sad day for The Beatles to lose Brian Epstein and the worst mistake that they made was having Allen Klein managing John, George and Ringo – Paul was in the right to avoid this evil thug.
I just don’t get why lots of biographers unfairly trash Brian by fixating on and/or exaggerating his faults and not his good points just to sell books as well as calling him a crummy manager, according to this webpage.
George once said that Brian didn’t get good deals on anything, presumably many years later, and if Brian had lived, he could’ve easily sued him for defamation of character. This was most likely an exaggeration on George’s part.
The Yesterday Channel made some ridiculous suggestion saying that The Beatles hardly made enough money to live on in the early years – that is clearly untrue, because they were able to afford nice big houses in London and Surrey as well as for their relatives not to mention cars and nice things. Again, if Brian was still alive, he could’ve sued the website for defamation.
George stated that he found a note about how much money they were earning in 1963.
Contrary to popular belief, male homosexual acts in private were not legalized via the Sexual Offenses Act 1967 a month after Brian’s death – in reality, it occurred in July of 1967, so Brian was still alive then.
A lot of biographers have also propagated the misconception that homosexuality was illegal in the UK when Brian was alive, only to be legalized a month after his death – again, as I said, the Sexual Offenses Act 1967 occurred in July and also, homosexuality has never been “illegal” in Britain, only certain acts were.