Iconic pop legends The Beatles live on through the discovery of a recorded live performance on Top of the Pops in June 1966.
The footage was shot just weeks before their last ever gig at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park and the tapes have been dug out of David Chandler’s attic archive.
An exclusive live Beatles performance of Paperback Writer on Top of the Pops found on 8mm tapes unearthed from David Chandler’s attic.
The Fab Four appeared on the highly-viewed BBC music show with a performance of Paperback Writer, which Mr Chandler recorded as a teenager on a wind-up camera. He heard that a shorter 11-second snippet of the same performance was found in Mexico. This prompted him to dig through his archives, resulting in the discovery of his tapes.
The 8mm film tapes were donated to Kaleidoscope, an organisation who specialise in locating missing TV footage. Originally the tapes had no sound and slowed down in places where the camera was being wound. Kaleidoscope have re-mastered the footage and it’s now ready to air to an eager audience of dedicated fans at Birmingham City University today (June 1).
Mr Chandler has also found footage of other Top of the Pops recordings, such as The Troggs, The Hollies, and Small Faces that will be screened at the event.
The unearthed Beatles tapes are a rare discovery that keeps these four pop legends alive (at least until someone else proves the Beatles-never-died conspiracy for us).
