News - 11 August 2023

11 September, 1967 - The Beatles Set Off On Magical Mystery Tour

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The Magical Mystery Tour Bus

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John on Magical Mystery Tour

We knew most of the scenes we wanted to include; but we bent our ideas to fit the people concerned, once we got to know our cast. If somebody wanted to do something we hadn't planned, they went ahead. If it worked, we kept it in.

John
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George on Magical Mystery Tour

For years we looked around for a screenplay that was suitable, but in the time that had elapsed since A Hard Day's Night and Help! - although it was probably only two years - it was as if we'd gone through five hundred years mentally.

George
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Paul, Ringo and John on Magical Mystery Tour

I took over most of the responsibility of pulling this together. We remembered mystery tours from when we were growing up in Liverpool which would take people on a bus trip without them knowing the ultimate destination. So that’s what we did. We wrote a basic story outline starting with a hand drawn pie-chart, recorded some songs, engaged some likely looking actors and along with a few friends set off in our brightly coloured bus heading towards the south west coast of England.

Paul
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Ringo on Magical Mystery Tour


Paul had a great piece of paper - just a blank piece of paper with a white circle on it. The plan was: 'We start HERE - and we've got to do something HERE...' We filled it in as we went along

Ringo