R.I.P. BRIAN EPSTEIN
A terrible and stupid accident.
– business colleague Don Black
When The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, many in Epstein’s team worried that he would find his role in looking after his boys diminished. He visited the studio infrequently so his involvement with Sgt. Pepper was minor, but in other areas of Beatles business he was still as involved as ever: negotiating a new contract for them with EMI, supporting Paul after his drug revelations in the media, and putting together a full-page advert in The Times supporting the legalisation of marijuana on behalf of the band.
He was also putting into place changes at NEMS, the business that held a management share in the band, so he could concentrate on other projects. He brought in another impresario, Robert Stigwood, to become his joint managing director, although he continued to manage the careers of The Beatles and his other favourite act, Cilla Black. He had leased the Saville Theatre in 1965 to put on various plays and revues, and even directed a play himself, A Smashing Day. His many trips to Spain led him to finance a film on bull fighting, and in the weeks leading up to his death, he was excited about a trip to Canada and America to compere a televised variety spectacular.
Yet his mood swings dogged him. He was heavily reliant on drugs to get him up through the day and then down to sleep at night. And in July 1967, his father died. His mother visited him in early August, and plans were put in place for her to move down to London permanently.
Ringo, George and John speak to the press after they have just been informed of Brian Epstein’s death. Getty Images
On the August bank holiday weekend, as The Beatles headed to Bangor to study under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Epstein was looking forward to hosting a party at his country house in Sussex. Friends and colleagues Peter Brown and Geoffrey Ellis arrived in the evening without the friends they said they were going to bring along, and he was disappointed. Looking for a party, he headed back to London, saying he would be back later that weekend.
By Sunday, he had still not returned. When the butler in his London flat knocked on his bedroom door to get him up, there was no answer. The housekeeper made some phone calls around his friends, and eventually a local doctor forced the bedroom door open.
Brian Epstein’s death was front page news. The Beatles, devastated, cut short their Bangor trip. Out of respect to the family and so the service could be a private affair, they didn’t attend his funeral. The coroner’s verdict was death by accidental overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. He was thirty-two years old.