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Again Ringo was first – the others were still finishing dinner at a nearby restaurant. Gradually one found one’s feet grinding more and more broken glasses into the carpet – not because of wild carelessness on the part of the guests – but because the tight crush made spillings and smashings all too inevitable.Īt various moments all four Beatles dropped in. Champagne was served with much generosity by dozens of waiters.

Downstairs in the Yellow Submarine discotheque at least 100 people did their best to dance in an area which might accommodate 50 in comfort. On the fresh-air side of the big glass doors Piccadilly’s Beatles People re-assembled for further glimpses of their fave foursome.

Fan club secretary Freda Kelly and her husband, Brian, chatted to a variety of Beatle backroom boys from NEMS and Apple. Tony Blackburn, Simon Dee and Kenny Everett were tucking into plates of help-yourself salad. Southern Television were organ­ising star interviews. Most of the famous faces we’d seen over at the Pavilion re-appeared between 11 p.m. There the Rank Organisation threw a celebrity party to launch their new Yellow Submarine discotheque room. From Piccadilly Circus, streams of cars crossed London to the Bayswater Road and The Royal Lancaster Hotel. The end of the film was by no means the end of the evening’s celebrations. But that didn’t slop the television crews following each freshly-arrived Beatle all the way into the circle and down to the centre of the front row, cameras whirling and bright hand-held lamps shining out about them! Inside the theatre a short cartoon feature was already on the screen. Last came Paul, John and Yoko Ono – Paul sporting a very fine yellow silk tie, John in a white suit with a dark-blue, ruffle-fronted shirt. Pattie wore yellow, too - with a purple headband. Then came George in yellow suit and matching hat with a Yellow Submarine badge just above his forehead. Maureen was with him, wearing a beautiful white lace blouse. Of the Beatles, Ringo was first to arrive. Twiggy and Justine held an unscheduled Press conference on the stairs to announce their engagement. Some Bee Gees, Ginger Baker of the Cream and most of the Grapefruit foursome arrived. A Rolling Stone struggled through the doorway. An enormous Blue Meanie pranced about on the pavement. Two people covered from head to feet in yellow bandages handed out apples. “I hope one of you will buy me a drink or two after all this!”, muttered a perspiring Irishman, a Pavilion staffman whose im­possible task seemed to be to keep a clear passage for the stars and yet to let the Press photographers get their stuff.

The Beatles Monthly publisher Sean O’Mahony, editor Johnny Dean, photographer Leslie Bryce, and yours truly wedged ourselves at the foot of the staircase as the celebrities began to arrive. In the theatre’s narrow foyer scores of reporters and cameramen jostled with the famous. The last time Piccadilly Circus had seen this kind of thing was back in the Julys of 19 when “A Hard Day’s Night” and then “Help!” had their equally spectacular gala openings! Lines of London “bobbies” linked arms to hold back the pressing masses of bodies belonging to faithful Beatle People. In all directions – along Piccadilly and down Regent Street, up the length of Shaftesbury Avenue – traffic came to a stand­still as thousands upon thousands of fans gathered as close as they could get to the London Pavilion theatre to see the Beatles arrive for the World Premiere of “Yellow Submarine”. Shortly after eight o’clock on the evening of Wednesday, July 17, 1968, Beatlemania gripped tightly on London’s West End for the first time in a couple of years. From The Beatles Book, N☆2, September 1968: