Sad ballad of Beatles roadie
QUESTION Was The Beatles’ road manager Mal Evans killed in a shooting incident in the Seventies? MALCOLM ‘Mal’ Evans was a bouncer at Liverpool’s legendary Cavern nightclub when he was spotted by Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles. He was hired as a roadie and gofer, toured with the band and appeared in five of their films.
After The Beatles broke up in 1970, Evans became a record producer, his most notable credit being No Matter What, by Badfinger. He moved to Los Angeles in late 1975 and was reportedly depressed to the point of despondency over his marital breakdown and failing career.
On January 5, 1976, his girlfriend rang the Los Angeles police to report that Evans was raving and confused after taking a large dose of Valium. When four officers arrived, Evans pointed an air rifle at them. Despite repeated demands, he refused to drop it. Six shots were fired, four of which hit Evans, killing him instantly.
None of The Beatles attended his funeral, though George Harrison gave £5,000 to his family.
Angus Gafraidh, London E11. THE aftermath of Mal Evans’s sad death was a bit of a farce. Singersongwriter Harry Nilsson, of Without You fame, was in charge of the funeral and posted the cremated remains to Evans’s mother in London. According to Nilsson: ‘A couple of days later, Neil Aspinall from Apple [The Beatles’s record company] called: “Harry, Harry! Where’s Mal?”
‘And I said: “Well, I sent him.” He said they couldn’t find him, he’s not here and his mother’s downstairs and his estranged wife Lil is here and they’re all crying, what am I supposed to tell them?’
Eventually, Nilsson had a call from airport security saying they had found the remains – in the dead letter office.
Paul McCartney said Evans’s death could have been prevented. ‘Mal was a big lovable bear of a roadie; he’d go over the top occasionally, but we knew him and never had any problems. Had I been there, I would have been able to say: “Mal, don’t be silly.” In fact, any of his friends could’ve talked him out of it without any sweat because he was not a nutter.’
Tim Ogden, Somerset. QUESTION In 1941, tea rationing was introduced in Ireland. What about coffee? DURING the Second World War, many food supplies were rationed, including tea, but coffee never appeared in the ration books. Such was the addiction to tea in Ireland that at the start of the war, we had the second-highest-percapita consumption of tea in the world. It was the beverage of choice for families nationwide. Coffee was the big unknown.
After the fall of France in 1940, the situation with Ireland’s food imports, including tea, became increasingly difficult. Tea was one of the first items to be severely rationed, even long before ration books were introduced. When tea rationing started, in April 1941, the allowance was meagre, just one ounce per person per week. As the war wore on, the allowance was cut back even more, to half an ounce per person per week.
For a nation of tea lovers, the tea ration meant real sacrifice. It was common for retailers to insist that customers first buy sugar before they could buy any tea. A thriving black market in tea also developed, with often exorbitant prices. Very often, this black market tea was adulterated with substances to bulk it out, such as sawdust.
On November 16, 1941, national registration took place, when the details of every person living in the State were recorded, their full names, addresses, date of birth, sex and whether or not they were married. Following on from the collection of all that information, ration books were introduced.
Other foodstuffs were as hard to come by as tea. People had a sugar ration of half a pound a week, with a similar amount for butter. Wheat was so scarce that the resulting bread was known as ‘black bread’. Chocolate was in short supply and so too were many non-food items, like soap, tobacco and clothing.
Gas was in such critically short supply that so-called ‘glimmer men’ went round houses to check whether people were keeping their ovens on, with a low light, when they should have been turned off. Petrol was such a scarce commodity that private motorists got a mere two gallons a week, which effectively put them off the road.
But amidst all this rationing, coffee escaped. Coffee was very much a drink enjoyed by wealthier people though.
Imports of coffee came in from South America, via Lisbon, from where they were transported to Ireland on ships belonging to the State-controlled Irish Shipping. The route coffee took from South America was generally less liable to attack by German U-boats.
Early in the war, members of the Coffee Importers Association were given permission to import as much coffee into Ireland as they wanted, so they brought in enormous quantities, the equivalent of 13-and-a-half years’ normal supply. Suddenly, Ireland had enough coffee not only to last through the war, but for years afterwards.
But as tea was the beverage ‘king’ of Ireland, there was only a limited demand for coffee, which was always available off ration, for people who could afford it.
Jacqui Lagan, via email.
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