Mad day with The Beatles
QUESTION Who are the people in the famous Don McCullin photograph of The Beatles, which appears inside the Red and Blue Albums? On SundaY, July 28, 1968, the Beatles took a break from recording the White album to spend a Mad day Out being photographed around London.
they invited acclaimed war photographer don McCullin to be cameraman. McCullin was an inspired choice, adding grit to a shoot which reflected the raw sound of the White album.
McCullin grew up in north London. his childhood was blighted by the Blitz and the early death of his father. his national Service with the raF saw postings to egypt, Kenya and Cyprus.
he returned to London armed with a twin reflex rolleicord camera and began photographing his friends from a local gang named the Guv’nors. thus began his long and distinguished career in photography, documenting the poverty of London’s east end and the horrors of wars in africa, asia and the Middle east.
the Beatles shoot took the group across London, including thomson house, then home to the times newspaper, the Mercury theatre in notting hill, and highgate Cemetery in north London.
after surprising cabbies by striking poses on a traffic island in Old Street, the Beatles travelled to St Pancras Old Church. While a series of portraits were taken in the church’s arched doorway, a crowd of spectators gathered behind the railings which separated the church from its gardens. McCullin directed the Beatles to mingle with the onlookers, resulting in the image used in 1973 for the gatefold sleeve of the red (1962-1966) and Blue (1967-1970) compilation albums.
Jesse Ryan, London NW11.
QUESTION On January 11, 1930 an England cricket XI played New Zealand at Christchurch in an official Test match. On the same day, another England XI played West Indies in Barbados in another Test match. How did this come about?
a 1926 meeting of the Imperial Cricket Conference invited the West Indies and new Zealand to join england, australia and South africa as test nations. the West Indies made their test debut in england in 1928 and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) felt that it was important to send a test team to the Caribbean and new Zealand to encourage the growth of the game. the schedulers had to work around the upcoming ashes series in australia (1928-29 and 1932-33) and a South africa series (1930-31).
In those days, test series were drawnout affairs; for the ashes tours, players would be away from home from September to april.
the MCC decided to send teams to both the West Indies and new Zealand in 1929-30. these were made up of veterans or players on the fringe of the england team, as none of the first-choice players were willing to travel immediately after a gruelling ashes tour.
When england captain arthur Gilligan withdrew, his 34-year-old brother harold was appointed captain for the new Zealand tour. the only big name was the great all-rounder Frank Woolley, though he was 42 at the time. Only four others had played for england — Fred Barratt, ted Bowley, KS duleepsinhji and Geoffrey Legge — with one cap each. the team acquitted itself well and won the first test in Christchurch.
Perhaps more importantly, Gilligan proved an astute diplomat and the team left the country on good terms.
the West Indian party included more famous names, though some of them were a little long in the tooth. the great Yorkshire all-rounder Wilfred rhodes joined the party aged 52, having debuted in the previous century.
George Gunn, 51, had last played for england in 1912 and nigel haig, 42, in 1921. the only england regular was 40-year-old batsman Patsy hendren. he scored four double-hundreds on the tour and averaged 115 in the tests.
Captaining the team was Freddie Calthorpe who, like Gilligan, had never played for england but was selected for his diplomatic skills.
england played four tests in the Caribbean. the series was drawn with one win apiece. In the final test at Sabina Park, Jamaica, West Indies were set 836 to win and were 408 for five going into the eighth day when two days of rain meant the tourists had to catch the boat home.
Jim Cullen, Jedburgh, Borders.
QUESTION How many British armed forces chaplains have been killed in battle?
Further to the earlier answer, of 18 chaplains at the Battle of arnhem, three were killed. Chaplains helped with the wounded, which meant they were as likely to be killed or injured as anyone.
rev Bernard Joseph Benson died of his wounds on September 27, 1944. My father’s Commanding Officer, Captain C. a. Simmons raMC, had to amputate rev Benson’s right arm. It was felt that this Catholic priest lost the will to live, as he believed that disabled priests were excluded from performing the Sacrament. the inscription on his gravestone in Latin reads ‘May it please the Lord to accept the offering from my hands’.
Graham Hull, Nantwich, Cheshire.
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