How Diana’s bodyguard tried to shut them down

On January 30, 1969, shortly after midday, PC Ken Wharfe noticed the blue light was flashing on the police phonebox at the corner of Piccadilly Circus. He walked over and picked up the Bakelite receiver. It was the duty sergeant. ‘Can you hear that awful noise?’ ‘What noise?’ ‘Get your men over there and go and turn it down.’

PC Wharfe replaced the handset, and turned to his colleague. ‘OK, listen. Old Sarge there wants us to go and turn the noise down.’ The two of them walked down regent Street, where they found a crowd — ‘Mainly of women, I have to say’ — rushing down Vigo Street. It turned out the noise was coming from the roof of 3 Savile row, the headquarters of the Beatles.

PC Wharfe — still only a probationary officer — duly knocked at the front door of the apple building, and was let in, only to discover that several other policemen were already there. There seemed to be too many to deal with a minor noise infringement, but none were prepared to leave.

‘We chatted among ourselves: should we stay or should we go? But we said that we were never going to see the likes of this again, so we stayed. The fact is that nobody was going to call anybody off, because this was a unique occasion.’

Most of the police gathered that day in the apple hallway were the same age as the Beatles or younger, and so, almost necessarily, Beatles fans. at 19, Ken Wharfe was nearly seven years George Harrison’s junior. Small wonder, then, that they were unsure what to do. ‘In fact, we were effectively trespassing there, because we hadn’t been invited, not properly, so it’s possible that they could have asked us to leave.’

Wharfe’s colleague PC ray Shayler tried to work out the legal situation. ‘We were scratching on the subject. We were thinking that it was a breach of the peace, because while the property may be private, the effect was public. and that’s how we worked it out — that’s how we were going to deal with it if we needed to.’ They approached the receptionist, Debbie Wellum, and asked to see the person in charge. Debbie went to get Mal Evans, who tried to stall the police by sauntering down the stairs rather than taking the lift.

When he finally arrived in the hall ‘about ten minutes later’, Debbie was all ears: ‘He talked to the police.

THEy were saying, “you can’t do this,” and “It’s too noisy, we’re getting complaints, and charges will be pressed”. Mal said it would be over pretty soon, but the police insisted they go up.’ In the streets outside, traffic had ground to a standstill. ‘The taxi drivers weren’t happy — they were shouting and hollering,’ recalls one bystander, Paula Marshall.

Jimmy, the apple doorman, finally escorted all the police upstairs. Ken Wharfe remembers arriving on the roof near the lift shaft, and finding himself next to ringo.

‘I was completely starstruck with the fact that I, like most people that age, a real fan of the Beatles, had this free concert on the roof in Savile row. nobody from the police could work out what to do. nobody wanted to do anything. I remember John Lennon throwing out lots of quips about being arrested or whatever, but there was a real party atmosphere.’

While the Beatles continued to play, officers negotiated with manager Peter Brown. ‘They said, “you can’t do this,” and I said, “Why can’t we do it?” “Well, you just can’t do this.” and I said, “I don’t see why we can’t do it,” and they said, “Well, does your landlord know?” and I said, “We are our own landlords. We own the place. So why can’t we do this on the roof of our own property?” and they didn’t have any answer.’

Mal Evans told PC Shayler that the Beatles had to record just one more track, and then they would be finished, and the noise would stop.

‘One, two, three, four . . .’ said George, and they launched into Get Back, the last song they would ever play together live. When it came to an end, the four Beatles behaved according to character: Paul apologised to the police officers; John and George refused to speak to them; and ringo fooled around: ‘I’ll go quietly — don’t use the handcuffs!’

Later, ringo expressed disappointment that the police had been so discreet: the film would have been so much more dramatic, he felt, if he had been hauled off his drums and clapped in irons.

When Ken Wharfe (who, 18 years later, was appointed a Personal Protection Officer to Princess Diana) reported back to West End Central police station, the sergeant who had phoned to alert him earlier that morning said: ‘you got that music turned down, then?’

‘Hey Sarge, it was amazing,’ Ken replied. ‘It was the Beatles on the roof down at the apple building.’

‘Let me tell you something, lad,’ replied the sergeant, who was in his late 40s. ‘When I came to London, I was dating a girl in Holborn. Every Wednesday afternoon, duties permitting, we used to go and have afternoon tea at the Waldorf Hotel and listen to music from a proper band. any group of musicians that is forced to play on the roof of their office has got no future.’