Paul McCartney helps out International Times financially

International Times, which was also known as “it” or “IT”, was an underground newspaper co-founded by Barry Miles. Miles, who also created the Indica bookstore, was a friend of Paul McCartney.

At some point in 1967, International Times faced financial difficulties, and Barry Miles approached Paul McCartney for financial help, which he agreed to provide.

In the list of contributors in International Times #11, dated March 13, 1967, Ian Iachimoe, a pseudonym used by Paul a couple of times, was mentioned under the label “Emergencies.” In Barry Miles’ book “In The Sixties,” he suggested that Paul may have helped out in June rather than March, around the time of the “Our World” TV program. It’s possible that Paul may have helped International Times twice in 1967.

It looked very much as if International Times was done for. The staff hadn’t been paid in weeks and some of them were turning to dope dealing to get money. I reluctantly called Paul McCartney and told him that unless we raised about £400, we would close down. He cheerfully passed over the subject, saying it would all be okay, he’d fix everything, but he’d see us in the studio that night because something special was happening. They were going to simultaneously record and mix a new song on a worldwide TV link-up. As Paul put it, ‘Getting the good news across’, something about us all broadcasting the message in our own way. He wasn’t being elitist. I knew that IT only reached a few thousand people, whereas the Beatles reached millions. In fact that TV programme, broadcast live on 25 June, was seen by hundreds of millions, not just in Europe and America, but in Japan and Africa as well.

Barry Miles – From “In The Sixties“, 2003

Going further

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.