The “Mad Day Out” photo session

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In early summer 1968, Paul McCartney called the renowned war photographer Don McCullin to request his services for a day-long photo session with The Beatles. The band needed fresh publicity photos and sought a break from the recording studio.

The date set for the shoot was July 28, 1968. Joining The Beatles and McCullin were five additional photographers — Ronald Fitzgibbon, Stephen Goldblatt, Tom Murray, Tony Bramwell, and Mal Evans — as well as Yoko Ono, Paul’s girlfriend Francie Schwartz, and Mal Evans’ six-year-old son, Gary.

They visited seven locations across London on what was later dubbed the “Mad Day Out“.

In the summer of ’68 The Beatles were in the midst of recording ‘The Beatles’ (The White Album). To produce a new set of more contemporary publicity images, Don McCullin, predominantly a photographer of war zones, was commissioned for a day-long shoot around various locations in London. He practically “levitated two inches off the ground” he was so surprised and thrilled to receive The Beatles’ invitation. On Sunday 28th July, having just photographed them for a Life Magazine cover, they set out on a jaunt now known as The Mad Day Out.

Their itinerary took them from the Sunday Times building on Gray’s Inn Road to Cable Street in the East End (McCullin claimed they’d feel comfortable there – the river and surrounds might remind them of the docks of Liverpool. Anyway, he knew parts of Whitechapel like the back of his hand). From there, McCullin and the band went to Old Street roundabout, on which they posed, much to the surprise of the taxi drivers who waved whilst whizzing round for second looks. After that, to Limehouse and the beautiful Georgian sea captains’ houses around there. Then, a community hall back in the East End, playing with a parrot for a while before heading back to Paul’s house in St. John’s Wood and his geodesic-domed glass ceiling.

From The Mad Day Out Photo Session | thebeatles.com

The idea was to get together a whole new collection of pictures, really good ones, from which the fan clubs could have fresh supplies. this time The Beatles were determined to do something a bit better than just putting their four heads together in front of a wall. After all, a selection of pictures would be going all the way around the world to more than 40 different branches of The Beatles fan club so it was worth a bit of special effort to turnout good ones.

Mal Evans – From The Beatles Monthly, September 1968, N°62

[…] Don McCullin—a distinguished war photographer and a Sunday Times colleague—asked [Tom] Murray if he’d drive him around while he photographed a musical group. “I knew more about music than he did,” Murray recalled. “I thought I might get a few snaps, so I grabbed a Nikon and two rolls of Ektachrome.” When they arrived at the Times, Murray said, he heard someone playing ‘Lady Madonna’ on a piano. “We went in, and there were the Beatles, and I said, ‘Oh, shit.’ Don said, ‘Didn’t I tell you?’ ”

McCullin took a picture that appeared on the cover of Life two months later, and then they all went looking for interesting locations—an adventure known to Beatles scholars as the Mad Day Out. “They were recording ‘The White Album,’ and they hated their publicity photos,” Murray said. “John wanted to be photographed next to Karl Marx’s tomb, but when we got to Highgate Cemetery the gate was locked, so they stood in front of a little house nearby, and we shot them there.” Murray learned later that two young girls inside the house had shouted, “Dad! Dad! It’s the Beatles outside!” But their father hadn’t believed them, and by the time he got to the window they were leaving.

“It was a Sunday afternoon, and on Sundays in those days London was shut, literally shut,” Murray said. “If there had been mobile phones, we’d have been surrounded in thirty seconds, but that never happened. George would suggest something, and then Paul would suggest something, and we just drove around. We did cause two slight rear-end accidents, but nobody else noticed.” Murray shot the same things that McCullin shot, but from different angles—including an unforgettable scene of the Beatles sitting next to and leaning over an oldish man seated on a park bench, sound asleep. […]

From Tom Murray’s Mad Day Out Photographing the Beatles | The New Yorker, May 28, 2018

Location 1 – Thomson House, Gray’s Inn Road

The first location was Thomson House, the hub of Lord Thomson’s newspaper empire, home to The Times and The Sunday Times, situated on Gray’s Inn Road. The building was demolished in 1969.

Thomson House boasted a penthouse photographic studio, constructed for the photographer Lord Snowdon. It was frequently used by Apple’s photographers John Kelly and Stephen Goldblatt. The Beatles had visited Thomson House before, for a photo session with the American photographer Richard Avedon in August 1967.

In the studio, The Beatles were positioned against a blue backdrop with a fan directed at them to tousle their hair. The group employed various props while in the studio, including four colored sheets as capes, a Liverpool Football Club rosette sported by Paul McCartney, crash helmets and diving goggles, a boot atop Ringo Starr’s head, and a bugle played by George Harrison. Some shots also featured a crinkled aluminium foil background.

We met at Paul’s house around lunchtime and set out in a little cavalcade of vehicles. John came with me in my car and I’d brought my small son Gary along for the ride. The others piled into Ringo’s white Mercedes and a van carrying all the different costumes and clothes trailed behind us at as we crossed London from Saint John’s Wood through the West End to Fleet Street and beyond. First stop was the Sunday Times building where we used the roof to do the first set of pictures. And we used a wind machine to get nice effects on the fellows’ hair. In fact I think it helped to produce some of the first group photographs to show all four Beatles foreheads uncovered beneath wind-swept hair!

Mal Evans – From The Beatles Monthly, September 1968, N°62

It was quiet and they came to the Sunday Times building on Gray’s Inn Road. At the top of the building was a photo studio that had been created by Tony Snowdon. There was no agenda except they wanted to give Life magazine a cover picture, which I photographed in colour. I used Ektachrome, and Ringo’s chrome yellow shirt jumped out of the blue of his suit. I turned on the wind machine…

The wind machine was throwing their hair around and their famous faces looked like the figures on Mount Rushmore. To my amazement it worked and we got a beautiful cover. Thinking back on it, Life used to pay five hundred quid for a cover so maybe I actually lost out on it, but I was thrilled.

Don McCullin – From “A Day in the Life of The Beatles” by Don McCullin, 2010

Location 2 – Mercury Theatre, 2 Ladbroke Road, Notting Hill, London

The Beatles then moved to the Mercury Theatre on 2 Ladbroke Road in Notting Hill, London. The building was originally a church hall built in 1848. The Beatles parked their cars near Horbury Chapel, and waited in the theatre until the arrival of a parrot handler.

The band took several photos with the parrot, some by a theatre exit. Onstage, they captured more images, with John Lennon and Paul McCartney taking turns in the spotlight. The session culminated in an impromptu jam around a piano, Paul playing the piano, a parrot perched on his left shoulder.

Next we turned West again and headed for Bayswater. Our destination was a little place called the Mercury Theatre which is situated not too far from the headquarters of The Beatles Monthly. Good job it was Sunday with all this town travelling to be done. to try criss-crossing London by road on a weekday would have meant spending half the afternoon getting out of traffic jams!

At the mercury we dug out loads of strange costumes, had tea in the theatre bar and then did some more pictures. A zoological man brought along a brightly coloured parrot which settled peacefully upon Ringo’s left shoulder and didn’t mind having his picture taken!

Mal Evans – From The Beatles Monthly, September 1968, N°62

We found ourselves in a strange community hall somewhere in the East End. Somebody produced a parrot. The light was terrible and I was struggling with reloading my cameras. There was an old upright piano and they started fooling around with it.

Don McCullin – From “A Day in the Life of The Beatles” by Don McCullin, 2010

Location 3 – Highgate Cemetery, North London.

The Beatles were then driven to Highgate Cemetery, intending to be photographed by Karl Marx’s tomb in the eastern section of the cemetery. However, they only reached the exterior on Swain’s Lane. They struck poses on a bench outside 79 Swain’s Lane and then in front of 59 Swain’s Lane, with Paul McCartney donning a Liverpool Football Club rosette for the latter photo.

From there, we went to Highgate. Actually, we just started driving around and Don suggested Highgate, because it had nice squares. We did a lot at Highgate before the crowds got too big. There’s a picture of The Beatles sitting round an old man on a park bench. We would call him a ‘wino’. He just sat there, sound asleep. George and Ringo sat down next to him, and Paul looked down, as if he was ‘Tut-tutting’. John just stood in the background. I wonder if anyone tapped the old man on the shoulder and said, ‘Did you know that you were just pictured with The Beatles?’ Contrary to belief, this was not a staged photo. He had been sitting there a long time, and, if you look very closely, you can see the newspapers he had been reading. He never once looked up. He was dozing … asleep. The picture was a pure fluke. The Beatles had a very good rapport. They almost seemed to understand each other. One would sit and one would stand. They automatically made a good shot.

Tom Murray – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008

Location 4 – Old Street

The fourth stop was Old Street, a bustling artery in the north of London. Arriving just after 6 p.m., they proceeded to the roundabout’s central island. With the aid of a wooden plank, they ascended a concrete block at the island’s core. Atop this urban pedestal, they adopted a variety of poses. The Beatles were captured waving, saluting, mock-fighting, dancing, and more, before they returned to their cars.

At around 2pm, we went round to Old Street Station, where we took the pictures of The Beatles on top of the station’s canopy. We actually had to get a plank in order to get them on top of there. They had to crawl up the plank, and the brave walked. They, more or less, grouped in the pictures you see. The first ones were a bit static, but then, by the third picture, they picked up a boxing stance, which was really good. Then, they went to another pose, which looked like Paul was falling off the edge of the building, which, actually, he damn near did. He was very near the edge.

Tom Murray – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008

We reached Old Street roundabout and I just asked them to get up on it. Once they were on the roundabout they obviously thought they might as well do something and performed completely spontaneously for me. You can’t direct people like that. The choreography was theirs. The taxi drivers couldn’t believe it as they came round and caught this free show.

Don McCullin – From “A Day in the Life of The Beatles” by Don McCullin, 2010

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Going further

• https://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/07/28/the-mad-day-out-location-two/
• https://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/07/28/the-mad-day-out-location-three/
• https://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/07/28/the-mad-day-out-location-four/
• https://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/07/28/the-mad-day-out-location-five/
• https://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/07/28/the-mad-day-out-location-six/
• https://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/07/28/the-mad-day-out-location-seven/

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