Television: The Music Of Lennon & McCartney

The UK regional broadcaster Granada screened a special programme, The Music Of Lennon & McCartney, on this evening. It was shown across the rest of the United Kingdom the following day.

The 50-minute show been conceived by Granada producer Johnny Hamp, and was directed by Philip Casson. Filmed on 1 and 2 November, it was the biggest music spectacular produced to date by Granada Television, and was designed to showcase the songwriting talents of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Appearing on the show were The Beatles, Cilla Black, Peter and Gordon, Lulu, Henry Mancini, Esther Phillips, Fritz Spiegl, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, Alan Haven, Marianne Faithfull, the George Martin Orchestra, Dick Rivers, and Peter Sellers.

The show opened with an orchestral version of ‘I Feel Fine’, performed by the George Martin Orchestra.

Peter and Gordon sang A World Without Love, Lulu performed I Saw Him Standing There, and there was an instrumental version of A Hard Day’s Night by jazz organist Alan Haven and drummer Tony Crombie.

Dick Rivers sang Things We Did Today in French, the George Martin Orchestra performed Ringo’s Theme from the A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack, and and Paul McCartney introduced American composer Henry Mancini, who performed ‘If I Fell’.

Esther Phillips had flown in from American especially to perform And I Love Him. Six members of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra appeared as Fritz Spiegl’s Barock And Roll Ensemble to perform ‘She Loves You’ in the style of Mozart, before Peter Sellers performing a much-celebrated Shakespearean version of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.

Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas performed Bad To Me and ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’, Cilla Black sang It’s For You, and Spanish dance star Antonio Vargas performed She Loves You.

The Beatles themselves performed ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘We Can Work It Out’. Paul McCartney also sang the first verse of ‘Yesterday’, before the song was completed by Marianne Faithfull.