The Beatles (Paul McCartney; Ringo Starr; John Lennon; George Harrison)

1 portrait of John Lennon

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The Beatles (Paul McCartney; Ringo Starr; John Lennon; George Harrison)

by Michael Ward
bromide fibre print, 20 February 1963
17 1/2 in. x 13 7/8 in. (446 mm x 353 mm) image size
Acquired from Michael Ward, 2006
Photographs Collection
NPG x128565

Sittersback to top

Artistback to top

  • Michael Ward (1929-2011), Photographer. Artist or producer of 63 portraits, Sitter in 2 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Ward, a jazz fan, recalls that The Beatles were 'friendly and helpful, up to a point. They didn't know what had hit them. The eggshell was about to break.' Ward's full set of photographs of The Beatles also shows the band on the dockside and meeting small numbers of fans in the street.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Whitaker, Robert, Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed, 2009 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 15 October 2009 - 24 January 2010), p. 72

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Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1963back to top

Current affairs

The Secretary of State for War, John Profumo is found to have lied to the House of Commons when he denied having an affair with the showgirl, Christine Keeler. The Profumo Affair was a public scandal for the Conservative party, and ultimately contributed to the resignation of Harold Macmillan.

Art and science

Doctor Who is first broadcast on the BBC with William Hartnell playing the Doctor. This long running science fiction series about an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his police-box-shaped Tardis has been watched by generations of viewers (often from behind the back of the sofa), and features imaginative, but traditionally low-budget, special effects, innovative electronic music, and the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks.

International

John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Texas. The arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald for his murder did not prevent a score of conspiracy theories involving Cuba, the CIA, the KGB, and the Mafia among others.
Martin Luther King delivers his 'I have a dream' speech, marking an important moment in the civil rights movement in America and helping to secure him the Nobel Peace Prize' in 1964.

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