The Making of The Beatles'
Magical Mystery Tour

In September of 1967, The Beatles and a motley entourage got on a bus and set off for two chaotic weeks of location filming... Here, for the first time, is the inside story on one of 'The Beatles' most bizarre creative adventures.
Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow went along for the ride and his account of the chaos that ensued makes outrageous and revealing reading

The Story of the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
Forward by Alistair Taylor (Brian Epstein's personal assistant)

"For almost five years,The Beatles had been the darlings of the critics. John, Paul, George and Ringo could do no wrong - until the first television showing in Britain of Magical Mystery
Tour. It gave newspapers an opportunity to pan the film which was shown on 26 December
1967, a day known in the UK as Boxing Day. The critics did not pull any punches. They felt
that The Beatles had failed, that they had dropped below their usual exceptional standards
and that Magical Mystery Tour was nothing more than a massive dose of self-indulgence.
Now, thirty years later, the criticism has been shown to have been premature and it may be
worthwhile trying to put things into context. In 1967, at the height of psychedelia, Magical
Mystery Tour was shot in vibrant colour. It was shown on BBC television in monochrome
which destroyed so much of the film's impact. The next time you watch it on video turn the
colour right down on your television set and this will give you an impression of what the
British public saw. It just does not work."