Japan Threatens to Trim Beatles (1966)

 

Japan Threatens to Trim Beatles

UPI

June 24, 1966

    There may be a plot afoot to shear the Beatles when they come to Japan next week. Japanese ultrarightist groups upset about the Beatles' six day visit starting June 28 have sworn they will shave the singers' heads "at the risk of our lives."

     The right-wingers are angered at the scheduled use of the Tokyo Budokan Hall by the Beatles for their five concerts. The hall was built especially for the Judo competition of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and there has been a great deal of public opposition to the appearance there of the Liverpool Quartet, but the hall, with a seating capacity of 10,000, is the only building the Beatles would agree to perform in, and the public, rather than face the wrath of 50,000 teenagers, gave in. 

    The right-wingers, however, have not given in, and although the police department is not saying so publicly, the extremists are one of the main reasons 3,000 policemen have been assigned to protect the Beatles and keep order during their tour. The anti-Beatle right wing says the group is a sign of the decadence of Western society, and a reason the communists are doing so well in Vietnam. 

    Bin Akao, the leader of the Greater Japan Patriotic Society, which has distributed 300,000 leaflets and over 10,000 Beatles Get Out posters, told UPI, "There is a strong mood among the right-wing parties to shave the Beatles' heads and send them home looking different." He said he personally did not think that any rightist would succeed in getting to the Beatles or in sabotaging their performances, because "The Tokyo police are too well prepared. The right wing has been marked by the police, "he lamented, "and I don't think there is any possibility of approaching the Beatles, even if someone wanted to". However, he would not deny rumors published by Japanese magazines that there is some sort of plot in the works.

Hospital Closure is a Scandal Raps McCartney (1991)

Paul and Linda are among the protestors marching to keep Rye Hospital open in October 1990

 

Hospital Closer is a Scandal Raps McCartney

No Writer Listed

Daily Post

June 11, 1991

     Pop star Paul McCartney angrily lashed out yesterday at the government after the Department of Health announced the closure of his local hospital. 

    Health Minister Stephen Dorrell told local MPs in a letter he had decided to uphold the decision by Hastings Health Authority to close 15-bed Rye Memorial Hospital in East Sussex, but Mr. McCartney, in a statement to the Press Association, slammed the decision as a scandal and asked, "Who the hell do they think they are?"

     He claimed, "This government is fast fostering a feeling of impotence among its people. We no longer have a hand in any decision. Perhaps then this decision will bring about the necessity for a change of government. 

    "Now it makes me think so much for Major and the claim the NHS is in safe hands with the Tories. How are we going to take seriously a man like Major when events like this closure are happening the length and breadth of our country?"

     Last October, McCartney and his wife, Linda, led hundreds of banner-waving protesters to a rally at the hospital, two miles from the Pop Stars' home in Peasemarsh. He also offered to pay four nurses to staff the hospital's casualty unit. Yesterday, he said it was scandalous that the government could go against the wishes of the local people.

    " A local boy died from an asthma attack that could have easily been prevented if the casualty department here had been open. Do we have to suffer more deaths to prove to them the need for a local hospital?" 

     Muriel Mayer, secretary of the hospital's steering committee, which led the protests against closure yesterday, vowed to fight on.

     The Department of Health later said Rye was an "old hospital building providing outmoded and inefficient forms of care." A statement added Hastings Health Authority "has facilities in a number of small sites and needs to rationalize those services to cover service priorities within the district, patient care will not be affected."

Marching in Rye

 October 15, 1990 - 

Marching

 

Still protesting in '73

 June 27, 1973 - Washington, D.C. 

Do the Oz

 

Marching for the hopital

Peaceful Protesters

the mixed feelings of the Japanese

The fans in Japan couldn't wait to have the Beatles come to their country for the first time.    Tickets were hard to get and fans were scrambling to get them.   This article from KRLA tells the story:

On the other side of the fence was the "right," the people that did not want the Beatles to come to Japan.  They did not approve of the influence of what they considered to be "American culture" being accepted by the youth in their country and felt like while the Beatles were British, they attributed to the change they were seeing in the teenagers.    There was a group of extreme right Japanese men that had plans to kidnap the Beatles and cut off their hair!    But most of the protests were because the Beatles were going to perform at the Budokan, which had only been open for two years and was reserved for wrestling and athletics and not for rock concerts.    This upset thousands upon thousands of people and formal protests occurred.     The Beatles weren't really accustomed to being protested.  Sure, there had been little things here and there over the years, but this one was the first really big protest---and it sure wasn't the last!

Cavern sit in

In late 1965 it was announced that unless the owner of the Cavern Club, Ray McFall, was able to pay for some updates that were mandated by the city, the Cavern Club would have to close it's doors.   Fans talked to Paul McCartney about it and everyone tried to raise the funds, but it didn't happen.  So in February 1966, the fans decided to hold a sit in to protest the demolition of the Cavern Club.    It didn't work, but they sure gave it their best!

God save OZ!