July 3, 1966
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Thursday, July 2, 2026
10,000 Beatles Fans Foiled in Manila (1966)
10,000 Beatles Fans Foiled in Manila
Associated Press
July 4, 1966
The Marines, a helicopter, 25 motorcycle police, an armored car, and an airline pilot combined to avoid 10,000 Beatles fans at Manila Airport yesterday. The fans, many carrying pictures of their heroes, waited for several hours in the broiling sun for the group to arrive from Hong Kong, but when the Cathay Pacific Jet landed, it stopped at the end of the 1000-foot runway, almost a mile from the terminal.
Then cars took the Beatles along the runway, escorted by motorcycle police, with sirens screaming and red lights flashing, and followed by two ambulances and an armored car. The armored car stood by in case the Beatles were mobbed and needed rescuing. The ambulances were there in case fans were injured. A helicopter directed the convoy to the gate which had the fewest fans. Tearful girls hurled themselves at the cars in the hope of stopping the convoy, but no one was hurt.
The convoy sped to the Philippine Navy headquarters on Manila Bay foreshore, where Marines stood guard. A seven foot launch took the Beatles out into the Bay. "It's safer for the Beatles out there than on shore," said Mr. Vic Lewis, a Beatles representative.
The Beatles are to give two performances at the 100,000 seat open-air Rizal Football Stadium tonight. President Ferdinand Marcos, his wife, and their three young children were reported to be flying from the island of Leyte to see the show .
Tomorrow, the Beatles are to take a KLM flight back to London. Before leaving Hong Kong, the Beatles said they considered their Japan tour a success, despite some anti-Beatles movement. "There was always some opposition," said Paul McCartney.
In Tokyo, the Beatles had been taken by car from their hotel to the aircraft steps. About 80 car loads of fans followed until police stopped them at the airport entrance. From midnight until the group left yesterday morning, the 1,000 police on duty turned away more than 2,000 teenagers under elaborate police guard.
The group saw little of Japan. They said they enjoyed working before Japanese audiences, although they were "less responsive and more polite" than those in most other countries.
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Imagine They turned down the Beatles! (1966)
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| Little Richard with the Beatles and the Chants |
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| In 2024, I had the good fortune to hear Joe Ankrah of the Chants speak at a symposium in Liverpool |
Imagine, They Turned Down the Beatles!
No writer listed
Manchester Daily News'
July 2, 1966
Said Alan Harding, age 21 one of the Liverpool Coloured Vocal Group, The Chants, "It seems fantastic now, but we brushed their offer politely aside. We thought the material we had was all right."
The offer Alan referred to was a tape of new songs, and the offer was being made by the Beatles. That, as time in the pop world is measured, was relatively long ago, of course, back in 1962. The Beatles were big on Merseyside, being nationally beat was only just beginning to get into its stride, so the Chants' Alan, Edmond and Joseph Ankrah, Nat Smeda and Eddie Amoo could not really be blamed for their lack of interest.
It happened at Liverpool's Cavern Club, where Paul McCartney had invited them after a chance meeting without hearing them sing. "When they gave a demonstration," Alan recalls, "The Beatles threw the chips they were eating into the air and came rushing over."
The Chants got their first professional booking that night, and because they had no backing group, the Beatles offered to fill in. It was after that performance that the offer of the taped songs came.
Since then, the Chants, who are appearing this week at Manchester's Piccadilly Club, have become a successful cabaret act. They have sung all over the country and have appeared in Germany, Belgium, and Spain.
There's only one dark cloud on the otherwise happy career of the group, who are five of Bessie Braddock's favorite people. ("They're terrific!" she says.) The Chants have never made the charts. Said Alan, "We still have the ambition, but material is always a difficult thing for vocal groups to come by."
And that tape the Beatles offered? "We never even listened to it, for all we know, the songs may have been some of the biggest hits they ever had."
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