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DARK SECRETS: Pete best | Rare Historical Photos

“If I’d been sacked, or left over musical differences, I’d have felt a right flunker”: Genesis ex Anthony Phillips on why he really quit – and why he’s not their version of The Beatles’ Pete Best

Amiable co-founder of the prog giants reflects on leaving before the band became huge, and explains why he wishes he’d met his replacement Steve Hackett sooner

Louder

"You haven't lived until you've burned a condom. They go up quite well." Beatles icon Sir Paul McCartney recalls cinema stunt that saw him deported from Germany

McCartney and drummer Pete Best were arrested after setting fire to a condom at a Berlin cinema

Louder

Letters and photos from Beatles’ early days to go on show in Hamburg

The collection, including donations from Paul McCartney’s brother, Mike, shows the band’s development from 1960-62

The Guardian - UK

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'Say hello to Ringo Starr...' Which Gavin and Stacey star was at drummer's historic first Beatles show?

Gavin and Stacey star Alison Steadman has revealed she was in the crowd at the first concert that Sir Ringo Starr ever played with The Beatles.

BANG Premier

In Pictures: The week in Culture

If a picture paints a thousand words... Here’s all you need to know or may have missed about this past week in Culture (7 - 11 April 2025).

Euronews

Former Beatles drummer Pete Best announces his retirement

Musician, who played with the Beatles between 1960 and 1962 until he was replaced by Ringo Starr, says he ‘had a blast’

The Guardian - AU

“I had a blast. Thank you”: Original Beatles drummer Pete Best retires, aged 83

His daughter says it’s due to “personal circumstances”

MusicRadar

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Original Beatles drummer Pete Best retires aged 83

Pete Best, who was the first drummer for The Beatles before Sir Ringo Starr, has hung up his sticks after decades as a musician.

BANG Premier

Original Beatles drummer Pete Best announces retirement due to ‘personal circumstances’

Best was the groundbreaking band’s original drummer

The Independent UK

"The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have?" Record shop owner finds 1962 Beatles' audition tape that a British label famously decided wasn't good enough to earn Lennon and McCartney's band a record deal

Listen to The Beatles, with Pete Best on drums, play Money on a newly discovered 1962 audition tape

Louder

Furniture linked to the Beatles which was destined for the dump now in museum

The set of chairs and table had been in the dressing room of a venue where the band performed in August 1962.

Evening Standard

Midas Man: Brian Epstein biopic captures the complexity that made the Beatles manager so brilliant

A few minutes after I took my seat at an advanced screening of Amazon Prime’s Brian Epstein biopic, Midas Man, I found myself engaged in Beatles chat with the chap next to me. I wasn’t surprised to find a fellow Fab Four fanatic at such an event. But I was…

The Conversation

House Used For Early Beatles Gigs Becomes Holiday Rental

A Liverpool house famous for hosting some of The Beatles' first gigs in the basement has been given a new lease of life listed on Airbnb.

International Business Times

Liverpool venue that hosted some of the Beatles’ earliest gigs turned into Airbnb

Fans can stay at the Casbah Coffee Club where the Quarrymen, the precursor band to the Beatles, had a residency

The Guardian - UK

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The Guardian - UK

Barry Keoghan as John Lennon? Who Sam Mendes should cast in his Beatles movies

Following the news that Mendes will direct four fab films about the Fab Four, our critic picks his fantasy lineup

The Guardian - UK

The Rejects by Jamie Collinson review – almost famous

From Pete Best to Florence Ballard and the guy who managed to get fired from both Nirvana and Soundgarden, a history of rock and pop’s also-rans

The Guardian - UK

‘A huge event’: excitement as the Beatles’ final song Now and Then approaches release

AI-enhanced song released at 2pm GMT today, but Beatles experts are divided over how effectively it could capture the band’s spirit

Salon

Playing "Twist and Shout" with a Beatle

At Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp in New York City, adults learn to play from the best — including Pete Best

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news in one place.

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MusicRadar

Ringo Starr has named his “career-defining” Beatles song, but you’re probably more familiar with the version that he didn't play drums on

The Beatles' first single had a winding road to its release…

Los Angeles Times

Chas Newby, fill-in bassist who rejected a full-time gig with the Beatles, dies at 81

Chas Newby, an English rock bassist and brief member of the Beatles in the early 1960s, died this week at 81.

Guitar World

The Beatles’ “first left-handed bassist”, Chas Newby, dies aged 81

The bass player and former math teacher was subbed into the Liverpool legend’s early lineup in December 1960 and played one of the most formative shows of the era

The Guardian - US

Chas Newby, one-time Beatles bassist, dies at 81

The British musician, who performed with the Beatles for several gigs in 1960, went on to become a high school mathematics teacher

Daily Record

The Beatles' former bassist Chas Newby dies aged 81 as tributes paid

Chas Newby- who played with the band in their early days- died on Tuesday morning

Daily Mirror

The Beatles' former bassist Chas Newby dies as tributes pour in for The Quarrymen musician

The Beatles' former bass player Chas Newby, who played with the band in their early days, is thought to have died early on Tuesday morning and social media has been flooded with tributes to the musician

Guitar World

Rolling Stone Darryl Jones, Aerosmith’s Tom Hamilton (and an actual Beatle) to lead next Rock ’N’ Roll Fantasy Camp in New York

Yup, a rhythm section comprising 'fifth Beatle' Pete Best on drums, with Jones and Hamilton on bass, is just the thing for playing Stones, Aerosmith and Beatles classics onstage in NYC

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