I love the Beatles. I’d go as far as to say that the vast majority of music made post, say, 1967 wouldn’t have happened had The Beatles not happened. They wrote the rule book. It’s the one thing I disagree with Scroobius Pip about.
Anyway. Last week was the 44th anniversary of the Sgt. Pepper album. You know the one, with the iconic cover designed by Peter Blake that features the Beatles’ heroes, icons, contemporaries and historical enigmas. There are 55 people on that cover, plus three that are obscured, according to Craig Brown’s excellent book, One Two Three Four. And I got to wondering who my 55 might be. Wonder no more:
Paul McCartney, musician
John Lennon, musician
George Harrison, musician
Ringo Starr, musician
Sir David Attenborough, naturalist and broadcaster
Mr Badger, character, Wind in the Willows
Ronnie Barker (as Fletcher), writer and actor
Dame Mary Beard, classicist, broadcaster, writer
George Best, footballer
Charles Booth, social reformer
Sir Frank Bowling, artist
Gordon Burn, writer
Kate Bush, musician
Nick Cave, musician
Sir Billy Connolly, comedian and presenter
Molly Cooney, doctor
Ian Dury, musician and writer
James Ellroy, writer
Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, actor
Guy Garvey, musician
Antony Gormley, artist
Barbara Hepworth, artist
Gil Scott Heron, musician
Ian Hislop, writer and broadcaster
Hans Holbein the younger, artist
Albert Irvin, artist
Brian Johnston, cricket commentator
Sir Tom Jones, singer
Kauto Star, racehorse
Nicole Kidman, actor
Naomi Klein, writer and activist
James Lovelock, scientist and writer
Hilary Mantel, writer
Helen McCrory, actor
Rocío Molina, dancer
Grayson Perry, artist
Pablo Picasso, artist
Empty Plinth, space for the as yet undecided
Kojey Radical, musician
George Robinson, 1st marquess of Ripon
Don Rogers, footballer
Joseph Rowntree, social reformer
Arundhati Roy, writer and activist
Alexei Sayle, writer and comedian
Michael Sheen, actor
Barry Sheene, motorcycle racer
Timothy Spall, actor
Bruce Springsteen, musician
Dylan Thomas, poet
JMW Turner, artist
Bernhard Vogel, artist
Mary Wesley, writer
Tim Winton, writer
PG Wodehouse, writer
Victoria Wood, writer, musician, actor
ANDREW LEACH 