The Beatles on Salisbury Plain
The 60's Pop Group The Beatles' filmed scenes for their second film 'Help!' on Salisbury Plain in 1965.
By May 1965, the Beatles; John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were the most famous pop group in the world, known as the 'Fab Four' with numerous chart-topping songs. Their success continued into films with a hugely successful first film 'A Hard Days Night'.
Filmed in black and white, it was shot at a few London and provincial locations on a small budget of around £200,000, and portrayed a fictional account of the adventures of four young lads in a pop group.
A second film was agreed 'Help!', which was to be a much more ambitious project. Double the budget, shot in colour, and filmed at such glamourous locations as the beaches of Nassau in the Bahamas, the ski slopes of Austria and... Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
The simple storyline is a parody of a James Bond film revolved around Ringo Starr and one of his famous many finger rings. Unknown to him, it was a mystical 'sacred' ring from the Far East, which its cult owners wanted back. Ringo was pursued by the 'ring-chasers', with many all sorts of zany stunts attempting to retrieve the ring from his finger.
The Beatles needed to do some more musical recordings for the film. To ensure the groups security, it was decided to record at a site with military security. Salisbury Plain was chosen with filming taking place at Knighton Down, near the Larkhill army base.
On Sunday 2nd May 1965, the Beatles checked into The Antrobus Arms Hotel in Amesbury, their base for the next 3 days whilst on location. Each day the group were transported from The Antrobus Arms Hotel to Larkhill in a black Austin Princess limousine.
Their departures and arrivals attracted huge crowds of teenagers, blocking the Main Street through Amesbury.
Such was their popularity, that when the limousine they used was left unlocked in the hotel garage, it was reported fans had looted it of the Beatle's caps, various items of the groups clothing and even emptied the ashtrays for their used cigarette ends!
The term Beatlemania became used to describe this enthusiastic behaviour.
At the time of filming, troops from 3 Division, Royal Artillery who were on exercise at the time, were employed as 'security' for the film storyline.
The army even supplied tanks for the 'Fab Four' to climb over whilst they were making their recording. It's hard to imagine that happening today, but such was the groups global celebrity.
On Thursday 6th May with locations filming completed, the Beatles checked out of The Antrobus Hotel, returning to London where they continued filming at the Twickenham Film Studios.
The film had its world-premiere on 29th July 1965 at the London Pavilion, in the presence of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, and with the title song 'Help!' already at number one in the UK singles chart. It went on to win first prize at the International Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro in September. The New York Times newspaper critic quoting "90 crowded minutes of good, clean insanity."
The Beatles made a lasting contribution to the world of cinema. "Across five highly influential Beatles movies 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964), 'Help! (1965), 'Magical Mystery Tour' (1967), 'Yellow Submarine' (1968) and 'Let It Be' (1970) - the group helped make irreverence fashionable in mainstream culture."