•For promotional purposes, Freda Kelly asked each Beatle their goal. Paul: Ambition, money, etc. John: Money and everything. George: To retire with a lot of money.

•Some members of Parliament were upset by the Beatles image and the fact that concerts required extra police staff. Ringo replied: "We're ratepayers too" (Clayson, p. 68).

•Lennon: The press around with you want you to carry on because they want the free drinks and the free whores and the fun...We were the Caesars. Who was going to knock us when there was a million pounds to be made? (Hertsgaard, M. A Day in the Life. The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. p. 93).

•In class-ridden Great Britain, for the ill-educated, grammar school scouse louts from the North to question anything, that was totally out of the question. "They all thought we were like Tommy Steele and they could just rip us off" John said (Flippo, p. 127).

•In late '63 Brian Sommerville did a publicity deal with British European Airways. The Beatles would carry BEA(tles) bags. They and their guardians would receive three weeks unlimited air travel between Paris and London. The fees for the Paris shows didn't cover the expenses (Norman, p. 211).

•In class-ridden Great Britain, for the ill-educated, grammar school scouse louts from the North to question anything, that was totally out of the question. "They all thought we were like Tommy Steele and they could just rip us off" John said (Flippo, p. 127).

•In late '63 Brian Sommerville did a publicity deal with British European Airways. The Beatles would carry BEA(tles) bags. They and their guardians would receive three weeks unlimited air travel between Paris and London. The fees for the Paris shows didn't cover the expenses (Norman, p. 211).

•For 1963 they received 1 farthing per double-sided disc. Millions of records were sold under this original Parlophone contract.

•In the early years, at least, the Beatles were in the 94% tax bracket (Brown, p. 110).

•The Beatles were just beginning to educate themselves about their money. For years all that they saw was the fifty pounds a week apiece doled out to them by Brian. It was later increased to one hundred pounds a week. True, all their expenses were picked up and if John wanted a new Rolls-Royce, he had only to say the word (Flippo, p. 199).

•Dr. Stratch (Uncle Walter to the Beatles) served as Treasurer/Secretary. He received their bills for flats and living expenses. His main concern was to amass money in reserve to pay the income tax after they stopped earning money from pop stardom, thus much of their money lay in bank accounts (Norman, p. 195).

•Dr. Stratch also used to discourage larger expenditures (Norman, p. 196).

•Some of the Beatles' early gigs barely covered expenses because they played for the fee that was agreed upon months earlier (Norman, P. 195).

•After Please, Please Me Brian asked Larry Parnes to arrange a series of concerts for £75. Mr. Parnes want to pay £30 per night. Brian says that if he pays the £75 he can have the option to do shows with the Beatles and NEMS acts for the next five years. Parnes says £32, and Brian said £35. Neither would budge.

•Cynthia Lennon: Who the hell wanted a nine-to-five job when they could have all this? Their enthusiasm was boundless: "What have you got lined up for us next Al? Come on, Al. We need the money, we need more work, try and get us fixed up with something, Al" (Lennon, Cynthia. Twist p. 47).

•Sam Leach: The bulge in my back pocket turned into a net profit of more than £300. And what a time I had earning it. At last I was building up the capital I needed to maximize the potential of Merseybeat. My initial plan was to finance Bill Harry's Rock paper Mersey Beat and once that was established, I would form my own record label, Troubadour Records. The Beatles had already agreed to record Twist and Shout...(Leach. p.92).

•By the end of '63 there are over 80,000 dues paying members in the Official Beatles Fan Club with thousands of applications backed up and going unanswered (Schultheiss 70).

•"It is Brian who negotiates the fee, and it's Brian's hard-headed dealing which is gradually pulling bigger appearance money for the boys. It is Brian who pays all their expenses while taking nothing for himself--not out of charity, he insists, but because he sees the Beatles being a success for years to come. If they ask him when he'll want his share, he just replies that he'll worry about that when the Beatles are nationally successful (Taylor, A. p. 20).

•NBC TV purchased a clip of the Beatles playing 'She Loves You' from the BBC for the Jack Paar Show. Brian was furious and thought that this would cause problems with the Ed Sullivan Show deal. The BBC even tried to rescind the sale of the tape. Brian threatened to not allow the Beatles to appear on the BBC again. He did not follow through on the threat. The BBC paid £225 for the clip (Lewisohn. Chronicle p. 120).

Miscellaneous Expenses:

•The Beatles signed autographs at the Town Hall in Abergavenny for 3p each with the money going to Freedom From Hunger Campaign in June of 1963.

•Jim Gretty (of Hessey's Music) said that the Beatles would often stop and play the instruments without buying anything but were never asked to leave because they were good customers.

•Alistair Taylor: A bit of information has just landed on my desk about the boys' return to Heathrow--the bill! We've had a number of claims direct to us and some through the airport authorities and it seems that nine cars were totally flattened by the army of fans!...Another bill for the insurers to argue about, I expect, but I'm sure it will be settled quickly. It would be bad publicity if we didn't do something (Taylor, A. p. 45).

Northern Songs: (for a well-documented account of Northern Songs from Rockmine.com archives click here)

•When the Beatles went to London to audition for Decca on New Years day ’62, they stayed at Woburn Place for 27 shillings, which included breakfast (Brown, p. 72).

•Northern Songs is registered in February '63. Dick James retains 49 A shares. Lennon and McCartney 51 A shares. B shares went to John (19) and Paul (20), NEMS (10). In February '65 the stock went public with 5 million shares (Coleman).

•Mackenzie lists the arrangement as 50% for James and his partner. 20% for John and Paul. 10% for Brian (Mackenzie).

•Well look what happened. With Northern Songs, we ended up selling half our copyrights forever. We lost 'em all and Sir Lew Grade's got'em. It was bad management. We have no company. That's where Brian Epstein f***ed up. Who got the benefit? Not us. I mean, since you ask, in retrospect he made mistakes (McCabe/Schonfeld, p. 22 For the Record).

Early Merchandising:

•A Sussex company marketed 'Ring the new Beat Boot' which boasted elastic gusset sides and rounded toes (Clayson, p. 68).

•Woolworth's (UK?) had moptop wigs and Sayers had guitar shaped cakes. The bigger chain stores in England had Beatle wallpaper, 'Fab Four' powder compacts, etc. NEMS sanctioned Beatle boots could barely keep up with demand (Clayson, p 68).

•The British Press reports that a Church of England vicar has proposed that the Beatles record a record called 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful Yeah Yeah.'