Neil Aspinall

Neil Stanley Aspinall (13 October 1941 – 24 March 2008) was a British music industry executive.

A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head the Beatles' company Apple Corps.

The Beatles employed Aspinall first as their road manager, which included driving his old Commer van to and from shows, both day and night.

After Mal Evans started work for the Beatles, Aspinall was promoted to become their personal assistant, later becoming chief executive of their company, Apple Corps.

On behalf of Apple, Aspinall was involved in court cases against Allen Klein, EMI and Apple Computer.

He supervised the marketing of music, videos and merchandising, as well being a director of Standby Films, which was run from his home in Twickenham, London.

Aspinall and his mother returned to Liverpool later in 1942 after the bombing had subsided.

Aspinall later attended West Derby School, where he passed his 11-Plus exams.

When he was twelve years old, Aspinall gained a place at the Liverpool Institute in Mount Street, and was in the same class as Paul McCartney for English and Art lessons.

Aspinall later commented about his first meeting with George Harrison, who also attended the Liverpool Institute: "My first encounter with George was behind the school's air-raid shelters. This great mass of shaggy hair loomed up and an out-of-breath voice requested a quick drag of my Woodbine. It was one of the first cigarettes either of us had smoked. We spluttered our way through it bravely but gleefully. After that the three of us did lots of ridiculous things together.... By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams we added John Lennon to our 'Mad Lad' gang. He was doing his first term at Liverpool College of Art which overlooks the Liverpool Institute playground and we all got together in a students coffee bar at lunchtime."

Aspinall took nine GCEs at the Institute and passed eight of them, failing French.

Aspinall left school in July 1959 to study accountancy.

Aspinall worked for a Liverpool company for two years, receiving a wage of £2-10s–0d.

(£2.50 decimal equivalent) per week as a trainee accountant.

The Beatles played at the opening of the Casbah Coffee Club on 29 August 1959, which was in the cellar of Mona Best's house.

Aspinall later rented a room in the house and became very good friends with then-Beatle Pete Best.

The Beatles had to travel in Aspinall's van along with their equipment, but British roads in the early 1960s were notoriously pot-holed and slow to navigate.

Ringo Starr remembered that the travelling never seemed to stop during the early tours of Britain in Aspinall's van, as they would be driven up and down Great Britain with one of the group in the passenger seat, but with the other three on a hard bench seat in the back.

Aspinall's job as personal assistant consisted of driving to concerts and meetings, but mostly meant just being there whenever someone needed something.

Aspinall went on the first trip to the United States, and when George Harrison became ill with a fever and had a temperature of 102 °F, he was ordered to stay in bed, so Aspinall stood in for him for The Ed Sullivan Show camera rehearsals; however, Harrison was back in time for the final shooting.

Before the cover of Sgt. Pepper's could be completed by Peter Blake, Aspinall was sent out to find photographs of all of the people that were to be shown on the front cover.

Aspinall suggested the idea of Sgt. Pepper being the compere, who would introduce the group, and the reprise of the title song near the end of the album.

The Beatles had previously used public transport to travel to local bookings, however by February 1961, they were playing two or three shows per night at different locations needing their own transportation.

The Beatles returned from their second trip to Hamburg in July 1961, and Aspinall left his job to become their permanent road manager, as he was earning more money driving them around than he was earning by being an accountant.

The Beatles were driven down to London by Aspinall on New Year's Eve in 1962, for their Decca audition, but Aspinall lost his way, and the trip took ten hours.

They arrived at 10 o'clock at night, and John Lennon said that they arrived "just in time to see the drunks jumping in the Trafalgar Square fountains."

Best was sacked from the Beatles on 16 August 1962, by manager Brian Epstein acting on behalf of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.

Accounts vary of Aspinall during this event.

According to MerseyBeat editor Bill Harry, Aspinall was waiting downstairs in Epstein's NEMS record shop, and was the first one to talk to the by then ex-Beatle in the Grapes pub, across from the Cavern.

Aspinall was furious and said that he would stop working for the band as well, but Best strongly advised him not to.

Aspinall asked McCartney and Lennon at the next concert why they had fired Best and was told, "It's got nothing to do with you. You're only the driver."

In 1963, Aspinall was joined by Mal Evans, who also helped set up the Beatles' equipment (and acted as a bodyguard) which freed Aspinall to concentrate on other duties, like arranging appointments or buying things for them, such as suits, boots, meals, or drinks.

Best asked Aspinall to be a part-time road manager for the band, so Aspinall bought an "old, grey and maroon Commer van" for £80, and charged each of the group five shillings (60d [old pence], or 25p [new post-1971 pence]) per concert.

Harrison later said: "Our early van became the centre of attention every time it pulled up. It was brush-painted red and grey and from head to foot was covered in graffiti – girls' names, and things like 'I love you, John'. It looked interesting, but the moment anybody saw it they would feel free to write all over it."

On 10 April 2007, Aspinall retired from Apple Corps and died of lung cancer in New York in 2008.

Aspinall was born in Prestatyn, North Wales, after his mother had been evacuated from the family home in Liverpool because of the air-raids on Liverpool during the Second World War, while Aspinall's father was away at sea with the Royal Navy.

However, in a 2007 interview, Aspinall provided Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn with a distinctly different version of events, saying that he was physically present when Epstein sacked Best, that he told Best unprompted that he planned to continue working for the band, and that on his first subsequent encounter with the other band members, their first question to him was how Best had taken being sacked.

Aspinall stayed with the band, ending his affair with Best's mother, a relationship that had led to the birth of baby Vincent "Roag" Best.

Aspinall denied the story for years before publicly acknowledging that he was indeed Roag's father.

Aspinall worked closely with Epstein, who provided weekly notes for Aspinall to give to the group members detailing their concert appearances and the fees they would receive.