Brian Epstein

A first edition, first printing of A Cellarful of Noise, inscribed to EMI managing director Len Wood.

• Brian Epstein (English).
• London: Souvenir Press, 1964.
• With 33 photographs and other illustrations.
• The name of L G Wood (in his hand) to the top of the endpaper and signed beneath by Brian Epstein, ‘To Len/with best wishes/Brian.’
• Bound in publisher’s navy blue cloth boards with gilt titles to the spine, in the unclipped wrapper.

Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, played a crucial role in securing their record deal with EMI. In 1961, Epstein, a Liverpool record store owner, discovered the band at the Cavern Club. Determined to get them a record deal, he was rejected by major labels, including Decca, which infamously turned them down. Eventually, Epstein met George Martin, a producer at EMI’s Parlophone label. Martin, known for his work with comedy and classical records, saw potential in the Beatles despite initial reservations. Len (L. G.) Wood was the managing director of EMI and George Martin’s boss – the two did not get on. Wood told Martin to go and “see this group from Liverpool”.

George Martin met Brian Epstein on February 13 1962, but Martin didn’t like the audition tape and saw no promise in ‘The Beatles’. Nothing came of that meeting. Soon after, George Martin asked Wood for a rise in salary and, astoundingly, a royalty of the records he was producing. Wood, an ex-soldier, played everything by the book and refused both requests. Martin threatened to walk and Wood told him to help himself. The raise in salary came about as Martin needed the money, due to his secret affair with his secretary, Judy Lockhart Smith, yet he was already married with two young children. Len Wood, a churchgoer, did not approve of people having affairs. When Wood somehow caught wind of Martin’s affair, he couldn’t fire Martin, because EMI chairman, Sir Joseph Lockwood, liked him as he was good at his job. Shortly afterwards, Sid Colman – head of EMI’s publishing arm – pitched Wood the idea of signing ‘The Beatles’ again and this time Wood said yes. “After a short, stunned silence, I said, ‘Oh? Who’s gonna do it, then?’ [And he said,] ‘George Martin.’ Martin had no idea what was going on until Wood ordered him to sign The Beatles. Both Ron Richards, Martin’s assistant, and Norman “Hurricane” Smith, a balance engineer at Abbey Road studios (who would engineer The Beatles’ records through Rubber Soul) corroborate this story. “L.G. Wood didn’t approve of people having affairs,” he says. “L.G. virtually ordered George to record The Beatles.”

An inscribed copy of the book written by the man who managed The Beatles to the man who signed The Beatles