(Updated April 2025) Adam writes… Many of you will have already done it in the road with me. For the rest of you… Why Don’t We Do It In The Road soon? All the London Music Tours Beatles walks can be found here.
In the meantime here’s my highly trivial guide to everything else you need to know about Abbey Road. You never know, this stuff might come up in a pub quiz…
On That Day…
It is the 8th August 1969, a sunny Friday morning in London Town. And as Iain Macmillan raises his camera to his eye and four Scousers cross a road…
Harold Wilson is the Prime Minister of the U.K.
Richard Nixon is the 37th President of the United States
The Rolling Stones are at No.1 in the UK chart with Honky Tonk Women. It is to be their 8th and last UK chart-topper (…so far)
In the U.S Zager & Evans top the Hot 100 with In the Year 2525. It is their first hit (and will be their last)…
Across the Channel, Charles de Gaulle’s government devalues the Franc by 12% at a time of European financial crisis… also in France, but unbeknownst to you today in 1969, Henry Kissinger is engaged in secret peace negotiations with Xuan Thuy representing North Vietnam. The talks flounder…
Nearer to home, if you have tuned in to Coronation Street two nights ago (Wednesday 6th August 1969) you will have seen Rover’s Return landlord Jack Walker refuse to fire barmaid Betty Turpin despite the protestations of his wife, pub matriarch Annie Walker (it was episode 899 of what will become the UK’s longest-running soap)…
And tomorrow, the 9th August 1969 the English football season will kick-off at 3.00 p.m. Perhaps appropriately it will be a good day for the Liverpool over London. Liverpool F.C will defeat Chelsea 4-1 and Arsenal will go down to Everton 1-0…
In two days you will wake up to the gruesome news of the murder of actress Sharon Tate at the hands of Charles Manson’s “Family”. Manson will later claim to have been influenced by the lyrics of The Beatles’ Helter Skelter from last year’s double album The Beatles…
Later this year you can look forward to the debut of, Monty Python’s Flying Circus on the telly (5th October, BBC1)…
… by which time you will have been playing The Beatles’ Abbey Road album for nine days (it will be released on 26th September 1969) on your latest model Dansette record player, the Dansette Supreme.
But back to August 8th and one week from today around 200,000 people will arrive at Max Yasgur’s farm in Sullivan County, in the Catskill Mountains, NY to hear a few bands…
Abbey Road In Numbers…
0.9 the length of Abbey Road in miles (1.4 Km)
6 the number of shots taken my photographer Iain Macmillan
11,250 people live along its length according to the 2011 Census
507 Abbey Road forms part of the B507 Road between West Hampstead and Marylebone
140 At time of Abbey Road (the album), Abbey Road (the road) was celebrating its 140th birthday – it was opened in 1829. (Before 1829 Abbey Lane, Abbey Road’s predecessor, led to Kilburn Priory.)
435 Price in U.S dollars of photographer Ian Macmillan’s Hasselblad 500C in 1969. Adjusted for inflation that’s $3,757 in 2024 (£2,900)
35,062.50 Price in GBP that Iain Macmillan’s Hasselblad 500C camera sold for at auction in 2020
The Lights
The flashing orange globes atop black and white poles that herald zebra crossings are called Belisha beacons – named for Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893-1957), later Lord Hore-Belisha, who served as Minister for Transport from 1934 – 1937. In his capacity as Transport Minister under both Ramsay Macdonald and Stanley Baldwin, Leslie Hore-Belisha also implemented the UK driving test. The good Lord himself is commemorated with a Blue Plaque at 16 Stafford Place, SW1 in the City of Westminster.
And while Belisha beacons and zebra crossings are not the exclusive preserve of London, the metropolis can easily lay claim to having the world’s most famous examples of same at Abbey Road.
For visitors to London unsure of how to approach our zebra crossings…
The Highway Code
So how do we negotiate a zebra crossing? Well here’s how we did it in the 60s (actually the 1959 edition of The Highway Code)…
The advice we need is in section three of Part 1: The Road User On Foot…
Uncontrolled zebra crossings
When you have stepped off the kerb on to a zebra crossing (which must have black and white stripes, studs and lighted beacons), you have the right of way, BUT ALLOW APPROACHING VEHICLES AMPLE TIME TO GIVE WAY, especially if the road is wet or icy.
Do not stand on the pavement at a zebra crossing if you do not intend to cross.
Although you have the right of way once you are on the crossing, keep a look-out to right and left as you cross, because a driver’s view of you may have been obstructed.
There you go. And drivers? Well, they’re required (in the 60s) to give the following clear hand signals…
Rule 194 of the Highway Code (most recent version) states that drivers must: “Allow pedestrians plenty of time to cross and do not harass them by revving your engine or edging forward.”
Try telling THAT to the grumpy motorists in St John’s Wood.
Who Are You Wearing?
On the sleeve of Abbey Road John, Paul and Ringo are all wearing suits by Tommy Nutter.
Tommy Nutter was born in Wales and raised in Edgware. He later moved to Kilburn (just along Abbey Road to the northwest) and trained to be a plumber at Willesden Technical College.
Mercifully, at the age of 19, he threw in the spanner and took up the study of tailoring.
In 1969 he moved into Savile Row where he merged traditional techniques with modern flair. He is often referred to as the man who modernised Savile Row and brought it into the 20th Century.
Through his associations with singer Cilla Black and her husband Bobby Willis (his business partners), he became the man who dressed The Beatles (then near, if incongruous neighbours on Savile Row) for the Abbey Road sleeve.
Nutter also designed the suit in which Mick Jagger was married to Bianca in 1970.
The man himself passed away, aged just 49, in 1992, from complications arising from AIDS. But to this day, when some young buck swaggers down The Row promising to turn the world on its head, we always remember Tommy Nutter and his stylish blend of the new style and the old ways.
The eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted his name as we head along Savile Row on my Beatles tour. Ask me to point it out next time you’re along there with me.
The Other Paul (Who Wasn’t Dead)
So who’s that fella looking on from the other side of the road…
Oh, that’s Paul Cole a salesman on holiday from Florida. And you can find his story here: palmbeachpost.com
Look Down
As you cross, keeping an eye out to the left and right for traffic, try too look down at the same time (!). This commemorative manhole cover is situated just to the south of the crossing. It’s a nice touch…
And In the End…
One last thing: be careful out there…
Further Reading
The OTHER Famous Road Crossing Sleeve
