Clip features Fab Four performing Paperback Writer on Top of the Pops in 1966

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Long-lost footage of a Beatles performance is to be shown for the first time in more than 50 years.

The Fab Four’s appearance on Top of the Pops in the summer of 1966 was thought to have been lost to history before the collector David Chandler handed over a series of 8mm film reels.

Chandler gave the haul to Kaleidoscope, a group that specialises in recovering video and TV shows. Experts remastered the footage and enhanced the sound of the clip, featuring 92 seconds of the Beatles performing Paperback Writer.

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Only 11 seconds of the June 1966 performance were previously thought to exist. Kaleidoscope’s chief executive, Chris Perry, said: “Kaleidoscope thought finding 11 seconds of Paperback Writer was incredible, but to then be donated 92 seconds – and nine minutes of other 1966 Top of the Pops footage – was phenomenal.”

The newly found footage also includes Dusty Springfield singing Goin’ Back, The Hollies performing Bus Stop and Tom Jones singing Green, Green Grass of Home. Ike and Tina Turner, the Shadows and the Troggs also feature.

The footage will be shown at Birmingham City University on Saturday, and the screening will feature talks from experts such as Ayshea Brough, the host of Lift Off on Granada Television in the 1960s and 70s.

Kaleidoscope launched its hunt for the UK’s top 100 “lost” TV shows in April 2018 and says dozens of people have come forward with clips from shows ranging from Lift Off to Do Not Adjust Your Set.

Top of the Pops was ranked No 2 on the list of the most valuable finds behind Doctor Who. Organisers said the new collection of clips had filled in major gaps in archive history.