It was McCartney who came up with the concept of reinventing the Beatles under a pseudonym that allowed them to show the full range of their musical interests. McCartney (on a flight home from a holiday in Africa) who settled on the name Sgt. Pepper (a play on the salt and pepper sachets that came with his airline meal). And McCartney who wrote the title song (and the majority of songs on the album).

Yet if you really need evidence Sgt. Pepper didn't take "Macca" by surprise, just look at the album cover. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Sgt. Pepper is the greatest album cover in history (followed by Never Mind The Bollocks by the Sex Pistols, and the Beatles White Album in third place).

At the time, it was easily the most expensive record sleeve ever produced (costing £3000 in artwork, compared to the usual £100). It was one of the first "gateway sleeves" (opening like a book). And it included not only the complete song lyrics but an insert with eccentric cardboard cut-outs (one of which was a Sgt. Pepper moustache).

Sources of ideas

The credit usually goes to British pop artist Peter Blake, the "art director" Robert Fraser, or the photographer Michael Cooper. But many of the ideas came from the Beatles themselves. Particularly McCartney.

The motivation: After they stopped touring in September 1966, the Beatles took two months off. When they regrouped at Abbey Road Studios in November, they were determined their next album would break new ground – not just musically, but in terms of packaging and presentation. They were no longer "the Fab Four", the cute "mop tops" of Beatlemania days. By the time they began recording Sgt. Pepper, all four were "dropping acid" (LSD). Psychedelia was in vogue. The Summer of Love was round the corner. And the fashions of Carnaby Street and the Kings Road had turned a grey, reserved imperial city into "Swinging London".

The cardboard: All four Beatles remembered the teenage thrill of spending their pocket money on a new album by Little Richard or Chuck Berry.


"I wanted something I could read on the back of the bus," McCartney wrote in his autobiography, Many Years From Now (with Barry Miles). "Because that's what I used to do...I'd read some albums for half an hour. We wanted to pack [Sgt. Pepper] with goodies."

McCartney also described the fights he had with EMI (the parent company of Parlophone, the Beatles' recording label) to ensure top quality cardboard would be used for the sleeve because he wanted it to last. ("Later. people put me down for that, 'Oh, he was always the pushy one, the PR one'. The truth was, no other f---er would do it!")

Paul McCartney from the Beatles plays a guitar while John Lennon sunbathes behind in London, during 1967's Summer of Love. Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns

The concept: Lennon went to art school and is the Beatle best known for his drawing skills. But by 1967, McCartney had the more sophisticated tastes in art, and he drew the embryonic artwork for Sgt. Pepper.

His initial idea was for the Beatles to stand in front of a wall of framed photos of their cultural heroes. He sketched several pen-and-ink drawings which he showed to the other Beatles for approval. One depicted them in long military-style jackets, all sporting moustaches, and carrying instruments. French actress Brigitte Bardot was the most prominent of the cultural celebrities in his sketch.

McCartney also drew an alternative scenario in which the Beatles were in a park being presented to a mayor in front of a civic floral clock.

Artistic input

The conflict of interest: McCartney showed his sketches to artistic friends including Fraser, an Old Etonian gallery owner. Fraser's input into the Sgt. Pepper artwork is undeniable. Yet the advice Fraser gave was self-serving. Two of the artists Fraser represented were Blake and Cooper.


The Beatles, clockwise from top left, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney promote the <i>Sgt. Pepper</I> album. John Pratt

Initially, Fraser told McCartney a "real artist" was needed for the cover, and recommended Blake. Later, Fraser insisted a "real photographer" had to record Blake's artwork and suggested Cooper, without revealing he was a partner in Cooper's business. The cover photograph was taken on March 30, 1967, at Cooper's studio.

The maximum cost for a sleeve photograph in 1967 was £75. Fraser and Cooper's fees were £1500, of which a paltry £200 went to Blake. In addition, copyright and retouching fees for the cultural heroes amounted to £1367.

At the time of the Sgt. Pepper shoot, both Fraser and Cooper were heroin addicts. Cooper committed suicide in 1973, leaving a letter of explanation to his young son, Adam (who appears in "out-take" images with the Beatles during the Sgt. Pepper sessions).

Fraser died of AIDS in 1986, one of the first celebrity victims of the disease in Britain.

After enjoying global success the Beatles took time out to create an album that would break new ground. Jan Olofsson

The forgotten woman: Blake's wife in 1967 was Jann Haworth, an American graphic artist. She did much of the hard work designing and arranging the collage of faces behind the Beatles on the final cover. At least two of her trademark mannequins are also on the finished cover.

Combining sketches


The design process: McCartney showed Blake his sketches when Fraser took him to Blake's "very cosy" house in West London, which "looked like an antique shop".

"I showed him my little drawings ...and said, 'This is my idea so far, you can mess it round'," he recalled. "The floral clock became [the Sgt. Pepper drum, and] metamorphosed into a flower bed. Our heroes around us became the crowd of dignitaries."

Essentially, Blake combined the two original McCartney sketches and made something unique. However Blake and McCartney's accounts differ over the "iconic heroes" who appear alongside and behind the four central figures.

Blake says he was presented with an idea of a band that had just performed in a park in front of an audience: "I asked them to make lists of the people they'd most like to have in this imaginary concert."

McCartney said the Beatles had already made a list of the "heroes" they'd like to have included on the Sgt. Pepper artwork before Blake was engaged (except for Ringo Starr, who said he was happy to leave it up to the others).

The uniforms: The Beatles loved fancy dress parties, and the "Lord Kitchener" look was already street fashion in Chelsea. They went to Berman's, a leading London theatrical costumier, choosing the brightest colours and had them made to measure.

The "heroic" figures: Harrison's list of heroes consisted of "gurus" (four of which appeared), noting in his autobiography: "I didn't put anybody there because I didn't like them (unlike some people)."

The Beatles, seen at the EMI studios in Abbey Road, all remembered the teenage thrill of spending their pocket money on a new album and were keen to repeat that feeling for their fans. Keystone


Famously, Lennon included three "heroes" on his list which never made the final cover. Jesus was quickly ruled out by the other Beatles who'd been through the whole "The Beatles are bigger than Jesus" controversy Lennon had sparked in the United States the previous year. Gandhi had to be airbrushed after the photo had been taken because Sir Joseph Lockwood, EMI's chairman, explained it would be considered sacrilegious in India where EMI had lucrative interests.

As for Hitler? A cut-out of the Nazi Führer was made, and almost made the cover. However it was removed just before the photo session began.

(Lennon did succeed in including occultist Aleister Crowley – "the wickedest man in the world" – and Albert Stubbins, a former Liverpool Football Club centre forward none of the other Beatles had heard of.)

Touching inclusion

The fifth Beatle: The most touching inclusion among the "icons" is Stu Sutcliffe, the ex-Beatle who died of a brain injury in 1962, aged 21, in their Hamburg days before they became famous.

The omissions: Bardot was meant to be a main icon, but inexplicably was substituted by Diana Dors, a B-grade British starlet from their youth. Dors is one of only six females (Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Shirley Temple) on the cover.

Yet the most famous missing "hero" is Elvis Presley. McCartney said: "Elvis was too important, too far above the rest even to mention."

Possibly. But when the Beatles met Elvis – on August 25, 1965, at Presley's home in Los Angeles – it had been a stilted evening.


The drum: McCartney's original sketches had included a municipal clock, but Blake turned it into a bass drum, with the Sgt. Pepper logo painted by a fairground artist.

Photographer Linda Eastman talks to Paul McCartney at the press launch of the <i>Sgt. Pepper</I> album. The pair married two years later. John Pratt/Getty

The waxworks: The central conceit of the music on Sgt. Pepper is that it's a mix of the progressive and the nostalgic. Blake caught that mood brilliantly on the cover, most noticeably by borrowing the waxworks of the "mop top" Beatles – their former incarnation – from Madame Tussauds, the famous London tourist attraction.

Blake also borrowed the waxwork of Sonny Liston, the former heavyweight champion of the world. A more appropriate figure would have been Muhammad Ali, who the Beatles had actually met and admired. By the time the album was released, Ali had been stripped of his title for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War.

Close friends

The Rolling Stones: Despite media reports of a feud between Britain's two leading bands, they were close friends. Harrison had been at the party at Keith Richards' house, which was infamously raided by the Metropolitan Police on February 12, 1967. Mick Jagger, Richards and Fraser were arrested. But only Fraser (who admitted to having 20 heroin pills in his possession) served a prison sentence.

The words "The Rolling Stones Good Guys" appear on the knitted jumper worn by the mannequin of Shirley Temple that Haworth had made.

The flowers: The Beatles still wanted their "floral clock", but the florist hadn't supplied enough blooms. So the delivery boy made a guitar out of the blooms that remained (encouraging "the freaks" who cited the "wreath" of a left-handed guitar like the one played by McCartney as evidence "Paul is dead"). Contrary to myth, there are no marijuana plants on the cover (though much was smoked in the making of it).


The Fool: The Beatles were friends with a group of hippie artists who called themselves The Fool. For the centrefold, they painted a dream landscape with tiny figures of the Beatles peeping out of the flowers. The Beatles liked it, but Fraser insisted it was "poor art...badly drawn".

On the day of the shoot, Fraser persuaded the Beatles to pose while Cooper took a series of portrait shots in their Pepper outfits. The best one was eventually used as the centrefold, with McCartney revealing their intense eye contact in the photo was deliberate. When they were on an acid trip, they'd stare into each other's eyes for as long as they could to "share the love".

The back cover: Another of Cooper's photos was used on the back cover, but McCartney had his back to the camera (again "evidence" for the "Paul is dead" freaks). Lennon, McCartney and Harrison insisted the lyrics would be printed in full, although their music-publishing company objected – complaining it would cut the sales of the sheet music.

Umbrellas are placed over the statue of the Beatles in Liverpool - the city preparing to celebrate the half-centenary of <i>Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band</I>. Peter Byrne

McCartney credits Gene Mahon, a graphic artist who was hired to co-ordinate the project, with designing the back cover. Mahon also added the final promise: "A splendid time is guaranteed for all" (taken from Lennon's song, Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite).

Risk of lawsuits

The legal problem: McCartney recalled Sir Joseph Lockwood, the EMI chairman, arriving at his house in St John's Wood (near the Abbey Road studios) and saying: "We have some problems on this. I'm afraid they've sent me around."

"I always got on particularly well with Joe," McCartney said. "I liked him a lot. A clever man...with a sense of humour."


Lockwood explained EMI faced massive lawsuits if any of the live icons whose images were used on the cover decided to sue.

Normally this kind of detail would have been handled by Brian Epstein, the Beatles' legendary manager. However, Epstein was in rehab for his own drug addictions for much of this period (he died of an overdose soon after the release of Sgt. Pepper). So it was Epstein's long-suffering assistant Wendy Hanson who had to seek copyright clearance – but only after the Beatles had given EMI an indemnity for $US10 million out of their royalties if anyone did sue.

The first telegram went to Leonard Bernstein, the composer of West Side Story, who said he'd be "delighted" to appear on the cover. Most celebrities were equally honoured.

But two objected.

Leo Gorcey had been an original member of The Bowery Boys – an American comedy act. He demanded an appearance fee of £500 (and so was replaced with blue sky).

<i>Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band</i> by Brian Southall, $39.99, published by Hachette Australia. Supplied

Mae West held out for artistic reasons. At the age of 73, the actress famous for her quips ("When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better.") didn't want to be associated with a lonely hearts club. According to legend, all four Beatles wrote personal letters to her, begging her to appear. She relented. And there she is on the back row, sandwiched between the satanist Crowley and the comedian Lenny Bruce.

1967 – THE YEAR THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING


According to author Brian Southall, author of the book celebrating the 50th anniversary, Sgt.. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the world's five biggest chart hits in 1967 were Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum), I'm A Believer (the Monkees), All You Need is Love (the Beatles), Light My Fire (the Doors), and Strawberry Fields Forever (the Beatles).

Southall says 1967 was "the year that changed everything". He'd spent much of his career at EMI as a publicist and had met three of the Beatles (and was once mistaken for George Harrison by the "boss" of EMI because of his long hair and moustache). His fascinating, photo-packed book not only explores the making of the Sgt. Pepper album but puts it into the context of the fast-changing world of that year.

Here are some of the things Southall notes in those first few months of 1967 when Sgt. Pepper was being recorded and photographed.

* Ronald Reagan, former B-grade actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild, was sworn in as Republican Governor of California on January 2.

* Three Apollo astronauts – Virgil Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White – died during a flight simulation at Cape Canaveral in the mission to get man to the Moon on January 27.

* Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Robert Fraser were served with court summonses after Richards' house (Redlands) had been raided following a tip-off from the (now defunct) News of the World.

* Pink Floyd's debut single Arnold Layne was banned by the BBC because of its references to cross-dressing.

* On March 21, a convict named Charles Manson was released from prison. Two years later, Manson's "Family" murdered nine people in California (including the pregnant actress, Sharon Tate).

* At London's Finsbury Park Astoria on March 31, Jimi Hendrix was a supporting act to the Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humperdinck. That, according to Southall, is the first time Hendrix ever set light to his guitar on stage.

* Sandie Shaw became the first British winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, with Puppet On A String.

Sgt.. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: The Album, The Beatles and The World in 1967, by Brian Southall is published by Hachette Australia, $39.99