The relationship was fairly old-school in the beginning, with Martin as the ‘grown-up’ in the room refining The Beatles’ sound and shaping their songs. The producer helped nudge Pete Best out the door as drummer, and then had his replacement, Ringo Starr, sit out on one of the band’s early singles so that a session drummer presumably better suited to the job could play.

He persuaded Paul McCartney to try out a string section on his ballad Yesterday, and he added sped-up keyboards to the bridge of John Lennon’s In My Life. But The Beatles weren’t anyone’s puppets, and soon began working with Martin as studio equals. Martin’s role went from The Boss to Mr Fix-It, a studio craftsman who could turn even The Beatles’ most far-fetched ideas into sonic forget-me-nots that enhanced the song.

Want something that sounds like Tibetan monks chanting on a mountaintop? A crescendo that evokes the end of the world? A fairground organ from a circus fit for an insane asylum? Martin came up with the answers on iconic tracks such as Tomorrow Never Knows, A Day in the Life and Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!