Her day job is getting the outside world interested in attractions here in London.

But what the outside world might not know is that Cheryl Finn is a bit of an attraction herself, with a tie to that other London and a best-selling album that came out of it — the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, now marking its 50th anniversary.

So, what does a Tourism London staffer who specializes in getting sports teams to play in London, have to do with the Fab Four and their famous 1967 album?

The story goes that it was her grandfather, an OPP officer, who inspired the name of the album.

That’s not exactly how the band’s Paul McCartney tells it, according to industry authority Rolling Stone. Instead, that version goes, McCartney and roadie Mal Evans were chatting during a flight about developing alter ego concepts for the band — which was under pressure to come up with a new name — when the in-flight meal arrived with its little salt and pepper packets marked S and P.

“Salt and pepper,” McCartney reportedly quipped. “Sgt. Pepper.”

Local Beatles impersonator and expert, Yuri Pool of The McCartney Years, seems to believe that version of the story, too.

“I’m sure there are tons of stories out there, but the band itself explained where the idea came from,” he said.

“They just wanted to not be The Beatles. It was starting to become a job and the fun was wearing off.”

However, like many things about the world’s best-selling band, the folklore is tough to pin down.

What’s clear is that Finn is the granddaughter of the late Sgt. Randall Pepper, an OPP officer who kept hoards of screaming fans away from The Beatles while they played two August 1965 shows at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, says music blogger Alan Cross.

Finn’s grandfather, who was stationed in Aurora, worked on the band’s security detail in 1965.

What’s also clear is that Finn couldn’t be more pleased about her family link to the band.

“He wanted to keep these young men safe while they were in Canada,” she said. “He took his job very seriously.”

Finn treasures her dog-eared copy of the album, which on its inside art shows the band — all wearing military-style uniforms, with McCartney’s powder blue getup including an OPP shoulder patch on the left sleeve.

But there are some differences in the stories about the patch as well.

Finn said that although her grandfather grew close with the band, he never handed Paul the patch — though he came under fire for it from his superiors when the album came out. Instead, she said it was rumoured that a young security officer passed the patch to Paul as he was catching a plane in Toronto.

Pool, as a well-known impersonator, said he had the chance to sit down with people who personally knew the band. The story he got was that an OPP officer gave the group multiple patches and McCartney didn’t really use it until they had to make costumes for the album.

But again, the origins of the OPP patch remain a mystery, despite how well-documented the band is.

While the real Sgt. Pepper never approved of The Beatles and their rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, Finn said that in the time he spent with them, a bit of a bond formed.

“My grandpa was very conservative,” she said. “But he did see the perils of being famous. Some mutual respect was garnered there.”

Curiously, for a Beatles fan who grew up listening to their tunes, Finn said she never found out about her grandfather’s link to the Fab Four until she was in high school.

“I was in my Grade 9 English class and my teacher, who worked with my dad, was a huge Beatles fan. He said, ‘We have a celeb in our class today: Cheryl’s grandfather is Sgt. Pepper.’ ”

Shocked, Finn said she ran home at lunch to ask her mom why she was never told the story.

Her mother, she said, just shrugged and told her the details.

“It’s just a part of our family history,” said Finn.

“I’ve used it to get out of a couple speeding tickets at times, I’ll be honest.”

shmehta@postmedia.com

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