Unseen Beatles pictures show Ringo tending to his octopus's garden

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Unseen Beatles pictures show Ringo tending to his octopus's garden
BY BOUDICCA FOX-LEONARD
MIRROR
15 AUGUST 2015

John Lennon is photographed ­with George Harrison and Paul McCartney poses with bandmates

Ever wondered why they chose Ringo to sing Octopus’s Garden?

The Beatles drummer looks like a natural gardener in an off-duty moment at the height of the band’s fame.

Now released for the first time, the snap is part of a unique private collection.


Twist and shout!

All these fab photos were taken from 1963 to 1968 for the magazine The Beatles Book. But they never made it into print.

As well as showing his cultivation skills, Ringo ­is snapped climbing to a ­treehouse and at the wheel of a supercar.


With a little help from my friends

John Lennon is photographed ­drumming and drinking milk with guitarist George Harrison.

Paul McCartney joins ­bandmates ­gazing at their reflections in a hotel ­mirror in Margate, Kent, in 1963.

Photographer Leslie Bryce travelled the world with the band and supplied shots for the 77 editions of the monthly mag, whose circulation ­rocketed from 80,000 to 330,000 in a ­single year.


Norwegian Wood

When the publication’s founder and ­editor Sean O’Mahoney retired, his daughter Jo Adams realised he was sitting on an ­extensive photo archive.

Bryce had more than 40 photo ­sessions with the band. There were far too many pictures to print at the time. Now the best are in a book taking its title from the Beatles song I’m Looking Through You.

Chris Charlesworth, a former Melody Maker editor, said: “No photographer got as close to the Beatles for so long as Leslie Bryce, whose archive has largely been forgotten until now.


The Fab Four

“As he was working for the Beatles’ own magazine they got to know him well and behaved naturally around him.

“He shot them on tour, at Abbey Road, in their homes, simply ­thousands of ­pictures, far more than ­anyone else.


Baby you can drive my car

“Leslie’s pictures are not just the most important Beatles photo archive in the world but they tell a story.

“It is the Beatles’ story, the greatest pop music story of them all.”

 · Looking Through You is published by Omnibus Press, £39.95.


Rare and unseen images of The Beatles
Rare pictures of the The Beatles from the 2015 released book
"I'm Looking Through You"
(Sunday Mirror)