Jeffrey Archer reveals why THIS is his favourite photograph

“Here I am (far right), aged 23, with The Beatles and fellow charity fundraiser Sir Nicholas Lloyd backstage at the Liverpool Empire Theatre on June 12, 1963.

This was the first time I had met the Fab Four, having travelled up to Liverpool, armed with Oxfam posters and collecting tins, in the hope of securing an impromptu photo opportunity with the band.

At the time I was studying at Oxford and closely involved with the Oxford-based charity which had set itself the ambitious challenge of raising £1 million to mark its 21st birthday.

The charity had asked me to head up the student side of the fundraising campaign and as we had the backing of a national newspaper, I thought we were in with a chance.

Shortly afterwards, the then Prime Minister and the University’s chancellor Harold Macmillan gave a talk at Oxford and I very wickedly took the opportunity to ask if he would officially back the campaign.

He agreed, so I then approached Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, and told him the Prime Minister was backing the campaign – would the band formally back it as well?

The Beatles must have received many similar requests, and when Epstein said he’d get back to me I must admit I wrote it off.

But a day or so later he did get in touch again, with The Beatles’ support, and at my suggestion agreed to bring the boys down to Brasenose College, Oxford, of which I was a member, at the climax of the appeal the following year.

This was the height of Beatlemania and the band had just visited America for the first time where they had been greeted by thousands of screaming fans at JFK airport.

With the group besieged wherever they went, the police were worried that they wouldn’t be able to control the crowds outside the college, so it was decided to keep their arrival quiet and smuggle them in from the railway station by car. 

The Beatles visited the college on March 5, 1964, and after dining with a group of dons who included Sir Noel Frederick Hall, an eminent economist and the then principal of the college, we all retired to his lodgings for drinks, where we were photographed sitting or standing around his fireplace, chatting.

The thing that struck me most was Paul McCartney telling me that he had never gone to university, even though it was clear to me that we would have been perfectly capable of getting a degree at Oxford.

He was an incredibly clever guy, as was John Lennon, but it made me realise that many people back then just didn’t get the chance to pursue higher education.

My other recollections were that George was charming and Ringo was fun.

They could have sulked and given the impression that they would rather not have been there, but although they couldn’t resist teasing the dons a little, they behaved very well. 

I never saw John again because he moved to America, but George and I became friends and he used my accountant for a while.

I bumped into Ringo about 20 years ago at a theatre and recently caught up with Paul at a party at the home of Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, where he said he’d been fascinated by the American election result.

Looking back, I’m amazed I had the chutzpah to approach The Beatles, but I was young – and I wanted to raise that £1m. I’m delighted to say that we did.” 

Tell Tale by Jeffrey Archer is out now (Macmillan, £12.99).