This fascinating selection of photos gives a rare glimpse into the Beatles trip to Bangor days before they learned of the death of their manager Brian Epstein.
The Fab Four arrived to a fanfare in the north Wales town on August 25, 1967, for a 10-day conference on transcendental meditation having met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at a lecture in London the day before.
They had just released their eighth studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and were at the height of their fame.
However their trip was abruptly cut short two days after their arrival following the devastating news of their manager’s death.
The Beatles on stage in Bangor with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who was delivering a lecture
The Beatles had attended the meditation lecture on August 25, 1967, two days before the death of their manager Brian Epstein
The Fab Four had come to meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Bangor’s Normal College to learn about transcendental meditation
The Beatles had travelled to the small seaside town on the north coast of Wales to spend time with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, leader of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement (now better known as Transcendental Meditation) after hearing him speak in London.
They were met at the town’s station by thousands of adoring fans.
‘We all went to Wales to meet Maharishi. He didn’t know who we were then, which was really fabulous’, Ringo Starr recalled.
‘Only when we got off the train and he saw all the kids running, I think then he may have felt, ‘Wow, things are looking up for me.’ They ran right past him and were looking in our faces, and I think he realised that these boys could get his message across real fast.’
The meditation conference in Bangor was attended by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
The Beatles had travelled to the small seaside town on the north coast of Wales to spend time with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, leader of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement
Paul McCartney was mobbed by Beatles fans as he attended the meditation conference
Discussing the trip, Lennon (pictured) said: ‘Cyn and I were thinking of going to Libya, until this came up. Libya or Bangor? Well, there was no choice, was there?’
McCartney signs a piece of paper for a boy (left) while right the Fab Four are pictured with Maharishi (right)
Maharishi’s first lecture was attended by more than 300 people and afterwards the Beatles held a press conference renouncing the use of drugs.
The Bangor images also contains photos of Beatle girlfriends and wives Pattie Harrison, Cynthia Lennon and Jane Asher – who was Paul McCartney’s fiancee at the time.
The Beatles decided to attend a course of lectures in Bangor after hearing Maharishi lecture at the Hilton Hotel in London (McCartney, Lennon, Starr and Harrison left to right)
Paul McCartney of the Beatles and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones sit opposite each other on a train at Euston Station, waiting for departure to Bangor on August 25, 1967
John Lennon peers out of the window at Euston Station shortly before departure to Bangor
Also present were Mick Jagger and his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull.
The Beatles stayed in dormitories in Dyfrdwy, one of the halls in the Hugh Owen Building of Bangor University.
Their rooms were basic, containing bunk beds and simple furniture, in stark contrast to the luxuries they were used to.
Some of these pictures were taken by a freelance photographer who was hoping to issue them to the national press.
However Epstein’s death meant he decided to keep hold of them.
He has now put the photos up for sale at auction, where they are expected to sell for £15,000.
Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon, in Bangor, having been informed of the death of their manager Brian Epstein
Paul McCartney and Jane Asher leave Bangor by car following news of Epstein’s death
Paul Fairweather, auctioneer at Omega Auctions, in Warrington, Cheshire, which is selling the negatives, said: ‘The chap who took them was a freelance photographer which explains why they are of such good quality.
‘He took photos of the Beatles at the transcendental meditation conference in Bangor in the hope of getting them in the national press, but the death of the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein changed everything.
‘All the press coverage was about Epstein’s death and these photos were never issued.
‘Instead, he had them tucked away in a photo archive at his home in north Wales before deciding now, after 50 years, to see what they were worth.
‘I don’t think he realised their value and how much interest they would generate among Beatles collectors.
‘The images were taken before they knew of Epstein’s death so the Beatles are very relaxed which is not surprising since it was a meditation conference.
‘You can also see the Indian influence which would be present in their music.’
The auction takes place on September 11.
John Lennon with Maharishi in Bangor during the group’s trip to Wales in August 1967
Epstein discovered the Beatles in November 1961 during a lunchtime performance at Liverpool’s Cavern Club.
He died aged 32 on August 27 from an overdose of Carbitral, a form of sleeping pill, in his bedroom.
His death had a deeply destabilising effect on the band who started to concentrate on individual projects and eventually split in 1970.