Neil Aspinall

A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head the Beatles' company Apple Corps.

The Beatles employed Aspinall first as their road manager, which included driving his old Commer van to and from shows, both day and night.

After Mal Evans started work for the Beatles, Aspinall was promoted to become their personal assistant, later becoming chief executive of their company, Apple Corps.

He supervised the marketing of music, videos and merchandising, as well as being a director of Standby Films, which was run from his home in Twickenham, London.

When he was twelve years old, Aspinall gained a place at the Liverpool Institute in Mount Street, and was in the same class as Paul McCartney for English and Art lessons.

After that the three of us did lots of ridiculous things together.... By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams we added John Lennon to our 'Mad Lad' gang.

It was brush-painted red and grey and from head to foot was covered in graffiti – girls' names, and things like 'I love you, John'.

According to Mersey Beat editor Bill Harry, Aspinall was waiting downstairs in Epstein's NEMS record shop, and was the first one to talk to the by then ex-Beatle in the Grapes pub, across from the Cavern.

[21] Aspinall stayed with the band, ending his affair with Best's mother, a relationship that had led to the birth of baby Vincent "Roag" Best.

[23] The Beatles had to travel in Aspinall's van along with their equipment, but British roads in the early 1960s were notoriously pot-holed and slow to navigate.

[29] After recording sessions, Lennon, Harrison and Starr would be chauffeured back to their houses in the 'stockbroker belt' of Southern England, but Aspinall would often drive McCartney and Evans in an Austin Princess limousine to a late-night club to eat.

They would eat steak, chips and mushy peas, but Aspinall would always take out a torch from his pocket (in the dimly lit club) to inspect the portions on each of their plates.

[32] Although Harrison, McCartney and Starr had passed their driving tests, Lennon didn't pass his driving test until 1965; however, he rarely drove himself due to being a notoriously bad driver by poorly navigating roads and failing to notice other traffic, and as a result, he was usually chauffeured to and from recording sessions and appointments by his own personal chauffeur.

"[36] George Martin (The Beatles' record producer) was against the idea, as he thought that Aspinall did not have the necessary social qualifications to be able to speak to the upper class executives at EMI.

[45] Aspinall was also involved in several court cases in which Apple Corps took action against EMI:[46] We have tried to reach a settlement through good faith negotiations and regret that our efforts have been in vain.

On 10 April 2007, it was announced by Apple that Aspinall had "decided to move on" and Jeff Jones—a longtime VP at Sony Legacy—was hired as CEO to oversee the back-catalogue.

During one of the extended business trips of Best's stepfather, the 19-year-old[51] Aspinall became romantically involved with Best's mother, Mona Best, who was 17 years his senior.

[5][19] On 30 August 1968, Aspinall married Suzy Ornstein at the Chelsea Register Office, London,[53] with Magic Alex as best man.

[54] Suzy Aspinall is the daughter of Bud Ornstein, the late chief executive of United Artists Pictures (UK).

Aspinall had met her during 1964/1965 when her father was the United Artists representative overseeing the production of the first two Beatles' films: A Hard Day's Night and Help!.

[55] As well as his work for Apple Corps, Aspinall and his wife were the sole directors of their own Standby Films Ltd. company, which is run from their home in Twickenham, London.

The Liverpool Institute , which Aspinall, McCartney and Harrison attended