The Neil Aspinall Thread....... - DM's Beatles forums

Here is a piece I had in my Beatles Encyclopedia some years ago:
ASPINALL, NEIL.
Neil was born in Prestatyn, North Wales, on 13 October 1942. His mother had been evacuated there during the blitz on Liverpool and his father was at sea with the Royal Navy. Neil and his mother returned to Liverpool in 1942 when the bombing had ceased and he attended West Derby School, where he passed his 11 plus exams. He next went to Liverpool Institute in Mount Street where he shared the same class as Paul McCartney for English and Art lessons.
     George Harrison also attended the school but was in the class one year behind Paul and Neil. Neil was to comment, �My first encounter with George was behind the school�s air-raid shelters. This great mass of shaggy hair loomed up and an out-of-breath voice requested a quick drag of my Woodbine. It was one of the first cigarettes either of us had smoked. We spluttered our way through it bravely but gleefully. After that the three of us did lots of ridiculous things together. By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams we�d added John Lennon to our �Mad Lad� gang. He was doing his first term at Liverpool College of Art which overlooks the Institute playground and we all got together in a students; coffee bar at lunchtime.�
     Neil took nine GCEs and gained eight, failing to pass on French. He left the Institute in July 1959 to study accountancy and remained with a local firm for two years, receiving a wage of fifty shillings (£2.50) per week as a trainee accountant. At the time he was living as a lodger in Pete Best�s house and it was through the Best connection that he became involved with the Beatles. Pete had joined the group and travelled to Germany with them. On their return they were booked at the Casbah club and Mona Best asked Neil to make some posters announcing �The Return Of The Beatles.�
     The group had relied on public transport to get them to local gigs, but by February 1961 it was obvious that they could no longer rely on that method of rushing from hall to hall. They�d tried a spell hiring Frank Garner to drive them to gigs, but he was the bouncer at the Casbah club and found he couldn�t keep the two jobs going at the same time.
     Pete decided to approach Neil and ask him to drive them to their gigs. Pete suggested that he buy a van and commented, �He bought a battered old grey and maroon model for fifteen pounds (other sources say he bought a second-hand van for £80), but at least it went, which was the main consideration. So Neil entered enthusiastically the world of showbusiness as our first roadie.� He charged each of them five shillings (25p) her man, per gig.
     By July 1962, on the group�s return from their second trip to Germany, Neil decided to take the plunge and become their official road manager, as he was now earning more money driving them around than as an accountant. He was also helping Mrs Best to run the Casbah club.
     Neil and Pete Best were the closest of friends and when Brian Epstein called Pete in for a meeting and then announced that he had been sacked, Neil was waiting for him downstairs in the Nems shop. Neil was furious when he heard. He phoned Mona to tell her what had happened, and then joined Pete for a few beers at the Grapes pub. Disgusted with the situation, Neil told Pete he�d quit � but Pete told him he must stay, that the Beatles were going places.
     When Neil turned up at the group�s next gig, Brian Epstein asked him why Pete hadn�t turned up. �Well, what did you expect,� he told him. Neil asked Paul and John what had happened and was told, �It�s got nothing to do with you. You�re only the driver.�
     Pete�s prediction that the Beatles were going places was exceeded beyond expectations�and wherever the Beatles went, Neil was with them. Mal Evans was brought in to help out as Assistant Road Manager and Neil became much more of a Personal Assistant to the group.
     Paul McCartney dubbed him �Nell,� and the Beatles always called him Nell rather than Neil.
     When the Beatles launched their Apple Corps company, they appointed Neil as Managing Director.
     On 30 August 1968, he married Suzy Ornstein at Chelsea Registry Office. Paul, Ringo and Maureen attended and Alexis Mardas was Best Man.
     Neil survived the appearance of Allen Klein in the Beatles� affairs and after the Apple building in Savile Row was sold, he continued to administer their affairs from offices in Mayfair, a post that he still holds.
     There has probably been no one closer to the Beatles than Nell and no one privy to the most private aspects of their lives. He has always been discreet, utterly loyal, and would keep everything in complete confidence. If ever he wrote a book about his experiences, he has mused, he would arrange for it to be published after his death.
     Neil remains the Managing Director of Apple Corps, although he and his American wife Suzy are the sole directors of Standby Films Ltd, which is based in their large house in Twickenham, Middlesex. In 1994 Apple paid Standby £408,000, from which Neil paid himself a salary of £62,000, and he and his wife are able to enjoy the trappings of a much-deserved success, including transportation by Rolls Royce.
     Incidentally, Suzy is the daughter of Bud Ornstein, who was responsible for the launch of the Beatles United Artists film career.
     Following a heart attack, Neil had to restrict his attendances at the Apple offices in Ovington Square to three days a week. However, 1995 finally saw the release of the Beatles Anthology, a television series on the Beatles, which Neil had first started working on in 1969, when he had called it The Long And Winding Road.