Beatles fans will walk in Fab Four’s footsteps

Hundreds of Beatles fans are to walk over the Abbey Road zebra crossing to mark the 40th anniversary of the famous album cover picture.

They will start crossing at 11.35am on 8 August, exactly four decades to the minute after the Fab Four began the photo shoot that created one of
pop hi story's most celebrated images.

The crossing, close to the studios in the St John's Wood street that gave the LP its name, is a leading tourist attraction — an estimated five million visitors have stopped to have their pictures taken on it.

The walk will be the centre of a day of celebrations. A tribute band, Sgt Pepper's Only
Dart Board Band, will lead the procession dressed as the Beatles appeared in the Sgt Pepper's film.

In the evening they will play at Peter Parker's Rock n Roll Club in Denmark Street in the West End. They will arrive at the crossing in a replica of John Lennon's psychedelic Rolls-Royce.

Richard Porter, owner of the Beatles Coffee Shop near St John's Wood Underground station and organiser of the event, said: "We are expecting this year to be bigger than the 30th anniversary
because there is so much Beatles stuff going on this year.

"The remastered Beatles CDs and Beatles RockBand computer game are being released in September."

The cover photograph was captured in a 10-minute shoot by Iain McMillan and only six pictures were taken. It sparked a conspiracy theory because Paul McCartney walked barefoot and out of step with Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. According to the theory, the album cover represented a funeral procession for the dead McCartney with Lennon dressed in white, as a clergyman, Starr in a black suit as an undertaker and Harrison in blue jeans, symbolising a grave digger.

Abbey Road was released on 26 September 1969 and was the fourth best selling album of the Sixties.
It was the last time the four worked together on a recording, although Let It Be was released the following year. Rolling Stone magazine rated it the 14th best album of all time.