Allan Williams, The Beatles' first manager, dies

[JSngry]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/31/entertainment/allan-williams-beatles-manager-obit/index.html

[Scott Dolan]

Wow! Sutcliffe and Best! Very old, and very rare photo! 

And even though I'm a huge fan of The Beatles, this is the first time I've ever heard of Williams. 

[Big Beat Steve]

There was a book written by him and published in the mid-70s titled (very aptly) "The Man Who Gave The Beatles Away". I failed to pick up a copy when I saw it in the shops in London at the time (I had read about him in a capsule Beatles bio a while before) and somehow was not in the mood either to grab it when I saw a secondhand copy in a London shop in the 90s - but one of these days, maybe ...

Edited December 31, 2016 by Big Beat Steve

[JSngry]

I find it charming that he drove the band back and forth for road gigs, load up, make the drive, load in, play the gig, load out, drive home. That's Gigging 101...102, actually, 101 is when you drive yourself.

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

Wow! Sutcliffe and Best! Very old, and very rare photo! 

 

The photo isn 't common for sure but isn't totally unknown in printed media.

It figures in the "The Beatles - An Illustrated Record" LP-sized book by Roy Carr and Tony Tyler published in 1975. But it is cropped and the two persons on the left are cut off. It also shows up on various Beatles-related sites and blogs.