Le R*ck est m*rt

E.M.I. Abbey Road Studios Toilet Roll

As refused by THE BEATLES.

"Most things went very smoothly with The Beatles at Abbey Road - but not this roll of toilet paper which they complained was too hard and shiny.

They also thought it disgraceful that the management should stamp each sheet of paper EMI Ltd. The paper was immediately withdrawn and things became much smoother for staff after that."

Ken Townsend

General Manager ( Abbey Road Studios )

14th October 1980

Taken from http://www.beatles-discography.com/1962.html :-

"September 4th, 1962 - The Beatles first official recording session at EMI. George recalled "We were in this big white room, that hadn't been painted for years and years, and it had all these sound baffles, and it was all dirty. It wasn't a very nice atmosphere. When you think of all the songs that were made in that studio, No.2, it's amazing, because there's no atmosphere in there. We just made the atmposphere ourselves.It was a joke, really. I mean, they had this toilet paper like lino, that had EMI on every piece and the refridgerator had a padlock on it, so, if you wanted a cup of tea, we had to break open the padlock on the fridge to get the milk out !""

This toilet roll has been kept sealed in the glass box shown since it's day of purchase at "The Sale Of The Century" auction, held in October 1980, at The Abbey Road Studios, London.

Each individual sheet is printed with "EMI Ltd."

It does seem however, that The Beatles did find a use for the EMI toilet paper whilst recording the song "Lovely Rita". Quoted on http://www.beatles-discography.com, George Martin said "The sessions resorted to a choir of paper and combs, as a mock brass section...blowing through combs covered with regulation-issue EMI toilet paper, to create a bizarre, kazoo-like sound."

The Toilet Roll was amongst many items of memorabilia up for auction on the day, and is specifically mentioned in the official history of the studios, titled "Abbey Road".

Comes with the original certificate of authenticity issued by Ken Townsend, the General Manager of Abbey Road Studios at the time, and also included in this auction is the book "Abbey Road" as mentioned above.

Now's your chance to own a real piece ( or pieces !! ) of Abbey Road / Beatles / EMI history.

WHEN THIS IS FINALLY SOLD, 25% OF THE SALE PRICE WILL BE DONATED TO THE TSUNAMI APPEAL. THIS CAN EITHER BE GIVEN DIRECT BY THE WINNING BIDDER TO THEIR LOCAL APPEAL, OR WILL BE DONATED IN THE UK TO THE UKRADIOAID APPEAL, WHICH CAN BE FOUND ON WWW.UKRADIOAID.COM

Any questions please email me. Offers lower than the starting price displayed here will be considered. If you want a deal to be done, then again, email me. I'll get some more detailed pictures together and I can send them to anybody that is interested. This is available for viewing in the UK if you can show serious intent.

I have also been contacted by a lot of people who would like to buy just one sheet. I am CONSIDERING framing each sheet and offering them for sale, along with a copy of the certificate from Ken Townsend. If you would be interested, then please drop me an email.

NB : No sheets have been removed yet. This is still an auction for the complete roll.

Thanks for looking and Happy Bidding .....