Sgt. Pepper's iconic photos reveal OPP badge on Paul McCartney's uniform
If the photos accompanying the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band haven’t already garnered enough attention — the dead historical icons! Hollywood stars! Wax figures! — it’s now Ontario’s turn to examine the photos in detail.
Paul McCartney’s powder blue military-style uniform is sporting an OPP badge on his left arm, right under his bright yellow fringed shoulder pad.
Beatles historian and author, Piers Hemmingsen, has tracked down this piece of memorabilia’s history and he will dish on it and other Beatles Canadian trivia pre-concert Jan. 21 when Art of Time presents a live performance of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at the Sony Centre. Accompanied by the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, singers Glen Phillips, Steven Page, Craig Northey and Andy Maize will present the album as it was originally recorded (with some extras added).
Long considered the first “concept album,” Sgt. Pepper’s created an alter-universe of circus performers and marching bands. Hemmingsen has written a book, "The Beatles In Canada — The Origins Of Beatlemania!” which is due out on Feb. 9. He points out that Canadians were fans of the Beatles long before their American cousins.
Source: Toronto Star
