BRIAN EPSTEIN: 45 YEARS AGO

Forty-five years ago this Monday, a tragic event occurred that would lead directly to the demise of the greatest pop music-culture phenomenon the modern world has ever known.
Brian Epstein, the man who discovered and managed the Beatles, the most influential rock group in history and one of the dominant pop culture entities of the 20th century, died of an apparent drug overdose at his elegant townhouse in Belgravia, London.
He was only 32 years old.

While Epstein had no musical talent of his own, nor did he any impart any influence on the Beatles' music, it is safe to assume that if he had not strolled into the dingy, dank Cavern Club in Liverpool one day in November 1961, the Beatles would have never been unveiled to the outside world and society as we know it today might be quite different.

Thus, it is not unreasonable to declare that Epstein was one of the key global figures of the post-World War II era.
Like his four famous protégés, Epstein himself was a fascinating, complex (but ultimately tragic) figure. He was a deeply troubled and insecure man who all of his life fought demons that ultimately crushed him.
Worse for Epstein, he was homosexual -- a criminal offense in England until September 1967 (just one month after his death).
As a lonely, sensitive and spoiled adolescent, Epstein longed to escape the dull, dowdy, decaying town of Liverpool to make his mark in the arts and theater in glamorous London. However, his enrollment in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts ended in failure and disappointment.
In 1957, while in London, he suffered the humiliation of an arrest for “importuning” (soliciting anonymous men for sex in public bathrooms). Though he avoided prison, he remained traumatized by the ordeal.  

READ MORE HERE!

That Hippie Penny Lane