Watch a touching video of George Martin telling his young granddaughter why he signed The Beatles

19 January 2022, 16:17 | Updated: 26 September 2023, 12:31

Watch the official trailer for The Beatles: Get Back on Disney Plus

Giles Martin has shared an absolutely adorable video of his father George Martin talking about his relationship with The Beatles.

Of all the various contenders for the "Fifth Beatle", George Martin is perhaps the one who contributed the most to their actual music.

He auditioned them for EMI, produced nearly all of their songs, played on a load of it, and was a willing experimenter who contributed crucial ideas.

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Years later, he headed up The Beatles Anthology series, though he passed over production duties on the two "new" singles to Jeff Lynne due to his diminished hearing.

In 2006, he joined forces with his son Giles Martin to work on the remarkable Cirque du Soleil Love project and soundtrack album, effectively passing on The Beatles production baton.

George died in 2016 at the age of 90, and it's been Giles who's worked on the band's reissues and remixes since then.

And today (January 19), Giles shared an absolutely adorable video of his dad talking to his daughter (George's granddaughter) about working with The Beatles.

"There were four of them, and i said 'Who are they? What are they?'" George says on the home video.

"'And he says they're a group, we call them The Beatles'. And I said, 'Well that's a silly name for a start. Who'd ever want a group named The Beetles?'.

"And he said, it isn't the beetles you think of, it's Beatles with in an "A" in it."

He continues: "And I listened to what he said, and I said, 'I'll have to hear them first of all'.

"So he sent them down from Liverpool, which is quite a long way. And I met them in London, and when I listened to what they were doing it was okay, but it wasn't brilliant. It was okay, but why should I be interested in this?

"But the magic really came when I started to get to know them because they were terribly good people to know. They were funny, they were clever, they said all lovely things.

"They were the kind of people you like to be with. And so I thought If I feel this way about them,. other people will... so therefore they should be very popular."

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The story goes that when George first auditioned The Beatles for EMI, he told them how unimpressed he was with their equipment, Pete Best's drumming and the group's apparent lack of professionalism.

When he asked them in turn: "Is there anything you don’t like?", George Harrison responded: "Well, for a start, I don’t like your tie."

George Martin was of course absolutely right about The Beatles personable nature helping them win mass appeal, and watching the Fab Four bouncing off each other during Get Back, you can get a taste of how it was to be with them up close.