Liverpool City Council has granted planning permission for the construction of a statue of The Beatles’ late manager Brian Epstein. It’ll be good to finally have something Beatles-related up in the city.
Paul McCartney is apparently “delighted” by the news of the statue, which will be erected in the Whitechapel area of Liverpool, where Epstein’s family once ran a record shop.
One of the statue’s sculptors Jane Robbins - who also happens to be McCartney’s cousin - told the BBC about the moment she showed the former Beatle photos of the planned memorial, saying: "He said a few rude words, but we were at a family party and I had the photos of the final clay on my phone. I showed him the photograph and he said 'bleep, bleep, bleep Janie, that's dead good like'. He spent several minutes looking at it and he was delighted”.
"I don't know if there was an actual a tear in his eye but he was very moved to see the clay and that, I think, speaks volumes”, she added. "When you get a likeness, people do often cry because that person isn't around anymore”.
Epstein discovered The Beatles when he saw them play at The Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961. Instrumental in the band’s subsequent massive success, he died from an accidental overdose in 1967. His death is generally seen as the catalyst for the band’s eventual split three years later.
No date for the statue’s unveiling has yet been announced.