Obituary Len Pickles aka The mysterious man on the Abbey Road Album Sleeve

Obituary 


Len Pickles

The mysterious man on the Abbey Road Album Sleeve

As most Beatles fans will know, the mysterious man in the middle distance on the Abbey Road album cover was in fact Len Pickles. It is folklore amongst followers of The Fab Four. 

The story goes... 

One sunny late summer day at the tail end of the swinging 60s, Londoner Len Pickles was walking to The Clifton Pub to meet a friend, when he saw lads on the crossing having their photo taken. He quickly realised that this was The Beatles and that this must be the photoshoot for the cover for their new album, provisionally titled EVEREST. Len sensing opportunity, walked up and down that stretch of Abbey Road no less than 48 times making sure he got in the final picture. 

"People think it was just good fortune to be snapped looking innocently toward the camera, but I knew what I was doing." Len said in 2012 to MOJO magazine.

LEFT: Len in 1969 photographed shortly before leaving for The Clifton Pub.. 

For the most part Len just kept his distance but as time passed and nobody seemed to notice him, he got braver; though Len admits got a bit too close in some shots, and in one of the unused pics he is clearly seen walking directly behind Paul wearing one shoe. 

"I might have gotten a bit too cocky at one point and nearly blew it" Len admitted in an interview in Woman's Own in 1986.

Apparently Ringo clocked Len at one point and turned around and said something. What did Mr. Starkey say to Mr. Pickles? Well according to Len in an interview with Pamela Huntsville-West in an interview with Horse and Hound Magazine in 1995 Ringo simply said  "He's very clean". 

So what was Len's great plan, why did he try so hard to make sure he got in on the action that August Morning in 1969. Was he a superfan?

"God no, I hated The Beatles. Bloody awful racket. She Loves You yeah yeah yeah, She's Got a Ticket to Ride, Old Brown Shoe, Blue Jay Way, Revolution number 9, The Ballad of John and Yoko. I Can't stand em. I just wanted the money". He explained to Memo the industry journal for professional typists in 1972.

And money he got. Pots of it. After five unsuccessful attempts (he claimed that most of the album sales were down to the mystique of the 'man in the background' on the sleeve and not the music which was rubbish) which nearly left him destitute he successfully sued Apple Corps for unpaid royalties and spent his twilight years travelling between a yacht in Bermuda, a chalet in Switzerland and his old flat in St John's Wood. 

He married a model half his age and had affairs with many glamorous women. Any problems with potential bigamy were soon resolved when his first wife Irene was found dead under a collapsed pyramid of baked bean tins in the local Fine Fare. Witnesses say she had gotten carried away when she saw that the manager had put beans on a two for one offer for a limited time. The police returned a verdict of 'death by discount'. 

Above: Irene Pickles in happier times 

Did he have any regrets asked Adrian Smith of Angling Times in 2015. "Only that I never told my mate in the pub that I wouldn't make it. Last I heard he was still waiting at the bar". 

Len died peacefully on Thursday when he crashed his classic Jaguar in the Alps. 

In a twist that befits his amazing life story, the ambulance crew found that the 8 Track cartridge of Abbey Road was playing as they approached the wrecked vehicle. Perhaps he was a fan after all. 

Len Pickles. 1925-2022


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