Candid Beatles photos revealed

Sep 10 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

Linda Brizell, Exhibitions Officer for National Museums Liverpool and the 'Now These Days Are Gone' exhibition of photographs by Michael Peto. Picture: Howard Davies _320

MICHAEL PETO was one of the great photo-journalists of the 1960s, and left 130,000 prints and negatives to the University of Dundee when he died in 1970.

They lay forgotten until an archive project in 2004 when, among the collection was discovered his fabulous but unofficial photographs taken of the Beatles during the filming of Help in 1965.

The pictures show the group off-guard and behind the scenes at a time when most photographers only had access to them at carefully managed photo-calls.

No one seems to know how self-taught Peto – who was born in Beta, Hungary – got such close access, but his images provide a fascinating insight into the world of The Beatles at such a pivotal time in their helter-skelter careers.

Apart from The Beatles, he also captured many famous figures from the worlds of politics, art and entertainment. He had taught himself photography and then joined the Observer newspaper in 1949.

There have been many exhibitions of his work but this is the first time his Beatles photographs are now on display for the first time have been on show in Liverpool.

* THE Beatles Photographs of Michael Pato – National Conservation Centre, Liverpool, until March 2, 2008.