Among the pivotal dates in the life of the Beatles, 27 August 1967 is one of the most significant. That’s when the band’s manager Brian Epstein died, aged thirty-two, in his London flat, the result of an accidental overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. His death precipitated the fracturing and ultimate fragmentation of the group. The financial disarray that dogged them at the time of their split in 1970 was something that Epstein would certainly have prevented. He was also a harmonising influence when personal dynamics became fraught, and it is no coincidence that following his death the music of the Beatles diminished in quality.