Magical Mystery Tour - A Second Chance 45 Years On

It was Christmas 1967. They tell me now that we had just gone through the summer of love though as a sixteen year old kid, I don't remember much in the way of love. Anyway Christmas is the season of good will to all men so I played on that to get my parents to allow me to watch the TV screening of 'Magical Mystery Tour' on Boxing Day. To say that my parents were not exactly great fans of The Beatles is something of an understatement, so I deemed it a magnanimous gesture on their part, that the family gathered round the black and white telly in the living room that evening to witness this great event.

Having endured the sneering comments of my dad while we watched the former lovable mop tops end the international satellite television broadcast entitled 'Our World', six months earlier (25th June 1967 to be precise), I was expecting the worst. He had clearly not been impressed by The Beatles mimed rendition of 'All You Need Is Love'. For 'Magical Mystery Tour' I hoped he would be on better behaviour. It was Christmas after all.

You can probably guess the outcome. I suspect that what played out in our household that evening was being replicated in hundreds or even thousands of households throughout the UK. To be fair I think my dad was fairly quiet for the first half hour or so. He was probably too stunned to speak. I know I was.

I kept my eyes glued to the screen not daring to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. Inside I was squirming with embarrassment and quietly praying that it would get better. Surely it had to get better. It didn't! There's a lot to be said for the current trend of having a TV in your bedroom. At least then you can squirm in private. Back in 1967 ours, like most others, was a one TV household.

Granted the music was quite wonderful but that was it and as I had been given the gate-fold covered double EP as a present the previous day, I could play the music whenever I liked. I still can and still do. However I had no desire to sit through the film ever again.



Now, to commemorate an enhanced version of the film being issued on DVD and Blue-ray, the BBC are screening a documentary about the making of the film followed by the film itself. I admit to being curious to see the documentary but a little reluctant to sit through the film again. It was shown once before in 1979 and I chose to ignore it on that occasion. The pain of Boxing Day 1967 was probably still fresh in my mind.

I suspect however, that when it is broadcast on Saturday evening I will give the film a second chance. After all, this will be the first time I will be viewing it in colour. Forty five years on, I am perhaps mature enough to appreciate it for the art masterpiece it probably is. Surely it can't be as bad as the first time. Can it?