Then, on July 22, the Mail on Sunday published this news story. Under the banner headline "George Harrison Is Close to Death Says '5th Beatle' Martin," writer Katie Nicholl wrote the following:
Former Beatle George Harrison has admitted that he expects to die soon from cancer.The 58-year-old has been treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland, having already undergone an operation for lung cancer earlier this year.
Harrison made the emotional confession that he does not have long to live to close friend and former Beatles producer Sir George Martin.
Sir George told The Mail on Sunday: "He is taking it easy and hoping that the thing will go away. He has an indomitable spirit but he knows that he is going to die soon and he is accepting that."
The story went on to describe how Harrison had received treatment at the Swiss hospital. It claimed that Harrison had "put on a brave face" in his July statement "but Sir George, dubbed the Fifth Beatle, revealed Harrison is now facing up to the prospect of death."
The paper then quoted Martin as saying, "George is very philosophical. He does realise that everybody has got to die sometime. He has been near death many times and he's been rescued many times as well. But he knows that he is going to die soon and he's accepting it perfectly happily."
Supporting the paper's account was the fact that the venerable Sir George Martin, the Beatles producer who had known Harrison since June 1962 ("Tell me if you don't like anything," invited Martin when they met; "Well, for a start I don't like your tie," quipped 19-year-old Harrison), his close confidant, had apparently personally informed the Mail's writer: "Sir George told The Mail on Sunday."
And in referring to Harrison's closeness to death he used the phrase "he knows that he is going to die soon" not once but twice. The truth was that the story was a compounded mélange of lies, exaggeration and distortion.
Here's how it was put together: On July 18, Sir George sat down with a journalist from WENN -- World Entertainment News Network -- a respected London news agency specializing in entertainment news and features. EMI Records in the U.K. had just issued a six-CD box set retrospective of Sir George's 50-year career as a record producer. A publicist had set up a series of interviews with writers to assist in providing media coverage of the release. The writer who interviewed Sir George for WENN is named Christian Koch. Sir George was relaxed and comfortable being interviewed by him because Koch had recently given good coverage about a charitable project close to Sir George's heart -- an auction of his musical score for the song "Yesterday" to raise funds for victims of the Montserrat volcano. The interview had been requested on behalf of ABC Radio in America, one of WENN's regular clients. Sitting in on the interview was Adam Sharp, Sir George's manager, who has overseen business for the producer for the past few years.
The interview took about 40 minutes; Koch asked 27 questions. The full transcript of the interview reveals an easygoing conversation that included discussion about the Beatles, Oasis, Jimmy Webb, Princess Diana and a proposed stage musical of "Yellow Submarine."
No. 24 of the 27 questions was a query about George Harrison's health. Sir George responded in honest yet diplomatically abstract terms. He referred to the facts that had already been exposed by Harrison himself. And he stated what any halfway literate Beatles fan has known for some 35 years: Harrison has a philosophical view of the world and mortality, enhanced by his study of Eastern spirituality. This is a transcript of Sir George's comments to Koch about Harrison:
Koch: Have you heard from George Harrison at all?Sir George: Have I ...?
... heard from George Harrison? Because he has ...
I was last with George about a couple of months ago and I was at his home with him. And he was ... I mean, he's ... George has had a rough time. Apart from having had cancer in a couple of places, he's also been attacked by a lunatic and nearly killed. And if it weren't for his wife, he would have been dead. And now he's had a recurrence of cancer. So ... But he's got an indomitable spirit. And he's just hanging in there. He's abroad at the moment. He's ... he's been having treatment and he's just taking it easy and hoping that the ... the thing will go away. And I pray and hope that it will too.
How's his general health, though? I mean ...
How's his?
His general health. You said he's got this indomitable spirit but is his health ...?
He's ... he's very philosophical, you know ... I mean everybody's got to die sometime. And I'm nearer that than most people because I'm so old! And George has been near it many times and so ... And he's been rescued many times. So ... I guess he's hoping that he's going to be rescued again. And I think he will. But he knows perfectly well there's a chance he may not be. And he's accepting it quite ... quite happily.
Neither Sir George nor Adam Sharp, his manager, saw anything unusual in the question -- and certainly not in the answer he gave. Paul McCartney had given a similarly elliptical answer, though less detailed, when he had been interviewed on CNN's "Larry King Live" program a few weeks earlier.