The Beatles Lost Roundup Interview 1964

For 44 years a canister of film had been stored in a damp garage in South London; unopened, unloved and almost thrown away.

But, finally, somebody took a look inside - and realized they had unearthed a piece of pop history.

The nine-minute interview took place in the studios of Scottish Television on Thursday, April 30th, 1964.

It was thought to have been recorded on a tele-cine machine in London, and stored in a can, now rusted with the passing of decades.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that the fragile film has survived at all.

Now stored safely in a professional archive in Milton Keynes - where temperature and humidity are carefully controlled - it was found, stacked among 64 unmarked cans in a London garage, by film buff Richard Jeffs.

With a bit of detective work, using the scribbled label found inside the film can, Mr. Jeffs managed to decipher the names of the two presenters who fronted the interview in 1964.

The faded handwriting was incredibly hard to read, but patience proved successful.

The hosts were Paul Young and Morag Hood - who presented Roundup, an hour-long children's current affairs program on Scottish television network STV.

It was the second time they had featured the Fab Four on their show - a pre-fame Beatles had mimed to their second single, Please, Please Me on the show in January 1963.

 It's a special piece that is so laid-back it almost falls over

The tape is the earliest surviving long-form British studio interview with the band.

In other words, it is rare.  It offers a revealing insight into Paul McCartney and John Lennon's songwriting partnership.

"Sometimes we write them on old pianos or anything that's lying around, guitars and things. Normally we sit down and try and bash one out," explains McCartney.

Lennon says, "Then again, there's no formula. He can come up with one completely finished, but we still say we both wrote it though.

McCartney also mentions the first song he ever composed:

"We wrote funny songs then - mine was I Lost My Little Girl."

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