This is What Happened the Day Elvis Presley Met The Beatles, As Told by an Eyewitness to History

If ever there was a moment for someone to wish to be the proverbial fly on the wall, it would no doubt have been at about 10 p.m. in Los Angeles on August 27, 1965 — when, in the midst of their North America tour, The Beatles paid a visit on Elvis Presley. Well, one “fly” who was on that wall is journalist Ivor Davis, author of the new book, The Beatles and Me On Tour.

“I became very friendly in 1964 with The Beatles,” explains Ivor in an exclusive interview with Closer. “I was a foreign correspondent for a newspaper called the London Daily Express and I was on the West Coast. The editor called me and said, ‘Get up to San Francisco. The boys are coming and we want you to travel with them, eat with them, sleep with them and cover their concerts.’ And I flew with them in their private jet for about 35 days. So I became a part of the family, if you like, because they weren’t able to mingle with the public. And so they were stuck with me and I was stuck with them. So I got to know them pretty well.”

Elvis, of course, had been one of the principal rock ‘n’ rollers to have inspired The Beatles in the first place, so, for them, it was quite the honor. It’s unknown what the King felt in regards to the Fab Four, although rumors were that he admired their talent if not their success. At the same time, there was no doubt that their impact on music had truly shaken things up for him, and what had been considered hip had somehow become a little less so in comparison. Things weren’t helped by the fact that Elvis’ career had fallen into a rut of sorts as epitomized by a string of less-than-impressive films with just as lackluster.

In the book Elvis by the Presleys, Priscilla Presley writes, “Some stars want to meet other stars. Some stars have to hang out out with other stars. Not Elvis. I can’t remember him once telling the Colonel to arrange a meeting with anyone famous. He saw Hollywood as the home of phonies. He certainly felt out of place, which is why the minute the movie [he was filming] wrapped, he was gone. One memorable evening, the Colonel arranged for Elvis to meet four famous people. But I believe it was The Beatles who were eager to meet Elvis, not the other way around.”

Please scroll down for much more from Ivor on the day Elvis met The Beatles.