Meeting the president

On December 13, 1974, George became the first Beatle to meet an American President when he went to the White House to meet Gerald Ford.

He was invited by Ford’s 22-year-old son, Jack, who had been to see George perform in Salt Lake City on his 'Dark Horse Tour' and offered him the opportunity when he got backstage.

George was accompanied to the White House by his bandmates, keyboard player Billy Preston, sitarist Ravi Shankar and saxophonist Tommy Scott, as well as his manager Denis O’ Brien, publicity agent Michael Sterling and father Harold.

They spoke for almost 20 minutes and Harrison was surprised by the president's laidback nature.

The musician recalled: "He seemed very relaxed. He was much easier to meet than I would expect. You can imagine the number of things he’s got on his plate.

"I didn’t ask him about anything political… I didn’t want to bug him."