Many close associates of the fab four have been attributed the title 'the fifth Beatle' - but there's one who stands out from that roster.
In 2016 Paul McCartney paid tribute to producer Sir George Martin in his final farewell some 54 years after Martin first signed the Beatles. Paul said in his tribute that "If anyone earned the title of the fifth Beatle it was George."
It's a moniker Sir George shares with a bank of other names, including manager Brian Epstein, who probably shares the top spot as most deserving of the title. Yet, there was another "fifth Beatle," one who never made the headlines but who never left the fab four's side at perhaps the most important time in their history.
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Derek Taylor, born in Liverpool on Saturday, May 7 1932, and would become a lifelong friend of the group, particularly with George Harrison, who would eventually recommend Taylor as a 'fifth Beatle' in 1988.
Before he became the Beatles' press officer at the height of Beatlemania, accompanying them on their first tour of the States, he worked at a West Wirral newspaper as a teen, before a period from 1955 to 1959 at the Liverpool ECHO. Then, years later, in May 1963, Taylor was on his way to the Manchester Odeon to cover his first ever Beatles show.
His glowing review for the Daily Express pleased Brian Epstein so much that soon Taylor was travelling back home to Liverpool to profile Epstein. The two took an immediate liking to each other, and one year later Taylor was the Beatles' publicist and personal assistant to Epstein, with the added task of ghostwriting the manager's autobiography.
However in 1964, Taylor would leave Epstein's employ, after a vicious argument involving a limosine he took to the dissatisfaction of Epstein. Though it wasn't the end of Taylor's journey with the Beatles and he would remain close friends with the group and at the request of George Harrison, returned to work with them as head of communications when they first set up Apple Corps in 1968.
Taylor was said to have been a level-head amidst the manic Beatlemania and a gentleman of the old English style among the emerging hippie culture of the 60s, dealing with both hounding reporters and crazed fans with the same cool head. He stuck with the group throughout their ups and downs, often dealing with the media spotlight on such situations, including when a young woman, believed to be a fan, slit her wrists on the same hotel floor which the group were staying on, and when rumours of Sir Paul's death began to circulate.
Perhaps most importantly of all Taylor confirmed the Beatles break-up after Sir Paul hinted the group was no more. The statement, issued by Taylor on Friday, April 10 1970, was fittingly vague for the band, but tinged with sorrow.
He said: "Spring is here and Leeds play Chelsea tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and full of hope. The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you.
"When the spinning stops - that'll be the time to worry. Not before.
"Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the Beat goes on, the Beat goes on."
Taylor died on Monday, September 1997 from throat cancer in his home in Sudbury, Suffolk. Speaking to the ECHO in 1995, Taylor held a little statuette of a Liver Bird in his hand as he revealed his love of the Beatles hadn't diminished one bit since he was first sent to cover them on the fateful day in May.
Speaking about the then-upcoming Beatles Anthology tv project, he said: "I loved that first 60 seconds. So many memories in that alone and then the music... the music.
"The Beatle music is timeless, undated, fresh, alive and still kicking its way into the charts: it is not nostalgia."
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