John, Paul, George, Ringo - and Neil Aspinall

Neil Aspinall, the man who was closer to the Beatles than anyone who ever worked for them, has died at the age of 66 from lung cancer. Aspinall (above right) stuck with them from their school days in Liverpool, through the crazy years of Beatlemania, the eventual break-up of the world's most famous pop group, the murder of John Lennon and beyond. Other men - notably Brian Epstein, their manager until his death in 1967 - have been called the 'fifth Beatle', but Aspinall was the one who truly deserved the accolade.

"He was their roadie before people had even heard the expression 'roadie'," Beatles biographer Philip Norman told The First Post. "He really was one of them. He never sold them out. He was the most loyal of all the people who worked for them." So loyal that he never wrote his memoirs, though he has talked to Norman for his new biography John Lennon: The Life, to be published this autumn.

Aspinall met Paul McCartney and George Harrison at Liverpool Institute boys school. He began driving the lads to gigs in his van for ten shillings a week when his friend Pete Best was still the drummer.

When Mal Evans, a Cavern Club bouncer, was taken on as roadie in 1963 - the era of Please Please Me - Aspinall became the Beatles' minder and fixer. "They needed someone to clear the dressing-room," said Norman. "A lot of hangers-on would overstay their welcome and Neil was the only one who could clear the room. He could be very brusque."

Dealing with screaming girl fans and catering to the Beatles' needs wasn't really Aspinall's cup of tea. "It was an unattractive life," Aspinall once admitted, "and it went on for years. But at least I could go out. They were trapped."

Aspinall came into his own as the band became more successful. He had trained as an accountant on leaving school, and when the Beatles made him MD of their company Apple Corp in 1968, he used his skills to help make them the wealthiest group in the world.

In more recent years as chief executive at Apple, he was responsible for the three Anthology albums and the accompanying TV documentary, which took him five years to compile. The album of number ones released in 2000 was also his idea: it has since sold 30m copies.

Students of Beatles trivia will know that Aspinall made minor contributions to several Beatles numbers, including backing vocals on Yellow Submarine and playing harmonica on Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite.

Derek Taylor, the Beatles' publicist in their heyday, once characterised the relationship between the group and Aspinall as "complementary... They had no O-levels, he had lots. They had big egos, he had none."