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OBITUARY Sheila Zelda Patricia Bromberg Harpist. Born London, September 2, 1928; died Aylesbury, England, August 17, aged 92.
The Beatles composed at least three songs inspired by stories in London’s Daily Mail. Paul McCartney recalls reading a report on an aspiring author – Martin Amis, he believes – and basing the lyrics for Paperback Writer on it (and the Daily Mail is name-checked in that 1966 song). Two tracks on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band came from Daily Mail pages.
In January 1967, John Lennon, on reading about the inquiry into the car-crash death of McCartney’s friend and Guinness heir Tara Browne, started work on what became A Day in the Life – “He blew his mind out in a car”.
The following month McCartney spotted a story of London runaway 17-year-old Melanie Coe, forgetting that he had given her a prize for miming and dancing on the television show Ready, Steady Go three years earlier. She’s Leaving Home was born. Lennon and McCartney co-operated on the lyrics, with Lennon suggesting the Greek chorus of parental regret.
McCartney was impatient to record it and called long-time producer George Martin to score the orchestral parts....