Bittersweet memories of The Beatles 50 years on from Abbey Road: The Yorkshire Post says

Beatles impersonators recreate the iconic 'Abbey Road' photograph made 50 years ago today, on August 8, 2019 in London, England. 50 years ago today, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr held up traffic on the zebra crossing outside their recording studio in north London to get the cover shot for the album, Abbey Road. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

They were the ultimate icons of the 1960s, and it was the image that captured the free spirit of the times – The Beatles walking across Abbey Road to the recording studios where they made musical history.

The homage yesterday to that moment, when fans crossed the road at the minute John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr did so 50 years ago was not only a salute to them, but a wistful remembrance of an era that has taken on the patina of a golden age.

Wistful, because the image marked almost the end of the optimistic Swinging 60s.

The Beatles were soon to break up acrimoniously, and a curtain seemed to fall on a magical period of time.

The famous front cover of The Beatles album, Abbey Road. Picture: PA Wire

As if to underline that, next week marks another 50th anniversary emblematic of the era ending – that of the Woodstock Festival.

The Fab Four are now only memories. But what memories - and music - they left future generations to cherish.

The night Sheffield went Beatles barmy