On November 12, 2001, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr travelled to New York to spend time with George Harrison.
It was a private meeting, with no cameras or public announcements. Paul and Ringo knew George was seriously ill, and nobody could pretend that time was on his side. Whether they realised this would be the last time the three of them were together is less certain.
But there was a sense of occasion about the meeting, and Paul would later remember it as a particularly precious afternoon. And it was, it would turn out, the last time the three surviving members of the band were together.
The meeting took place at the hotel in Manhattan where Harrison was staying. McCartney had flown in from London with his fiancée, Heather Mills, while Starr was already in New York. Harrison, then 58, was undergoing treatment and was plainly unwell. But those who were there recalled a gathering that was considerably more cheerful than its circumstances might suggest.
The three men had known each other for most of their adult lives. McCartney and Harrison had grown up in Liverpool, with Paul introducing the younger guitarist to John Lennon in the late 1950s, famously at a church fete.
Starr joined the group in 1962, completing the line-up that would change the course of popular music. They had spent the next decade making records, touring the world and becoming the most famous band in history. They had also fallen out, argued over music and business, and gone their separate ways when the Beatles split in 1970.
Their relationships had not always been easy in the years that followed. Harrison, in particular, had sometimes expressed frustration with McCartney's tendency to take charge in the studio. But the shared Beatles history remained, and the three men had gradually found a more comfortable relationship as they grew older. There was a great deal to look back on, and plenty of old stories to revisit.
According to Dr Gil Lederman, Harrison's doctor, who was present for part of the gathering, there was plenty of laughter. He later described the meeting as 'spirited', rather than sombre, with the three men reminiscing about their time together. There were tears, too, but Harrison remained in good spirits. It was, Lederman said, a very happy occasion for his patient.
Starr eventually left, but McCartney stayed behind, spending more time with Harrison and his wife, Olivia. In an interview afterwards, Paul recalled the experience with particular affection. He and George had joked together for a few hours, he said, and at one point they held hands.
It was a small gesture, but one that stayed with McCartney. The two men had known each other since they were teenagers, yet, as Paul later reflected, they had never really done that sort of thing before. It wasn't something boys from Liverpool were accustomed to doing. Now, with the end approaching, it felt entirely natural.
'I sat with him for a few hours when he was in treatment just outside New York,' McCartney later told Uncut. 'We joked about things – just amusing, nutty stuff. It was good. It was like we were dreaming.' He described Harrison as his 'little baby brother', a reminder of just how far back their friendship went.
Harrison died on November 29, 2001, at the age of 58. McCartney and Starr would continue to see each other, and both would pay tribute to their friend in the years that followed. But the three of them would never share a room again.
There was no formal farewell on November 12, and no grand gesture to mark the occasion. They simply spent time together, laughing about the past and enjoying each other's company. Perhaps that's what makes the meeting so moving. After everything that had happened to the Beatles, and everything they had meant to the world, their final get-together was not about the band at all. It was about three old friends.
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