Police officer who pulled the plug on the Beatles' last concert regrets nothing

CTV National News: Pulling the plug on the Beatles A U.K. man recalls pulling the plug on a rooftop Beatles concert 53 years ago when he was a rookie cop. Daniele Hamamdjian reports.

Over the years, hundreds of people have claimed to be on the rooftop of 3 Savile Row on Jan. 30, 1969, when the Beatles gave what would turn out to be their last live performance. In all, eight or nine said they were police officers. In reality, there were only three and the producers of the new documentary series “Get Back” needed to find them, especially the one who did most of the talking that day.

London Metropolitan PC Ray Dagg was 19 at the time. To his colleagues he was known as Police Constable 574C but to the legions of fans who have now watched the docuseries on Disney+, he’s the London cop who pulled the plug on the last live gig of one of the greatest bands in history.

Apple Records staff later told Dagg there was only one way filmmaker Peter Jackson would know if they had the right guy: there had to be a gap in his front teeth.

Indeed, when he smiles, there it is. And these days, at age 72, it’s hard not to smile. In his first TV interview since the docuseries was released, Dagg told CTV News about the hundreds of messages he’s received from all corners of the world, including Canada. Most people who’ve written have praised his composure and patience when dealing with staff who he says were clearly trying to kill time while the Beatles recorded as many songs as they could on the rooftop. Then there are the five per cent who write to Dagg and who ultimately get blocked. “I hope karma visits you, you bastard, stopping a genius band like that,” one person wrote.

Dagg had been on the job for six months, mostly waving traffic, when he walked into the police station that day. “The sergeant said to me: ‘Before you go anywhere on your beat go and shut that noise down because it’s not just the noise, it’s the people in the street, thousands,’” recalls Dagg. He says fans had also gathered on neighbouring rooftops to get a glimpse of the Beatles and it was dangerous.

He told CTV News other police officers had knocked on the door of Apple Records Headquarters but with no success. He believes the only reason they let him in is because he looked young and staff thought they could sway him. As the minutes went by Dagg was patient but visibly irritated. “I’m thinking I’ve been stalled here,” he says. “I’m thinking there’s a finite amount of time I’m prepared to put up with it.”

Once on the rooftop there was an exchange with the road manager that no one else could hear. “I said, ‘Right that’s it, I’ve been very patient I’ve been trying to accommodate you but you show no sign of stopping – tell the four of them they’re under arrest,’” he recalls.

What the Beatles and their entourage likely didn’t know at the time is that police had no power of arrest on private property for the offences they were committing on the rooftop. “So it would have meant arresting them on private property, taking them outside, “ he explains, “and then I’d have gotten into a lot of trouble, a huge amount of trouble if I had turned up at the station with the Beatles in tow…wrongfully arresting them.”

Asked what he would tell Paul and Ringo today, “Thank you for not calling my bluff!” he responds.

Dagg was never really a Beatles fan; he prefers Simon and Garfunkel. In fact, he only found out their rooftop show was their last one 50 years after the fact, when producers at Apple Records found him.

Asked if he regrets shutting down the last live show of one of the greatest bands in history, Dagg says the guys didn’t stop playing because of him. “They could have easily done many more concerts together, they split up shortly after they were on the roof,” he says, “I happened to be there…pure coincidence. Responsibility I feel for it… none.”