North of London’s Oxford Street behind Selfridges department store lies the 18th century open space known as Manchester Square. Between 1960 and 1995 EMI records’ imposing glass fronted headquarters was located there (don’t look for it, it was demolished some time ago). Now, the one thing nearly everyone knows about 20 Manchester Square is that the cover photo of The Beatles’ first LP Please Please Me was taken in the stairwell there. But what most people don’t know is that this wasn’t just a one-off. For years EMI’s press office used Manchester Square extensively as a cheap and convenient location for their publicity photos. Dozens of iconic pictures were taken against the front of the building, or in the basement stairwell and some, like the Seekers’ EP cover shown here, were even snapped in the park-like environs of Manchester Square itself. The Marylebone Council park bench upon which Judith Durham is reclining so seductively here is clearly branded “Manchester Square 1953” so it was maybe 22 years old when the photo was taken.

http://i.imgur.com/JfW8D2F.jpg