Unique Beatles recording lost

The fab four: historic one-off recording lost in time

A historic one-off TV appearance by The Beatles has been lost from BBC archives and music fans have drawn a blank in finding a replacement.

The legendary band appeared live just once on Top Of The Pops but the recording of the show may have been one of those wiped clean in a clear-out in the 1970s.

The group were on the long-running show to mime along to both tracks of their double A-side Paperback Writer and Rain on 16 June, 1966.

However, no copies have ever come to light and BBC officials are hoping that a fan may have hoarded away a pirate copy or even a cine film made from the programme.

'Sadly lost'

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We don't know whether or not this particular piece of Top Of The Pops history has disappeared forever, but unfortunately there was a time when BBC programmes were not archived as carefully as they are today and some programmes were sadly lost."

The performance in Studio 2 of London's BBC TV Centre came just two months before The Beatles effectively gave up live appearances.

They turned up for the recording in John Lennon's Rolls-Royce.