You are at this drinks do or that dinner party with friends and neighbours and the conversation turns to where you have been, what do you do – usual stuff. “A motor racing journalist and broadcaster – you must have met or interviewed some interesting people, then?” comes the inevitable question.

Those with an interest in racing are impressed when I mention that I was driven from the Buenos Aires Autodrome to the centre of town by Fangio. But the non-racers are more impressed by Paul Newman – I interviewed him at a Panoz launch. Then I say, “Of course, there was George Harrison.” Jaws drop. “Well,” I add, “George was around racing a lot, he loved it, some of us knew him and I did a sponsorship deal with him to back bike racer Steve Parrish – and, yes, I did this great interview with him.”

The other day it occurred to me that I had no idea where that interview was or what George said, but I knew it must have been about 1977. Then I recalled it was to do with Barry Sheene – with whom I worked as a marketing manager ar CSS Promotions.

“There is mention of the Tyrrell six-wheeler on my latest record”

Suddenly it came to me. For an all too brief period we published a couple of ‘fan’ magazines in association with ITV. A quick delve into the archive and there were the three editions of the Barry Sheene Championship Magazine. And on the front cover of the August/September edition, we flagged up Barry and the Beatle.

But when I opened up the musty magazine it appeared that the interview was actually the work of Barry, although in reality we had done it together and I had recorded it and I then transcribed the conversation. The three of us sat down for a celebration dinner at the famous Pieds Dans l’Eau Hotel in Bandol, France, after Barry had won the 1977 French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard.

But first a little bit of context. Earlier in the season I had been helping Chris Pook, the instigator and organiser of the Long Beach Grand Prix, with the international media. He’d called me one day saying that he wanted to have a motorbike race at the track as a support event to the Formula 1 car race – car and bike races together, something to think about Liberty! Could I get Barry to come over and race?

Dollars talk and I was able to organise for Barry to compete against the top US racers. In fact, Gene Romero won from Skip Aksland on their 750 Yamahas with Barry third on his 500cc Suzuki. This is where Barry and George first made contact as he recalls in the interview which follows. We are reprinting it exactly as it was in that Sheene magazine 50 years ago!

Barry Sheene: George, I first saw you in the big arena at Long Beach looking at the cars and the bikes and taking a great deal of interest. Was that your first time at a race?

George Harrison: No, far from it. I’ve been into motor racing since I was a kid in Liverpool. I still remember going to the British Grand Prix at Aintree in 1955 when the Mercedes-Benz team led by Stirling Moss finished first, second, third and fourth. I’ve been to quite a lot of races since then, the British Grand Prix and that sort of thing. I love California and I had some other things to do there too. So, it all turned out well. But until I saw your race, I hadn’t really been into bikes since the ’60s. Where you spotted me, in that big arena at Long Beach, it was amusing. The last time I had been in there I was doing a concert.

BS: Apart from coming to the races, what are you doing with yourself these days? You are still very much into the music business, aren’t you?

GH: Well, I am taking it a little bit easy this year. After enjoying Long Beach so much I got hooked on racing, because it was the first time I had really been on the inside. After Long Beach I went to the Spanish Grand Prix and two weeks later, of course, I went to Monaco where we met up again. A week later and I am here at my first bike grand prix which is really great. So, I am a kind of motor sport groupie at the moment. But seriously, I have my own record label, Dark Horse Records, which you know about because I gave you the T-shirt in Long Beach. My latest record Thirty Three & 1/3 is on that label. You won’t have heard of most of the other artists because they are all dark horses really, as the company name suggests. On Thirty Three & 1/3 there is mention of the Tyrrell six-wheeler if you listen carefully and I might come up with some more racing songs, so you could say my trips to races are research.

“Racing is something we British are very good at and I think it is about time it got more exposure”

BS: That sounds like a good line. I always loved The Beatles and no bull, you were my favourite one. But who are your favourites?

GH: There is an American guitarist and singer, Ry Cooder, who must rank as one of my favourites. He was over in Britain three months ago and did a great concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. I like George Benson, another American and, of course, like a lot of my work friends we are into Bob Dylan and Leon Russell. I’m also still into Asian music, particularly North Indian classical and those beautiful instruments like the sitar. For me though Ravi Shankar is still the greatest blues guitarist.

BS: Do you get fed up with being tagged an ex-Beatle, people constantly asking you about the Beatles?

GH: You learn to live with it. But I look back on those days, and it is all history. But really, we are all still Beatles. You are a Beatle and people doing what they enjoy are Beatles, that’s what it is all about.

BS: Of course, you introduced me to Ringo Starr in Monaco, and we all had dinner together with James Hunt.

GH. I see a lot of Ringo, he’s great. I see John occasionally in the States but Paul hardly at all. He’s doing his Wings thing and working hard. But don’t ask the inevitable question.

BS: OK, let’s change the subject. How about having a go on my Suzuki RG500 bike?

GH: No way, Barry, it scares me to death to see you sit on it, see you race it, do those wheelies, that’s something else. I once rode [British guitarist] Alvin Lee’s bike around by my house and got all the gears mixed up and almost shot through a window of the house.

BS: You will stick to four wheels then. What do you drive on the road – you haven’t got a Rolls-Royce have you?

GH: No, I prefer something a bit sportier than that. I have had Ferraris in the past and I’ve got a Porsche now, but my latest car is a BMW 630 which I will be shipping over to the States pretty soon. In fact, I have driven down to Ricard in it, to run it in.

“If he hadn’t been in the Fab Four, George Harrison could well have become a racing driver”

BS: Have you got any strong feelings about the sport, anything you would particularly like to see done?

GH: Well, I thought the idea of running the top car and bike people the way they did at Long Beach was a great idea. It was a really fabulous show. I would like to see that idea expanded, and I wouldn’t mind giving some time and thought to helping it along. I also reckon car and bike racing gets poor coverage in the media, both television and the newspapers. Racing is something we British are very good at and I think it is about time it got more exposure. There is a huge potential audience who don’t realise how great it is. Why can’t they have all the grands prix on television? I’m sure if the people were educated to it by having more opportunity and see and understand it, the audience would be terrific. The sports deserve it, particularly at this point in time – being so competitive and exciting.

BS: I agree and what about the crowds we are getting at bike meetings? There were 80,000 here at Paul Ricard today and that’s normal. We had an average of 50,000 at the John Player Transatlantic races at Easter, three races in four days. The German bike Grand Prix was on ITV.

GH: Yes: I saw that, I’ve got it on videotape. That was a good win for you.

BS: But you got a better view here at Ricard, didn’t you? I saw you at one of the corners during the race.

GH: The Paul Ricard people took myself and Eric Idle around in a car during the race so we watched from different places. It is better than a grandstand seat any time!

BS: So, we might be seeing you at some more races in the future, George?

GH: No doubt about it. I’ve got to keep my research going now.

With that, I turned off my tape recorder and we got stuck into a bottle of Barry’s favourite wine, Gevrey-Chambertin.

Indeed, George became a regular at grands prix in the ’70s becoming pally with the likes of Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda and forming a great friendship with Gordon Murray. He also wrote that racing song he promised Barry in the interview. He recorded Faster in 1979 as a single on a picture disc depicting the faces of several past world champions. For it, he said, he drew inspiration from Niki Lauda’s successful comeback from his near fatal Nürburgring crash.

The proceeds of Faster went to the Gunnar Nilsson Charity and indeed George was at the Nilsson Memorial Trophy meeting at Donington in June 1979. Tom Wheatcroft gave him the opportunity to drive one of the Collection in the morning and he did several laps in a black helmet in the Stirling Moss, Monaco-winning Lotus 18. I don’t think the crowd had any idea who was at the wheel.

The main event that day was a BMW Procar race which included the likes of Lauda, Andretti, Hunt, Watson, Jones, Stuck and Piquet. The race was televised on ITV and I was up in the commentary booth but before the start Gary Newbon did a marvellous interview with Jackie Stewart and George – it’s on YouTube. George, referring to driving the Monaco winner, mentions “I drove an old car, earlier.” Off to a commercial break and then back to me to commentate on a Nelson Piquet win.

George maintained his friendship with Barry who, at the time, was contemplating a switch to car racing. As well as looking after Barry’s commercial affairs we were also promoting the Aurora British Formula 1 series, which ran from 1978-80, and aimed at giving aspiring drivers the chance to compete at F1 level. I hatched a plan that he might squeeze a few Aurora races between his bike commitments in a Surtees TS19.

Indeed, we headed to Brands Hatch for a secret test where Barry did some decent laps and who was there cheering him on? George Harrison, of course. I seem to remember George got a few laps in as well. In fact, the Aurora deal fell apart in the end although Barry did go on to race Audi saloons with Richard Lloyd and DAF trucks.

There is no question that if he hadn’t been in the Fab Four, George could well have become a racing driver. And his point about the television audience was prescient. Although some GPs where broadcast live, most were shown as highlights. The BBC had exclusive rights from 1979 and coverage grew, with Murray Walker becoming a staple of the 1980s TV schedule.