February 1^st 1965

 

Brian sighed.

 

He tried to surreptitiously look at his watch. Disappointingly, it had only travelled on around three minutes since he had last looked at it.

 

As tedious dinner parties went, this one was a stunner. Brian tried to remember an occasion when he had been at a more uninteresting one and failed. Two years ago he would have been thrilled to just be at something like this. Sitting around a crisp, white table clothe, sipping wine and eating food he didn’t know the name of, but not now. Now, he was just tired and bored. It was a room of people he didn’t know, all talking to him like they were his oldest friends. All music business people of one sort or another, but in any case, the networking seemed redundant these days.

 

Brian stood up, hoping he might slip away unnoticed.

 

“Oh Brian,” said his hostess, Lydia, turning to him suddenly, “You’re not leaving so soon are you?”

 

“Yes, I’m afraid I must be going,” he said smiling as widely as he could, “Early start tomorrow.”

 

“Busy, busy, busy!” she chastised him, and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

 

“Thanks for the…”

 

“Why don’t you call me sometime?” she whispered in his ear.

 

“…lovely meal,” Brian finished as she leant back from him. He nodded slightly, “Goodbye, Lydia,” he said firmly and headed for the door.

 

In the hallway Brian had to dig through the pile of coats on the hat stand, finding his buried at the back. He began to move the other coats out of the way when a tap on his shoulder interrupted him. Brian turned around. A short, smartly dressed man was standing behind him.

 

“Excuse me, you’re Brian Epstein, aren’t you?”

 

Brian coughed, “Yes,” he said, and waited for it, I’ve got a lovely little pop group…

 

“I thought it was, I remember seeing your picture in the Times.” The man swirled brandy in a large glass. “Oh, forgive my manners,” he said, “Michael Archer.”

 

He held his hand out and Brian shook it.  

 

“I must say, I have long been an admirer of yours.”

 

Brian was taken aback. He blinked, “Oh, I, er…”

 

“NEMS Enterprises? It must be quite a little empire by now…”

 

“Oh, yes, thank you,” Brian replied, feeling a little embarrassed.

 

“Do you ever have people trying to take over or buy you out?”

 

Brian raised an eyebrow, “Now and then” he said, “but it’s not for sale.”

 

The man laughed, “Oh no, I bet it isn’t,” he said.

 

“Quite,” Brian reached for his coat.

 

“Ah, you’re leaving?”

 

“Erm, yes…” he put it on, turning his shoulder to Michael.

 

“Oh dear, and I was hoping to talk to you. I have a proposition for you.”

 

“Um, well, if you drop by the offices I’ll…”

 

“It’s quite a delicate matter, actually. I’ll come clean with you, I have made a bit of a study of NEMS and I think if you give me a few months I could turn it around.”

 

“Turn it around?”

 

“Yes. Maximise profit. Minimise waste. You deserve the spoils after all your hard work, don’t you?” Brian stood on the step up to the front door. Michael stepped up too. “Do you realise how much money you’ve been throwing away needlessly?”

 

“Like what?” Brian said, defensively.

 

“Oh, small things, but they all add up, you know…”

 

“We do alright,” Brian started to button up his coat, finding he had one button too many when he got to the top.

 

“Oh, I didn’t mean to criticise.”

 

“Of course,” Brian said flippantly, still trying to work out his buttons.

 

Putting his glass down on the small hall table, Michael took a step closer to him. He smoothly brushed Brian’s hands away, fixing his buttons for him. “Don’t misunderstand me,” he said looking up into Brian’s eyes, “I think you could be one of the finest entrepreneurs of our time, but what you need is a business manager.”

 

“I have one…” Brian said, feeling his cheeks colour involuntarily.

 

“I mean a specialist,” Michael said, and finishing with the buttons, stepped back from Brian again. “Someone who really understands the inner workings.”

 

“Well… I…” Brian turned towards the door.

 

Michael put his hand on his forearm, “I’m a member of a private club, not too far from here. Perhaps we could adjourn there and discuss this further?”

 

Brian stopped, he looked at the young man carefully, “Well, I have nothing to lose, do I?” he said.

 

Michael smiled.