In 1966 the Beatles were on tour in Asia, the last stop was Manila, Philippines, living under a terrible dictatorship.
They had two concerts scheduled on the same day, the reception was impressive, hundreds of police and 20 Cadillacs escorted them.
The Philippines was not a very safe country, and the security the government provided was the same as that given to heads of state.
Commemorative coins were even made to celebrate the Beatles' visit to Manila.
The Philippines was under the power of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda. And it was she who, thinking of improving her public image...
She invited the Beatles to have breakfast with her at the Malacañang Palace. They had given a concert in Tokyo the day before and two that day...
The Beatles were very tired and kindly declined the invitation to rest for a few hours before flying again.
What they did not know is that the Marcoses did not accept no for an answer and the next day their nightmare would begin.
The next day, the band's manager turned on the television to see images of the concert, but what he found was terrible.
Imelda Marcos had used her media power to take revenge, on all channels 200 hungry children with empty plates were seen...
The news reports said that the children had not been able to enter the banquet since it had been canceled because the band never came.
They had been warned that only the Marcos and their children would be there, clearly the 200 children were a lie.
But the worst would still come.
The Beatles were outside the hotel and the police escort abandoned them, a crowd chased them and as they could they returned but ...
The hotel doors were closed, as they were able to enter and hide in their rooms, and then the police arrived.
They had to pay a tax (Invented) not to be arrested, that night they received death threats and people threatened to plant bombs.
The next morning things were worse, all the newspapers said that they had humiliated the country and Paul McCartney woke the others up and said, "This is it, we have to get out of this country right now."
They gathered their equipment and when they came down there was no one at the hotel.
The cars they had rented were gone, and nervous that something was happening, they got two taxis and put everything in them.
The streets were closed and there were military fences looking for them, the taxi driver took them through small streets and they managed to get to the airport.
When they arrived, a crowd was waiting for them and they began to beat them, Ringo fell to the ground, George was spat on, and John and Paul ran alongside a group of nuns.
Finally everyone was able to get on the plane, but the army went up to look for them.
They had to pay another tax or they couldn't leave.
Finally after 40 minutes of negotiation, they paid and with blows, without money and with fear, they were able to leave the Philippines.
But that day the history of music would change forever, John Lennon was furious and made a drastic decision. "I don't risk my life again for a stadium full of screaming teenagers," he said to his teammates, "the concerts are over."
They had to give one more in Chicago since otherwise they would pay a million dollars, but that concert was the last of the band.
Eventually John's refusal to give concerts, the death of the band's manager a year later, began to separate the group.
Less than 3 years later the band broke up. And it was on the roof of their studios that they played together for the last time for the public.
End.
Okay, this is... something that I didn't know happened. Why do Philippine and musical historians tell us Filipinos about this?