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Blake had met The Beatles in the early 1960s, before their acceleration to super-stardom following the release of the No. 1 hit album 'Please Please Me' in March 1963. His portrait of The Beatles was part of a series based on pop musicians, also including Bo Diddley and The Lettermen that Blake embarked on after a trip to Los Angeles with his Californian wife, Jann Haworth, in November 1963. Blake has mimicked the idiosyncrasies of the printing process by including the coloured auras surrounding the Fab Four's shoulders, caused through mis-registration. He has also copied the design of record sleeves and fan magazines in his use of the 'fairground' central panel and coloured borders. The white boxes were intended to hold each band member's autograph but sadly were never signed.