Jimmie the Beatle

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Beatle’s tour of Australia in 1964.

Jimmie Nichol is best known for sitting-in for Ringo Starr in the Beatles (when Ringo became ill with tonsillitis and was hospitalised on 3 June 1964) for eight concerts of the Beatles’ 1964 world tour during the height of Beatlemania. The Beatles, especially George Harrison, wanted to postpone the tour, but then the manager Brian Epstein after a frantic phone call decided to use drummer Jimmie Nicol to temporarily replace Starr.

Jimmie drummed with the Beatles in Denmark, Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Australia. This elevated him from relative obscurity to worldwide fame and then back again in the space of a fortnight.