On This Day in 2003, a Stolen Recording by The Beatles Was Found for Sale in an Australian Newspaper Ad

It’s no surprise that many tapes and recordings by The Beatles have been nicked from studios back in the band’s heyday. They were the biggest band of the 20th century. And naturally, quite a few bootlegs were released by sneaky individuals during the band’s peak in the 1960s. However, on one rare occasion, some recordings were stolen from the Fab Four and didn’t see the light of day until decades later.

Videos by American Songwriter

That was certainly the case for a set of tapes discovered in Australia on this day, February 14, 2003. According to news reports at the time, some reel-to-reel tapes that are believed to be original studio recordings by the group were discovered in Australia. The tapes were discovered in an advertisement in the “listings” section of a Sydney newspaper.

Naturally, the police quickly got involved. They discovered that a 27-year-old man had been in possession of the tapes. The tapes featured early studio recordings of songs from The Beatles and Abbey Road. Original artwork was also discovered in the “haul.” It is believed that the tapes were stolen in 1969. So, the individual in question would not have been alive to be the original tape-snatcher. The individual in question was later released and it doesn’t appear as though any other arrests were made.

How The Beatles’ Stolen Tapes Were Found

The tapes in question were found after police were tipped off by English detectives from the infamous Operation Acetone. For those unfamiliar, that investigation specifically sought to find a number of Beatles recordings that were stolen from Abbey Road Studios in the 60s and 70s.

Nothing much came out of the Australian discovery, as the only suspect was later released. However, Operation Acetone was successful in recovering some other stolen works in the 2000s. 

Nearly 500 tapes from the Get Back sessions were recovered. A number of people in England and the Netherlands, some of whom worked at Abbey Road Studios, were arrested in connection to the crimes. Likewise, in Amsterdam, a number of tapes that were part of the band’s final album, Let It Be, were recovered, along with unreleased music and recorded conversations of the Fab Four during recording sessions. The discovery took place in early January 2003.

Operation Acetone was successful in partially finding some stolen works from The Beatles. But who knows how many other tapes and goods from the Fab Four’s heyday are sitting in someone’s basement somewhere?

Photo by Roy Cummings/THA/Shutterstock