Neil Aspinall’s journey from roadie to head of a billion-dollar business empire began when he was recruited as The Beatles’ driver in 1961. “I had a van, and needed the money,” he later recalled. Aspinall died on Sunday aged 66, while away from his London home undergoing cancer treatment in New York.

In 1961, his nightly earnings as a roadie were £1, a tiny fraction of the vast sums he would handle as chief executive of The Beatles’ holding company Apple Corps. Yet whether he was packing up the band’s kit in the Cavern or leading a multi-million dollar lawsuit for trademark infringement against Apple Computer (since re-named Apple Inc) the same unshakeable principle of loyalty and discretion applied. When the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, George Harrison insisted that Aspinall should be recognised as the “fifth Beatle”.