GEORGE HARRISON REMEMBERED

George Harrison remembered

29 November 2010

George Harrison, the "quiet" Beatle and spiritual explorer died on this day nine years ago in his Los Angeles home following a battle with cancer.

Harrison's wife, Olivia Harrison, and son Dhani, 24, were with him and said a quiet prayer over his body. Within hours of his death, true to his unostentatious nature, he was cremated in a cardboard coffin.

The actual location of Harrison’s death remains a mystery. Family friend, Gavin de Becker, put a false address on the death certificate. He was investigated by police but not charged with any offence. He said: "They still don't know where George died, and they never will. Which proves that even a very famous man can lead a private life and have a peaceful, private death."

Mystery also surrounds the fate of his ashes. According to his religious beliefs Harrison wanted his remains to be scattered into the Ganges River in India. For days following his death the world watched and waited, without “satisfaction”. Even this final act would be private. Harrison's ashes were initially taken to the family's home in Hawaii and taken to the Ganges once the eyes of the world had wandered.

Not everyone respected George Harrison’s determination to die with private dignity. A doctor attending him had “forced” Harrison to sign a guitar “for his son”, which immediately following the Beatle’s death was put on the market.

Harrison’s widow had to sue a former brother-in-law for attempting to sell stolen household and personal items once belonging to the Beatle.

George Harrison was the youngest Beatle. He was both Paul Mccartney and John Lennon’s first official songwriting partner - before the formation of the Lennon-McCartney team. With McCartney, George wrote In Spite Of The Danger, one of two songs recorded by the pre-Beatles Quarrymen. With John Lennon, he wrote Cry For A Shadow, an instrumental the Beatles recorded in Hamburg.

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