Cilla's plea for tribute to Epstein

More than 41 years after his death, singer-turned-presenter Cilla, is insisting it’s time to honour Epstein’s contribution to pop culture.

“I don’t think Brian’s life and achievements have been sufficiently recognised,” says the 65-year-old.

“Peter Brown, who ran Apple and now lives in New York, wants Brian to be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I think he should be. Peter asked me to write to Paul, which I duly did, and I didn’t hear anything.

“I thought, ‘I’m not pushing, I’m not writing again’, because I’ve never written [to The Beatles] other than sending Christmas cards, although I bump into them in different places. But I feel very strongly that Brian should be recognised more. Maybe even with a statue in Liverpool.

“Throughout my career my thoughts have often turned to Brian. It sounds flash but in my family home [in Bucking­ham­shire], my flat in London and my houses abroad – I have a place in Spain and penthouse in Barbados – there is a photo of Brian in every property.”

Epstein, died at his home in London on the August Bank Holiday weekend in 1967 from an overdose and it has often been speculated whether that was accidental or deliberate.

“He was taking different types of drugs from different doctors and not telling one about the other,” says Cilla.

“He got really quite depressed because, you’ve got to remember, it was illegal to be homosexual then and it must have been awful for someone like Brian to be in that state.

“But I know to this day he never killed himself, because I was told there were contracts for my very first TV show on the bed (in which he died).”

Cilla is not the first to demand a permanent tribute to Epstein. In January, Liverpool City councillor Eddie Clein won support for plans to erect a statue of the man Sir Paul McCartney described as the “fifth Beatle”.