The World's Most Famous Zebra Crossing

There has been much excitement this week at the world-famous Abbey Road recording studios in North-West London, where thousands of fans turned up to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the its namesake album.

The last ever recording by a certain vocal/instrumental combo from Liverpool was released in September 1969, but the photograph for the album cover - the first ever to omit both the artistes' name and the album title - was taken a couple of months earlier.

The subject of the picture was the now iconic image of four strangely attired people walking across a pedestrian crossing. Almost immediately, fans from all corners of the globe flocked to the location to capture themselves and their friends on film recreating the footsteps of their idols.

This practice has continued, to greater and lesser extents, to the present day and a permanent webcam often captures the antics of those drawn to what has become, for many, an essential tourist stop.

Most visitors are unaware that the crossing was moved a few yards eastwards during the early 1970s. Something else is missing from the original scene: Few people at the time took a second glance at the white Volkswagen 'Beetle' (no pun intended) parked on the left hand-kerb, let alone its seemingly innocuous number plate, LMW 281F.

Read the fascinating story of the Beatle plate.

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