With a little help, Ringo Starr is remembered at last Only he and McCartney know what it was like to be at the centre of the Beatle whirlwind that engulfed the world in the mid-1960s. And the two Beatle survivors are tied emotionally by that for as long as they live. It can't always have been easy being Starr. While Lennon and McCartney were recognised for their songwriting brilliance, and George Harrison, as both a clever writer and ace guitarist, Starr's contribution was often overlooked. On one occasion when John Lennon was asked if Starr was the best drummer in the world he replied, tongue in cheek: "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles." It was obviously a joke, and, though McCartney is a good drummer and played in some Beatles" sessions, it wasn't true. Starr is an excellent drummer. Unfortunately, the joke stuck. Without doubt Starr was lucky in that he only joined the Beatles a couple of weeks before they began recording, but Lennon and McCartney, urged on by Harrison, knew what they were doing when they asked him to replace the unfortunate Pete Best. Starr was earning a good living as a professional musician well before they were. He was the chosen Beatle, and, when necessary, he would be the go-between, pouring balm on the warring egos of the others. Nor did he ever have any delusions about his role in the band. When contemplating the Beatles" success he once told me: "I didn't do anything to make it happen apart from saying 'Yes." " The break-up of the Beatles hurt all of them, but Starr was the one said to have cried, and the only one to have played professionally with each of the others after they split. Whatever wounds still festered after the break-up, when McCartney in a screaming fury ordered Starr from his house, time has long since healed. The two may no longer be in the same band, but they still play together at occasional charity concerts. For more than 40 years they have pursued separate careers and lives. But it has been their fate to be forever linked in the public's affectionate mind with music they helped make a lifetime ago. The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive is now available as an e-book from Amazon.