After the touring ended, the Beatles didn't know what to do next. The boys were still the greatest friends and were still going to record together, but they wanted to do separate things. George was the first one to leave. He went to India with his wife. John was accepted to be in a film, How I Won the War. Ringo decided to expand his family and his home. Paul felt left out, because he was jealous of George. He did a bit of painting and decorated some furniture but he wasn't interested in that. So he decided to write music for a film, The Family Way, to see if he liked doing film music, but he didn't. After that, he took a long trip across Africa.
John soon found out he didn't like acting. Him and Paul continued to search, but they both knew they didn't want to retire from life. This was when drugs came in. Through drugs, they found out about themselves.
The Beatles had taken prep pills as early as their Hamburg days. They would have marijuana occassionally. George and John were introduced to LSD through a friend in 1965 without knowing they had been given it. Taking drugs didn't stop their music. Now that they were back together again, they started working on their Sergeant Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band album. Around this time, the boys got an idea for a television show. They decided to do their own hour long film. This was Paul's idea. George at this time was very interested in Indian music, which shows in Sergeant Pepper. He was also knowledgeable about Indian religion. His wife Patti was also with him on this. Their interest in religion started when they started their trip in India in September of 1966. When they got home, Patti and George started to read books on Indian religion. George was reading book after book. In July of 1967, the Beatles made "All You Need Is Love".
In August of 1967, the Beatles had given up drugs. They never regretted taking them. In August of 1967, the Marharishi was giving a lecture in London, and George wanted to go. He convinced the other Beatles to go with him. News leaked outthat the Beatles would be in Bangor. When they arrived, it was just like when they used to tour, which they had given up. Ringo's wife Maureen had just had their second child and was still in the hospital. She wanted Ringo to go to Bangor. Cynthia, John's wife, didn't join them in Bangor.
The Beatles didn't carry any money with them. They were on a magical mystery tour, and all of them were excited. Bangor was chaos. The whole ton had showed up. Maharishi enjoyed the excitement of it all. They were all having a good time, when the news of Brian Epstein's death broke out. Maharishi comforted them, and tried to cheer the boys up. The Beatles went back to London, missing the rest of the conference.
They did the Magical Mystery Tour December of 1967, their hour long film. The film was shown in December of 1967 in Britain on the BBC. It was also seen in Europe, South America, Austrailia, and Japan. This film was criticized by most of the British television critics. People forgot it was just an experiment. This was first time the Beatles were criticized in five years. Sergeant Pepper was the best album they did at this point. The boys had started out looking for individualism but ended up being looked upon as a group.