This weekend marks the 40th birthday of arguably one of the most famous photographs of all time - Iain Macmillan's shot of The Beatles on Abbey Road.

Taken on August 8, 1969 on the zebra crossing outside the studio where The Beatles recorded their eleventh studio album, when the image was used on the record sleeve a month later it swiftly became entrenched in rock and roll history.

Not only is it one of the greatest and most recognisable album covers of all time, it's easily the most parodied be it in music, television, movies, cartoons and more.

Speaking to the BBC on the eve of Abbey Road's 40th anniversary, Brian Southall, author of the history of Abbey Road Studios, reveals the cover was based on a Paul McCartney sketch.

“There's a sketch Paul McCartney did with four little stick men crossing the Zebra. It gave a pretty good idea of what they wanted," he said.

Southall continued that Macmillan had an easy time taking the shot: "He stood up a stepladder while a policeman held up the traffic, the band walked back and forth a few times and that was that."

(by Gigwise)