Religious views of the Beatles the Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus". Lennon had, in fact, originally made the remark to the British newspaper "London Evening Standard" and when it was first published in the United Kingdom, in March 1966, his words had provoked no public reaction. After "Datebook" quoted his comments five months later, however, vociferous protests broke out in the United States. The Beatles' records were publicly burned, threats were made and some radio stations refused to play their music. The protest also spread to other countries including Mexico, South Africa and Spain. Two press conferences were held in the US, where
Evening Standard staunchly Conservative paper, harshly attacking Labour in 1945 in a high-profile campaign that backfired. In the 1960s, the paper was upstaged by "The Evening News", which sold over 1 million copies nightly. During the decade, the paper also began to publish the comic strip "Modesty Blaise", which bolstered its sales throughout the 1970s. The "Evening Standard" ceased publishing on Saturdays on 30 Nov 1974, when it still produced six editions daily. In 1980, Express Newspapers merged the "Standard" with Associated Newspapers' "Evening News" in a Joint Operating Agreement. The new paper was known as the "New Standard" until 1985, when