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 Lennon had, in fact, originally made the remark to the British newspaper "London Evening Standard" and when it was first published in the United Kingdom, in March 1966, his words had provoked no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 newspaper's editor is the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who replaced Sarah Sands. Ms. Sands replaced Geordie Greig following his departure to "The Mail on Sunday" in March 2012. Veronica Wadley was the newspaper's editor between 2002 and 2009. Max Hastings was editor from 1996 until he retired in 2002. The "London Evening Standard", although a regional newspaper, does cover national and international news, though with an emphasis on London-centred news (especially in its features pages), covering building developments, property prices, traffic schemes, politics, the congestion charge and, in the "Londoner's Diary" page, gossip on the social scene.