Amidst all the media's current doom and gloom, there has been one inspiring piece of news: the marking of the 40th anniversary of the famous picture of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road in north-west London at 11.35am on August 8 1969.

It is wonderful to hear that it remains a place of pilgrimage - a shrine to the golden era of the 1960s. Events are currently being held to commemorate that famous walk.

I used to visit Frances and Andrew Boyd who lived in Alma Square near Abbey Road. The Boyds were among the UK's most experienced commentators on international affairs and I enjoyed my conversations with them. They took the fame associated with living near Abbey Road in their stride.

I visited their house by exiting from St John's Wood Underground railway station and walking across that famous zebra crossing just outside the recording studies of EMI. Most of their songs were recorded in those studios.

As we Baby Boomers slide off into the sunset of our nostalgia of our golden 1960s, the Abbey Road anniversary has stimulated two thoughts.

First, that era was a safer and more innocent one than today. I used to see the Beatles from time to time as I walked from my office in London's West End up Baker Street towards the Baker Street Underground station. The Beatles had their own store off Baker Street and they would pop in to see how it was going. Naturally I got their autographs and had conversations with them.

Now the pop stars are surrounded by minders and bodyguards. The late Michael Jackson seemed to travel like a medieval European king with a vast - and expensive - retinue of staff. (Of course it could be argued that given John Lennon's tragic fate, such bodyguards are necessary - at least in the US).

A few years earlier my family used to go to Smith's Lawn, Windsor to watch the Royals play polo. Again, the security was very relaxed and it was possible to mix with the Royals on an easy-going but respectful basis. The IRA ended that possibility with the onset of the Northern Ireland violence in the late 1960s. That relaxed era has gone - probably permanently.

The other thought that occurred to me is that if you seek to be well known down the ages don't bother with politics - go for the arts, especially music and movies. Daily media coverage is saturated with politicians and we can see how their ego drives them along. Once they retire or get kicked out, they suffer from "DLS" - deprived limelight syndrome. They need the oxygen of publicity to keep alive.

But their fame soon fades. I have a former Australian Prime Minister living literally around the corner from me and I see him occasionally in the street. Most of the local people who see him have long forgotten that he was on their front pages for years. He has quickly become of "yesterday's men".

But here we are still commemorating the Beatles. The prime minister who created (at the time) such a fuss by recommending them for Imperial Awards has long since been forgotten (it was Harold Wilson).

However the Beatles' music will be played for as long as good music is still played. Their songs will echo down the years.