But prison authorities stopped Mr Harrison from seeing Park a month before the inmate's death after they ruled he did not fit the criteria of a pastoral visitor and that Park's religious needs could be met through its chaplaincy service.

BBC: Gordon Park and Carol Park

"He was a very amusing person, " says his widow, Olivia, in a phone interview from Friar Park, the longtime Harrison residence in Oxfordshire, England.

CNN: 'Material World' reveals much about Beatle

The hearing was told Park had been having regular pastoral visits from George Harrison, of the Pendlebury Evangelical Church in Swinton, Greater Manchester, whom he first met during his trial.

BBC: Gordon Park and Carol Park

Globally, Mr. Shimabukuro began connecting in a big way via one of YouTube's first viral videos, a rendition of George Harrison's rock elegy "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" shot in Manhattan's Central Park in 2006.

WSJ: His Ukelele Is On Fire | Jake Shimabukuro | Cultural Conversation by Matthew Gurewitsch