Surprising Facts About The Beatles Most Fans Don't Even Know

More Than Four Fab Facts

They're the most popular band of all time and they have millions (probably even billions) of fans of all ages across the globe. So much has been said and written about The Beatles that you probably think you know everything there is to know about them. Well, did you know that...

Paul's Middle Name

Paul McCartney's middle name is "Paul". No, his name isn't Paul Paul McCartney. It's actually James Paul McCartney—Well, now it's Sir James Paul McCartney.

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Harrison's First Shag

We'll let Harrison explain this one himself: "My first shag was with Paul and John and [drummer] Pete Best all watching... We were in bunk beds. They couldn't really see anything because I was under the covers but after I'd finished, they applauded and cheered. At least they kept quiet while I was doing it".

Don Grierson, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

"The Rainbows"

We all know about The Quarrymen, but the path from that to The Beatles wasn't as direct as many think. In July of 1957, Paul McCartney and John Lennon met, and McCartney joined the band soon after. In 1958, George Harrison came aboard, and in January of 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank High School friends left the band.

Now down to Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, they performed as Johnny and the Moondogs and as The Rainbows—because, as McCartney explained, "we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!"

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A "Lord Of The Rings" Movie

Three decades before Peter Jackson brought JRR Tolkien’s trilogy to the big screen, The Beatles had wanted to—not just make—but star in a Lord of the Rings movie. Oh, and they wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct it. Kubrick said no—calling the material "unfilmable"—and, even Tolkien himself turned down their offer.

If you were curious: Lennon was going to play Gollum, Paul McCartney was going to be Frodo, George Harrison was going to be Gandalf, and Ringo Starr would've played Sam.

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It Ended At The Happiest Place On Earth

While many mark 1970 as the end of The Beatles, the official dissolution contracts weren't signed until a meeting on December 19, 1974. Actually, not everyone signed them that day. You see, John Lennon didn't attend that meeting. He had some issues with the details of the split so he went to Disney World instead, with his then-girlfriend May Pang and his son, Sean.

He was eventually tracked down by an Apple lawyer at the Polynesian Village Hotel in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom—and he signed the papers.

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All Four Of Them

Only two album tracks in the entire Beatles discography are credited to all four band members: "Flying" from Magical Mystery Tour and "Dig It" from Let It Be.

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All Four Of Them

There were also two other full-band credited songs: 

"12-Bar Original"—an instrumental track recorded in 1965 that was never released until an edited version of take two of the song was part of the Anthology 2 album.

"Christmas Time (Is Here Again)"—the B-side to the 1995 "Free as a Bird" single.

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"I Am The Walrus" Lyrics

If you thought that the "I Am The Walrus" lyrics were random and obscure—you're right. And it was all on purpose. You see, Lennon got a fan letter from a student at his old school, Quarry Bank, telling him how they would analyze Beatles' lyrics and how the teacher also called Lennon a bad student. So, Lennon set out to write something un-analyzable. "OK let the f****rs work that one out!", he said.

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Shirley Temple Wanted A Listen

Before she would allow her image to be used on the cover of the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, Shirley Temple insisted she get to hear the album first. I guess she liked what she heard.

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Mae West Said No

Initially, Mae West refused to give permission for her image to be used on the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover. However, a personal letter from the band, telling her that they were big fans of hers, convinced her to change her mind.

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In The Audience

Linda Eastman and Barbara Bach were both in the audience at The Beatles’ famous August 15, 1965 concert at Shea Stadium in New York. Obviously, they didn't know it at the time, but Linda Eastman would go on to marry Paul McCartney in 1969 and Barbara Bach would marry Ringo Starr in 1981.

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No Pizza For Ringo

The rumors are true. Ringo Starr has never eaten Pizza!

As he told Jimmy Kimmel: “I’m allergic to several items... With pizza, you don’t know what you’re putting in it half the time, or the curry. So I’m pretty strict with myself ’cause it makes me ill immediately”. Oh, yeah... He's never had curry either.

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So What Does He Eat?

He also told Kimmel that, "I am a vegetarian, I have broccoli with everything and blueberries every morning...I just do stuff that I feel is good for me”.

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An Island Utopia

During a 1967 island-hopping adventure in the Mediterranean, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison (Ringo Starr was home with his pregnant wife) got the idea to form an island utopia off the Greek coast. The utopian idea didn't last long, though—and to quote McCartney: "It’s a good job we didn’t do it... There would always be [arguments about] who has to do the washing-up and whose turn it is to clean out the latrines. I don’t think any of us were thinking that".

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All Lennon And McCartney

Everyone knows that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the vast majority of all The Beatles songs. However, there is only one album in the band's discography on which every song was a Lennon/McCartney credit. That album is A Hard Day's Night.

Eric Koch, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

First In Deep Space

In 2008, in honor of NASA's 50th anniversary, the agency converted the song "Across the Universe" into digital data and sent it through a transmitter toward Polaris, the North Star—a roughly 431-light-year journey. This made The Beatles the first band to have their music broadcasted into deep space.

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Final Photo Shoot

The images used on the Hey Jude album are from the last photo shoot the band ever did together on August 22, 1969, at John and Yoko’s home: Tittenhurst Park, Berkshire, England.

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First Photo

In a wild coincidence—the first photo of The Beatles taken together was clicked on August 22, 1962. That is the exact same day as their last photo (seven years apart).

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Harrison Only Got One

It seems crazy to think—given that George Harrison wrote a bunch of really great songs as a Beatle—But "If I Needed Someone" was the only Harrison song ever performed live in concert by The Beatles during their years touring from 1963-66.

Eric Koch, Wikimedia Commons

Crazy Coincidence

So, you know the song "She's Leaving Home"? Well, McCartney wrote that song after reading a newspaper article about Melanie Coe—a teen who ran away from home when she was 17. But wait. It turns out that McCartney had actually met Coe three years earlier. McCartney was a judge on the television show Ready, Steady, Go! and Coe won a mime contest on the show.

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The Vatican's Favorite

In 2010, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, put out a list of the top 10 albums of all time. And what was sitting there at number one on the list? Revolver by The Beatles. Not a bad choice, right?

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No Saturday

You know how they mention every day of the week in the song "Lady Madonna"? Well, actually, they mention almost every day of the week. Saturday is the only day not mentioned in the song.

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Cranberry Sauce

One of the "clues" that added fuel to the famous "Paul Is Dead" myth were the words spoken at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" by John Lennon—which many hear as "I buried Paul". In fact, what he actually said was, to quote a 1980 interview: "I said, ‘cranberry sauce.’ That’s all I said".

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Spell Check

You might know that when he was a member of the band, Stuart Sutcliffe sent letters to promoters pretending to be the group’s manager. But did you know that, at the time, he spelt the band's name "The Beatals"?

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Only Drum Solo

Ringo Starr doesn't always get enough credit for being as great a drummer as he is. Maybe that's because he never got to show off his skills with a real drum solo. Well, not never. He does have one on "The End"—although it is Starr's only drum solo on any Beatles album.

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Paul McCartney's "Proper" Job

The only "proper" job McCartney ever had, he got during The Beatles' return from their first stint over in Hamburg. It was a Christmas job as a parcel delivery assistant.

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Longest Song Title

What is the longest title of any Beatles song? You might be able to come up with it if you thought about it for a while—or we can just tell you: "Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey".

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Rolling Stone Issue 1

The first ever issue of Rolling Stone magazine featured John Lennon on the cover in a costume for the film How I Won the War.

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All Five Spots

The week of April 4, 1964 was a big one for The Beatles. It was during that week that the band held all of the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100: "Can’t Buy Me Love", "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Please Please Me", and...

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Seven More

To go along with those top five songs, the Fab Four also had seven more songs at various places amongst the top 100 songs on the charts.

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Paul McCartney Tapping

That tapping you hear in "Blackbird" isn't a metronome (as many people think), it's literally Paul McCartney tapping his feet. He supposedly bought tap shoes specifically for the task.

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Paul McCartney Humming

On the song "I Will", there is no actual bass instrument played—instead, it is McCartney singing/humming the bass rhythm.

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Knock Yourself Out

Everyone knows they've had a ton of number one hits. But did you know that The Beatles are the only band that has ever twice knocked themselves out of the number one spot on the Hot 100?

国際情報社, Wikimedia Commons

John Lennon Was legally blind

Lennon's eyesight got worse and worse—to the extent that when he was older, it had deteriorated to the point where he was deemed legally blind.

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The Other Middle Names

John Lennon's middle name was "Winston". Harrison and Starr don't have middle names.

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"Long Tall Sally"

The Little Richard song has an interesting place in Beatles history. Not only was it the first song that Paul McCartney ever played in public (at a Butlin's Filey holiday camp talent competition)—but it was also the last song The Beatles ever played live in front of a paying audience (it was the closing song at their final show at Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966).

You might also like:

Songs John Lennon And Paul McCartney Gave Away

Are You A Fan Of The Beatles? See How Many Of These Beatles Trivia Questions You Answer

The Best Beatles Songs No One Talks About

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Sources: 1, 2, 3