Trivia on The Beatles

Here are some cool facts on The Beatles. * Named by the prestigious magazine Rolling Stone as number one on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time, The Beatles are one of the most commercially successful and celebrated bands in the history of music. During their career, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles and albums that reached number one on the charts.

* There are various stories about the inspiration behind the band’s name. Stuart Sutcliffe noted that a bike gang in the film, “The Wild One,” was called ‘The Beetles’, and John Lennon reportedly had a dream in which a man appeared “on a flaming pie”, saying, “You will be Beatles with an `a`.” The band members were also influenced by the name of Buddy Holly`s band, the Crickets. * The Beatles featured two left handed members, Paul, whom everyone saw holding his Hoffner bass left handed, and Ringo, whose left handedness is at least partially to blame for his `original` drumming style. * In a contest held by Mersyside Newspaper to see who was the biggest band in Liverpool, 1962, one of the main reasons that The Beatles won was because they called in posing as different people voting for themselves. * After ‘Penny Lane’ became a hit, the street signs for the actual Penny Lane in Liverpool disappeared as they did on the real Abbey Road. The town reverted to simply painting `Penny Lane` on the buildings. • Paul McCartney`s popular song ‘Yesterday’ had music written before the lyrics. Paul used the working words `scrambled eggs` before coming up with `yesterday` while composing this song. * ‘Strawberry Fields’ was named for a real place, Strawberry Field, a children`s home run by the Salvation Army in Liverpool. Its location was near John`s childhood home. John sent Strawberry Field a large donation before his death and so Strawberry Field named one of its buildings as ‘Lennon Hall’. * The Beatles song ‘Dear Prudence’ was written about Mia Farrow`s sister, Prudence, when she wouldn`t come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India. * Though there was a woman named Eleanor Rigby in Liverpool, she was not the inspiration for the song ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Paul simply made up the name. The song has been recorded over 200 times, with interpretations by Diana Ross and the Supremes, Paul Anka, Frankie Valli, the Four Tops, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Vanilla Fudge. * Contrary to popular belief, the title for the song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ was prompted by 4-year-old Julian Lennon`s description of a painting he brought home from school, not the drug, LSD. * Paul McCartney wrote ‘Hey Jude’ for Julian Lennon, John`s son. It is the Beatles` most successful single commercially. * Ed Sullivan got his first glimpse of Beatlemania on Halloween eve. His plane at Heathrow Airport outside London was delayed due to hordes of screaming Beatles fans welcoming the boys. Ed Sullivan is believed to have said, “Who the hell are the Beatles?” That experience prompted him to book them on his show in 1964. * The Beatles, with Pete Best on drums, made the group`s TV debut performing Roy Orbison`s `Dream Baby` on the BBC show `Teenager`s Turn` in 1962. Due to listener demand, it played daily, every hour. * Among the people on the cover of ‘Sgt Pepper`s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ are Stuart Sutcliffe (one of the Beatles` early band members), Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Karl Marx, boxer Sonny Liston, Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce and Shirley Temple. Shirley was the only celebrity who insisted upon hearing the disc before granting permission to use her image on the cover. * Timothy Leary and Tommy Smothers did some of the background clapping on John’s song, ‘Give Peace a Chance’, recorded in a hotel in Montreal. * Singer Bonnie Jo Mason aka Cher recorded the novelty song, ‘I Love You Ringo’. * Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murray (who played Bill Murray the K) had cameos in Eric Idle`s spoof feature film about the Beatles, ‘The Rutles’. * Though she bought him his first guitar, John`s Aunt discouraged him from a career in music. She told him, "The guitar’s all right as a hobby, but it won`t earn you any money." Later, John gave her a silver plaque with that quote engraved upon it. Compiled by: Shivangi Singh