The Beatles

Having been turned down by most major record labels, The Beatles had arranged a meeting with future manager Brian Epstein. Paul McCartney failed to turn up on time to meet the then music store owner and when it emerged that McCartney was late because he was having a bath, Epstein was ready to leave in a fury, until George Harrison quipped that at least when Paul did eventually arrive he would be clean. Epstein was won over by the boys' sense of humour and later described Harrison's sense of humour as a motive for signing the Liverpudlian four-piece.

John Lennon used to do impressions of disabled people during gigs to amuse the audience.

The Beatles claim to have recorded the first ever intentional guitar feedback on the song I Feel Fine.

For the iconic album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the four members were asked to suggest famous figures. John and Paul both compiled extensive lists, George's list included several Indian spiritualists, while Ringo said he wasn't concerned and suggested nobody. Unfortunately for George, some of the people he suggested were so obscure that photographs couldn't be sourced!

When Yoko Ono first met The Beatles, the only member she had heard of was Ringo Starr, and she claims that she only knew him because his first name is the Japanese word for 'apple'.

Upon reading an interview in which John Lennon said he wished he could re-record all of The Beatles music, their legendary producer, Sir George Martin, confronted Lennon and asked him if he really wanted to re-record all of their work. Lennon replied affirmatively, which prompted Martin to ask if he even meant Strawberry Fields Forever, which is often considered Lennon's masterpiece. Lennon lowered his famous round spectacles and replied, "Especially Strawberry Fields Forever." Martin claims that even now, this leaves him with a tainted memory of John Lennon.

Frank Sinatra once allegedly claimed that 'Something' was his favourite Lennon/McCartney song. It was actually written by George Harrison.

Paul McCartney claims to have dreamed 'Yesterday', when he awoke and rushed to the piano to play the notes he had imagined, the makeshift opening lyrics he assembled were "scrambled eggs, you have got such lovely legs".

John Lennon was once holidaying abroad when a busker recognised him as a Beatle and approached him playing 'Yesterday, assuming it was a song of his and seemingly unaware that it was, in fact, written by Paul McCartney.

John Lennon allegedly used to tease manager Brian Epstein's sexuality and when Epstein revealed that his autobiography would be called 'Cellar Full of Noise', Lennon reportedly quipped that a more appropriate title would be 'Cellar Full of Boys'.

John Lennon's alleged teasing of Epstein can supposedly be heard at the end of 'Baby, You're a Rich Man', where the lyrics, "Baby, you're a rich man, too" are reportedly replaced as "Baby, you're a rich fag jew" by John Lennon.

The iconic album cover of Abbey Road was photographed on a zebra crossing in London, to this day it still attracts lesions of fans, despite the fact that the cross walk itself has since been moved several metres away from its original position to ease disruption caused by fans constantly re-enacting the famous shot.

George Harrison claimed that until the mid-sixties, for every 20 pounds earned by the band, 19 would be claimed by the British Government in taxation. This was the inspiration for the song 'Taxman' and the lyric "let me tell you how it will be: it's one for you, 19 for me".

Threatened by their imminent dominance, Elvis Presley is reported to have used his FBI contacts to have The Beatles deported from the US.

While on his deathbed in 2001, George Harrison lay as he and Paul McCartney held hands for several hours.

Quotes:

"What a fucking great band we were." Paul McCartney

"It just annoyed me that people got so into the Beatles. "Beatles, Beatles, Beatles." It's not that I don't like talking about them. I've never stopped talking about them. It's "Beatles this, Beatles that, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles." Then in the end, it's like "Oh, sod off with the Beatles," you know?" George Harrison

"The song ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ was written specifically for me, but they had one line that I wouldn’t sing. It was ‘What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?’ I said, ‘There’s not a chance in hell am I going to sing this line,’ because we still had lots of really deep memories of the kids throwing jelly beans and toys on stage; and I thought that that if we ever did get out there again, I was not going to be bombarded with tomatoes." Ringo Starr

"I really thought that love would save us all." John Lennon