The Beatles

As the greatest act in the history of popular music (just my opinion, obviously) the Fab Four are a popular subject for quiz questions.  So they get a page to themselves.

People

	Born
Oldest Beatle, first to become a grandfather	7 July 1940		Ringo Starr
Second oldest, but the first to marry	9 October 1940		John Lennon
	18 June 1942		Paul McCartney
Youngest Beatle, first to die of natural causes	25 February 1943		George Harrison

The Beatles' original bassist: left in July 1961 to stay in Hamburg and concentrate on painting; died of a brain haemorrhage in April 1962, aged 21		Stuart Sutcliffe
The Beatles' original drummer – said to be the most popular with fans, but an outsider within the group. Sacked in August 1962 after George Martin used a session drummer for their first recording session. [Two versions of Love Me Do were released, the first in October 1962. Ringo played on one and a session drummer on the other – the UK single version had Ringo.]		Pete Best
The Beatles' manager, from January 1962; director of the family music rental business, NEMS (North End Music Stores); introduced them to George Martin; died August 1967 – three months after the release of Sgt. Pepper		Brian Epstein
The only artiste to receive a joint credit on a Beatles recording – played piano on Get Back, which was credited to "The Beatles with ... ", and also in their last live public performance (1969)		Billy Preston
Producer of virtually all the Beatles' records		George Martin
Saxophone solo on Lady Madonna		Ronnie Scott
Producer of the Let It Be album		Phil Spector
Recording engineer on their first 11 singles (including 9 UK No. 1s); later had two Top Twenty hits himself (Oh Babe, what would you say?, 1972); died in 2008		Norman 'Hurricane' Smith
The Beatles' publicist: died in 2016, three days after his 80th birthday		Tony Barrow

Band that Ringo left to join the Beatles

Rory Storm & the Hurricanes

The Fifth Beatle

This title has probably been afforded to anyone (they are all male) who ever had a meaningful artistic or professional relationship with the Beatles – and even a few who didn't. There are so many of them that I've created a separate page to list them. 

Songs: Titles

John Lennon's second solo single (after Give Peace a Chance – both were credited to the Plastic Ono Band): its "slipping down the charts" was one of the reasons he gave for returning his MBE to the Queen		Cold Turkey
Song on the so–called 'White Album': inspired by the sister of actress Mia Farrow – a fellow follower of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (she's name–checked in the title)		Dear Prudence
Miss Daisy Hawkins was the original title of		Eleanor Rigby
Song whose title Charles Manson gave to the race war that he anticipated – daubed on a fridge in the house where the murders took place, and used as the title of a book and TV film based on Manson's murder trial		Helter Skelter
First single on the Apple label; at 7:11, the longest No. 1 single (up to that time)		Hey Jude
1971 (post–Beatle) George Harrison single, found in the US federal court to have 'subconsciously plagiarized' the Chiffons' He's So Fine		My Sweet Lord
Subtitled This Bird Has Flown		Norwegian Wood
Song released in November 2023, dubbed " the last Beatles song" – written by John Lennon and recorded as a home demo, in 1977; reached No. 1 in the UK, Austria, Germany and Japan		Now and Then
Beatles single that was No. 1 in the UK when England won the World Cup		Paperback Writer
The Beatles's best–selling single, the UK's best–selling single of the 1960s, and the first single ever to sell over a million copies		She Loves You
Named after a Salvation Army orphanage near John Lennon's home		Strawberry Fields Forever
More cover versions than any other song (Guinness Book of Records – over 3,000); original working title Scrambled eggs		Yesterday

Songs: Details

Martha My Dear: written by Paul McCartney for		His sheepdog
Hey Jude: written by Paul McCartney for		Julian Lennon
Sexy Sadie: about Lennon's disillusionment with		Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Played lead guitar on While My Guitar Gently Weeps		Eric Clapton
Found Gideon's Bible in his hotel room (in a song from the White Album)		Rocky Raccoon
From the same song: "Her name was McGill, she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as ... "		Nancy

Songs: Best Sellers

The Beatles had five of the UK's seven best–selling singles of the 1960s. (Tears by Ken Dodd was third, and The Carnival is Over by The Seekers was sixth.)

The Beatles's top five were:

In case you were wondering which three songs completed the Top Ten, they were: Release Me (Englebert Humperdinck), It's Now or Never (Elvis Presley), and Green, Green Grass of Home (Tom Jones). The Beatles's next entry was either From Me To You or Hey Jude (depending on who you ask), at about No. 18 or 20. For more best–selling records of the 1960s, go to Wikipedia.

No Beatles song features in the UK's Top 20 best–selling singles of the 1970s. But Mull of Kintyre / Girls' School, by Wings (1977) is at No. 1.

Films

Their first film (1964)		A Hard Day's Night
Played Paul's (fictional) grandad in A Hard Day's Night		Wilfrid Brambell
Their second film, and first in colour (1965)		Help!
Surreal comedy television film, first broadcast (in black & white) on BBC1 on Boxing Day 1968; repeated on BBC2 (in colour) on 5 January 1968		Magical Mystery Tour
Cartoon film (1968): featured the song Nowhere Man		Yellow Submarine
Villains in Yellow Submarine (film)		Blue Meanies
Musical drama film, written by Paul McCartney and released in October 1984: featured Paul and Linda McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Martin, as themselves; also features Ralph Richardson in his last film role (he died before it was released); included No More Lonely Nights, which reached No. 2 in the UK as a single, and the soundtrack album reached No. 1; the film itself was a flop, both critically and commercially		Give My Regards to Broad Street

Miscellaneous

Address of the Cavern Club			10 Mathew Street
Album almost called Everest – after the brand of cigarettes smoked by a recording engineer			Abbey Road
Designer of the Sergeant Pepper album cover (assisted by US pop artist Jann Haworth)			Peter Blake
Appears three times on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album			Shirley Temple
Sports people who appear on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album	Boxer		Sonny Liston
	Footballer		Albert Stubbins
Their last US concert (1966) – San Francisco (home of the 49ers, at the time)			Candlestick Park
Prestigious New York venue where the Beatles played their second and third US concerts			Carnegie Hall
Indoor arena in Washington DC where the Beatles played their first US concert (February 1964) – now a 'parking lot'			Coliseum
Label that famously auditioned them and turned them down			Decca
Variety of apple depicted on the Apple label			Granny Smith
Yoko Ono's 1964 book of instructions, regarded as an early example of conceptual art			Grapefruit
Amphitheatre in Los Angeles where the Beatles played in 1964 and 1965 – live album released 1977			Hollywood Bowl
Granada regional programme on which the Beatles made three of their first four studio TV appearances (1962 – Oct, Oct, Dec – see below)			People and Places
Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York, at which the Beatles opened their second US tour (1965) – one of the first major stadium concerts; subject of a TV documentary produced by Ed Sullivan. Demolished in 2009			William A. Shea Municipal Stadium
Club in Hamburg, where they first appeared as The Beatles			Star Club
Rediffusion programme that gave the Beatles their third TV appearance and their first outside the Granada region (December 1962)			Tuesday Rendezvous
Their last public live performance – on the roof of the Apple office, Savile Row (with Billy Preston)			30 January 1969
Let It Be released			6 March 1970
Paul McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles's contractual partnership			31 December 1970

If asked what year the Beatles split up, the answer is 1970.

Order in which they're crossing the road, and what they're wearing, in the iconic Abbey Road album sleeve photo		John		White suit
		Ringo		Black suit
		Paul		Navy blue suit (bare feet)
		George		Double denim

The Charts

Released by Polydor in 1961 (credited to Tony Sheridan and the Beatles; reached No. 48)			My Bonnie
Their first UK single (reached No. 17, October 1962)			Love Me Do
Second single, and first UK Top Ten single (No. 2, January 1963); also the title of their first album			Please Please Me
Third single, and first UK No. 1 single (April 1963)			From Me To You
Second UK No. 1, first UK million seller; biggest selling UK single (1.5m); quoted at the end of All You Need Is Love			She Loves You
Third UK No. 1, and the first in the USA; the best–selling British single of all time (13 million copies worldwide)			I Want To Hold Your Hand
The last of their 7 consecutive UK No. 1s (1964–6)			Eleanor Rigby
			Yellow Submarine
Their only single between From Me to You (1963) and Something / Come Together (1969) not to reach No. 1 in the UK			Penny Lane
			Strawberry Fields Forever
Their 9th UK No. 1, last UK million seller (1965 – double 'A' side)			Day Tripper
			We Can Work It Out
Their last UK No. 1 single on the Parlophone label (March 1968)			Lady Madonna
Their first single on the Apple label (September 1968)			Hey Jude
Their only single to enter the UK charts at No. 1 (April 1969)			Get Back
Their last UK No. 1 (1969): the title didn't appear in the lyrics			The Ballad of John & Yoko
1995 single – reached no. 2			Free as a Bird
1996 single that Radio 1 was reluctant to play			Real Love
Lennon & McCartney song that has been a No. 1 for three acts other than the Beatles (Joe Cocker in 1968, Wet Wet Wet in 1988, and Sam & Mark in 2004)			With a Little Help From My Friends
Number of tracks on the 2000 compilation 1 – all No. 1s in UK or USA			27
UK No. 1 singles (including two double A–sides, each counting as one)			17

Post–Beatles No. 1s

30 January 1971		George Harrison		My Sweet Lord	5 weeks
9 December 1977		Wings		Mull of Kintyre / Girls School	9 weeks
20 December 1980		John Lennon		(Just Like) Starting Over	1 week
7 February 1981		John Lennon		Woman	2 weeks
4 January 1981		John Lennon		Imagine	4 weeks
24 April 1982		Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder		Ebony and Ivory	3 weeks
20 May 1989		Paul McCartney		Pipes of Peace	2 weeks
14 January 1984		The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden, Stock Aitken Waterman		Ferry Cross the Mersey	2 weeks
25 January 2002		George Harrison		My Sweet Lord (re–release)	1 week

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24