FACTS ABOUT THE BEATLES

The Beatles are the first and only recording artists to occupy all of the Top Five spots on the American Billboard pop singles chart.

Their most expensive album to produce was 1967's Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, at a cost of about £50,000. Ten years later, Lingasong Records spent the same amount to clean up the audio from a show tape made of them in Hamburg in 1962, for album release.

The Beatles nearly produced a movie version of The Lord of the Rings, starring themselves. They were negotiating the price for the movie rights (which had gone unsold since the book was published), but weren't able to complete the deal.

The Beatles were going to be in the Disney movie The Jungle Book, but they dropped out at the last moment.

An unexpected side-effect to the record burnings that followed John Lennon's infamous "more popular than Jesus" quote was to drive up the future collector's value of their early records.

Both of John Lennon's wives were older than he was; Cynthia Powell was about a year older, while Yoko Ono was nearly eight years older. Paul McCartney's first wife Linda was also about a year older than he was.

Paul McCartney got the tune of "Yesterday" from a dream, but not the words. He just sang "Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs" until he wrote the lyrics.

"Ringo" means apple in Japanese. When Japanese-born Yoko Ono met John Lennon, Ringo Starr was the only Beatle she knew by name; she did not know who Lennon was until someone told her.

Paul McCartney was the only Beatle to graduate from high school, majoring in Art. If he hadn't become a musician, he may have been an art teacher.

George Harrison joined the Quarry Men (who later became the Beatles) at age 14. 17-year-old John Lennon objected because of his age, but Harrison won him over by playing "Raunchy" for Lennon anytime, anywhere.

Beatles manager Brian Epstein was a homosexual, initially attracted to John Lennon. Lennon turned Epstein down, but the two maintained a close friendship.

Ringo Starr was actually the oldest member of the Beatles, but was the last to join the band.

Paul McCartney's first name is really James. (Paul is his middle name.)

John Lennon was a history buff, and considered writing a history book under a pseudonym.

Folk-rocker Donovan was a good friend of the Beatles, collaborating with them on "Yellow Submarine" in 1966. Donovan taught Lennon and McCartney some acoustic guitar styles when they visited India together in 1968, and they sang on his song "Atlantis" in 1969.

The last Beatles album recorded was Abbey Road, but the last one released was Let It Be.

George Harrison's favorite candy was Jelly Babies.

John Lennon had a cat named Jesus, and another named Tim, while George Harrison had two Siamese cats, named Rupert and Jostick.

Ringo Starr nearly moved to Texas, before he joined the Beatles.

Out of all the Beatles, only Paul McCartney and George Harrison took music lessons (piano for McCartney, sitar for Harrison), and this after they became famous.

John Lennon got the lyrics for "Being For The Benefit Of Mister Kite!" off an old circus poster.

Ringo Starr wanted to be a hairdresser when he was younger.

Paul McCartney played drums on "The Ballad Of John and Yoko".

John Lennon was legally blind without glasses, but refused to wear them in public during the early Beatles years. (He wore Buddy Holly-style glasses in private.)

Contrary to popular belief, neither Yoko Ono nor Linda McCartney broke the Beatles up. They were already growing apart. (The big factor in their breakup was Apple Corps, the Beatles' company, and how it should be managed.)

More Beatles facts may be found in a book titled Every Little Thing.www.realty-dejavu.com