How Did They Meet?
At the height of Beatlemania, every fan wanted to know everything they could about their favorite group, and one question that would be talked about quite a bit was, “how did they all meet?” The story of John and Paul meeting, resulting in Paul joining The Quarrymen, was the most told and will be something we go over quite a bit in the coming months. Everyone knows that Ringo was the last to join The Beatles, long after Paul had brought George into The Quarrymen. So how did Paul and George get to know each other?
Well, quite early on, in August of 1963, Issue #1 of The Beatles (Monthly) Book was published. Here’s what it had to say about the meeting:
“Paul, since his days at Liverpool Institute High School, has been very matey with George Harrison…He says he taught George his first guitar chord.”1
Wait, what was that last part? You may be surprised how many articles and magazines in 1963 and 1964 continued the idea that Paul was George’s teacher. Tony Barrow, The Beatles’ press officer, quoted Paul:
“When I began to teach George how to play the guitar he got very mixed up because I was working with my left hand. Eventually I got him to play his first chord – G7…”2
Okay, I know that I could likely fill up several blog length posts going over how unlikely it is that Paul taught George how to play guitar (and maybe whether or not Paul actually said it), but that’s not the focus here. So going back to how they actually met…
The Quarrymen
On to Issue #2 of The Beatles (Monthly) Book, September 1963. An article told the story of George going to see The Quarrymen play and deciding that he would like to join “as they seemed a good bunch of nuts.” It then went on to say: “Paul and George became firm friends right away,”3 the implication of which is that Paul was already a member of The Quarrymen when he met George for the first time. So in just one month, the Beatles’ official magazine had changed its tune completely.
By the middle of 1964, the story seemed to have straightened out somewhat. Peter Jones (using the pen name Billy Shepherd) wrote The True Story of The Beatles. He said that George did indeed go to Liverpool High School with Paul. Patrick Maugham, in the Highlight Publications magazine, The Beatles, added that George and Paul met on the bus on the way home from school. Then, in 1968, with the publication of Hunter Davies’ authorized biography, The Beatles, the story was pretty clear. They had met at school, took the bus home together, and had spent a significant amount of time playing guitar together before Paul brought George into The Quarrymen, several months after Paul had met John.
The Craziest Meeting Story
Edward De Blasio, who would ultimately be best known for writing for American television on shows including “Dynasty,” “Police Woman,” and “Marcus Welby MD,” among others, took a stab at a Beatles biography in 1964 entitled All About The Beatles. He told the story in a very interesting way, complete with dialogue (it is a serious pet peeve of mine when historical writers make up dialogue).
So, Paul and George met on the bus on the way home from school one day. So far so good. They had a little discussion about going on a hiking trip and decided to meet at a fish and chips shop the following day to discuss their plans. Now it starts getting crazy. Paul and George met at the fish and chips shop, and who should be there, but one John Lennon. After listening to the trip plans being made, John came over to them and asked if he could join them. From the book:
“‘Here at our table?’ asked Paul.
‘No, to wherever you’re going,’ said John.”
Long story short – they went on the trip and had a laugh over Paul accidentally setting his pants on fire. Soon he would get out his banjo. John got his banjo out and George his guitar, and they played away. The following day after breaking camp, well, back to the book:
“‘Like to get together and play some more?’ Paul asked.
‘Sounds gear,’ said John.”4
George would only play with them occasionally, because “I’ve got lots of schoolwork to catch up on.” Paul would apparently, about a year later, convince John to team up, “semi-professionally. They would become ‘The Nurk Twins.’” If you already know the story of “The Nurk Twins” you likely realize exactly how crazy this story is. And funnily enough, De Blasio was not the only writer to get this so wrong. I’ll be writing about it in more detail in two weeks.
As always, thanks for being here and reading. I really do appreciate it. Please leave comments to let me know what you think and to add any relevant information to the discussion. Please follow or subscribe to
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Next week the subject will be an introduction of George Martin. Looking forward to that!
- Adamson
Photo: 30th October 1963, Public Domain, https://picryl.com/media/paul-and-george-6beba9
Quotes:
1) The Beatles Book No. 1, August 1963 (Beat Publications, Ltd., London), p. 11.
2) Meet The Beatles, by Tony Barrow (Souvenir Press, London, 2014 ed.), pages unnumbered
3) The Beatles Book No. 2, September 1963 (Beat Publications, Ltd., London), p. 13.
4) All About The Beatles, by Edward DeBlasio (McFadden, New York, 1964), pp. 43-45.
😂😂😂😂😂 what's interesting is bits of the story ARE true. George and Paul did go on a hitchhiking trip together when they were 15/16. There's even photographic proof. Paul did allegedly set his trousers on fire (and not from lying!) by sitting on someone's car or truck battery and his pocket zippers heating up to the point of scorching his arse (George told this story more than once so I'm assuming it actually occured). John and Paul took a different trip together so Nurk Twins etc
Of course the disrespect towards George re: Macca teaching him guitar as if he didn't pick it up on his own, his parents didn't save up to buying him one etc is irksome. As well as "I've got loads of schoolwork to catch up on," said George never. The fact that the Beatles Monthly indulged on such crap is ridiculous.