- The band went through several changes of name and membership since July 1957, when Paul McCartney, then 15, joined John Lennon's skiffle group, the Quarrymen. Johnny and the Moondogs, The Rainbows, Silver Beetles and British Everly Brothers were all names they briefly used before settling on the Beatles. No-one is quite sure where that name came from but the theories include that it was inspired by Buddy Holly's Crickets. Then band member Stuart Sutcliff suggested “Beetles” which also happened to be the name of a gang in the Marlon Brando film The Wild One. It's John Lennon who is thought to have changed the spelling to reflect beat music and the beat generation.
- Everyone knows who the four Beatles were - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. There have also been a number of people referred to as "The Fifth Beatle" either because they were once members of the band or collaborated with them. John Lennon's friend Stuart Sutcliffe was the first “Fifth Beatle.” He was the bassist when they were a five-member band. He tragically died of a brain haemorrhage and was never replaced. Paul began playing the bass Guitar instead. Another was Pete Best, who was the drummer. He was fired and replaced by Ringo.
- The band failed their first audition for Decca records on January 1, 1962 because the record company believed that “groups of guitars are on the way out”.
- Although they could play guitar, keyboard and drums, and wrote songs, none of the Beatles could read Music. Paul once asked a girlfriend's mother to teach him, but didn't have the time or patience to continue with the lessons. They played everything by ear. This may be the reason for the often quoted story about when Paul woke up one morning with a tune in his head and had to come up with some nonsense lyrics so he wouldn't forget the tune. "Scrambled Eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs" were the first lyrics to Yesterday.
- The fact that Paul was left-handed and John was right-handed helped the song writing process - Paul said in an interview that watching John play guitar was like looking in a mirror. Ringo was left-handed also; George was right-handed.
- All four Beatles had a fear of flying.
- Inspiration for songs came from numerous sources and not always what people assumed. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was thought to be all about drugs and was banned by the BBC, but it was actually inspired by John Lennon's four year old son's drawing of a classmate, a girl called Lucy Vodden.
- A couple of songs are named for real places - Strawberry Fields Forever was named after a Salvation Army orphanage in Liverpool which had a wild garden that John and his friends played in as children. Penny Lane is named after an actual street in Liverpool. Since that song became a hit, the street sign was constantly being stolen. Liverpool City Council got so sick of replacing it that they now paint the street name on a wall instead.
- Ringo's real name is Richard Starkey. His bandmates gave him the nickname "Rings" because he wore a lot of jewellery and that later evolved into "Ringo".
- The Beatles were the first band to have the lyrics to all the songs printed on an album cover, on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.
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