Scan - John in a Hamburg street in his underpants, shortly before the Beatles returned to Liverpool. On the reverse of the photograph he wrote: ‘Me sightseeing, Hamburg, November 1960. One Giant Photo ComingSoon.’
This isn’t the exact photo that goes along with this story, but it’s similar and amusing nonetheless:
“It was hard work [in Hamburg], but we were just five fellows having a good time. We did daft things all the time. John had a pair of Long John underpants, as it was getting very cold with winter drawing on. George bet him ten marks that he wouldn’t go out, wearing them and nothing else. He went out in the street, just in his Long Johns, with sun specs on and read the Daily Express for five minutes. We watched him, killing ourselves laughing.” - From The Beatles by Hunter Davies
“John mentioned (probably with a groan) that people were always asking what it meant and how they’d thought of it, and Bill replied - with Mersey Beat in mind - ‘Why don’t you tell them?’
So John wrote the history of the Beatles, and because he and George were knocking around together, he was on hand to contribute. John had been happy to let Paul help him write a comic piece or two in 1958, notably ‘On Safari With Whide Hunter’, now he allowed George to get involved in what became known as 'Being A Short Diversion On The Dubious Origins Of Beatles’.” - From The Beatles - All These Years: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn
“When The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, secured a recording contract with EMI in 1962, he sent a telegram to the band in Hamburg, Germany: ‘Congratulations boys. EMI request recording session. Please rehearse new material.’ The Beatles replied to the telegram with postcards. Paul McCartney wrote, ‘Please wire GBP 10,000 advance royalties.’ John Lennon scribbled, ‘When are we going to be millionaires?’ But George Harrison made the following request: ‘Please order four new guitars.’ While his band mates visualized piles of money, Harrison could think only about guitars.” - Andy Babiuk, Harrison by the editors of Rolling Stone (2002) (x)
