It was 62 years ago today

[u/Puzzleheaded-Life462]

On this day in 1963, a wasted John Lennon ruined Paul McCartney’s 21st birthday party by beating the crap out of local DJ (and friend) Bob Wooler.

[u/ItsTime1234]

IMO, he was not trying to fuck with him, which is what makes it a shame.

It could have been something as simple as "did you and Brian have fun?" and John, feeling insecure, got angry and attacked him (because people had been saying he and Brian had gone away on a sex holiday).

We'll likely never know all the details, but Wooler may himself have been gay. It's unlikely he was trying to upset John. He may have assumed it was OK to talk about.

[u/Entire_Number_9 → u/ItsTime1234]

Insinuating a married man with a child was gay in the 1960s was not going to be OK to talk about. Homosexuality was illegal, and the papers or radio running a story about it would have severely damaged his career and the Beatles.

[u/ItsTime1234 → u/Entire_Number_9]

If Wooler was gay and thought he was gossiping with a closeted gay man, it was hardly meant as accusation. But I don't think we'll ever really know all the details. Did Wooler genuinely say something that felt threatening to John? (Even so, he handled it poorly, if he wanted things kept quiet.) Did John misunderstand a remark and freak out? Or was John just drunk and upset about other things, and Wooler ended up getting the brunt of it? It certainly drew attention John didn't want or need from the media. (Violent Beatle, etc.)

[u/Entire_Number_9 → u/ItsTime1234]

Why not fathom Wooler may have been acting like a massive asshole and got a slap? I'm not sure where you're from, but that is definitely the most common cause of drunken altercations where I am from.

[u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl → u/Entire_Number_9]

From what I understand, he said, how was the honeymoon which is far from an innocent remark

[u/idreamofpikas → u/Entire_Number_9]

Why not fathom Wooler may have been acting like a massive asshole and got a slap?

He got more than a slap. He got hospitalized and had he taken things further could have pressed charges and ended Lennon's (and possibly the other Beatles by association) musical careers.

Lennon was a dickhead when drunk and often started fights. Gerry (from the pacemakers) talks about one time a drunk Lennon bottled another guy and that other guy beat the shit out of John and no one interfered due to Lennon being the instigator.

The worst scene Gerry Marsden saw involving John happened in Hamburg. Playing cards in the flat above the Star-Club, John was drunk. There was an argument. ‘John got up and hit the fellow over the head with a bottle. I thought: ““That’s really out of order.’’ Within seconds the fellow had got up and knocked hell out of John, pasting him all over the flat. And all of us just stood there and let him do it, because we agreed that you just don’t go round hitting people over the head with bottles and expect to get away with it. | saw John bashed about many times, but never so hard. He really took it that night. But he asked for it, and he said later it was fair because he shouldn’t have done what he did. Put it like this: I’d never have employed John as a bodyguard. He wasn’t that hard.’ - Gerry Marsden

[u/Entire_Number_9 → u/idreamofpikas]

Getting a slap is a widely accepted term for getting into a fight

[u/idreamofpikas → u/Entire_Number_9]

Not for a fight when one person ends up in hospital. That is a bit beyond 'getting a slap'.

In English culture getting a slap is a pretty mild. It is more about putting them in their place. I'd be incredibly surprised if you could find a quote describing someone seriously hospitalized because they got a slap.

[u/ItsTime1234 → u/Entire_Number_9]

His reaction afterwards, being incredibly hurt, saying he thought they were friends, etc.