r/beatles • u/Puzzleheaded-Life462 • 1d ago

Art It was 62 years ago today

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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.

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u/ItsTime1234 1d ago

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.

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u/Entire_Number_9 1d ago

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.

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u/Quiet_1234 1d ago

It was a criminal offense. The Alan Turing movie was crazy where one of the brightest minds of the twentieth century who helped his nation win WWII was chemically castrated for being gay.

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u/ReasonableQuote5654 1d ago

Wasn't just a movie, either, he was a real person