June 25, 2011
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Riot Set Off by Beatle Fans in W. Germany (1966)
Riot Set Off By Beatle Fans in W. Germany
Reuters
June 27, 1966
Thousands of rioting West German fans of the Beatles turned the heart of Hamburg into a battlefield Sunday night as they broke windows, threw tear gas bombs, and caused traffic chaos. Police reinforcements with dogs and loudspeakers barricaded streets around the hall where the British pop group was performing, while ticketless fans roamed the center of West German's largest city.
Appeals for the teenagers to clear the streets were met with a chorus of yells, and police began drenching them with fire hoses. Fans replied with tear gas bombs, and police eventually moved in with dogs and nightsticks to disperse the crowds during the riot.
Teenagers smashed store windows in an elegant shopping center, broke streetcar windows, and tore down trolley wire contacts. An official said 40 youths were arrested by late evening.
By late evening, the city was quiet again as police vans patrolled the streets. The Beatles are at the end of a four-day tour of West Germany
Happy Global Beatles Day!
Wish all of you a happy Global Beatles Day today! Do something to spread peace and love toward others and listen to the Beatles. Thanks to Beatle fan Faith Cohen for orchestrating this day so that the Beatles organization now officially celebrates it. What did you do to celebrate today?
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Rock Talk (Ringo Interview 1976)
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| Ringo at Paul's party, June 24, 1976 |
Rock Talk
By Lisa Robinson
Sun Post News
July 2, 1976
The speculation ran rampant in Los Angeles last week that Wings' final U.S. concert would feature a Beatles reunion, but there never was a chance. As Paul McCartney got on stage for his last LA Forum show, and the four old Beatles LPs were on the charts, John Lennon summered on Long Island. George Harrison finished recording in London, and Ringo Starr prepared to leave his house in the Hollywood Hills and fly the Concorde to Paris.
The day before his departure, Ringo talked about that possible reunion. His casual LA costume, Indian cotton shirt over a bathing suit, was livened up by jewelry, one gold and diamond earring, neck chains, and, of course, his assortment of rings. Ringo's eyes are amazingly blue, and even after all these years, that Liverpool accent is unmistakable.
Sipping white wine in his playroom filled with Gene Autry and Beatles Memorabilia, Ringo said, "Despite what anyone said, we have talked about doing a show together, and we've been offered more than $50 million. But then we said, 'What are we bothered for?' People have told me, 'You've got to do it for the money.' Well, if I wanted to do it, I wouldn't do it for the money, I'd do it for a laugh, I'd probably do it for free.
"But if we did do something, the audience might still want us to be the mop tops." Ringo smiled. "They'd probably expect me to nod my head.
"The only way I could see something happening now would be for all of us to go into a studio where we could sit with each other for a while. But to get the four of us in one room is physically very hard. Paul might visit me, or I'll visit John, but we're never all in the same place at the same time. Even when we were the closest band in the world," Ringo continued, "except for the time when we were on tour, or when we were locked into a recording studio, we weren't together all the time. When we'd go back into the studio, it would take us about a week to be able to relax with each other.
"I'm not the greatest drummer," Ringo added. "John isn't the greatest guitarist, George isn't the greatest lead guitarist. Paul is a fine bass player, but when we were into each other, we were telepathic because we knew each other so well. That's why the music was so good.
"We see each other now, but we have the human right to fight and also to love each other. I can say anything I like about any of them, but don't you put them down. They're family, probably the only family I have ever really had.
"I'm sure I'll be called ex-Beatle until I die," said Ringo. "The guy who reads my urn when it comes out of the ashes will say 'ex-Beatle Richard Starkey'. Sometimes it's a burden, but I'm proud as well." And Ringo smiles, "It gets me a seat at restaurants."
Does he think there could ever be anything quite as big as the Beatles again? "An Italian tenor", Ringo replied, straight-faced. "In 1974, I was sure that an Italian tenor would do a nationwide TV broadcast and be bigger than we were."
Japan Threatens to Trim Beatles (1966)
Japan Threatens to Trim Beatles
UPI
June 24, 1966
There may be a plot afoot to shear the Beatles when they come to Japan next week. Japanese ultrarightist groups upset about the Beatles' six day visit starting June 28 have sworn they will shave the singers' heads "at the risk of our lives."
The right-wingers are angered at the scheduled use of the Tokyo Budokan Hall by the Beatles for their five concerts. The hall was built especially for the Judo competition of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and there has been a great deal of public opposition to the appearance there of the Liverpool Quartet, but the hall, with a seating capacity of 10,000, is the only building the Beatles would agree to perform in, and the public, rather than face the wrath of 50,000 teenagers, gave in.
The right-wingers, however, have not given in, and although the police department is not saying so publicly, the extremists are one of the main reasons 3,000 policemen have been assigned to protect the Beatles and keep order during their tour. The anti-Beatle right wing says the group is a sign of the decadence of Western society, and a reason the communists are doing so well in Vietnam.
Bin Akao, the leader of the Greater Japan Patriotic Society, which has distributed 300,000 leaflets and over 10,000 Beatles Get Out posters, told UPI, "There is a strong mood among the right-wing parties to shave the Beatles' heads and send them home looking different." He said he personally did not think that any rightist would succeed in getting to the Beatles or in sabotaging their performances, because "The Tokyo police are too well prepared. The right wing has been marked by the police, "he lamented, "and I don't think there is any possibility of approaching the Beatles, even if someone wanted to". However, he would not deny rumors published by Japanese magazines that there is some sort of plot in the works.
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