The Beatles were a rock and pop band from Liverpool (in Lancashire as it was then but not now), England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). They officially split in 1970, so they were, I suppose, a sixties band!

What can I say about the Beatles that hasn’t already been said. Nothing. So I’ll just have to tell you a few things.

They are a band whose songs have made me cry the most.

• My favourite Beatle is Ringo – not for his singing abilities, I just like him the most. His childhood featured numerous hospital visits, in 1947 he contracted appendicitis which caused him to fall in to a coma. At the age of 13, he was brought to hospital with chronic-pleurisy which caused him to be admitted to a sanatorium for two years. He had seen the last of his school days. Lucky fella.

• The first time that Lennon, who was still with The Beatles, had performed in public without the other Beatles was on on 11 December 1968 with The Dirty Mac consisting of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell. Lennon put together the band for The Rolling Stones’ TV special entitled The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. The Dirty Mac recorded a rendition of the Lennon-penned Beatles track “Yer Blues”.

• Paul McCartney can be heard swearing on Hey Jude. (Some people say it’s John).

• George Harrison is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with I Me Mine in 1980.

One of the many amazing things about the Beatles is that at the height of their fame, the group spent the early part of 1968 in Rishikesh, Uttar Pradesh, India, studying transcendental meditation. Ringo, uncertain of the effect of Indian food on his sensitive stomach, left with suitcases full of baked beans.

Well, it’s hard to do justice to anything in a blog post and especially hard to do justice to the Beatles. But I still love them.