Magical mystery tome

Surviving Beatles come together to write their story

April 2, 2000
Web posted at: 12:16 p.m. EDT (1616 GMT)

LONDON -- Thirty years after the breakup of the Beatles, the surviving members are writing a book with more than 1,000 photos of the group's extraordinary long and winding road, a British newspaper reported Sunday.

Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have spent six years writing a 360-page memoir called "Beatles Anthology," the London newspaper The Sunday Telegraph reported.

McCartney, 57, Harrison, 57, and Starr, 59, collected 1,200 photographs, mostly unpublished till now, for the hardcover book, the paper said.

The legendary band's autobiography, to be published in Britain and the United States this autumn, will cost about $80. It is expected to raise about $1.6 billion, and plans are to translate it into dozens of languages, the paper said.

The newspaper said Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon -- the fourth Beatle, who was shot to death in New York in 1980 -- will receive a quarter of the profits, although she has not been involved with the book.

The Associated Press reported it was unable to reach McCartney, Harrison or Starr.

Book addresses Beatles' split

The book will contain new information about the group members' drug use, their sexual exploits, their rivalries and eventual breakup in April of 1970, the Telegraph said.

"It will dispel some of the myths ... as every Tom, Dick and uncle of a friend has been writing books on the Beatles since 1963," the newspaper quoted McCartney as saying.

The book will counter rumors that McCartney pushed to break up the band, the newspaper said, and will reveal that Lennon was the first to walk away, leaving McCartney to make the official announcement months later.

The book will reportedly disclose that in 1996, the three surviving Beatles turned down an offer of $175 million to perform 17 concerts in the United States, Germany and Japan.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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