AboutMelissa Davis Expertise I feel extremely comfortable with my ability to answer questions regarding The Beatles personally - backgrounds, family, education, and the genesis of the group from inception to the end. I do not feel that I have the expertise to answer extremely technical questions regarding equipment, other than to refer the questioner to other sources.
Experience Besides having been the right age at the right time to live through and enjoy The Beatles, I have continued my interest in them, in their music, and their influence on 20th century - in everything from the obvious, music, to fashion, humor, film, politics, and the music industry. As a dedicated Anglophile, I have studied at the University of London as an undergraduate and traveled in the UK extensively - yes, walked across Abbey Road, visited Savile Row - all of it. Beyond that, I am a teacher and a writer with excellent writing, editing, and research skills.
Publications The Copy Workshop advertising series
Colorado Law Journal
Various magazines
Education/Credentials B.A. History & Political Science, M.A. English History, J.D.
Awards and Honors Teacher of the Year, Archdiocese of Dallas (2000)
Question How old were John, George, Paul, and Ringo when they dropped out of school.
Also, I always wondered how they got to be so smart if they didn't get an education. Were they self taught?
Answer Hi Ava,
Your questions are always interesting!
I do not know where you are from, so I will give you just a very brief background on the education system in England so that the first part of the answer makes sense.
During the time the Beatles were growing up in England, a child started school closer to age 5 than six and it was called 'Infants School.' Unlike pre-school, it wasn't playschool - students were begun in the basic subjects and, in the UK, that includes - still - religion. Parents may now request that their child be exempt from religious education, but at that time, parents could not.
Students then went on to Primary School. At the age of 11, students took an exam (actually a series of exams) called Eleven Plus, which would determine the next course of their education. If they did well, they were able to apply to a Secondary School and go forward with academic study. If they did poorly, they could prepare for a vocation or trade. Education was offered until age 16, although students could leave school to take a job. At 16 another series of exams was given to see if the student could go on to college or university (A level and O level exams) and, if so, what kind of school. A levels, as you can guess, were excellent. O levels were average. If you failed to get any 'levels', you could go to a vocational school. If you received a few 'levels' you could study one more year and take more exams at the end of that year.
Sounds more complicated than it was, really. England was just trying out a system of providing education to all children up to age 16 and was experimenting with channeling the best and brightest students into academics, good students into good trades, and less gifted students into labor.
As you know, John was going through a particularly difficult time in his life right around the time he started school. His mother had moved in with a new man who did not want to raise John and his father, Alfred, came back into their lives as the war ended. The family discord resulted in John being, essentially 'kidnapped' for several weeks by his father; Julia found them and took John back to Liverpool, but not to live with her. Julia's older sister, Mary, and her husband, George Smith, became John's legal guardians when he was five and had sole responsibility for raising him, although he did sometimes see Julia, which was more confusing probably than anything else.
Consequently, John acted out his emotions from an early age and either was asked to leave his first school at age five or taken out by Mimi. Whatever the reason, John then went to Dovedale where George would attend three years behind him.
John was very bright and his uncle George had taught him how to read before he started school. Mimi and George had books in the house and he loved to read Alice in Wonderland and the Just William stories. His uncle taught him how to do crossword puzzles early, too, and explained that words sometimes had more than one meaning.
John did fairly well academically until he passed his Eleven Plus exams and he said he only did well on those because he was scared not to do well. He did not apply to the best secondary school, the Liverpool Institute, in the city centre, but went to Quarry Bank, which was closer to home. We have no way of knowing if he would have been accepted at the Institute, but given his behavior problems, it seems doubtful.
Once in secondary school, John's grades began to plummet and his behavior landed him in the office of the headmaster (the principal)for physical punishment. This did little to improve his attitude or his work. The comments on his report card said things like, "He is just a waste of time."
Today, we would recognize that John was dyslexic, but at that time, the condition was completely unknown. His school papers and notes that his aunt kept show all the signs of this and it would have made his school days very difficult, as teachers often felt that a student who made these types of mistakes repeatedly just wasn't trying hard.
Similarly, it would seem that he had ADD, as well and again, teachers and headmasters would have viewed his behavior as immaturity and lack of focus rather than something he couldn't explain or control. He seemed to have been fairly unhappy at school.
When he took his final exams at 16, he did not pass any, his art teacher recommended him for a probationary year at the Liverpool College of Art. This is not to be confused with a college where students study general courses for several years and then declare an area of major emphasis to earn a bachelor's degree. This was a program only in art without any other subjects taught, that would lead to qualifications to teach art in infant, primary, or secondary school; to do lettering and commercial art; cartoons; sculpting; design; and serious art. John had always enjoyed making little cartoons and his teacher thought he had some talent in this area.
He attended the art college for two years off and on and met Cynthia and Stuart there, two very important relationships in his life. Paul and George were attending the Liverpool Institute at the same time, which is right next door, so they would go over to the art college and practice and jam during lunch break, and occasionally the group would play for students. But overall, John did miserably in his classes because his interest was entirely with music and the band. He failed some courses and had to retake them and some friends even got together and tried to make a portfolio of work for him to turn in as his final project in one class, but he didn't turn it in as his own work.
He was, of course, also dealing with Julia's death at this time, so his emotional life was again interfering with the concentration he would have needed to even put his heart into school. All in all, though, it would seem that his heart was broken and what was left of it was in music. Paul had told him when Julia died that music was the only thing that saved his own life when his mother died, just two years before and told John to just pour his heart and soul into the music. It seems that John very much took this advice.
When the Beatles had the chance to go to Hamburg in the summer of 1960, John didn't even bother to officially drop out of college; he just never went back. He was 19.
Paul, on the other hand, was an excellent student and although he hated studying, he worked hard enough on his Eleven Plus exams to get a scholarship to the Liverpool Institute. His parents knew he was very, very bright and encouraged him to make the most of his chance at a better education, since neither of them had had an easy life. His mother had to put herself through nurse's training beginning at age 14 and his father had to leave school at that age to earn a living. His parents and his teachers thought Paul could easily go to medical school and become a doctor, although he preferred reading, art, and languages to maths and science. He was not the behavior problem John was, but he did get sent to the headmaster's office for beatings occasionally, too.
He took French, German, and Latin at the Institute and loved Chaucer, mainly because his professor told the students it was raunchy! However, if you put his school life together with his home life, you can see that he, too, just like John, was traumatized right at the beginning of secondary school. His mother died when he was 14 and the family thought it was best that he not miss school so - unbelievably, he got home from school one afternoon and was taken to the hospital to say 'goodbye' to his mother as she was dying, then sent home to do his homework and was sent to school the next day.
This was also around the time he 'discovered' the guitar and rock 'n' roll, telling John later that having music to concentrate on saved his life. As a result of these two things, his grades went down as his interest left school and the band became the focus of all his effort and energy. His father still hoped that he would do well enough to go to teachers' college.
If there was any chance the band could rehearse or play at a dance or an event, John, Paul, and George would ditch school without a second thought. Music became the only thing that was important to them. As a matter of fact, Paul left for a chance to play in Scotland during the period he was supposed to be reviewing for his A and O level exams and, consequently, got very disappointing results. He went another year and did pass some O levels, but by that time, he knew that music was where he was going to be and didn't care. He did not formally drop out, either; he stopped going before he turned 18.
George was very quiet at school, but very smart, too. He did not like following orders very well and would occasionally be punished for 'talking' back, but the teachers liked him and finally just let him sit in the back of the class and sleep! He did well enough on his exams to be accepted at the Institute, but by that time, he was interested in the guitar and eventually, he started drawing pictures of guitars in his notebooks. After he got that first guitar and started teaching himself, he lost interest in school completely. He just felt it had nothing to do with his real life at all. His father wanted him to stay on at school, but his mother seemed to understand that it was not the place for him and he dropped out with her permission when he was around 16 or 17.
Ringo, as you probably know, had an entirely different situation. He started school on time, but developed an appendicitis just before he turned 7 and when it ruptured during surgery, he slipped into a ten-week coma. His mother was told by doctors that he would not live through the night - on three different occasions. He was hospitalized for an entire year before he was allowed to go home to recuperate. He missed almost a year and a half of school at that important time and in those days, there were no provisions for tutoring for sick children. He couldn't read or write at all and was already very far behind. When he went back to school, some of the teachers and students didn't even remember him and he was embarrassed about not knowing the basics, so he would frequently ditch school.
His father had left when he was only three years-old and their homelife was very poor and hard; his mother worked as a scrubwoman and then as a barmaid in a nearby pub and he was often left alone at night, but his mother paid a neighbor girl to babysit, when she could afford it, and she taught Ringo how to read and write. He was almost caught up again when he developed tuberculosis and spent two years, from age 11 - 13, in a tuberculosis sanitorium. When he was released, it was pointless for him to return to school, because he had missed almost four years of education and could not have passed his Eleven Plus exams to go on. He tried to work, but failed the medical examinations until his new stepfather was able to get him a part-time job at a factory. He had become interested in the drums when one of the nurses at the hospital would put together a band of the sick kids with drums and the triangle and maracas and such and so he got together with another boy at the factory and started a band.
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Your last question is harder... and yet, easier to answer!
By some quirk of fate, all the Beatles seem to have been born with above average intelligence. It was just a natural blessing. But just as important, they each had a lot of curiousity. They all liked to read and even on tour, they would trade the James Bond books over and over, memorizing all the lines. John and Paul especially liked to read. George's curiousity led him to study Indian culture, religion, and music. Ringo's curiousity made up for his lack of education.
If you notice, they all spoke exceptionally well and used the right grammar. They knew what they wanted to say and how to say it. There are some examples of John writing business letters that are very, very formal and well-written - which were a surprise to me!
I think it is pretty obvious that they liked spending time with each other better than most other people because they found each other interesting and not boring. They all used to say they couldn't stand being around 'thick heads' - boring people who said stupid things. They fed off that kind of quick, bouncing back and forth type of banter you see in the movies and hear in their lyrics and that's probably one reason why their press conferences were so popular with the reporters - they were clever and funny!
So, I guess the answer is that if someone knows deep inside that they have something special - even if no one else can see it (which was certainly the case with the Beatles), it is important to follow that instinct and give it all you've got.
Given what we have seen of their output, a lot of people - writers, educators, philosophers, critics, feel that John and Paul quite probably were geniuses, as we know that word to be defined. Certainly they were far above average intelligence. George, of course, was exceptionally bright - mastering extremely difficult Indian music without any formal musical training. Ringo always did amazingly well holding his own around the other three and John said he thought Ringo was the smartest among them because he did what they did without having had much education at all.
One last thing - they seem to have taken that love they had for music - for sound and lyrics and playing to audiences and creating and worked exceptionally hard at it. When you look at some of Lewisohn's work documenting their schedules, it is amazing to see how much time they spent working. We tend to think of rock stars as having fabulously exciting lives full of time to do whatever they want and this seems to have been totally lacking for the Beatles up until the very last part of the group's existence. They were writing, recording, producing, doing movies or tv shows or radio interviews, John was writing books, Paul and George writing music for movies and other artists, Ringo and John making solo movies - on and on.
Their love of music is what brought the genius together, gave it life and created what we have from it.
Hope that helps.
MDavis
P.S. I haven't forgotten your qu4estion about Apple - I'm still working on it!
