THE BEATLES ARE BIGGER THAN JESUS

There was no argument that in the Swinging Sixties the Fab Four were the biggest band in the world.

John, Paul, George and Ringo had taken the charts by storm and had cracked America. The Liverpool lads could seemingly do no wrong.

But in a 1966 interview with the London Evening Standard, John Lennon suggested that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

If the quotes had stayed in the UK, there may have been no problem. But the interview was republished a few months later in an American teen magazine and caused uproar.

PROTESTS Teens throw records on the bonfire

Lennon had said: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I know I’m right and I will be proved right.

“We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first – rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.”

The quote set off an international scandal that threatened the Beatles’ future – and their lives. His comments incited protests and threats, particularly throughout the Bible Belt in the US Deep South.

STORM Lennon’s quip sparked outrage in US

LIPS ARE SEALED The Beatles pose in 1966