I am a life-long Beatles fan, so I can reassure everyone that Paul McCartney is very much alive and I wish him well. Back in 1971 however there were rumours sweeping the world that he was dead. He had actually died in 1965 and been replaced in the Beatles by a look-alike double.

McCartney had disappeared from public view at the time, retreating to his Mull of Kintyre home to come to terms with the breakup of the Beatles. Without McCartney around the rumours started to gain credence and reached the front page of Britain’s Daily Mirror in August 1971.

Eventually Paul McCartney made a public statement to the effect that; “Rumours of my death have been very much exaggerated!”25 years later I was teaching history to a class of 16 year olds and was concerned that those students who took the trouble to read, were taking everything at face value.

To demonstrate how ‘facts’ can be manipulated to distort history I presented to them a multi-media lecture ‘proving’ that Paul McCartney was dead. On a slide-projector I pointed out all the death clues on each Beatle album. I also taped the various songs where the Beatles lyrics lament Paul’s death. It was a good lecture even if I say so myself :O)

At the end of the talk I asked the class how many of them believed Paul McCartney was dead. Around 75% put their hand up! I then told the class it was a load of rubbish, and explained how I had manipulated the ‘facts’. I then asked them again how many people believed Paul McCartney was dead, and around 30% still believed it !!  They had seen the evidence and could not be dissuaded from it, even when I told them it was all made up.   

I spent a week worried that an irate parent would come to college to complain. Next time you are reading Erich Von Daniken’s  ‘Chariots of the Gods’, or Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’, just be aware how powerful this can be.

John McNally