Ten Facts You Didn’t Know about Ringo Starr

1. He and his father both shared the same name: Richard

2. When his mother remarried he called her husband his step ladder. This is early proof of the humor to come.

3. Much of his childhood was spent in hospitals, he was even in a coma for two months. Because he missed so much scholl he could barely read and write at the age of fifteen.

4. He missed most of the Beatles tour of Scandinavia in 1964 because of acute tonsillitis and was replaced by Jimmy Nichol.

5. It was Ringo who gave the first Beatles movie the name A Hard Day’s Night after one really tiring recording session. It was originally to be called Beatlemania.

6. The Beatles were last photographed together on Friday, August 22 1969  at John and Yoko’s home, Tittenhurst Park. The Lennon’s lived there from the late summer of 1969 until August 1971. On September 18, 1973, Ringo Starr purchased the property and it became the home of Starr and his family until the late 1980s.

7. Like Paul McCartney, Ringo is left handed.

8. Ringo left the Beatles during the recording of The White Album, forcing the other members of the group to play drums on several of the tracks. When he finally returned Starr found his drum-kit covered in flowers.

9. The closest the Beatles came to reuniting was at Eric Clapton’s wedding to Patti Boyd in 1979, where McCartney, Harrison and Starr played. Lennon did not attend.

10. Before she became known as Cher, singer “Bonnie Jo Mason” recorded the novelty song, “I Love You Ringo.

Quotes and clips from the Starr himself

I Like Beethoven. Especially the poems.

Ringo: Your Sixteen with Carrie Fisher

America. It’s like Britain, only with buttons.

With a Little Help From His Friends: Live for the Prince’s Trust 1987 – with George Harrison on guitar and Phil Collins on drums

Journalist: What do you do with your money?

Ringo: We burn it.

Photograph Live

Press: Ringo, why do you wear two rings on each hand?
Ringo: Because I can’t fit them through my nose.

Yellow Submarine Live with The All Star Band

Press: Were you worried about the oversized roughnecks who tried to infiltrate the airport crowd on your arrival?
Ringo: That was us.

Press: What did you think when your airplane’s engine began smoking as you landed today?
Ringo: Beatles, women, and children first!

Press: What is the biggest threat to your careers, the atom bomb or dandruff?
Ringo: The atom bomb. We’ve already got dandruff.

Press: Why is it that you Ringo get more fan mail than the others?
Ringo: I dunno. I suppose it’s because more people write me.

Press: “Gentleman, what do you think would happen to you four if you came to an appearance without the armored truck, and without the Police?”
Ringo: “We’d get in a lot easier.”

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