Paul McCartney reveals John Lennon was insecure about wearing glasses
Paul McCartney has claimed that John Lennon was insecure about wearing glasses as an adolescent but changed his opinion when they were later popularised by Buddy Holly.
McCarney was speaking about Lennon wearing glasses in photographs captured by him which feature in his new book 1964: Eyes of the Storm. “No, up until the advent of Buddy Holly, he would never be seen out with glasses,” he explained during an interview on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Today Show.
He added: “Buddy Holly, who was a big favourite of ours, wore glasses so John felt a bit better about wearing the glasses then, but normally it was like, ‘Woah, there’s girls around,’ so his glasses came off”.
In addition to the photographs appearing in a new book, from June 28th to October 1st, 2023, the National Portrait Gallery will display 250 unseen photographs taken by Paul of his bandmates and the cities they travelled to during their 1963-64 tour. The images were taken on Paul’s personal Pentax camera and will also be available in an accompanying photobook titled 1964: Eyes of the Storm, slated for release on June 13th via Penguin.
To promote the new book, he will also be discussing the book at the National Portrait Gallery with actor Stanley Tucci on June 29th.
In a statement, McCartney previously said of the exhibition and event: “Looking at these photos now, decades after they were taken, I find there’s a sort of innocence about them. Everything was new to us at this point. But I like to think I wouldn’t take them any differently today. They now bring back so many stories, a flood of special memories, which is one of the many reasons I love them all, and know that they will always fire my imagination”.
Adding: “The fact that these photographs have been taken by the National Portrait Gallery for their reopening after a lengthy renovation is humbling yet also astonishing – I’m looking forward to seeing them on the walls, 60 years on, and reminiscing about those times with the wonderful Stanley Tucci.”
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