Paul McCartney reveals Beatles bandmate John Lennon was ‘shy’ about wearing his iconic glasses in public

Paul McCartney has revealed that his fellow bandmate John Lennon was embarrassed to wear his iconic glasses in public. The 81-year-old musician from Liverpool recently spoke to Stanley Tucci at the National Portrait Gallery in London to celebrate his new exhibition of Beatles photos taken with his own camera between December 1963 and February 1964.

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm will run from 28 June to 1 October as one of two major exhibitions to relaunch the gallery after three years of refurbishments. As the pair chatted, a picture of John Lennon appeared on the screen, prompting Stanley to ask, “They were glasses that he only wore in private, right?”

Paul told how John would normally take his glasses off in public as he was shy about wearing them. He said: “He was pretty short-sighted and it led to some funny occasions. Normally if there were girls around, he’d whip them off. He was a little bit shy with them, so if he was out and about, he’d just take them off.”

The Beatle also shared a humorous anecdote about his bandmate and famous glasses-wearer. Paul added: “He once came down to my house. He lived about a mile away, and we writing some music. We got finished around midnight, so he was going to walk home. He took off his glasses and walked home.

“The next day, he said, ‘Oh you know those people on the corner up there Booker Avenue, they’re crazy. I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ Then he said, ‘Well, at midnight, when I left you, they were out on the porch of their house playing cards’. I said, ‘You’re kidding me’, so I had to go and investigate. I went round and had a look what it was. It was a nativity scene. They weren’t playing cards. They were all bent over baby Jesus. So that’s why he needed glasses.”

Paul McCartney recently spoke about John Lennon’s life in a candid interview at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. He revealed that John had a very tragic life and experienced vulnerability as a result of his upbringing.