OFTEN hailed as the greatest band of all time, fans of The Beatles were left shocked when they decided to split.
At the time of the group's break up, Beatlemania was at its peek and showed no signs of slowing down.
When did The Beatles break up?
The Beatles split remains the most analysed break-up in rock history.
The iconic band - formed of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr - kicked of their reign of world domination in 1960.
However, after ten years at the top, they left fans in complete shock when it was revealed they had broken up in 1970.
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Their big split is attributed to numerous factors, including the strain of the Beatlemania phenomenon, and the 1967 death of manager Brian Epstein.
John's drug use and his relationship with Yoko Ono have also been reported as factors.
Paul's decision to release a solo album around the same time as the Let It Be LP, has also been named by Beatle historians as attributing to the break up - something the singer denies.
By late 1965, The Beatles had grown weary of the constant touring, with George being the first to tire of Beatlemania.
He even told manager Brian that he was leaving the band, but was persuaded to stay on the assurance that there would be no more tours.
When The Beatles recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in November 1966, there was still a desire to work together, and a deep friendship.
However, their individual musical differences were starting to become more apparent.
Their last offering was their Let It Be album in 1970, but the dissolution of the band was not formalised until December 29, 1974.
What did The Beatles members say when they broke up?
There was never any official announcement by any band member that they had broken up.
However, rumblings of a split started in November 1969, when John's comments from a radio interview were reported in an NME article titled "The Beatles on the Brink of Splitting".
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Among his remarks, he said that the running of the group's record label had superseded the band's music-making and he went "off and on" the idea of the group recording together again.
Then in early January 1970, while visiting Denmark with Yoko Ono, John told a journalist that "we're not breaking up the band, but we're breaking its image".
However on April 10, 1970, Paul said in a press release that he was no longer working with the group, which sparked a widespread media reaction and worsened the tensions between him and his bandmates.
Around this time he had also decided to release his first solo album, McCartney.
Legal disputes continued long after Paul's announcement that he would not be working with The Beatles, and the band was formerly dissolved in 1974.
In 2021, Paul was asked in a BBC Radio 4 interview about his decision to go solo, to which he replied: “Stop right there. I am not the person who instigated the split.
"Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. Is that instigating the split, or not?”
He then told interviewer John Wilson that John described his decision to leave as “quite thrilling” and “rather like a divorce”.
The other members, he added, were “left to pick up the pieces”.
Did The Beatles ever get back together?
Rumours of a full-fledged reunion persisted throughout the 1970s.
Although the members occasionally collaborated together, they never reunited as the full foursome.
Ringo's I'm the Greatest (1973), and George's All Those Years Ago (1981) are the only tracks that feature three ex-Beatles.
After John's murder in 1980, the surviving members reunited for the Anthology project in 1994, using the late singer's unfinished demos Free as a Bird, and Real Love.
