Paul McCartney recalls arrest and deportation from Germany at the beginning of the Beatles

Paul McCartney recalled one of the most curious stories from the Beatles' early years: the day he was arrested and deported from Germany alongside Pete Best, the band's first drummer.

The revelation was made during a recent appearance on the program Chicken Shop Date, led by Amelia Dimoldenberg. In the conversation, McCartney said that he and Pete Best decided to protest against the terrible accommodation they were staying in in Hamburg in the early 1960s.

According to Paul, the musicians shared an extremely uncomfortable room, with cement walls and poor conditions. He described the place as dirty, unpleasant and far from any suitable structure for a band trying to build a career.

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According to the biography Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, written by Barry Miles and released in 1998, the Beatles were staying in a room located at the back of a cinema while they performed at the Kaiserkeller, a Hamburg club owned by Bruno Koschmider, who also owned the cinema.

McCartney He said that the bathroom they used was, in fact, the bathroom of the cinema itself. Therefore, regulars entered the venue while the musicians were shaving or getting ready, creating an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation.

As a form of protest, Paul and Pete Best decided to do something provocative before leaving the place. According to the musician, there was a nail in the wall and Pete had a condom. The two set the object on fire as a kind of symbolic act against the accommodation they considered horrible.

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The action, however, brought immediate consequences. Still according to the book, the condom didn't burn for long, but it was enough to irritate Bruno Koschmider, who reported McCartney and Best for attempted arson.

Because of the episode, the two musicians spent around three hours in a local jail before being deported back to England. The case happened at an early stage in the Beatles' trajectory, when the group was still looking for space and experience playing in clubs in Germany.

During the interview, Paul McCartney even joked with Amelia Dimoldenberg by asking if she had never burned a condom. When the presenter replied no, the musician joked that she hadn't "really lived" until she did that.

The article also highlights that Paul McCartney recently released the album The Boys of Dungeon Lane. At 83 years old, the artist revisits his past in the new work, connecting his current story with remarkable memories of his long career in music.

The prison episode in Germany continues to be one of the most unusual behind-the-scenes stories of the Beatles, showing that, before their worldwide fame, the band faced difficult situations, precarious accommodation and conflicts that are now part of rock mythology.