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[Buttmunker]

My God, I can't believe how much they all smoked!  

With the exception of John, who smoked til the day he died, I believe the other three lads quit at some point.  

Do we know when Paul, Ringo, and George quit smoking cigarettes?

[Kaleidoscope_Eyes]

Not sure about pure ciggies, but here's something about Paul and cannabis...

Sir Paul McCartney had to fulfil one important condition before Heather Mills agreed to marry him, she revealed yesterday.

He had to agree to stop smoking cannabis.

Heather Mills McCartney - as she now calls herself - said her husband would use the drug as regularly as others drink cups of tea.

'Him and (his first wife) Linda smoked it every day for the whole of their lives together,' she said of a relationship that lasted more than 30 years. 'But I would not get married to him if he was taking drugs. I hate it.

'I could not have him lying to our child (they have a twoyearold daughter, Beatrice) about not taking drugs and then going out for a sneaky puff.'

Despite having slept on the streets as a teenager and then spent several years working as a model - both worlds where drug abuse is rife - 37-year- old Heather said she had never been tempted to experiment herself.

'I've never taken drugs in my life,' she said.

'One time at Ascot two models ran into the toilets and sniffed some cocaine off the cistern and I was, like, totally shocked.

'I never drank either until I met Paul. I was drunk (recently) on two glasses of wine at a Christmas party. I'm a very cheap date.'

Her abstinence is in marked contrast to the early years of her 63-year-old husband, whom she married in 2002.

As a Beatle, he was a the forefront of the Sixties psychedelic revolution. And in an interview two years ago, he said that drugs had 'informed' much of the band's music including songs such as Got to Get You Into My Life (which was about pot) and Day Tripper (about LSD).

He also admitted that he had tried both heroin and cocaine when the Beatles were in their prime.

In 1980, McCartney was arrested at Tokyo airport after customs officials discovered half a pound of marijuana in his luggage. He spent ten days in a Japanese prison cell before being released and deported.

Despite his habit, it appears Sir Paul had little difficulty giving up smoking dope following his fiancee's ultimatum. 'He says he had a good incentive,' she said when asked if he had found it hard to stop.

Heather said her revulsion of drugs came from having spent time counselling addicts.

'Fifty per cent of people can smoke joints their entire life and be fine. But the other 50 per cent, if there is a history of depression in their family or in their genes, then they cannot smoke marijuana.'

Given her own family's history of mental instability, she was sure that she would 'go wacky' if she ever tried it, she said.

In the interview with the Observer magazine, Heather said she was having difficulty sleeping because of screeching voices in her head.

'It was good,' she said, when asked about being with her husband during his current tour of America, 'but I didn't sleep well.

The screaming always goes on in my head.'

Confused, the interviewer inquired whether she was referring to Sir Paul's fans screaming outside the hotel - before being put straight. 'The screaming of the dogs and cats I had seen on the videos (about animals being skinned alive in China for their fur),' she said.

'Little puppy dogs and girl private cats, their faces so trusting. Just before the noose comes.'

Heather, who is campaigning for an EU wide ban on fur from China, was also scathing about celebrities who wear fur such as Naomi Campbell.

She described the supermodel as a 'stupid, superficial hypocrite' after she started modelling fur having previously led a campaign for Peta, the animal welfare group.

From: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz

[BlueMeanie]

My God, I can't believe how much they all smoked!  

With the exception of John, who smoked til the day he died, I believe the other three lads quit at some point.  

Do we know when Paul, Ringo, and George quit smoking cigarettes?

George smoked pretty much until the day he died. Of Lung cancer. Don't know about the others, and don't really care.

[Mairi]

^I always bring up that point about George dying of lung cancer to my dad (also a big Beatles fan and a smoker) but no, he won't listen.

He says he quit, but just smokes three cigs a day. To me, that's not quitting, you know?

[Bobber]

Julian quit smoking this week:

JULIAN LENNON has followed in the footsteps of his late father's BEATLE bandmates by giving up smoking. The musician has given up the habit after 25-years - something his father John failed to achieve during his lifetime. He says, "I'm no longer a smoker for sure now, and I'm feeling pretty positive about the future. Smoking had been my crutch for many years. I could hide behind a cigarette." Sir Paul MCCartney and Ringo Starr both quit the habit after years of heavy smoking.

[Pasta Cheif]

I will have to look it up again, but in a book I have about George Harrison, it said he quit smoking just before the Japan tour (early 90s?). Still, he had smoked for all those years before that and that may have already had taken a toll on him.
  Not sure when Paul quit, but in the 1984 film 'Give My Regards To Broadstreet', Ringo is seen smoking in almost every scene.

[wingsman]

I have nothing new to share here, but this thread is really unusual and interesting as hell!  

[pamina]

drugs and f**s made John look older then he really was

[Chris]

I think it's ridiculous that many '60s pictures of Paul contain cigarettes that have been air-brushed out. It's amazing how offensensitive people have gotten. I thought it was extremely hypocritical that Paul talked about quitting cigarettes in so many interviews, and yet carried on smoking pot. That's so much worse for you. In fact, speaking of something that's worse for you, alcoholic beverages should be excluded from all pictures of musicians if all that anti-smoking pseudoscience has really been based on health, rather than being the agenda-fueled smear campaign it truly is. (I figured it was the combination of pot and perfectly content domesticity that made Paul's solo music so vacuous and uninteresting, with a couple notable exceptions that serve as flukes in the big picture. Some songwriters need things a bit manic around them to come up with really inventive stuff, it would seem.)

[BlueMeanie]

I think it's ridiculous that many '60s pictures of Paul contain cigarettes that have been air-brushed out.

I thought it was only the Abbey Road pic, and one other that eludes me? Pretty stupid though.

[Chris]

It just seems rather revisionist, especially considering how well known it is that they took so many drugs.

I think every recent appearance of the promo shot used for the US "I Want to Hold Your Hand" cover has been altered, as well as one of the common photos that's seen (properly, other than that cheesy "cut-out" look) on the front of one of the Capitol boxes. I guess I shouldn't split so many hairs, but hell....it's a more worthwhile point of debate than "Which one probably kissed the best?"

[BlueMeanie]

It just seems rather revisionist, especially considering how well known it is that they took so many drugs.

I think every recent appearance of the promo shot used for the US "I Want to Hold Your Hand" cover has been altered, as well as one of the common photos that's seen (properly, other than that cheesy "cut-out" look) on the front of one of the Capitol boxes. I guess I shouldn't split so many hairs, but hell....it's a more worthwhile point of debate than "Which one probably kissed the best?"

  It's a more worthwhile debate then 'when did the Beatles stop smoking cigarettes?'!!

There's a huge wall covering in the record store in town, of Abbey Road, and With The Beatles. Next time I'm in I'll check it out.

By the way Chris. You being into a bit of technical stuff, did you see my post about the Sgt. Pepper multi-track masters?

http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/b-albums/m-1197109661/

[Chris]

Yeah, okay; good point. Neither topic has anything to do with music, does it.

I was fascinated by the Pepper post. I haven't read the whole thing. This is to be savored. I printed it out yesterday, and as my spare time will return tonight, it's set aside for the evening's reading over dinner. (Thanks for taking the trouble to post it, by the way.)

[wingsman]

drugs and f**s made John look older then he really was

Yes, definitely. They distroyed him. In 1980 he looked like Paul during the Flaming Pie era.  : Easily.  :-/

[Andy Smith]

i'm i right in thinking that Lennon smoked all his life?? :
maybe he gave up for a while when he & Yoko were having Sean.

[Chris]

I would hope not. Talk about the worst time to add stress to one's life!

I think you should try it out. It would make you feel better, and you wouldn't have to add those haughty eye-rolling smilies.  

[Beatles]

Yes, definitely. They distroyed him. In 1980 he looked like Paul during the Flaming Pie era.  : Easily.  :-/

Well... Paul always looks like he's wearing Makeup to me, and I kinda disagree, I've seen him, and he looked like a 40 year old to me.Maybe a 45 year old, you know,but not like someone who's 55(?) years old.

[Beatles]

I thought it was extremely hypocritical that Paul talked about quitting cigarettes in so many interviews, and yet carried on smoking pot. That's so much worse for you... (I figured it was the combination of pot and perfectly content domesticity that made Paul's solo music so vacuous and uninteresting, with a couple notable exceptions that serve as flukes in the big picture. Some songwriters need things a bit manic around them to come up with really inventive stuff, it would seem.)

Well, I disagree with most of this.  In My Opinion, Smoking weed isn't as bad as smoking cigarretes, and if it were then it wouldn't be "so much worse".  Marijuana doesn't have all those chemicals while ciggies do, and weed isn't as addictive as cigarretes are. I Understand, inhaling smoke directly into your lungs isn't too good for you, but still. I agree with maybe the domesticity, but Paul made his best music when he was well into drugs.

I would love for you to prove me wrong, I've been wrong many times before, and I hope you don't think all this is me bashing you, I really wanna hear your opinion.

[fendertele]

Yes, definitely. They distroyed him. In 1980 he looked like Paul during the Flaming Pie era.  : Easily.  :-/

i think on top of the f**s and drugs the whole macrobiotic diet probably played a big part in his premature ageing.

[Chris]

...weed isn't as addictive as cigarretes are.

This I agree with (obviously), but those who use it for prolonged periods in spite of its less addictive properties tend to forget trivial little things, like their kids' names.

So I guess I should've been clear: by "more dangerous," I mainly meant mentally (I think it's probably about the same on the lungs -- I've heard pot smokers cough, and it ain't pretty!) -- i.e. in regards to devising inventive music. Weed tends to make the smoker okay with being lazy, and makes mediocre things sound great. Admittedly, it's all conjecture on my part, albeit based on the experiences of friends who've quit weed in the past for palpable reasons; perhaps Paul just got boring because he thrived on the friendly competition with John, and the weed's a red herring. But hash sure messed with Brian Wilson, playing a major part in his failure to complete Smile (according to his own words), so I tend to never discount drugs when a formerly amazing songwriter grows complacent. It's just something to take into account when considering such topics, rather than my thinking I know everything.