Sir Paul McCartney deported from Germany for setting fire to condoms

The Beatles’ former drummer Pete Best has revealed he and Paul returned to the UK after being accused of arson when they used the rubber contraceptives as emergency lighting.

Pete explained to Absolute Radio: “We were deported for burning condoms. We defected to another club who paid us more money to play. And we’d been staying in the back of the van.

“We went back to pack our belongings up and being good, clean living lads, we had some condoms on us, and we pinned them on the wall and they spluttered. Let’s get it clear, they weren’t used.

“For those of you who might try to burn rubbers, please don’t, because they smell horrible. But they spluttered, gave us enough light to throw our belongings together, but as a result of that we were charged with trying to burn the van down.

“They’d been used for many other things since then, but at that particular time they served its purpose.”

The Beatles honed their talents in Hamburg, Germany, where they played two or three shows a night at the beginning of the 60s.

Guitarist George Harrison was deported back to the UK for lying about his age, while John Lennon followed the band back to Liverpool, UK, a few weeks after Paul and Pete were deported.

Pete was replaced by Ringo Starr in 1962, just before the band exploded onto the world music scene.