Paul McCartney stated that he would have taught English had he not been famous with The Beatles.
McCartney said that if the Fab Four failed, McCartney would be qualified to teach. According to the Telegraph
The music legend admitted that higher level teaching would have meant he needed to learn more about his books. He stated that he had a plan B, which was ‘lower-level English literature’.
He spoke out about the impact his English teacher Alan Durband made on him when he was growing in the 1950s.
Alan Durband introduced McCartney to Chaucer, which got him interested in literature.
The singer stated that he thought he would have been a ‘not bad’ teacher low.
He credited the teacher at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys for getting him interested in literature by having him read The Miller’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer.
McCartney recalled how he was struck by the vulgarity of the text.
Beatle left school with an English A-level and one in Art failure.
Durband studied under FR Leavis, a renowned literary critic while at Cambridge. McCartney was also a student of Leavis and this reading bug was passed on to McCartney.
McCartney explained to John Wilson that he became interested in literature after being introduced by his teacher.
His theatre obsession continued into his Beatles years, as he recently discovered pages of a play written jointly by John Lennon and him.
McCartney used the interview as an opportunity to tell listeners that John Lennon broke up the Beatles in 1970, not McCartney as is often believed.
The play, called Pilchard is about a mother-daughter duo who wonder where Pilchard, the Messiah, who is busy ‘doing stuff’, is when they sit in a kitchen.
The interview was also used by the Wings frontman to clarify the facts about The Beatles’ dissolution, which he has held responsible since 1970.
McCartney revealed to the program that John McCartney was the one who split the band months before it was announced. McCartney, Ringo Stern, and George Harrison swear to secrecy.
Tomorrow’s BBC Radio 4 interview with John Wilson will feature McCartney.