We all just wanted out...to give us a bit of peace

Their break-up traumatised fans worldwide and now, 55 years on, like a voice from the grave, "quiet Beatle" George Harrison reveals the true reason: "We all just wanted out... to give us a bit of peace."

- MARK JEFFERIES Showbiz Editor

His confession is in a new ninth episode of The Beatles Anthology on Disney + today, with previously unseen interviews and film from 1994 when he reunited with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to record Free As A Bird.

George says: "We were so stressed out. We'd been through every riot and jam. Every city we went to, there was some kind of a jam, the noise, people yelling at us all the time and being confined to a little room or plane or car.

"But we never thought about it too much because it was an ongoing thing.

We were just in the middle, being ushered from room to room.

"We all had each other to dilute the stress. And being born in Liverpool, the sense of humour was very important, so we always had a laugh as well.

"But there was a point where enough was enough. I think the major contributor to The Beatles splitting was stress." Ringo adds: "It was just crazy times but great times. We were lucky there were four of us to take that pressure.

"Four of us held each other together and at times each of us went mad. But the other three could bring us back. I was an only child and suddenly I had three brothers. We were really close.