Paul McCartney was nearly run over while filming on the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing, his daughter has revealed.
Mary McCartney, photographer, director and daughter of Paul and Linda McCartney, said the incident happened outside Abbey Road Studios while filming for her new documentary about the world-famous studio, If These Walls Could Sing.
The Beatles star was trying to recreate the band’s iconic cover for 1969 album ‘Abbey Road’ for the new documentary, which is out in the UK now on Disney+.
“The bit where the car nearly ran him over on the zebra crossing, that was so funny. As we were leaving [the studio], I said, ‘I’ll film you [on the crossing],’ and he went over and this car totally didn’t stop for him,” the filmmaker told S Magazine.
Fans still regularly visit the famous crossing in St John’s Wood to recreate the Fab Four’s iconic album cover, often to the frustration of London taxis and bus drivers.
‘If These Walls Could Sing’ charts the long history of the iconic studio, and includes interviews with McCartney and Ringo Starr, alongside Elton John, Nile Rodgers, Noel and Liam Gallagher, Roger Waters, Celeste, George Lucas and more.
Speaking to NME about the new documentary, Mary McCartney explained that she “grew up going to Abbey Road Studios”, but didn’t know much of the history.
“Pretty much everything I learnt [for the first time]. We wouldn’t sit around as a family and talk about these Beatles stories,” she explained, adding that her dad would offer “tips” and “snippets” about the place that became synonymous with Beatles records.
She continued that she was initially reluctant to helm the documentary because of her McCartney family name. “Because of my surname, I almost shied away from doing the project, because sometimes I can overthink it and be like, ‘It’s too close’, and, ‘You need to just be independent’,” she explained.
Paul McCartney was important in contributing key information for the film, his daughter recalled, including “[how] the character of the place has really worked its way onto quite a lot of the music there”.
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