No Merchandising. Editorial Use OnlynMandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX (701358ly)n'Val Parnell's Sunday Night At The London Palladium'  - The Beatles - Paul McCartneynITV ARCHIVEnSunday October 13, 1963, London Palladium, LondonnAfter this show, the press began to coin in the term Beatlemania to describe the scenes of the much-too-crazy hysteric fans. Val Parnell's Sunday Night At The London Palladium was the top-rated entertainment program in Britain at the time. As reported, the screams were heard clearly even outside the theatre. Certainly, it was much louder inside that even John Lennon had to shout at his screamers to "Shut Up!" while Paul tried to announce the closing number, Twist And Shout. A phenomenon.n
Paul, pictured, just before his ‘death’ in 1964 (Picture: Getty)

TL; DR – no.

This isn’t our favourite Beatles conspiracy theory – that would be the one that claims NONE of the Beatles existed, ever.

But this week, an ‘interview’ with Ringo appears to let the cat out of the bag and reveal that Paul McCartney died and was replaced by a double.

It would certainly explain a few things, such as some of the awful records he released with Wings.

In the interview, Ringo said: ‘When Paul died, we all panicked! We didn’t know what to do, and Brian Epstein, our manager, suggested that we hire Billy Shears as a temporary solution.’

There’s just one flaw – the interview is a fake, made up by one of those strange ‘spoof’ news sites, WorldNewsDailyReport.

MORE : John, Paul, George and Ringo ‘didn’t exist’

Has Ringo just LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG? (Picture Getty)
Has Ringo just LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG? (Picture Getty)

It says: ‘It was supposed to last only a week or two, but time went by and nobody seemed to notice so we kept playing along. Billy turned out to be a pretty good musician and he was able to perform almost better than Paul.’

The ‘interview’ has been widely shared on social media, and many unfortunate conspiracy theorists – some of whom are involved in this website detailing ‘proof’ that Paul McCartney is actually dead – have been taken in by the ruse.

Billy Shears is, of course, the fictional musician made up in the lyrics of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

But did Paul ever exist at all? Did John, George or Ringo? Find out the whole shocking ‘truth’ here.