FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Did George name you Apple Scruffs?

No. George wrote and recorded the song Apple Scruffs but he did not come up with the name, he wrote the song long after we named ourselves Apple Scruffs.

In July 1968 we found ourselves in Savile Row - we liked the look of the place and we moved in on 'the steps' of Apple Corps, we needed a new name to go with our new home and so we called ourselves 'Apple Scruffs'.

How many Apple Scruffs were there and did you have a leader?

There were 9 'Original Scruffs' which then grew to 17 'Official' Apple Scruffs and there was no 'leader'. We did have a 'membership' fan-club named 'Apple Scruffs Unlimited' and there were about 100 members -  but they were not Apple Scruffs - for example George, Ringo, Derek Taylor and some Apple employees were all members of the 'club' - but that didn't make them an Apple Scruff! 

Did an Apple Scruff 'come through the bathroom window'?

‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window' is a song that has a few ‘stories’ attached to it’s origins and one that continues to ‘do the rounds’ is that it was written about an Apple Scruff getting into Paul’s house via a bathroom window.

The song, according to John Lennon’s ‘Playboy’ interviews, was written in May 1968 in New York while promoting Apple. 

PLAYBOY: "How about 'She Came in Through the Bathroom Window'?"
LENNON: "That was written by Paul when we were in New York forming Apple, and he first met Linda. Maybe she's the one who came in the window. She must have. I don't know. Somebody came in the window." 

In the 2006 DVD documentary ‘Classic Artists - The Moody Blues’,  Mike Pinder (the keyboard player) states that the inspiration for the song actually rests with an incident that happened to them. Mike Pinder claimed that a groupie climbed through an open bathroom window and spent the night with band member Ray Thomas. Pinder and Thomas are said to have told McCartney about the incident the next day, who began strumming on a guitar and improvised the opening line.

   "Ray was woken up in the night. And what had happened was the trap window of the bathroom was open, just letting air in, I presume. This girl climbed up the drainpipe and came in through the bathroom window…and went into Ray’s room in the middle of the night. And I don’t know what happened after that! But I do know that when I told John and Paul that story, the next thing we knew was, ‘She Came in through the Bathroom Window.’ " 

So was the song was inspired by a Moody Blues story that Paul heard? 

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Miss Ashley, a fan who frequented Cavendish Avenue, (she was NOT an Apple Scruff!) obviously wanted this song to be about her and of her breaking into Paul’s house.  This offence happened late December 1968 but the song was written in May 1968 - 8 months previously (see question below). 

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We contacted the publisher of the book 'The Lyrics' regarding this song and Paul’s ‘recollection’ and asked them to remove the accusation that an ‘Apple Scruff’ had stolen items from his house. They replied:

“We are also aware that there are numerous other published accounts, both online and in print from reputable publishers, which evidence that an Apple Scruff was involved in the theft of the photograph from Paul’s house. These publications, copies of which we have obtained and reviewed in detail, contain accounts from people who themselves identify as Apple Scruffs. Notwithstanding your assertions now, these accounts make it clear that the woman who reportedly took the photograph from Paul’s house identified, and was identified by others – including by other Apple Scruffs -- as an Apple Scruff. The recollection in Paul’s book is therefore widely supported by these other accounts as true”

Obviously they had read all the stories and false accounts that abound on the internet, including the false Wikipedia reports, and decided to include this story as a true one because ‘it being widely supported’  - they did not reply that this was ‘Paul’s very own recollection’ or contact us before publishing.

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At the time of the song release we believed this was written about Francie Schwartz as we used to see her sitting on the roof of the porch of Paul’s house after climbing out of the bathroom window - and maybe protected by ‘a silver spoon’??

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Did an Apple Scruff break into Paul's House and steal his belongings?

The answer to this is NO.  This 'story' has been around for a very long time and we have tried our best to rectify it over the years.

An Apple Scruff’s Diary entry records:   Wed 1st Jan 1969:   ‘Paul in terrible mood as some girls broke in’

It is well documented who committed this offence and this person was NOT an Apple Scruff - she and a couple of other known 'fans' of Paul committed this offence 'because she was bored' as she tells it, this comprised of a breaking-in and stealing photographs and a silver-framed photograph - along with some items of clothing. 

In early December 1968, Paul vacationed in Portugal with Linda Eastman, her daughter Heather and The Beatles biographer Hunter Davis—a trip highlighted by Paul proposing to Linda.   Linda took many photographs of this holiday and many of these 'photographic slides' were included with the stolen items.

A version of the theft was documented in a book written by Carol Bedford and has been quoted in various places. Her account about being involved in any way is pure fabrication and untrue as she didn't arrive in the UK until January 1969. A lot of her book was a 'fan-fantasy'.

Margo and Gill - 'regular' fans (not actually Apple Scruffs at the time as the name hadn't yet been conceived!) were approached by Paul and asked if they knew of the culprit and if so, could they help obtain and return any of the stolen items. These were later recovered and returned to Paul - the returned items included a framed photograph of 'Paul and Linda' and was not a photograph of his Dad as widely reported in the media. The date of the retrieval was Summer 1969.

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Get Back Film Day 6: 

Thurs 9th Jan 1969:   Paul stated: “and this is something that happened to me, quite recently” on the film just before singing the song 'She Came In Through The Bathroom Window'.  We believe he is just relating the title with the coincidence of the break-in that had happened just a few days ago - as the song had actually been written months before.

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