Love Them Do: The Story of the Beatles' Biggest Fans

She came in through the bathroom window. No. Really. She did. Emma Eldredge, a 63-year-old retired nurse from Gloucester, England, is remembering the time she broke into Paul McCartney's London house in early 1969 and stole a pair of the great man's trousers. "I just did it to have a look," she says, matter of factly.

There are Beliebers, One Directioners, Miley Cyrus’s Smilers and Beyoncés Beyhive. There have been Blockheads and Duranies. But there will never, ever be any group of fans as legendary and as sweetly original as the Beatles' most devoted admirers, the Apple Scruffs. Because not only did the Apple Scruffs follow the most celebrated and innovative musical foursome that pop music has produced, they helped keep the band sane. During the sad last days of the Beatles, there was always the constant, devoted enthusiasm of the Scruffs, lurking outside the band's doors. "In some strange way," recalled Beatles press officer Derek Tayor before his death in 1997, "the Scruffs helped the Beatles by becoming a sort of daily interface between them and the world." The Apple Scruffs were a tiny but intense group of (mostly) young women who gained their name from the thick coats and sweaters they wore against the London cold, and from hanging around the Georgian doorstep of 3, Savile Row, London, the address of the Beatles' Apple headquarters. 

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Source: Rolling Stone Music

Photo Credit: Cummings Archives/Redferns