Paul McCartney’s Obvious Disguise in 1966.

The Beatles had just quit touring and a lot of fans went crazy from that news, and Paul McCartney was on holiday in August-November 1966, just before they started recording Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and wanted to go in disguise just to get away from the crazy fans. When he tried to get into a nightclub in this disguise, they wouldn’t let him in.

“I looked like old jerko. ‘No, no, monsieur, non’ – you schmuck, we can’t let you in! So I thought, Sod this, I might as well go back to the hotel and come as him! So I came back as a normal Beatle, and was welcomed in with open arms. I thought, Well, it doesn’t matter if I’ve blown my cover because I’m going to meet Mal anyway, I don’t have to keep the disguise any longer. Actually, by the time of the club I’d sort of had enough of it. Which was good. It was kind of therapeutic but I’d had enough. It was nice because I remembered what it was like to not be famous and it wasn’t necessarily any better than being famous.” – Paul’s authorized bio Many Years From Now by Barry Miles.

Apparently these photos were taken in the first week of November, and not October. According to The Beatles Bible, on November 6, 1966, Paul McCartney flew to France on a plane-ferry from Lydd airport in Kent, England. The intention was to take a driving holiday. In order to escape the attention of The Beatles’ fans, McCartney wore a disguise, although his brand new dark green Aston Marton DB5 was enough to attract the attention of even the least observant bystander.

McCartney donned his disguise after passing through French customs. Wig Creations, the film cosmetic company used by The Beatles on A Hard Day’s Night, had made him a mustache to wear.

“They measure you and match the color of your hair, so it was like a genuine mustache with real glue,” he said. “And I had a couple of pairs of glasses made with clear lenses, which just made me look a bit different. I put a long blue overcoat on and slicked my hair back with Vaseline and just wandered around and of course nobody recognized me at all. It was good, it was quite liberating for me.”