On this day in vegan history · June 18, 1942
Paul McCartney Is Born in Liverpool
The most famous vegetarian in pop music started life as a baby in a Liverpool maternity ward, decades before he'd narrate a slaughterhouse documentary and ask the world to skip meat one day a week.
The facts
- Born
- 18 June 1942, Walton Hospital, Walton, Liverpool
- Mother's occupation
- Nurse, qualified at Walton Hospital
- Campaign founded
- Meat Free Monday, launched June 2009 with daughters Stella and Mary McCartney
James Paul McCartney was born on 18 June 1942 at Walton Hospital in the Walton area of Liverpool, where his mother worked as a nurse. He became one of the best-selling songwriters in history with the Beatles, and later one of pop culture's most visible vegetarian advocates. In June 2009 he and his daughters Stella and Mary launched Meat Free Monday, a campaign that didn't ask anyone to swear off meat for good, just for one day a week. The whole idea was to make the ask small enough that people would actually say yes.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.
Paul McCartney, narrating the PETA film Glass Walls
Source: PaulMcCartney.com -
Launched by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney in June 2009, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the environmental impact of meat eating and encourage people to meaningfully reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by having at least one meat-free day every week.
Meat Free Monday campaign description
Source: PaulMcCartney.com
Why it still matters
Meat Free Monday turned eating less meat into an easy on-ramp instead of a purity test, and it did that with a Beatle's name attached, proof that small, repeatable asks can move more people than a demand for perfection.
Sources
This history is still being written.
Every morning the brief covers what moved veganism forward, and every day one more verified piece of that story joins this almanac. Free, and tomorrow’s lands in your inbox.
Free, every morning. No guilt. No preaching.