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Personally, I've always believed that a person's private life is just that - private.
However, there are occasions when someone's personal life finds its way into the public domain and, thanks to coverage in the newspapers and on social media, becomes the subject of gossip and/or rumour.
If a member of the world's most famous and popular group just happens to be leafing through one of the newspapers that features the story in search of inspiration, what would otherwise have been a little bit of tittle-tattle that would have soon have been forgotten, can so easily be immortalised and reach a much wider audience.
Well, such a thing happened to John Mustard, a Scotsman who resided in Enfield, whose wife filed for divorce in 1967 on the grounds of his cruel and unreasonable behaviour.
The story was picked up by the Daily Mirror, and the newspaper's subsequent article was read by John Lennon.
During the Beatles' later Indian sojourn, Lennon put pen to paper - or fingers to guitar - and wrote the song Mean Mr, Mustard, which duly appeared on the Abbey Road album.
Lennon later claimed that he wasn't that impressed with the composition, dismissing it as "a bit of crap that I wrote in India."
Nevertheless, it went onto the album, and John Mustard's meanness and cruelty is remembered every time somebody plays the Abbey Road album.
The original article appeared in The Daily Mirror on Wednesday, 7th June, 1967. It read:-
"Scotsman John Mustard - an "exceptionally mean man" - gave his wife only £1 in the year before they parted, a Divorce Court judge said yesterday.
Mr. Mustard, a civil servant, was also so mean with lighting and heating that he went far beyond what any wife could be expected to bear, said Mr. Justice Rees.
To save electricity, he would turn off the light while they were listening to the radio, "because it was not necessary to see in order to listen."
And he would also shave and go to bed in the dark.
The judge said:- "He was at pains to explain that he came from North of the Border, where carefulness was part of the upbringing."
He added that:- "His conduct affected her health and made life unendurable."
The judge granted 55-year-old Mrs. Freda Mustard, a deputy head mistress, a decree nisi because of cruelty by Mr. Mustard, who lives at Old Park-View, Enfield.
Mr. Mustard, 65, denied cruelty and alleged that his wife deserted him. The judge rejected that allegation.
The judge said he did not believe that Mr. Mustard was being vicious or unpleasant toward his wife.
But there was "a menacing quality about him to which he wife was particularly sensitive."