Yellow Submarine
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40 free Yellow Submarine trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Yellow Submarine began as a children's singalong on a Beatles record and grew into one of the most admired animated films ever made. The band wanted little to do with the cartoon at first, yet its psychedelic look changed how people thought about animation. This quiz covers all three Yellow Submarines: the 1966 song and how it was recorded, the 1968 film with its undersea voyage, music-hating villains and voice cast, and the soundtrack album that followed. Expect questions on plot and characters, the designers and writers behind the film, chart history, and the tributes and spin-offs that came later. It is pitched for Beatles fans and film lovers alike: most questions can be worked out with a little thought, a few are for completists, and every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Beatle sings lead on Yellow Submarine, the band's first UK single to feature him as lead vocalist?
Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr was handed the tune because Lennon and McCartney wrote it as a children's song for his vocal spot on the album.
Q 02Which music-hating invaders turn the people of an undersea paradise into statues in the film Yellow Submarine?
The Blue Meanies
The Blue Meanies open their attack by trapping the local band inside a music-proof glass globe, then drain the countryside of colour.
Q 03What is the name of the music-loving undersea paradise that the Beatles sail to rescue in Yellow Submarine?
Pepperland
Pepperland is home to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the Beatles dress up as that group to rally a rebellion.
Q 04Which fruit do towering henchmen drop on heads in Yellow Submarine, a nod to the Beatles' own company?
Apples
Apples are the weapon of the Apple Bonkers, lanky men in top hats, and the fruit winks at Apple Corps, the firm the Beatles had just founded.
Q 05Which cartoon hero did the Beatles picture when they feared Yellow Submarine would be a crudely animated rip-off?
Popeye
Popeye was a pointed fear, because producer Al Brodax had overseen more than 200 low-budget Popeye shorts for television.
Q 06In which country did Paul McCartney eat the iced spoon sweet, nicknamed a submarine, that inspired Yellow Submarine?
Greece
Greece was where he holidayed in 1963, and the sweet came in yellow or red depending on its flavour.
Q 07Why did Peter Batten, the first voice of George in Yellow Submarine, fail to finish recording the part?
Arrested as a deserter
Arrested as a deserter from the British Army of the Rhine, he had voiced about half the film, so another cast member finished the role.
Q 08Which Spanish football club took the nickname Yellow Submarine from the Beatles song popular in 1960s Spain?
Villarreal
Villarreal was only a small club when the tune swept the country, sung in Spanish, and the name has stuck to the team ever since.
Q 09Which animated series spoofed Yellow Submarine in a 1993 dream sequence that a girl has under anaesthetic?
The Simpsons
The Simpsons staged it in the episode Last Exit to Springfield, with Lisa Simpson as the dreamer.
Q 10Actors voiced the cartoon Beatles in Yellow Submarine, so where does the real band appear on screen?
A live-action final scene
A live-action final scene was shot in January 1968, mainly to satisfy a contract that required the band to appear in the film.
Q 11On which 1966 Beatles album did the song Yellow Submarine first appear, two years before the animated film?
Revolver
Revolver came out on the same day as the single, a step Melody Maker reported was meant to head off rival cover versions.
Q 12Which Beatles song about loneliness shared a double A-side single with Yellow Submarine in August 1966?
Eleanor Rigby
Eleanor Rigby turns up in the film too, playing as the submarine arrives in Liverpool to look for help.
Q 13Who composed the orchestral score that fills the whole second side of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album?
George Martin
George Martin re-recorded his film score for the record with a 41-piece orchestra, in two three-hour sessions at Abbey Road.
Q 21Which George Harrison song, first running over eight minutes, plays over the closing celebration in Yellow Submarine?
It's All Too Much
It's All Too Much celebrated Harrison's experiences with LSD and was taped away from Abbey Road, at De Lane Lea Studios.
Q 22The Beatles filmed their Yellow Submarine cameo in January 1968 shortly before travelling to which country?
India
India was next on the band's calendar, and with the schedule and budget tight the planned psychedelic backdrop was dropped for plain black.
Q 23In which city did Yellow Submarine have its world premiere in July 1968, with all four Beatles attending?
London
London hosted it at the Pavilion cinema, and the band marked the release with a submarine-themed disco where every guest wore yellow.
Q 14Which Beatles record, released two months earlier, kept the Yellow Submarine soundtrack from topping the US chart?
The White Album
The White Album held it at number two in America, and the soundtrack had been delayed precisely so the two records would not clash.
Q 15Which singalong closes the film Yellow Submarine with its title flashing up on screen in many languages?
All Together Now
All Together Now was taped in a single session in May 1967, and Paul McCartney took its title from a music hall call for crowds to join in.
Q 16Which Beatles song does the band sing about Jeremy Hillary Boob, a rhyming scholar met in Yellow Submarine?
Nowhere Man
Nowhere Man fits Jeremy, who was written as a send-up of polymaths such as the theatre director and physician Jonathan Miller.
Q 17Which John Lennon song was cut from the American release of Yellow Submarine and restored only in 1999?
Hey Bulldog
Hey Bulldog was dropped because American audiences were expected to tire of the film's length, and a shorter battle sequence took its place.
Q 18Which George Harrison composition on the Yellow Submarine album was recorded for Sgt. Pepper but rejected for it?
Only a Northern Song
Only a Northern Song is a dig at Northern Songs, the Beatles' publishing company, where Harrison was merely a contracted songwriter.
Q 19Which Motown group's hit kept the song Yellow Submarine at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100?
The Supremes
The Supremes held the top spot with You Can't Hurry Love, although the Beatles single did reach number one on the rival Cash Box chart.
Q 20Which member of the Rolling Stones clinked glasses and blew an ocarina on the Beatles' recording of Yellow Submarine?
Brian Jones
Brian Jones was one of a studio party of guests that also included Marianne Faithfull and Pattie Boyd, George Harrison's wife.
Q 24Which studio financed and distributed Yellow Submarine, having earlier released the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night?
United Artists
United Artists was owed another Beatles picture, and the band, unhappy with their previous film, chose a cartoon because it needed so little from them.
Q 25Yellow Submarine co-writer Erich Segal, a Yale classics teacher, later wrote which bestselling 1970 novel?
Love Story
Love Story began as a film script Segal could not sell, until a literary agent suggested he turn it into a novel.
Q 26Which Czech-born German illustrator, often confused with Peter Max, designed the psychedelic look of Yellow Submarine?
Heinz Edelmann
Heinz Edelmann switched the visual technique roughly every five minutes to keep audiences engaged, so the film never settles into one cartoon style.
Q 27Which Toronto-born animator, a veteran of the Beatles TV cartoon series, directed the film Yellow Submarine?
George Dunning
George Dunning supervised a crew of more than 200 for 11 months, pushing for a more ambitious film than the simple children's cartoon first planned.
Q 28Which British comedian voiced Jeremy Hillary Boob, the Lord Mayor and Max in the film Yellow Submarine?
Dick Emery
Dick Emery took all three parts, and each Beatle reportedly liked the voices given to the other three but not his own.
Q 29Which Liverpool poet wrote many of the puns in Yellow Submarine's dialogue without receiving a screen credit?
Roger McGough
Roger McGough had a personal link to the band too, being married to Thelma Pickles, a former girlfriend of both Lennon and McCartney.
Q 30Which then-unreleased Beatles song was added as a bonus to a Yellow Submarine EP mastered in 1969 but never issued?
Across the Universe
Across the Universe was meant to sweeten a record criticised as poor value, since the album had offered only four new Beatles songs.