Many people thinl that the first verse was written about the death of Tara Browne , the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune and close friend of Lennon and McCartney , who had crashed his Lotus Elan on 18 December 1966 when a Volkswagen pulled out of a side street into his path in Redcliffe Gardens , Earls Court . According to Lennon , the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne , the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune and close friend of Lennon and McCartney , who had crashed his Lotus Elan on 18 December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens , Earls Court .