This article and photos were in Good Day Sunshine magazine Issue #60. This is the story of by Sue Bujnovsky found in that issue. GDS magazine does not scan very well because it is sort of like a newspaper. The pages yellow and the photos are really dark, but I did my best.
1969 (part 4)
There was barely enough time to recover after getting back from seven weeks in Europe before college started. I was involved in the Vietnam War protests, marches, etc., but what was foremost in my mind was getting back to England.
My friend Pat couldn't make it that summer, so my travelling companion was my Aunt Barbara (sounds like a Victorian novel!). We left for London the day after the first man walked on the moon. Unfortunately, our step wasn't quite as giant; the plane was three hours late and when we reached London the next morning, our hotel had somehow "lost" our reservations. My aunt was ready to turn around and go back, but I straighten things out at the tour office by threatening to go "straight to the American Embassy" in a very loud voice in front of some very stained Englishmen.
After getting settled in our new hotel, my aunt and I went our separate ways. She went to Harrods and I went to Carnaby Street, where I bought a sprig of white heather "to bring you good luck" from an old woman who was selling it for whatever you could afford to give her. My next stop, in the early afternoon, was Abbey Road Studio. There were about 10-15 people out front. They told me that all the Beatles were there, except George. I guess white heather works -- my first day in London and I would have a chance to see him!
This year he had a new blue Ferrari (license plate XPK 7OG). He came roaring around the corner into the parking lot. I was waiting on the top step, camera ready. HE ran through the crowd and up the steps, head down, not watching where he was going. As I raised my camera, he somehow got caught in my handbag strap and started to drag me into the studio with him. Needless to say, I was perfectly willing to go! The guard untangled us quickly, but I managed to get a great shot of the part of the top of his head!
The guard told us that George was driving him crazy with the Ferrari. He would back in and out of four or five parking spaces before deciding on the "right" one, then sit and rev the engine for a while -- boys and their toys!
I started my routine from the previous summer of going back to the studio in the evenings, when they all came back to record for the night. I became quite friendly with Mal Evans. When the red light came on over the side door, signalling that recording had begun, he would come outside to talk to the fans, and he seemed genuinely glad to see them there. Some evenings there were fans there who didn't speak English very well, French or German usually, so he and I would have more time to talk. He was very warm and outgoing, and tried to talk me out of going home the night before I was due to leave. Maybe I should have stayed ....who knows?! I was very upset when I heard about his bizarre death in California.
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