Backstage contest winner

It seems from a lot of what I have read, that many newspaper ran contests during the Beatles 1963 UK tour for fans to win a chance to meet the Beatles backstage. One such fan met the Beatles in Kickcaldy on Oct 6, 1963. Her story was in "The Daily Record" in 1963. Here is what the article (written by Spencer) says.

A TAGGART star has solved a mystery from an old Daily Record photo of the Beatles with two young fans.

But actor Colin McCredie didn't need the detective skills of his DS Stuart Fraser character to ID one of the fans - it's his mother-in-law.

Val Mortimer was just 18 when she won a Daily Record competition to meet the band backstage.

Last week, the Record told how a Beatles collector had discovered a picture of the band from a tour of Scotland in 1963.

When Taggart star Colin read the story, he recognised mother-in-law Val.

Colin then phoned Val to tell her about the good news.

He said: "My dad told me about the picture in the Record first. So I looked at the picture and recognised her straight away.

"It's quite a joke that a TV detective has solved the Daily Record's mystery.

"I've seen the picture before because she has it on the wall at her house.

"I'm a big Beatles fan so it was just amazing to talk to someone who met them at that point so early in their career. It's definitely a great story to be able to tell people."

Val, now 63, and living in Kirkcaldy, was Val Hunter from Rosyth the night she met the Fab Four backstage.

Gran Val said: "When Colin phoned me up to tell me that my photo was in the paper, I thought he was kidding me on.

"I thought it must be some kind of early April Fools' joke.

"I can remember winning the Daily Record competition. I think that's the last thing I've ever won.

"I got my brother to drive me through to the Carlton cinema in Kirkcaldy. After the gig, I got the bus home and it felt like I was walking on air all the way to the bus stop.

"It was just brilliant. We were supposed to go for tea with The Beatles at the Station Hotel but that was cancelled. Instead, we went to see the gig and we were then allowed backstage. We were there for quite a while. It was easily 20 minutes.

"I remember they were really funny and kept cracking jokes all the time. Both me and the other girl who won loved their accents.

"John was just hilarious and Ithought he was really cute.

"Ringo was quiet and I didn't really like Paul that much for some reason.

"In the picture, George is looking down and I used to joke that he was looking down at me because he liked me but I don't think he was really."

The Record last week told how the band had been drinking cartons of an orange juice made by Barr's - that readers identified as "Jubilee".

And Val, a social worker, said she remembered enjoying a soft drink with the Fab Four.

She added: "At that point, The Beatles were really just taking off properly.

"I remember that the Carlton was totally full for the concert."