Miss Tammy recently posted this photo on the Beatles photo blog. So if it looks familiar, that is because I snagged it. I find myself excited for the girl in the glasses being able to meet all 4 of the Beatles at the same time.
The copyright on this picture is owned by Northamptonshire Newspapers. This was taken at Northampton's ABC Theatre, Abington Square, Northampton. Wednesday 6th November 1963,The Beatles visited our county town of Northampton for the second time that year. A neighbor, who was twenty-one at the time, took his then girlfriend to the ABC Cinema on Abington Square and joined the queue to get in. This was just two days following their famous Royal Variety Show at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. (The BBC studio's where I ended up working as a broadcast journalist are just across the road from the theatre!). Someone had mentioned that the ‘boys’ were being kept safe at Campbell Square Police Station, just a couple of hundred yards up the road. His girlfriend, with some others, headed off in that direction. A while later she returned with two sets of signatures, both scribbled on the second and second last pages of a paperback book, and a signed photo, copies of which often come up for sale at auction, although I've never seen the original. A police officer had passed her pen and book into the back of an Austin 'black maria' police van. Incidentally, neither Mal Evans nor Neil Aspinall were at this gig. The photo came as a gift from The Beatles. (Note: see also a 1969 'black maria' on Abbey Road!) Both book sets and the photograph were dedicated ‘To Susan’ by Paul McCartney and fully signed by The Beatles. She tore one of the pages from the book and gave it to him. I was too young to attend the concert at that time, and my neighbor wasn't that keen on The Beatles (a big Cliff and the Shadows fan), so, the following morning, he gave the sheet of paper to me: I remember being in the front garden. I have kept these autographs safe ever since that morning of 7th November 1963. (I was eight years old). The page is off yellow in colour and it is clear that it has been ripped from a book of some kind. Further yellowing has happened with age, but this is only to be expected from an item that is nearly fifty years old. All four signatures are bright and full with Paul and Ringo adding three kisses after their signatures, and Paul adding the word ‘love’.
To see my set of Beatles autographs from that night go to http://oliffcollection.homestead.com/Beatles.html
The copyright on this picture is owned by Northamptonshire Newspapers. This was taken at Northampton's ABC Theatre, Abington Square, Northampton. Wednesday 6th November 1963,The Beatles visited our county town of Northampton for the second time that year. A neighbor, who was twenty-one at the time, took his then girlfriend to the ABC Cinema on Abington Square and joined the queue to get in. This was just two days following their famous Royal Variety Show at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. (The BBC studio's where I ended up working as a broadcast journalist are just across the road from the theatre!). Someone had mentioned that the ‘boys’ were being kept safe at Campbell Square Police Station, just a couple of hundred yards up the road. His girlfriend, with some others, headed off in that direction. A while later she returned with two sets of signatures, both scribbled on the second and second last pages of a paperback book, and a signed photo, copies of which often come up for sale at auction, although I've never seen the original. A police officer had passed her pen and book into the back of an Austin 'black maria' police van. Incidentally, neither Mal Evans nor Neil Aspinall were at this gig. The photo came as a gift from The Beatles. (Note: see also a 1969 'black maria' on Abbey Road!) Both book sets and the photograph were dedicated ‘To Susan’ by Paul McCartney and fully signed by The Beatles. She tore one of the pages from the book and gave it to him. I was too young to attend the concert at that time, and my neighbor wasn't that keen on The Beatles (a big Cliff and the Shadows fan), so, the following morning, he gave the sheet of paper to me: I remember being in the front garden. I have kept these autographs safe ever since that morning of 7th November 1963. (I was eight years old). The page is off yellow in colour and it is clear that it has been ripped from a book of some kind. Further yellowing has happened with age, but this is only to be expected from an item that is nearly fifty years old. All four signatures are bright and full with Paul and Ringo adding three kisses after their signatures, and Paul adding the word ‘love’.
ReplyDeleteTo see my set of Beatles autographs from that night go to http://oliffcollection.homestead.com/Beatles.html