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Paul, Linda and Stella leaving MPL on July 21, 1986. Photo by Petra |
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July 28, 1986 Paul at MPL. Photo by Petra |
We were standing in the park chatting to our friends as a
blonde lady went into MPL. Katja said
that she’d looked like Linda. We saw her
standing at the reception desk and going to the first floor. She really looked like Linda, but somehow
during Craig and Tanya’s arrival on the Square we forgot about her. Suddenly Andy pointed at the MPL door. “There’s Linda! Too late.
We’ve missed her!” We just saw Linda getting into a general MPL
car with Alan and driving off. Of course
from then on we didn’t let the entrance out of our sight. At 1:00 Tanya’s lunch hour was over and she
had to go back to work again. She turned
around the corner and we couldn’t believe our eyes when a few minutes later she
came back walking next to Paul and chatting with him! Paul was chewing gum, hands in his pockets.
When he saw us standing on the other side of the street he stopped and waved at
us. We ran over to him. He was in a great mood that morning! There were just a few of us around and nobody
was pushing him. Tanya asked him to sign
her guitar and he did it, asking her “do you want me to ruin your guitar?” We congratulated him on “Press” and he looked
happy that we liked the single. I said
that the B-side is wonderful too and he smiled and me, saying “Thank you.” Katja asked him if he had drawn the cover
himself and he said, “Yeah! I did that!” We all had been wondering what he
meant in the song by singing “Oklahoma was never like this…” so I said to him, “Paul,
what happened in Oklahoma?” He looked surprised
at first, but grinned and said, “Oh, I ‘m not telling you that one!” Then he excused himself saying he was late
again and went in.
We got back to our watch-point on the other side of the street. The MPL staff didn’t like people sitting in
front of the offices and we respected that.
Some tourists didn’t know this and hung around the door. They were Italians. More and more fans showed up. Since the Mercedes was in front of the
entrance everybody knew Paul was in.
Later, Linda came back. She
signed our “Seaside woman” singles
(just released in England) and was very nice.
She said that she liked the new remix of her song much more than the
original version and that she liked the 12” single too. Safia asked her for some “Seaside Woman”
badges and she said, “I don’t have any but I’ll get you some!” Then Alan, who was still with her, gave all
of us some badges. We watched Linda
going in and closing the windows on the first floor. She took some copies of her photo books out
of a cupboard and gave them to a man. It
looked like she was being interviewed on her own, as Paul wasn’t in the room.
Much to our surprise, Stella and her friend (a girl about
the same age as her) arrived too. They
came in a taxi. Also, Chrissie Hynde of
the Pretenders came to MPL. She was very
arrogant. When somebody asked her what she
was doing at MPL, she replied, ‘What am I doing here? Buying the company!”
Paul, Linda and Stella came out quite late after everybody
else at MPL had already left. Paul told Stella to get right into the car. The crowd was very big that evening. Paul put his arm around Linda and posed for
photos, saying that he couldn’t sign anything.
Unfortunately when we wanted to take some photos, the pushy tourists
screamed and shoved so Paul went straight to the car. He looked inside and saw that Linda wasn’t
there. He looked around the crowd. “Where’s
Lin? Where’s Linda?” Then he spotted her behind the fans. “Linda, come on!” When she got into the car, he got in after
her, and off they went. We were happy
that we had seen him again, but after the great morning, the evening was a bit
disappointing. We’d waited eight hours
and those tourists spoilt it for us.
Our third week was over soon. We went to Henley and Liverpool for a few
days and saw the Royal wedding. Paul was
at MPL the next Friday but we stayed in Liverpool and missed him.
Then on Monday the 28th there was a big crowd
outside MPL even early in the morning.
Most people were sitting in front of the entrance again. Anton, Jennifer, Katja and I were standing on
the other side of the street. At 5 to
12, Anton noticed a man walking around Soho Square towards MPL. “Who’s that
over there…it’s Paul!” He said. We all recognized Paul and ran over to
him. At the same time, John Hammel
turned around the corner in the blue Mercedes.
Everybody in front of MPL watched the car and wondered where Paul was
and no on, believe it or now, saw him talking to us just 20 meters away! It was great!
Paul was in a good mood. Anton,
who was the first to reach him, told him what a thrill it was to meet him and
Paul shook his hand. Then he posed for
photos with Jennifer. She works in a
record shop and so he told Anton, “Anton, do one for the record shop!” Pau greeted the four of us. Katja tried to have her picture taken with him
and when she stood next to him, he looked at her and said, “How are you? All right?”
he also said the record company was delaying his album again. Then he said, “I must go to work now. I must see
the NBC people today!” He seemed
very proud that they were waiting for him as he told us at least three times
that he was going to see “The NBC people”
A few of the old Apple Scruffs had come to MPL too that day. Paul said goodbye to us and went on towards
his office. By then the tourists began
to realize he had arrived. Paul said
hello to the Apple Scruffs, “Oh – the old crowd again! I’ve been seeing you for 20 years now! How are you?”
Suddenly he was surrounded by about 30 people and he went in – not without
telling everybody one more time about NBC.
After Paul had gone in, even more people arrived. Chrissie
Hynde showed up again. She wasn’t any
nice this time either. Katja and I decide
to leave. We had booked a room in Henley
for the night and as the morning was our best meeting with Pau so far, we
wanted to avoid another disappointment like the previous Monday.
The next day, Tuesday July 30, we bumped into Trevor Jones
and John Hammel at the music fair in London.
There were rumours that Paul was going to be there, but he didn’t show
up. Still, we didn’t waste our
time. Trevor told us that Paul would be
at MPL on Wednesday and Friday that week and also would be doing the “Wogan”
show on Friday! Originally Katja and I
wanted to stay in Henley the whole week and wait for George but as we were sure
to see Paul twice we decided to get to London on Wednesday. Trevor had said Paul would arrive at 12:30
and when we arrived at 11, there was already a crowd of fans. Paul was almost an hour late and when he
finally arrived he was in a hurry again.
He just waved and said, “I’m very late today. Sorry, there are just too
many of you. Leave everything at the
desk…” He rushed in and John Hammel collected
books, photos and sleeves from anybody who wanted an autograph. Although we hadn’t seen much of Paul we were
very happy. Paul looked very cute that
morning. He wore a blue t-shit, a blue
and yellow striped long shirt over it, and wide white trousers. Simon Bates interviewed Paul for BBC radio
that morning and Paul left MPL at half past 3.
When he came out, our friends were playing guitar and were singing “Help.” Paul shouted, “Wonderful! Sorry, I can’t stop!” The people didn’t even let him pass. They pushed him away from his car and when he
asked them to let him go a tourist said, “no!”
Katja, Jennifer and I stood a safe distance away from the other side of
the car. This was we could see Paul
without pushing him around. When he got into
the Mercedes he noticed us standing there, turned towards us and gave us a sign
which meant something like “good idea girls.”
We were so happy! When Trevor
came out he told Safia and Tracy that Paul was doing a cover photo for “Rolling
Stone” and a video for “Wogan” but he wouldn’t say where.
I was there!!!!!!!I was near the Mercedes and they told me to move🤣could you please post other pictures???🙏
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have any more photos from this day. But I will look!
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