Here is a great little story of a couple of fans who were persistent and patient and got to meet George, with a little help from the local newspaper! Story from issue #42 (April 1983) issue of "With a little help from my friends."
The Henley Standard
By Miho Yoshida
Miyuki, my good friend, and I went to England on 12th
July last year (1982). It was our first
trip to England since we began to love the Beatles eight years ago.
We stayed in London.
The 20th of July was my most unforgettable and important day
of my life: I saw Paul, who has been my
idol and hero for seven years. He was so
kind, friendly and lovely! I’m a Paul
fan, so I was very happy. But Miyuki is
a George fan, and we decided both of us should be happy, both our dream should
some true!
So a couple days later, 22 July, we went to Friar Park for
the first time. At that time we didn’t
think George was there, because people at Friar Park said they thought he was
abroad.
We went back there on 31st July and realized he
was in. Our friend Angela had advised
that if we wanted to see George for sure, we should go to Friar Park on August
1st, Dhani’s birthday, and wait for his appearance by the gate every
day. We decided to go to Henley from
London every morning and keep waiting for him all day long.
People in Henley were all so kind to us. They always asked us, “Did you see George?”
and sometimes advised, for example, “You should call him.” As we sat by the gate, drivers would wave
their hands and say hi. And a family
ever offered their room to us – people who were complete strangers to us. George’s wife Olivia was kind and friendly
too whenever we’d see her.
Sometimes I went back to London to wait for Paul. Miyuki stayed in Henley.
One day, a reporter of the local paper came to us sitting by
the gate in order to do a story on us.
On 9th August at about half past two, we were
waiting for George as usual. A black Porsche was approaching the gate
slowly. We couldn’t believe it was his
car…but that car was different from the many cars usually going in and out of
Friar Park.
The car stopped in front of the gate. George leaned out and smiled sweetly to us,
saying, “Hello! Nice to meet you!”
before we said a thing. We went
into shock an can hardly remember his words.
We just saw his face and heard our heartbeats. He said, “I read the newspaper story about
you! You shouldn’t waste your holiday standing
around here.” Perhaps he came out to let
us meet him and gently admonish us. He
was so kind and a wonderful person.
About seven years ago, George invited a Japanese fan who had
kept sending letters to him from Japan once a month for twelve years to tea at
Friar Park. And this time, he came out
of his private life to allow two girls who were waiting for his appearance
patiently, giving up their European trip or going to famous places in England,
to fulfill a dream and meeting him.
George is such a warm-hearted person!
What a great story! And they got to meet Paul too! Really nice to see a story like this during a period that I assumed George was reclusive and wary of fans, coming not even 2 years after John's death.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sara!
I met them! The Japanese girls! That's my half of my friend Peter beside Paul in the last photo, and I was outside the frame, I guess.
ReplyDelete