(Lloyd Ravenscroft speaking) 'The Royal Continental was rather inconveniently located on a hill with a lane-way running behind it and a tiny car park descending from the lane. O one occasion our Cadillac got to within 30 feet of their entrance and because there was only a handful of police on duty, it stopped dead in the middle of a surge of people. So Mal, Neil and I squeezed out, locked the boys inside and pushed in inch by inch towards the garage door, a process that took about 20 minutes. All through this, girls were fainting in the middle of the crush and we were passing them over our shoulders to safety, only to discover five minutes later that we were handling the same girl. We managed to get the steel door open and we carried about 200 fans into the garage with us. So we kept the Beatles locked in the car until we had removed them one by one.' Somehow the fans did get their hands on the group. John said, 'It was a bit rough. I thought definitely a big clump of my hair had gone. I don't mean just a bit. They'd put about three policemen on for three or four thousand kids and they refused to put more on. They said, 'We've had all sorts over 'ere, we've seen them all,' they said they h ad seen them all as we went crashing to the ground.' Dave Lincoln explains, "that was the one time I saw John really lose his temper, particularly as Ringo had got a bit hurt. He virtually went on strike, refusing to play any more shows until he was assured that there would be enough police when they needed them. It was times like that he showed very clearly who the leader of the group was.
The Beatles made it inside of the hotel and appeared to the fans in the street below while standing on the fire escape balcony. Here I will let Bruce Renwick from his book The Beatles in New Zealand explain what occurred
The seething mass erupted and as the four waved to them a girl rushed around the balcony and planted a kiss on Ringo's cheek before a burly security guard picked her up and carried her away. After a few more more minutes of waving, the Beatles disappeared inside and the crowd started to simmer down and disperse.
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Hi Sara
ReplyDeleteI am the 18 year old girl in these photos on the fire escape of the Royal International hotel. I had heard where the Beatles were going to be staying and procured a job there as a housemaid about a week before their arrival. When the Beatles went out on the fire escape security went with them so it wasn't difficult to slip into the room around the corner and access the fire escape. This article though states I kissed Ringo. This is incorrect. I kissed George, who you can see is standing on the left next to John, then Paul, then Ringo. There wasn't room to squeeze past anyone and security guards were standing next to Ringo.
Once they noticed me, two men raced back inside and out another window to hustle me back along the fire escape. In these pictures I'm wearing my housemaid's smock & apron, but within minutes I'd been ordered to take them off, collect my things and was dismissed on the spot. I think I floated out of the hotel on a cloud deliriously happy that I'd achieved what I set out to do. This wasn't the only crazy things I did as a teenager, but it was certainly one of the most memorable.
Lynne Fellowes (nee O'Neill)
Lynne -- This is the best story I have heard it so long! You seriously got a job at the hotel where The Beatles were going to be staying -- that was so smart! And you got to kiss George? Thank you for sharing your story of when you met a Beatle -- it is amazing!
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