Thursday, November 13, 2014

Beatle fans in the City of Lights


Beatle fans at the Eiffel Tower




One of the British newspapers held a contest in January 1964 for an all expenses paid trip to Paris to meet the Beatles, attend their concert and to sightsee at all of the well known Paris spots!    This sounds like the ultimate contest win to me!    Not only did these fans get to meet the Beatles and have some fun backstage photos taken with them, they also got to have fun with other Beatle fans in Paris, France!    I love these photos!

12 comments:

  1. It was the Daily Mirror newspaper who ran the competition and these people weren't necessarily Beatle fans - some of the entrants I'm sure were more excited about a trip to Paris like the older gent backstage on the left. Even though both cities aren't that far away from each other, the opportunity was still considered exciting to travel there in the early 60s. Seeing the Beatles at L'Olympia and meeting them was a nice cherry on top!

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    1. You never know---that older man might have been a huge fan. It sure looks like he enjoyed himself and sure had a story to tell people. In my mind meeting the Beatles and going to the concert was the big deal and the cherry on top would be going to Paris.

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  2. LOVE THESE PHOTOS!!!!

    Look at Ringo chatting up the bird in the last pic!

    The older gent could also have been chaperoning his daughter, that's another theory.

    Man oh man, is there no end to the treasures that you post here?!!!

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  3. Actually the older guy was our chaperone from the daily mirror..I am the girl on the front row, second from the left

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    1. More details, Sue!!! More details!!!! Do tell!!!

      (and congratulations!!!)

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  4. The Daily Mail held a contest which was a photo of George with his fingers in Paul's ears and John saying something, we had to put in a saying mine was "if you pull them out together we will have this year's TOP POP"...my shock was winning. I think there were four winners and each could take another person, I took my girl friend Karyn Firth and the prize was all expense paid trip to Paris, we stayed at George V on the Champs Elysee and we had front row seats to the Beatles concert and met them before the show I in their dressing room. they were friendly and funny and it was over with all too quickly...the photos above were taken outside their dressing room! We had front row seats for the concert which was amazing...it was a majority French crowd but they loved every minute of the show! One of the girls who won actually lived on the street where ringo grew up and knew him. We were given autographs later that evening,
    We saw Jane Asher in the hotel as she and Paul were an item in those days. it was amazing trip for a 17 year old and we saw every highlight of Paris, driven in limos everywhere...we saw the Moulin Rouge, the Bluebell girls and we had lunch up the Effiel Tower! unfortunately my mother lost my photos of my trip in a move so I am more than thrilled to find them I this site. I would like to know how And where Sarah found them as I would love to get the rest of the them of the whole trip. Susan Eales

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    1. Fantastic! Which one are you?
      PS. These photographs are from MIRRORPIX photo-archives.

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    2. Sue's original comment:."I am the girl on the front row, second from the left"

      Sue Arnold....thank you so much for sharing this amazing story!!! Wow! You were even staying at their hotel!

      And I'm so happy that you have now found these long lost photos!!!!

      Sara....you done it again!!!

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  5. Oops was the DAILY MIRROR contest...... Would love to hear from any of the other winners!!!

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  6. In the top photo I am on the front row, far right wearing a tartan hat. In the backstage photos I am front row, second from the left..looking dazed LOL!

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  7. A thousand thanks to telling me where the photos came from, I have now located all the photographs on the Mirrorpix website from our trip to Pris! Amazing to find them after all these years..I have ordered copies of them all for my children and myself!

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  8. I'm the girl in the check coat holding a Beatles album. Paul McCartney had his hand on my shoulder all through the photo shoot - I couldn't speak in case he took it away Ha Ha My sister is the girl on the right talking to John. You will notice on one of the photos Pauls hand is on his eye. This was because of my hairstyle which was flicked at the sides it was so thick with hair spray or lacquer as we called it then that the flicks were like lethal weapons and when I turned to look at Paul my flick poked him in the eye. There were 6 winners and each could take a friend. It was a luxury trip of a lifetime. We wrote a poem to the beatles and posted it through the door of their suite. I still have the poem written on GeorgeV notepaper. We all had large rooms with en-suites with a bidet which we thought were footbaths as none of us had ever seen one before. I could go on forever about that trip.

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