Lindsay De Paul talks about Ringo

 

Ringo Angled For Me With a Fishing Rod

By Lindsey De Paul 

Sunday Mirror

April 25, 1982

    James Coburn was the love of my life. But I had enjoyed one or two light-hearted romances before I met him, and although none of them meant very much, at least they were fun. One of my nicest involvements was with former Beatle Ringo Starr.

    I first met him in 1976 at a New Year's Eve party. He had been divorced from his wife, Maureen, for some time. I was wearing a black silk jersey top and a skirt covered in feathers. Ringo came up to me, took my hand, and said, "Did you fly here all on your own?"

     After I stopped laughing, he told me he had been following my career for two years. As you can imagine, I was terribly flattered and found myself spending the rest of the evening in earnest conversation with him. As I was going through a hectic phase in my career with my hit records. I promptly forgot about the whole thing.

     A few months later, I ran into Ringo again at a Paul McCartney concert. As we sat talking, he asked me for my phone number. I agreed to give it to him and asked him where I should write it. Then Ringo did a most unusual thing. He opened his jacket and told me, "Write your number on the label."

     I did what I was told. A few weeks later, I was sitting in the bath one morning when the phone went off. Ringo said, "I was going through my suits, and I came across your number. What are you doing tonight?"

     I said, "You don't exactly give a girl a lot of warning. Do you?" 

     I was waiting for some furniture to be delivered that evening, but to give Ringo his due, he was persistent. He came around and waited with me for the furniture to arrive. Then he took me out to dinner at London's exclusive nightclub, Tramp.

     As usual, he was tremendous company, and he made me laugh a lot. So I invited him back to my house for coffee when the evening ended. We were standing in the kitchen, and in front of me was a dish of dried figs and dates. I turned to Ringo and asked politely if he wanted a date. "Yes," he said, quick as a flash, "tomorrow night, please."

     As it happened, I was free the next evening, but I wasn't going to let Ringo know that.  I wasn't sure how I felt about him, and I wanted to put the reins on my emotions until I was.

     We ended up going out a few nights later, and when Ringo turned up to collect me, he arrived with a gift-wrapped package. When I unwrapped it, I discovered, to my surprise, it was a fishing rod.

    "But I don't fish". I told him.

    "Oh yes, you do," said, Ringo, "You fish the whole time for compliments."

     I decided to have a relationship with Ringo for two reasons. Firstly, he was attentive, funny, and delightful. Secondly, he was more successful than I was. That might sound odd, but at the time, I had a lot of hit songs on the charts, and most of the men I went out with felt threatened by my success. Ringo was far better known than me, and it made a good balance. 

    We spent about five months together, and during the period I was at my most prolific musically, Ringo just loved my songs, and he would sit with the brandy and listen to me playing and singing for hours.

     We had a very relaxed companionship, and we respected each other, both as professionals and as people.

     I always believe you should never demand things from a man which he cannot give. Ringo couldn't give me his Sundays. He was a wonderful father, and every Sunday he would spend the whole day with his children from his first marriage. 

    This didn't bother me at all. I was in the habit of spending every weekend at his house and Ascot, and after he left me at around 11 in the morning, I was completely happy to be on my own. 

    In a way, my relationship with Ringo was doomed from the start because five months after we started going around together, he had to go and live abroad for tax reasons. He told me this at the very beginning of our romance, but I wasn't prepared to sacrifice my career to travel the world with him or anyone else. Perhaps if I had been older, things might have turned out differently. You see, Ringo is the kind of man who likes just one woman in his life. He is not the Casanova type at all. And when I met him I knew he was ready to settle down and get married.