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| August 8, 1975 |
This article was originally posted in 2009, and I believe it may have been overlooked by many people. It has been 50 years since the event happened, and I thought it was time to repost it. Enjoy!
Article written in the Oct/Nov 1975 Issue of The Write Thing
When we arrived in England, at the beginning of August, my wife Winnie and I didn’t really believe that we had
a chance to see, let alone meet, any of the Beatles. We knew that John would be in the States, and that George and Rich were in California. Paul, we were told, was somewhere in England or Scotland rehearsing the band. But
where exactly we didn’t know.
On our fifth day in London, we made our way to St. John’s Wood. We stopped at the church where Paul and Linda had their marriage blessed, then we went down Abbey Road and stopped at EMI studio. I asked one of the guards about going on a tour of the building and if Paul had been around lately. He said, “Yes, he was in most of last week doing some mixing.”
Well, with that encouragement, we headed down to Cavendish Avenue. Upon arriving there, I went into the
neighbor's yard to look over the fence, and noted that only one car was there, but all the windows in the house were open. We decided to wait until the next morning before any action would be taken. After dinner, we passed by Paul and Linda’s house again, and all the lights were on in the house, which convinced us that they were indeed home and that tomorrow somehow, we would at least see them.
The next day was warm and sunny, not bad if we had to wait. We arrived in front of 7 Cavendish at about ten a.m. and sat down to watch the activities in front of the famed home. First, the mailman came by to deliver the morning mail. As he left, it came to us that if we wrote a quick note and put it in the mailbox, someone on the other side would at least see it. So we wrote out a note saying who (and where) we were and wished them luck on the upcoming tour. Shortly, Rose, the housekeeper, came walking down the street and stopped to open the gate. We introduced ourselves and asked for any help that she could give us in getting the note to her employer. She said she’d do it as long as we didn’t try to sneak in. She also told us that Paul had an appointment at two, so if we waited there we would at least see him leave. With this news, there was no way we’d leave. We watched the laundry man, the dry cleaner, and the messenger all come and go.
Then the gate opened and out popped Heather’s head. It looked like she was checking to see what we were going to do. We just sat there and waved hello. She nodded and started down the street. About 20 minutes later she returned with the groceries for the day.
About 2pm, a small blue mini-cab pulled up with Joe English and his daughter Chrisse. I introduced myself, Winnie, and Nancy to Joe and told him how much we like Wings and the album Venus and Mars. Before he
went I asked if he would mind if I took a picture of him. He said if I waited, I could probably get some of everyone as they were leaving for rehearsal.
The excitement was building. The green gate opened, and Joe stuck his head out. He waved at us to come over. We walked with all of the self-control we could find over to the green gate. Joe told us that Paul and Linda got our note, but they were busy and hoped we understood. We said we did. He then handed us a “Wings” postcard, and on the back were Paul, Linda, Denny, and Joe’s autographs. He said Paul and Linda wanted us to have these. We thanked him again and again. He said to wait where we were, and Paul and Linda would be leaving to go to rehearsal shortly, and we could at least say hello.
Joe let us take a quick picture of him before he went back in. A few minutes went by, and we could hear talking and Paul’s dog, Martha, barking. Any minute now, we knew we would see them.
Finally, at 2:45, the gates opened. I could see Paul backing out his green convertible. In the front seat was Linda and in the back was Joe, with Mary on his lap, Stella and Heather, with Chrisse on her lap. As Paul got to the sidewalk, he stopped the car. We thanked him and Linda for the autographs and asked how they were doing. They said that everything was fine and asked how we were. Paul was wearing cut-offs, a tank top, and green sunglasses, and Linda had a blue dress. Winnie talked to Paul about the tour and the group, and I talked to Linda. She told me her book on rock stars should be coming out in November and hoped that everyone would buy it. She also told me about a new diary which would be offered to members of the Wings Fun Club, and that it would contain only Polaroid pictures. She kidded and said, “You better buy a copy when it comes out.” I assured her that we would.
As we were talking, a little old lady who lives across the street came running over. She started to complain to
them about the dogs barking all night long, and if they would be sure to lock them up. Paul, being very diplomatic, apologized for the noise. I think the lady just wanted to see Paul and talk to him. Paul just took it all in stride.
Paul looked around and said, “Well, we better be going, a lot of work to do.” Paul pulled the car back, and Linda shouted, “Be sure to send us a set of pictures, “ and Paul shouted, “Take care, and we’ll see you. Bye now.”
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