This story comes from the pages of 16 Magazine. They had an ongoing column known as "Young Beatles" where they gave information about each Beatle during their childhood. I know 16 Magazine isn't always a reliable source (Unlike Teen Screen and Datebook) but this is a good article.
George is often reported as being the Beatle who is less photographed and talked about than the others. This may well appear to be true when one first meets him, but it bears very little relation to the George family and friends know.
According to his mother, he hasn't changed much since he was a boy. She recalls, "George was always full of fun when he was a child. He never caused any big trouble, and even the neighbors liked him a lot, which is unusual with little boys.
"He loved animals, and I was very proud of the way he'd like to help old people. I remember one day when I took him to the pictures with me. He was only eight years old at the time. When we came out of the cinema, there was an old tramp sitting on a wall. George immediately suggested that we give him half a crown. Money meant nothing at all to him then, and he could not see why I shouldn't give money to every old person we met.
"He has always been fond of entertaining other people. When he was 10 years old, his dad gave him some hand puppets for Christmas. From then on, whenever we had visitors, he always insisted on giving a little show, kneeling behind the couch.
"The first time he got a big urge to play the guitar was when he was 13 years old. His brother Peter bought one, and George promptly tried to learn to play it. Eventually, he formed a small group with some friends, and they went to an audition at the Speke British Legion Hall. The main act did not turn up, so George's group played instead. He only knew two songs, and once they had done both of them, they started again with the first and went on playing the same two over and over again. To their amazement, the audience loved it, and they were given the regular artist's feet. I remember noticing when they walked into our house afterwards that the bassist's fingers were bleeding, he had played so hard."
George's father is very proud of his son's achievements, and he and his wife spend a lot of time answering fan mail and writing thank-you letters to people who send presents to George's home. He remembers that when he and his wife used to emcee local old-time dances, George used to have a big laugh at the wide-bottom trousers the dancers wore. "He decided to do something about his own trousers because he did not want to be old-fashioned," George's father said. "So one day, when I bought him a new pair of flannels for school, he sat up till late at night and altered them on his mother's sewing machine until they were narrowed to his satisfaction.
"He was very fond of cycling. I never knew where he used to get to, but I suppose he traveled all over the place. He also loved hitchhiking. And I remember one day he turned up with Paul McCartney and announced that they were going to hitchhike to the south of England. That night, they packed their bags, and the next day, they disappeared. We didn't see them again for three weeks, but all during the time they were away, we kept getting postcards from places like Southampton and Torquay."
Singer Shane Fenton's wife, Iris, knew George very well when he was 15. She says, "I met George through Rory Storm. George used to rehearse in the cellar of a house near where we lived at the time. He started inviting friends of his to come down and use his rehearsal room. I remember that one of the groups that took advantage of his offer was the Quarry Men, John Lennon's original outfit. Later on, Rory needed another guitarist and asked George if he would join him. Everyone thought George was a very good guitarist. He was one of the very few people in Liverpool who could play "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" all the way through. Anyway, George decided he would stick with the Quarry Men. "
Iris. Mother remembers George as the boy who used to come around and watch the telly three nights a week. He and Iris used to sit there holding hands. "As far as I remembered, it was the first time that either of them had ever taken any interest in someone of the opposite sex.
"At Iris' 14th birthday party, I remember that George turned up in a brand new Indian style suit with covered buttons; he looked very grown up. "
George's style of humor is and always has been the sort of deadpan, tweak your right toe while he is looking you sensibly in the left eye kind. When the Beatles were in Hamburg in 1962, he sent this card to Iris' mother:
Darling V,
We are all missing you very much. To caress your teeth once more would be just heaven. Also, to hold your lungs in mine and drink T, B. John sends you his lunch, and Paul and Ringworm greet you too. Love George.
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