Beatles in Glasgow

 

Beatles in Glasgow

By C.S.

Kirkintilloch Herald

December 8, 1965

    Along with some 20 other reporters, I was invited to attend a press conference in the Carola Restaurant, Renfield Street, last week to meet the Beatles. 

    The Beatles, not surprisingly, were several minutes late for the conference. It took place only a matter of hours before their show at the Odeon was due to start, and when they finally arrived via the emergency exit, I thought it was somehow an anti-climax. A man sitting near me summed it up exactly. "It's amazing," he said. "They are not 10 feet tall."

     Despite the fact that they had traveled a long distance, the four boys were full of energy. Only George Harrison remained quiet, and the reason for this, he said, was that the guitar he was to play at the show had fallen out of the boot of the car on the way north.

    "We had it strapped on, but somehow it fell off. We went back to look, but found it in little bits. About 100 lorries must have run over it."

     "And it was out of tune, too," said John Lennon. But George did not appreciate the remark. "I've only got about three guitars that I use on stage," he said, "and this was one of my favorites."

     Paul McCartney caused a minor sensation by arriving wearing a six-foot-long tie of pale blue and lemon silk. "It was given to him by comedian Arthur English," said John Lennon, unwilling as ever to miss an opportunity for a joke.

    Paul objected. "I saw it. I liked it, and I bought it," he said.

     One reporter asked John Lennon how it felt to have been voted the top male singer of the year. John looked surprised. "I didn't win that. Did I?" he asked. "I think it was something else to do with personality, but whatever it was, it was wonderful."

     Before long, however, the Beatles were hustled through the emergency door by members of Brian Epstein's agency.

     John Paul and Ringo all gave cheery farewell grins. Only George looked gloomy. He was probably still thinking of his guitar.