Disaster Nearly Struck the Beatles!
By June Harris
Disc
May 25. 1963
Just over a week ago, the Beatles got back from a great holiday in the Canary Isles and Spain. But you'll never believe how close the four of them came to becoming a duo! For George Harrison and Paul McCartney both had incredibly narrow escapes from drowning.
The boys told me all about it when I met them in their manager's London office last week, and although they treated it as a huge joke, it couldn't have been very funny at the time.
"I got the worst end of the deal," said Paul McCartney, who had gone to Tenerife with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, while John Lennon went to Spain with manager Brian Epstein. "I left George and Ringo on the beach and went for a swim. When I got past a reef, the waves started looking murderous, so I turned back, but got washed out. I started waving frantically to the boys, but they just grinned back.
"Suddenly, I felt miserable. Here was everything just happening, and no Paul McCartney to share in the benefits. I whacked the hell out of them when I eventually got back on the beach."
" As for me, I got my foot caught in a rock," said George, "and I can hardly swim at all. Those currents look a darn sight more dangerous when you think you're drowning. Ringo wouldn't have laughed so much if it had happened to him!"
Surprisingly, most of the time the Beatles had bad weather. But this didn't deter them from having a real ball. "We stayed with some German friends. Well, what decent hotel would have us?"said Ringo, "and we hired a car, a Hillman Minx, but your readers can be told it was a Rolls Bentley.
"We drove all around the island, which is about three feet square, decided there wasn't enough room for all of us and dropped George on top of a mountain."
"That bit about me on top of the mountain is quite true," admitted George. "When it's cloudy on the island, you drive up the mountain and through the clouds. When you reach the top, the sky is a fabulous colour blue, and the sun just beats down on you.
"We didn't take coats or anything, because everyone said the weather would be just great. But we got out at Barcelona airport, and we had to start searching for the sun. Then we were told our flight to Tenerife had been canceled because of bad weather. We tried to make the receptionist understand that they just couldn't have bad weather there, but all she did was direct us to the nearest hotel.
"We finally arrived at the Canaries a day later."
They still managed to get in some sunbathing, however, and have returned with gloriously tanned bodies and white faces (which they couldn't explain.)
On one occasion, they attended a bull fight. This gave rise to a particularly colorful scene in their London office, with three of them playing Matador, Picador, and bull. "They made this big production scene even when the most frightened of amateur Matadors comes out," said Ringo. "The trumpets play, everyone shouts, 'Olay'. And if the matador shows a yellow streak, they start throwing Coca-Cola bottles at him.
"The first bull came in the area with such a cool look. It was unbelievable. It then glanced up at the matador with the expression, 'Okay, Buster, get in there and pitch.' And the poor guy had a hell of a job after that. When the star bullfighter comes on, there's as much fuss as if it's Cliff appearing on the Palladium.
"Finally, this bloke managed to stab the bull a couple of times, and then just when you thought it was dead, it stuck its face on one side and groaned."
Apart from making a financial bid for the island, the three Beatles came home laden with the usual kind of presents for the family. George Harrison bought a new washable suede coat. Paul McCartney bought some shirts, but Ringo pipped the lot of them, buying 36 China bulls, a dozen swords, and some torador miniatures.
But they were still relieved to get home. "Next time we'll go somewhere in the sun," they said. "Maybe like the Caribbean."
