Meet the Beatles for Real: hotel

Monday, March 23, 2026

Starr Not Interested in Band Tour (1981)

Starr Not Interested in Band Tour

By Aaron Gold

Chicago Tribune

March 28, 1981

"I'm not interested in touring with a live band ever again," said Ringo Starr during lunch in his Chicago hotel room. Starr and his fiancée, actress Barbara Bach, were to have lunch in the Pump Room, but their security advisor suggested they remain in their hotel during their three-day stay to promote their new film, Caveman.

Bach was sporting an enormous diamond cut by laser into a five-pointed star. The two plan to be married sometime this year, probably in Europe, with about 50 friends present.

The witty and charming Starr, who left the hotel only for an appearance on the Phil Donahue show, has been forced to travel with a five-man security detail since the death of John Lennon in December. His new Columbia album, due out in June, tentatively, is titled You Can't Fight Lightning.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Beatles Came in Night and Slipped Away (1965)

A plaque outside the King Arm Hotel, Berkwick, states that Charles Dickens stayed there during his lifetime. Now the management could erect another plaque stating that the Beatles stayed there. Ringo, Paul, John, and George stayed overnight in the hotel on their way to Glasgow, but few people knew about it. John Lennon turns to crack a joke to Ringo Starr and George Harrison, but Paul McCartney was missing.

Beatles Came in Night and Slipped Away - Cloak of Secrecy Beat Fans

No Writer Listed

Berwick Advertiser

December 9, 1965

The Beatles: John, Paul, George, and Ringo slipped in and out of Berwick in a cloak of secrecy on Friday. Only a handful of people knew that they had arrived, and they were planning to head north on Friday afternoon.

It was all so different from the amazing scenes when the Beatles were expected and never came. Then there were crowds everywhere, crowds who waited, hopeful but fruitless.

Hardly anyone saw them go on Friday, and even fewer saw their arrival in the early hours of the morning. The famous Four chart toppers, MBEs, idols of the pop lovers, crept quietly upstairs to their rooms in the King's Arms Hotel in Hide Hill. They had breakfast in bed, and just after lunchtime, they slipped out of the hotel with little fuss.

The management and the staff of the King's Arms Hotel were sworn to secrecy. Police knew the famous Four were in town. They, too, kept it quiet, and hardly anybody else knew until the last minute that the Beatles were in town.

They left Berwick in a rainstorm in a black Austin Princess car with the rear windows clouded over.

The Beatles had been in town, and they had left without a Yeah, yeah, yeah. Left with a ticket to ride in comfort, without crowds or hysteria.

A few miles up the road, misfortune befell one of George Harrison's three guitars. It fell from the car onto the A1 road and broke.

Monday, September 1, 2025

The Beatles plus one

Love this fan snap of the Beatles and Jimmie -- but know what I love just as much? The writing on the back of the photo. The photographer got Paul and John's instruments confused but that isn't surprising because it appears that the fan behind the camera had eyes just for George.

Monday, February 10, 2025

Shopping in Chicago

When Paul and Linda were in Chicago for "Broadstreet" publicity, the left their hotel and went on a shopping trip with young James. One fan looked in the shopping bags that Paul was carrying and noticed that James had gotten a GI Joe. Go Joe!