The North Wales schoolgirl who met Paul McCartney

This story can currently  be found here https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/north-wales-schoolgirl-who-met-17594995


I am posting it here because newspaper sites take their stories down and I like to preserve all of the fan stories here at MTBFR.   If you want to share the story, I do recommend sharing the original site until it is no longer there.  

This story is one of those that you just have to believe it happened.  There aren't any photos or other artifacts to back up her story.    But I believe it to be true.  


The North Wales Schoolgirl who met Paul McCartney three times and ate egg and chips at his Dad's home
By Paddy Shennen

North Wales News

January 19, 2020

Meeting Paul McCartney was every teenager's dream in the 1960s – and for North Wales school girl Deirdre Mahon the dream came true - not once, but three times.

Deirdre, who was a pupil at the former Loreto College on Llandudno's West Shore, ended up being given egg and chips by Paul and his family in Heswall on Boxing Day 1965 – and spent Boxing Day 1966 and Valentine’s Day 1967 with the Beatle.

Deirdre, a mum-of-one and gran-of-two who now lives in South Wales, said: “I want to share this story because it highlights the fact that Paul and his family are such amazing, lovely and down to earth people.

“I would so love to meet Paul again one day.”

Deirdre said: "I was 15, from Crosby and at a convent boarding school in Llandudno - so very young and naive.

"I don’t remember how me and my friend, who accompanied me on some visits, got Paul’s father’s address in Heswall but we did, and we used to visit him during school holidays. Eventually, he got to know us and was so friendly and welcoming. He used to invite us in for a cup of tea and a chat: 'Make sure you get a good education, girls, Paul did.'"

She recalled their first meeting on Boxing Day 1965.

"This was the first time we met Paul," she said.

Paul in December 1965

"My friend and I decided to go to Heswall to wish Jim a happy Christmas. I had a feeling Paul might be there, so I had bought him a packet of Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes, knowing that was the brand he smoked.

"As we approached the front door we saw a British racing green Aston Martin parked in the front. I knew it! With a trembling hand, I knocked on the door. Jim answered. 'Hello, girls, happy Christmas!'

"I said 'I’ve bought Paul a little Christmas present and was wondering if you could give it to him the next time you see him?'

“' Just a moment,' he said. A minute later I could see this figure approaching, and I said to my friend 'Oh my God, it’s Paul!' He said: 'Hello, what are you doing standing there? Come in!'

"We stayed with them all afternoon and into the evening. I can’t remember everything but I do remember how they made us feel so welcome – amazing when I think back on it, two 15-year-old girls interrupting their Christmas.

"Although we were a little overwhelmed at first, as the time went on it just felt natural to be part of their family gathering.

"At one point Goodbye My Love by The Searchers came on the TV. Paul commented on how he loved the song and wished he’d written it. His dad then asked Paul to play us the tune that he’d been tinkering with on the piano. So, he started playing this song which was in its 'embryonic' stage. He said he wanted the harmony to be similar to the Beach Boys. He started singing it, stopping and starting, explaining how he wanted it to sound: 'She’ll be there, my hands running through her hair…'

"Of course, it became Here, There and Everywhere. We couldn’t wait for the next album (Revolver) to come out to see if it was on there. We recognised it immediately!

"Paul’s stepmother Angela and her daughter, Ruth, who was nearly six, were there too. Ruth explained to us, as she took a big step forward, that she was Paul’s STEPsister!

"Jim asked us if we thought Paul had a good voice, and in a dreamy way we said 'Oh YES!' Jim thought, then said, 'Well, he hasn’t got a great voice but he does sing with feeling'.

"At teatime we got up to go but they insisted we stay and join them. They apologised that they didn’t have enough steak to go around and would egg, chips and peas be OK!

"When it was eventually time for Paul to go back to London he said he’d give us a lift back to Liverpool (what a guy!). As we drove along, I can’t tell you the wonderful feeling when we stopped at traffic lights – seeing the look on people’s faces and them do a double-take, realising Paul McCartney was driving. What a perfectly wonderful Boxing Day!"

Paul December 1966

But that wasn't their last brush with the Beatle - with a second memorable meeting coming on Boxing Day 1966.

Deirdre said: "A year later I said to my friend that I bet Paul and his family would be in London. So we hitchhiked there!

"We arrived at St John’s Wood and as we approached Paul’s electric gates, his brother, Mike, who we knew quite well from the Liverpool scene, came to put the rubbish out. He looked at us and said 'Oh my goodness, hello, what are you doing here?' Lying through our teeth, we said we were visiting relatives in the area so thought we’d drop by.

"He invited us in, and all the family were there, the same as last year – together with Paul’s girlfriend, Jane Asher. Paul asked us what we wanted to drink. We hadn’t a clue what to say so he gave us a sherry!

"We stayed for an hour or so and then said we had to go – we didn’t want to overstay our welcome. Paul gave me his phone number as he knew I was going for an audition at the Italia Conti Stage School the following year. He said that when I was in London to give him a ring and come over.

"My audition date was February 14, 1967. Paul asked me to phone him when I arrived at St John’s Wood tube station so he would know when to expect me, which I did.

"When I arrived, there were hordes of girls by his gate. I walked through the crowd, saying 'excuse me, excuse me' and could hear girls say 'who’s she?' I pressed the intercom and (Beatles personal assistant) Mal Evans answered. 'Oh, hello, it’s Deirdre (gulp)'. 'Oh yes, hang on.' Phew, It wasn’t a dream! Mal let me in. My fear had turned into a little smugness – I was walking on air!

Paul on February 14, 1967 (photo taken by Denise W.)

"Paul was waiting for me. We went into the lounge, and Martha, his gorgeous Old English Sheepdog, was there to greet me too.

"There were armchairs, and a green velvet sofa by the fire – and that’s where we spent a lot of the time, chatting. Paul asked me about drama school and how the audition went.

"Previously, in one of our phone calls, he told me not to be nervous. It obviously did the trick as I later heard I had passed the audition!

"I remember being fascinated as he demonstrated the electronic curtains with a remote control – he was like a kid with a new toy! There was also an en suite which, at the time, was quite a novelty. And there was a framed photo of Jane on the bedside table.

"We went to the top storey, where there was a music room. One wall was filled with LPs, and there was a piano and various guitars around. Paul talked about how he would spend many hours in this room playing and composing. He also played for me again.

"I knew that I had to go at a certain time as I had arranged for my father to pick me up at Lime Street. How I wish I had been assertive enough to ask Paul if I could use his phone. You see, he asked if I wanted to go with him to the studio in the evening (they were recording Sgt. Pepper). That is the biggest regret of my life. I also regret I didn’t bring a camera. I can’t believe it!

"Eventually, Paul changed his phone number and we lost touch.

"I don’t think of Paul as a genius or legend (which he is), I think of him as an ordinary, down-to-earth, decent Scouser (which he is) – just like his father (and his mother). He was brought up to be an honest, polite, friendly, thoughtful, hard-working guy, which is still as apparent today as it was back then.

"Thank you, Mr McCartney and Paul, for your generosity and kindness."

Mystery of the Missing Beatle

Newspaper article from 1968.  Did we ever learn where John was that night???  Seems odd for him not to be there.   Maybe he avoided it because he didn't want to answer questions about Yoko. 

Mystery of the Missing Beatle
United Press

Ringo flicked cigarette ashes onto a tabletop and ruminated about life.  George discussed vegetables and meditation.  Paul mused about history's ways with fame.  John wasn't there.

Three of the four Beatles turned up Monday to chat with newsmen and photographers following a private screening of the latest Beatles' movie "Yellow Submarine." 

John Lennon was officially "out of town."  "I don't know where John is," said Ringo Starr.  Neither did Paul McCartney or George Harrison.   John was the Beatle most everyone hoped to see.

Lawyers for Lennon and his wife are conferring about their marriage breakup.  Lennon last week proclaimed he was in love with Yoko Ono, a Japanese sculptor, and said his six-year marriage of Cynthia Lennon was "over but not legally."

Miss Ono, married to American film director Anthony Cox, is noted for her avant-garde movie of 365 naked human posteriors.

The Beatles had little to do with "Yellow Submarine" aside from contributing their recording of the 12 songs it features.

Voices not their own are used in the spoken portions of the 85 minute animated film in which The Beatles, through their music, save a country called Pepperland from the scourge of music-hating "Blue Meanies."  the move premiers in London this week.

"We didn't make it," said Paul with a grin.  "You can't blame us if it flops -- which it won't."

Ringo, wearing a black Edwardian coat over a red and white polka dot shirt with frilly front, talked with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of bitter lemon with ice in the other.  His upper lip bore the beginning of a new mustache.

"If you treat everyone as if you're going to die in an hour, you're all right,"  Ringo told a captivated young woman reporter asking him about his attitude toward life.

"Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is a nice fellow but we don't go out with him any more,"  quipped Paul in explaining the Beatles were keen on transcendental meditation but not with their former guru.

Give her a Break, Paul!

This is an article from a London newspaper published on April 5, 1970.   I found it in the July 1970 issue of "Beatles Rule!" newsletter.   It was written by Peter Oakes.

Gone are the shrieking hordes of delirious girls.  Gone are the straining police cordons outside besieged theatres., but Beatlemania is still with us.

It's there, with all its unswerving adoration, outside a 40,000-pound house in St. John's Wood, London, home of Beatle Paul McCartney.

Come rain, hail, or shine, dozens of teenage girls, maintain a hopeful vigil outside the black double doors of No. 7 Cavendish Avenue.  Day in, day out.

All for a glimpse of their idol, and perhaps (just imagine) a friendly word from the star himself.  The most devoted fan of the McCartney flock must surely be 23-year-old American Carolyne Mitchell.  She arrived in Britan 13 months ago and since then hasn't missed one day outside the hallowed McCartney home.

Carolyne, who works in a private nursing home, explains it simply:  "I care for Paul.   I care for him deeply.  I'd like to be in there with him.  I'd be with Paul and I'd be happy."   There is, of course, a snag to that little idea.  Paul has a wife, Linda.  And what a sore spot that is for his worshippers on the doorstep.

To them, Linda is a great obstacle between them and their hero and what they say about her is enough to make an old style Beatle mop curl.

In his bachelor days, Paul would talk to the fans outside over the house intercom system.  Of even go outside for a chat and to pose for photographs with them.  Those were the good old days. 

Now they don't' see very much of Paul, sometimes not at all for weeks on end.  What wife, after all, wants her husband to chat with a bunch of strange girls outside?

But still, fans wait.  And wait.  And hope.  From time to time, police move them on, but in no time at all, they are back.  It really is all very frustrating and annoying for everybody, at least Paul's neighbours.

Mrs. Evelyn Grumi, who lives opposite, with her husband and two children, said, "The girls sit on our wall.  I wouldn't mind if they just sat, but they play their transistors very loudly and shriek and giggle and shout.  If you try to talk to them reasonably, they just hurl abuse language at you."

The McCartneys have complained to the police about the girls standing outside causing a nuisance.  Matters did come to a head on the night off Paul's first wedding anniversary.  One group of girls celebrated the occasion by spreading confetti and pushing a bunch of flowers through the gate. 

Another group banged dustbins and barricaded the McCartney drive with milk bottles -- with the result that three of them ended up in court for insulting behavior.  The fans have been in divided camps ever since.

The confetti crowd have since transferred their adulation to the headquarters of Apple.

They even produce a duplicated "magazine" which has recorded the girls conclusion that Paul was stolen from the fans by his wife.  Another issue has a lost and found column.  In the lost section was the time"  "Beatle Paul -- last seen March 12, 1969." 

Sally and Christine are in this group.  Both are 20 -- left their homes in the provinces to come to London to be near their idols. 

Christine said, "I met Sally outside Paul's house and stayed with her.  My parents were a bit upset but they accepted it.  I was without a job for six weeks and spent the whole of the time following Paul and the Beatles around."

Sally described those traumatic days after Paul's marriage, "When he first brought Linda back, we would all stand in a row and scream abuse at her."  She also recalled an incident while Paul was on honeymoon.  A lot of girls, many of them Americans, broke into Paul's house and stole all his photographs.  he used to leave his windows open and girls were always climbing in and out.

On his wedding day, Paul's mail was also intercepted by the ever watchful fans.  The letterbox is easy to get into.  They took out the telegrams and read them.  But they put them right back after they had read them.

Now, four houses in Cavendish Avenue are empty, and display signs declaring "Sold" or "for sale" or "acquired."   Neighbours have even held informal meetings to try to work out a plan of campaign to get rid of the troublemaking fans.

Perhaps the answer lies with Paul himself.  For persistent fans -- the followers who made him an idol -- are an inescapable fact of Beatle life. 

Perhaps he can spare a few minutes to chat with Carolyne.  What a break after 13 months of waiting.  He's obviously the only person in the world the fans will listen to.

From the Mother of a Beatlemaniac

This story was taken from the Mount Vernon Register newspaper September 15, 1964 and was written by the mother of a Beatlemaniac, Enid Turner, that used to live in Southern Illinois but had moved to Los Angeles.   



August 1964 was a month to remember!  First the reserved seat tickets for the first day's performance for the first Beatles movie, "It's been a Hard Day's Night" went on sale.  Gail was one of the first in line.   The last I heard, she has seen it six times, which she says equals "the Parent Trap."

I still felt no alarm.   A summer evening at the Bowl would put an end to this whole thing. Gail was saying, "Oh Mom, aren't they so cute when they say 'Clap your hands and stomp your feet?'"   Around this time my car radio ceased to function, so Beatle music was all I ever heard from the home front. To my own horror, I caught myself humming "I Want to Hold your Hand" and some of the other songs!

Then one day I got a panicked phone call at work going something like this, (breathless)  "Mother!  Dave Hull just announced they are putting 3000 tickets on sale at the Sahara Hotel's office up in Wilshire Blvd.  for the Beatles' Las Vegas concert!"  To plan for this seemed utterly ridiculous so I told Gail to calm herself and we would discuss it that evening at home.  I learned a vague "maybe" sometimes can pacify them for a few hours.   That evening it was disclosed that a friend's mother had won a two-night stay for four at at the Rivera Hotel in Vegas as a prize and hadn't yet collected it.  She was willing to donate her prize and would accompany the girls if another mother was willing to go along!   How much of a heel could I be???  The only problem was  the purchase of the tickets and the trip to and from.   I was still in the clear because I refused to take them for tickets before 6:00a.m. and we learned via radio of the girls in sleeping bags on Wilshire Blvd. I felt they would never have been able to purchase a ticket and I would save face.


To my dispare, I was wrong and quickly learned at least 400 to 500 other Los Angeles mothers have more sense than Gail's mother. There was a long line extending around the corner, but they had tickets to spare.

I don't know why I saw this through except that I hadn't planned a vacation for the children, and I had only to think back to my own crush on Benny Goodman when some friends of the family took me to St. Louis to see one of Goodman's first concerts at the Keil Auditorium.   I was eternally grateful to him.

I learned from watching Pat Boone on the Tonight Show that he was going to appear at the Sahara Hotel at the same time the Beatles were to invade Vegas.  Also that he planned a party for them while they were there.  I made the mistake of mentioning this to Gail.  Immediately she wanted to write to him and beg for an invitation to the party.   Feeling like he would never see the letter, I gave my O.K. and it was on its way.

I won't go into all the details of the planned trip and its eventually, but one evening the other girl lost her ticket at the beach and was until midnight tracking it down.   Gail shed enough tears to last the rest of her teens plus her first five years of marriage at the thought of not being able to go!    They went, saw, and probably would have conquered if the State Police hadn't brought out police dogs to corral the star-struck girls.    One girl had been carried out of the Convention Hall in a state of hysterical shock.    The real payoff was when our group walked away with a pink jellybean which they feel ONE OF THE BEATLES STEPPED ON!!!   Toward the end of the performance, girls threw jellybeans onto the stage and this one is a fraction short of being a full jellybean.   Since it was retrieved from where George was standing,  they feel sure that George planted his heel on it.   I expect it to go into a glass case, displayed with other mementos. 

By the time the evening for their appearance at the Bowl arrived, it was like a second piece of apple pie, but their excitement wasn't diminished for long.   I prayed that Gail wouldn't try to swim the width of the pool which separated the stage from the audience.  She didn't, but other girls jumped in at the close of the performance.   Gail and Mimi's seats were close enough and enough to the side for them to see the Beatles make their getaway, so once again I thought this was the "last of the Beatles."


Monday brought a reply by Pat Boone -- written by hand -- on the bottom of the letter Gail had mailed to him.  How kind and thoughtful.   In it is explained that he had to ban the idea of a party altogether because of the mobs.  However, he was able to share that he visited with the Beatles for about 20 minutes backstage and he ended with, "The Beatles asked me to give you their regards."  To Gail this meant that John, Paul , George and Ringo chorused in a body -- "Please tell Gail Turner we said hello."   I didn't destroy her trust.


This Monday was a red-letter day at our house for another reason.  The Orthodontist that day had removed the braces from her teeth.  These were replaced by a plastic retainer which is attached by a  rubber band to hold the teeth in place.  After the braces, this seemed like nothing at all.

Now there was only one day left before the Beatles took off like big birds, and then we mothers felt like we could settle down into normalcy.   Had seven of us only known, we would have stayed in bed all day.   The day started peacefully enough.  About the tenth phone call revealed that another mother would drive the girls to International Airport to bid the Beatles farewell.   Gail joined six of her friends and they took off.  It's only a 10 minute drive from our house and aside from the thought that she could get crushed by a mob, I wasn't overly concerned.

The next thing was an emergency phone call at my office with the voice on the other line yelling, "OH MOM, OH MOM I TALKED TO THEM!"   No need to ask who.  I was practically covering my typewriter at the time so I tried to get a message in to the effect that she should try to calm herself until I got home.   I began to wonder if I would find her all in one piece -  I half expected her to fall apart.

I walked in the house and the barrage started.  Amidst the laughter and tears it went something like this:  "Mom, we were let off at Pan-Am where there were a lot of girls milling around.  We couldn't get much news from anyone when all of a sudden some girl who had been talking on the phone, dropped the phone, and yelled "follow me!"   We all took off after her through the parking lot across the airport to Western Airlines (The next day I drove through International Airport to check the distance, which appears to be a mile.  She wouldnt' walk that far for a loaf of bread if she was hungry.)    "When we got there, we all ran up the stairs, up the escalator and down the escalator  There were no Beatles in sight. "

"Then Mom a group of us were upstairs on some sort of a landing about five feet high and five girls jumped off and ran towards the plane.   All of a sudden a bunch of policemen appeared from nowhere and got them off the airfield!"  (I was worried about her swimming the Hollywood Bowl pool -- I hadn't considered her tearing across a landing strip!)   "After that we were just standing at the railing, wondering what to do next.   We went down a corridor and spotted the Men's Room.    We had to hold one of the girls because as he said, 'If they are up here, they got to go in here sometime!'"

"We wandered around for awhile when all of a sudden there was Dave Hull.   Mom he promised us that if we acted like ladies he would lead us to THE BEATLES!  Oh Mom!" 

"He must have taken us through a back door because on one side there was a group of policemen.  But they didn't bother us.   There THEY were just sitting there!  And Paul had his feet up on the table!  Mimi stumbled over Ringo's foot and and he said, "Pardon me" and Mom, Mimi almost went stark-raving mad!   There was an empty envelope on the table and so I borrowed a pen from a lady interviewer and tore that envelope in half and I got all their autographs!    When George handed me the envelope back, his hand brushed against mine  and all I could say was, "Wait until I tell my friends that I was the lucky girl that touched George Harrison!"  And John said, "George is the lucky one that touched you."  Oh Mom!     And then they were gone!   They pulled the same trick like they did in the movie.   They went in one plane and then boarded the one alongside of it.   The first plane took off and the girls thought they were in it.   We waved and waved to the real plane.  Then Dave Hull said that we had better go and the police agreed with him.   Oh Mom!"

After things subsided a bit I said, "Now Gail aren't you glad you got your braces off when you met the Beatles? "  And she said, "Guess what happened?   I was so excited that I snapped the rubber band back with my tongue and it disappeared.  I almost swallowed my retainer!"

After all this I needed to rest.   I was thankful that her crush was on the Beatles and not on the boy next door! 

Country Raga?

Country Raga?
Dylan & Harrison  -  A Loose Session

By Miles

George Harrison sat in with Dylan at Columbia Studio B recently (early May) and during twelve hours of recording they laid down some oldies, some Beatles number and a number of new Dylan compositions, some of which were described as very beautiful love songs.  Bob Johnson's production was said to consist of him shouting "go!" every time it looked like Dylan was going to play something.  The engineer would then turn on the tape.

It was a loose session:  Russ Kunkel, who had flown in from L.A. to play drums, had never met Dylan or George before and wasn't familiar with the new numbers.  On one track he just blocked in behind Dylan, thinking it was a run through.  When they finished he was surprised when Dylan accepted the take as a master.  Another instance came when George thought aht one of Dylan's new numbers deserved a production job done on it and that they should work on it some.   After the first take Dylan asked, "Was it that rough?"  On being told that it wasn't that bed he decided to leave it at the first take.   If George can't persuade Dylan to work on his material then nobody can...So most of the tracks are first take only for that down-home, just-us-guys-hangin'-out-together sound.

The fate of these fabled tracks is unclear.  Presumably masterminds Al Grossman and Alan Klein will have to meet at last and work something out -- another historic meeting.  George fits in well with other groups:  his work with Delaney and Bonnie when they toured England, his track on Goodbye Cream, his productions and bass playing with the Apple artists, particularly Jackie Lomax, suggest that maybe he was being held back by the Beatles as well as john (who graduated to heavy rock), Ringo (who moved on to hollywood showbiz), Paul (stay at home musical genius).

 so far we haven't heard a solo album by George, his Electronic Music being his early experiments with a newly acquired Moog, and Wonderwalls being written for the movie.  A George solo album will be well worth waiting for, as well as completing the gap left by the other three Beatles solo albums.

George's direction, that of soul/gospel oriented, Indian sounding rock is unique and, if he has contributed musically to Dylan rather than jammed with him will provide us with a strange new combination;   country raga.  Far out eh?

Wings: Just a road band

Wings:  just a road band

By Martin Hayman

Paul McCartney the bright boy and the sweet talker of the Beatles, has been playing an odd game of hide and seek with the public during the last year – or even, on his own admission, for the past five years.  He would pop up like a jack in the box at selected university gigs, and disappear again as quickly as he came, leaving the press on the hop – just like your average road band, in fact.

And that’s how he’d like to see Wings now, as a new band on the road making its way – and playing its way too, within limits.  “I don’t want to lose on the tour,” he told assembled reporters last weekend, “because I don’t’ like the idea of it.  For me it’s a job – I like being in work.  I can see exactly what it’s like to be redundant, but you can still have a lot of money and still want to work.  I don’t want at this point in my life just not to have a job.  I like the idea of working at something I like to work at.  I like to get out and do it, for about five years I’ve had about enough of that lying about.  I’m sure in time people will appreciate it’s just another road band. “

“If we’d gone back to the States and started to do the big stadiums, and get right back into it, I would have had to be convinced that we could really do it.  But the main point,” he said with a relaxed conviction, “is that I don’t want to do it too quick.  I don’t want to do it so that it’s all over again.  I quite like the idea of doing it steadily, building it step by step.”

Even Paul does not know yet which way the band is headed, even less the other Wings, who he’s been trying to persuade (Henry particularly) to write new songs:  “the kind of direction we’re taking is amazing to me, you probably don’t believe it but we’re getting into really daft things like ‘Carolina Moon.’ The kind of things you only sing when you’re really, really drunk. But they can really be heard rending.”

So there’s Paul, talking about his love for the country and western and for the great singing at home at a Liverpool Christmas party, and Linda saying how much she loves reggae, and Henry looking very contented and Denny Laine as wryly Brum as ever.  How does it all go over on stage?

Well for a start, it hardly seemed like the opening night of a tour for a band.  Their schedule is being taken very much at a gentlemanly pace in their brightly painted bus, a sort of psychedelic sea-side promenade open decker stepped straight out of a Cliff Richard “Summer holiday” set.

But the band don’t really rate as first timers either, do they?  They could all use a little gentle holidaying thrown in with their work:  drummer Denny Sewell, Denny Laine the man of constant sorrows with the Moodies and Airforce and Balls under his belt, Henry McCulloch who first pushed another star Joe Cocker with his guitar, and of course Linda, who had to write a song to prove that she was not just along for the ride in the McCartney band.  The song did not just prove its point to the question, it is now in the show as “Sea Side Woman” and has one of those extra fashionable jump up beats which had her fella leaping up and down and knee bending like this was something from the “Twist and Shout” days.

And the set which Wings played in the sharply etched stonescape of Chateau Varron’s Amphitheatre on Sunday night includes a lot of new numbers written especially for Wings as a band, and comes to a rocking and rolling climax with the appropriately named “High Hi High” – maybe for release as a further single to show the people that McCartney is not, despite his first two singles, some kind of Piscean jokester.

Not that things ran all together smoothly.  There was an almost total lack of publicity even on a local basis, and veteran Georgia Gomelsky sat and gravely declared that he had had incredulous people on the phone from Paris that very morning, demanding definite proof that, as in England earlier this year, McCartney had just taken off again with his Wings.

Tour manager John Morris jumping up again, looks inscrutably, puffs his cheroot and almost smiles.  Yet the gig was packed.

We arrived as Wings neared the end of their first set in the dusk with “Blue moon of Kentucky” and after the aggravation with the volatile audience had been settled they played through a selection of new numbers with old favorites like “Wildlife” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and the fine joyous “Maybe I’m Amazed.”  The new songs in several cases tell of McCartney’s Linda:  “I am your Singer,” and “My Love.”

McCartney is the obvious linkman on bass, electric piano and guitar, even with the years of experience around him.  Denny Laine and Henry McCulloch and, of course Linda, get their respective standouts on “Say you don’t mind” and as good as ever “Take it as you get it” featuring some Belfast blues blending and a reggae tune “Sea Side Woman” picked up in principal form the McCartney’s Jamaican holiday.

But it’s obvious now that McCartney has at last got rid of the specter and the bitterness of the Beatles and is into an altogether new thing.

Linda: Quit the Band! I've Just Joined!

Thanks to our old dear French friend, Bruno, I have a lot of great Paul McCartney and Wings articles that I am going to be sharing from 1972-1973.   This first one is a quick one, but it shows how much Linda was disliked not only as a person, but as a band member.    What do you call a dog with wings? Asked the silly joke from those days?  The answer was--Linda McCartney. 

Linda:  "Quit the Band!  I've Just Joined"

Author unknown from 1972


A rumor that Linda McCartney is to quit Wings is emphatically denied by both Linda and Paul this week.  

The story , probably emanating from the less than adulatory criticism of Linda's playing on the opening concert for the band's European tour implied that the other members of the group were not too happy with Mrs. McCartney's keyboard prowess.  But Paul said, "We all like having Linda in the group.  she is a great influence on us.  She is no Billy Preston, granted, but actually I would not like a very technical keyboard player in the group because they tend to take over."

"I know most of the criticism says Linda is the weakest member of the group and if you are going to be like that well, she is.   she is the only member of the group who isn't like, professional.  But it is too bad.  If people don't like it, then they should not come next time.  I couldn't care less."

And Linda said, "Quit the band!  I have only just joined.  I love playing with Wings.  It's great playing to an audience.  I never knew how good it was.  Paul used to say he missed playing to live audiences but I never understood it until we started playing -- and it's so different."

Wings played two sell-out concerts at the 2,000 seater Olympia, Paris, on Sunday and got the best reception so far of the tour.

Said Paul, "They told us -- watch out for Paris, the audience will be tough--but it was great.  We are very happy with the response and the way the band is getting together."

Beatles Off Limits to LBJ's Daughters

Please Daddy---let the Beatles come visit our house.

Beatles off Limits to LBJ's Daughters

Washington (UPI).  The Beatles -- four reasons why there may not always be an England -- arrived  in the nation's Capital Tuesday to shake their floor mop haircuts before thousands of screaming teenagers.

The British youths came from New York by train for a whirlwind tour of Washington, a sold-out concert Tuesday night, a visit to an Embassy ball, and a possible tour of the White House.

One occupant of the White House couldn't have been more delighted.  President Johnson's 16 year old daughter Lucy Baines wanted to meet the Beatles.  But a White House spokesman said home work comes before rock n roll, and Lucy and her sister Lynda did not get a chance to see the Beatles perform.

After the concert, The Beatles planned to switch from teenagers to diplomats.

They were scheduled to appear at a masked celebrity ball given by the British Embassy, but a spokesman stressed that they would just peer out from under their thatched roof haircuts.  They were not scheduled to sing.

Lady Ormsby gore, the ambassador's wife, is giving the ball for two charities -- one of them Britian's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Teenage Girls Scream over Beatles Movie

I love hearing about the craziness that happened whenever fans first saw a Beatles movie.   I found this newspaper clipping from what appears to be a Boston area newspaper

Early Birds wait for Beatles' Show to Begin
Lorraine Chirkus, Linda Santackas, Maria Lecius
Record American Photo/Carroll Myett

Teenage Girls Scream over Beatles movie
By Irene Michalek and Bill Duncliffe


Elliot Norton heard the news, and took a quick vacation.

Peggy Doyle began to cry, and as she was being dragged out of door on her way to the Mayflower, kept pleading that she could do her best review from the women's wear counter of the department store--any one of them.

Because both Norton and Miss Doyle are cowards, as well as critics, it fell to us to do a front-line review of the Beatles' new movie, "a Hard Day's Night," that opened at the Mayflower and just about every place else but the Fogg Museum- Wednesday.

The movie, you should excuse the expression, is a blast--we think.

We really couldn't hear too much of the chamber music the shaggy-dog singers were playing because the Mayflower was peopled with teenage girls who jumped up and down, screamed, grabbed their hair, screamed, tried to pull the ears from their heads, screamed, moaned, swayed from side to side, snuffled and screamed.

Every once in a while, when the volume fell a bit, some crank would yell:   "Shaddap, will ya?"

That made the girls scream some more.

The first show was at 10 a.m but three hours before that the bobbysox set was lining up outside the theater, hair in curlers and tickets clutched in their fists.

When the doors opened they moved like running guards, scrambling for the seat down front so they could be near their true loves.  Those at the end of the line refused to go in because they figured they'd have to sit in back, or on the sides, and who wanted to see the mop-haired minstrels from angles like that?

So they stayed outside, and waited for the next show.

Inside, it was like the end of the world, with sound effects.  The movie's opening scene showed the Beatles running away from a flock of wild-eyed members of the feminine gender.

the girls on the screen were screaming, and so were those in the seats, but you couldn't tell whether it was from rage or frustration, or a pin sticking through the cushion.

The movie, it seemed had to do with Ringo's mistaken notion that Paul, John and George didn't like him.  So he ran away and the others tried to find him.  And considering the fact that their hair was in their eyes all the time, it really was quite a job.

Or maybe it wasn't quite that way at all.   Maybe it was that Paul's grandpa convinced Ringo he was working too hard banging the drums and should do a little kicking the gong to relax a bit.

So Ringo took off, and the other thought he'd run away because he thought they thought he was a creep, and they didn't think so at all.

It was hard to tell just what was happening up there on the screen, but it didn't seem to make much difference.


"Oooh, I'm still shaking," she squealed, "Ringo looked so sad that I cired.  It was just beautiful, beautiful..."


"Did you like the songs they sang?"

She looked at us like we'd just sprouted another set of ears.  "Who heard anything, for heaven's sake!" she shouted.  

When when you come right down to it, was as accurate a preview as you could get.

Teens Losing Heads over those mop-top Wigs

A newspaper article from the Boston Record American dated Monday, February 17, 1964 all about the Beatles wigs.   

photo by Ringo Starr

Teens Losing Heads over those mop-top wigs
By Eddie Sullivan
February 17, 1964

If you haven't already surrendered to the Beatles you might as well, even if you don't dig them and their crazy hair-dos and their skinny legged pants and their rock and roll and way out signing.

The Beatle Madness is sweeping the land since they established a beachead in their New York Invasion landing on Feb 9.

By Monday thousands of stores all over the land were selling wigs--crazy looking bangs and matted locks -- just like the Beatles showed off on the Ed Sullivan show.

In Boston Gilchrist's kids were spending $1.99 like it was nothing and in 24 hours cleaned out all the stocks in the area.

The stores were all prepared for it and the kids were ready with their money.

As of Friday there were few of the wigs left in stock and New York supply sources were literally buried under "hurry up" orders for more.

Only Beatles Wigs are approved by the British boys because they collect royalties on every one sold.  The Seltaeb (Beatles spelling backwards) company of New York, headed by Nick Byrne, a British business man, has exclusive right to use of the name.

But "beetle wigs," will spelling like the bugs, and "Bug Wigs" and "Beatnik Wigs" and other wigs by names to get around the copyright and avoid royalties are appearing in droves.

Beatle pins, Beatle necklaces and other bits of jewelry, all made in cast metal and bearing likenesses of the originals are being offered some with the copyright name and others with the "beatlenik" or beetle label.

Jack Lynch of Kingston St,, Boston, said that he had a consignment of wigs and sold out by Monday.  "I've got orders for tons of it but can't get delivery," he said.

Catalogues in the hands of retailers list caps, sport shirts, walk shorts, hats and other headwear, coats, ties and other apparel for boys.  for girls there are handbags, belts, blazers, slacks, sweaters, beach bags and "other" teen-age accessories.

From the standpoint of those who don't dig the Beatles, their records, their music and their fashion is that the Beatles Madness threatens to carry right through the summer.   Everywhere you go you'll see their faces topped by wild hair on sweatshirts, shirts, blouses, sweaters, bags, etc., etc., & etc...even in egg cups and ashtrays.

The all Street Journal {sic}, bible of finance, in its Wednesday edition said:  "U.S. teenagers in the next 12 months are going to spend $50 million on Beatle wigs, Beatle dolls, Beatle egg cups and Beatle T-shirts, sweatshirts and narrow-legged pants."

It didn't forecast how much more will be spent on imitation bearing other names or the added millions from records and personal appearances.

Fake news of 1970

Some news items I found in a scrapbook that never came to surface. 

Newspaper article from 1970

John Lennon surprised the entertainment watchers again by signing with the BBC to play the role of Christ in a 13 week series set to film in the Holy Lands entitled "That Jesus Saga."  One wouldn't think Lennon's still trying to rectify that boner of four years ago when he said of the Beatles:  "We're bigger than Jesus,"  But maybe so...

Not only is it most unlikely that the Beatles will ever get back together again for a movie, the differences among them are growing tremendously.  It's nothing calculated or intentional.  It's just simply that Ringo Starr's not sitting around wasting time or letting personal problems get the best of him.  While John Lennon gets all the publicity, Ringo (the least likely) decides to do another motion picture.  Hs next movie may cast him opposite Carol White in "The Impotent."

Beatles Going Broke?

Beatles going Broke?  Not a chance, Apple boss tells "Go"
By Loraine Alterman

A wire service report form London that the Beatles are going broke has been categorically denied by Ron Kass, head of Apple Corps Ltd.

In a statement to "Go," Kass said that the story was completely fake.  The story said that John Lennon told an interviewer that if Apple keeps losing money at the present rate, they would be broke in six months.

According to Kass, who was in Los Angeles last week, the Beatles and Apple have cornered the market on bad publicity and everything they say is twisted.

"The money is backed up to such as extent it's frightening," Kass stated.  The real problem is that the huge profits from Apple are causing a big tax problem.

Kass made three points to show that Apple is very much in the black.

In the first place, a two-million dollar profit is coming from "Yellow Submarine" to Apple which owns half of the film.

Secondly, The Beatles' royalties from America as of December 31 were over four million dollars.  This is just royalties from Apple which has been in existence only since early last summer.

Thirdly, Apple in America alone has already shone a half million dollar profit on the record company operation.

Kass believes that the false stories originated because teh Beatles have been spending a lot of cash in London lately to acquire property.

For example, they spent about 1.2 million dollars to purchase the building on Saville Row [sic] for Apple headquarters.  They spent another $240,000 for a cutting lathe for the headquarters.

Kass told "Go" that the reason the Beatles are spending so much money is because they have it.

They need to spend a lot for tax purposes - AND THERE IS NO DANGER THAT THEY ARE GOING BROKE.

Meanwhile from London, /"Go's" correspondent Richard Green reports that John Lennon is making a film for Austrian TV called "Rape" and it stars his companion, Yoko Ono.

Nearing completion now, the film may be offered at a later date to other TV companies.

Green also reports that George Harrison and Derek Taylor, press chief at Apple, are planning to write a musical together based around life at the organization's London offices.

They plan to present it in New York next fall, but no details of cast or whether or not any of the Beatles will appear in it are available.

We had stow-aways on the yacht!

We had Stowaways on the Yacht!

By Chris Hutchins

New Music Express

The hue and cry of the Beatles’ fantastic reception in America – on which I reported last week – seemed ten thousand miles away as a millionaire’s yacht name of “Southern Trail” slipped gently through the waters around Miami, Florida, with John, Paul, George and Ringo aboard.  Overhead the sun beat down from a clear sky to raise the temperature of 85 degrees.

The Beatles were taking the first opportunity they have had to relax since arriving in the U.S. I was the only journalist invited aboard the luxury yacht loaned to them for a day.  “You can carry the cokes,” Ringo had said at the hotel before we left.

However, the captain had had to turn “Southern Trail” back after twenty minutes at sea to put ashore representatives of a Miami paper who had stowed away below deck.

“Funny how all these people have swimming pools when the sea is just at the bottom of their gardens,” said Ringo, as the craft sailed past white-walled houses, which skirted the waterside.

“Well this isn’t Merseyside – they wear mink bikinis here,” volunteered john, as he focused his camera on George basking in the sun.

From inside the cabin, where a mink-covered couch was just one item of evidence to support John’s information, came the sound of music.  Paul was playing a few of his favorite tunes on a piano.

As the yacht made its way past a small beach, someone recognized the “Mopheads,” as the Beatles have become known in America, and dozens of hands waved in greeting. Many people grabbed cameras to record what they saw—only to discover John and George were already taking pictures of them.

I thought how remarkable it was that success has not managed to change the foursome.

They’re still as down-to-earth and friendly as when I first met them in Hamburg eighteen months ago.  Frequently in America, I watched them step towards a crowd to sign autographs or shake hands with fans when police had cleared a way for them to make a quick entry or departure from a building.

“Hello, how you doin’? All right?” Paul would say in his friendly Lancashire accent as thousands of American teenagers screamed at the very sight of him and the other “Mopheads.”

Carnegie Hall, where they did two shows, merely underlined the fantastic success of the Beatles.  Socialites and teenagers mingled in the audience, extra seats were installed and the group performed under a rain of jellybeans.  They sang their usual number of hits.

The welcome which greeted them at Miami airport when our plane arrived from New York was one of the most fantastic sights ever seen in Florida, according to a State newspaper.  Thousands upon thousands of their southern fans had turned out to line the tops of airport buildings as far as the eye could see. 

And no one was more pleasantly surprised than the Beatles themselves:  “New York and Washington had convinced us that we were pretty popular in those places, but we didn’t expect anything like it down here,” John had told me.

At a press conference soon after their arrival in the resort, the boys had continued their brilliantly funny interviews.

Many of the gags were against themselves, like when they were asked who wrote their music and John retorted, “What music?”    Asked by another reporter if they thought they would last as long as Frank Sinatra, Paul quipped, “We should last longer; we don’t drink!” 

Someone else wanted to know if the Beatles ever got tired of the press following their every move, “No, if they were with us I’d miss ‘em.  Matter of fact, I miss ‘em when I’m asleep!”  John had answered.

My recollections were interrupted as Ringo summoned Paul to the galley to help make some coffee, and a new voice warned George not to take too much sun.

The voice belonged to Bud Dresner, a friendly police sergeant who accompanied the four wherever they went in Miami, frequently offering advice and occasionally steering them as firmly as a manager.

The following night – on the eve of the second nationwide TV appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show- Bud took all four home to have dinner with his wife and children, “We had roast beef – enough to feed an army!” George told me the next morning.

“I like you guys.  I think you’re funny.  Your records are great, too, “Bud said.  He was certainly more pro-Beatle than the cop in Washington who stuck a bullet in each ear when the foursome took the stage for their debut American concert.

Photo by Ringo Starr

As we lazed in the sun, George threw biscuits into the sea.  They were snapped up by a pelican, which had been following the yacht for several minutes, oblivious of its famous passengers.

The spot seemed sufficiently isolated for an uninterrupted swim and the Beatles stripped to their bathing trunks, three of them diving into the clear Atlantic together, as Ringo sat astride the rail to photograph the scene.

Photo by Ringo Starr

But it seemed no sooner had they hit the water than several previously unnoticed craft headed toward the “Southern Trail.”

“It’s the Beatles!” someone yelled, and as the boys clambered aboard, the visitors called to them and leveled cameras.  In return, Beatles cameras were aimed at the discoverers, and the Liverpoplians snapped a few more pics to show to the folk in Bootle before waving back their greeting.

On the way home, the boys stretched out in the sun, determined to get a deep Florida tan on the trip just in case the opportunity didn’t arise again.

Paul biggest hit --the man from the Star

Paul is usually one of the best PR guys around.   He knows how to handle the press and the photographers as well as the fans.  However, over the past 50 something years, we have seen Paul make some poor decisions and hitting the young Star photographer in 1981 is at the top of that list, although he did apologize and make things right quickly afterwards---most likely because he realized how terrible he would look in the newspaper the next day if he didn't.   

Paul Latest hit – the man from the Star!

Daily Star

January 21, 1982

This is the photo Paul Massey took of Paul without his permission that started the whole thing.

This is Paul McCartney, as you’ve never seen him before---fighting mad! The picture was taken yesterday seconds before the pop superstar bopped Daily Star photographer Paul Massey and put him on the floor.  Later McCartney  apologized to Massey like the nice guy he really is. 

“I’m sorry I blew my top, mate!”  That was Paul McCartney’s message to Daily Star photographer Paul Massey after their Desert Island dust-up yesterday.

A few minutes earlier, our man had been lying flat on his back after a close encounter with camera-shy McCartney outside a London recording studio. 

The clash came when the ex-Beatle arrived to tape a radio interview with Roy Plomley for Desert Island Discs.   He spotted 18  year old Massey talking to a doorman at the Oxford Street studio and suddenly cannoned his fist and body at our shocked photographer.

Massey staggered back 16 feet and ended up staring at the ceiling.  Then McCartney hoisted him on by his lapel and dropped him again.  The incident was all over in a flash and the Wings star was almost as quick to apologize.

He invited Massey to his room and told him, “I’m sorry about what happened.  When I saw you standing there I knew there was only one way to stop you taking pictures. “

Immediately afterwards, I thought ‘Poor kid.  He hasn’t been doing it long.’  That’s why I asked you here to say sorry.  I don’t mind having my pictures taken as long as people as first.”

Massey, who said he was ‘shaken and shocked’ by the encounter, was asked to leave his camera behind during the peace-making interview.

But later McCartney kept a promise to take time off for a photo session.

McCartney with Paul Massey after the apology to show the world that he is still one of the good guys. 

Said Massey, “When we first met I didn’t get a chance to ask him about pictures.   But afterwards he was very pleasant and now I won’t hear a bad word said about him. 

And McCartney, a seasoned campaigner in dealing with the press admitted our man was only doing his job.  “But it’s OK now and he’s OK, OK?”

Beatle fans in Palladium battle with Police

Beatle fans in Palladium battle with police
Nice Davies
October 14, 1963

Five hundred screaming teenaged girls besieged the Beatles pop group in the London Palladium yesterday.

Then the twang of a guitar was heard from inside the theatre....

It was the signal for fifty girls to charge the emergency doors and gate crash a rehearsal of TV's "Sunday Night at the Palladium."

the four Beatles watched as the whooping girls stampeded through the back stalls towards the stage.

Stars, attendants and TV technicians tried to block their way.   Then somebody threatened to use the fire hose on them.

The manager, Mr. David Wilmot, dialed 999.  And as the police ran into the theatre the girls ran out.

The top of the bill Beatles -- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were forbidden to leave the Palladium.

Said John, "We were going out for lunch.  Instead we had roast lamb, potatoes and sprouts served in our dressing rooms."

Early yesterday afternoon the Beatles' fans again started massing on the streets around the famous variety theatre.  

Some were crushed against the stage door as those at the back pushed forward, trying ot hear the beat of the Beatles inside.

At 2:30pm, the police moved in.

Two inspectors, leading a force of twenty sergeants and constables, walked slowly towards the girls.

The twisting, shouting fans stood their ground for a moment then backed away.

The police broke the crowd into small groups and gradually emptied the street.

But the fans weren't finished yet...

Shortly before dusk they were back again brandishing pictures and record sleeves of their idols.

The Beatles who all come from Liverpool, told Palladium chief Val Parnell that they wanted a stroll before the performance.

He said, "I'm not risking letting you out.  It could be dangerous."

So they popped their heads round the stage door to have a look at the fans massed outside.

There was a tremendous screech and the girls flung themselves at the gate just in front of them.

But police helped by a commissionaire, held them back.

The day Linda struck a wrong note

In case you didn't notice, I have been going through my Beatles scrapbooks and finding articles that I find interesting.   Here is one from an unknown newspaper dated December 18, 1974.

The Day Linda Struck a Wrong Note
From a special writer in London

No woman could have been more resented than Linda Eastman when she married the last of the bachelor Beatles, Paul McCartney, five years ago.

Jealous fans were rude to her whenever she stepped outside her elegant London home and the relationship hasn't improved.

John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, and others accused her of using her influence over Paul to bring about the group's break-up.  And the public only reluctantly accepted her as a musician in McCartney's new group, Wings.

Linda, daughter of an American lawyer and formerly a photographer in New York, is well aware of the resentment, as I discovered when I talked to her at Paul's office in Soho this week.

Wearing an original Forties dress and little make-up, she said, "the thing I didn't like was the head-on collision."

"I've never really been a person who cared what people thought of me.  then when I married Paul I was suddenly slagged off.  That had never happened to me before.

"It was like I was a different person through marrying Paul  I got a bit uptight because I thought, 'Well, I'm still the same person -- why am I being attacked?'  I felt people must be jealous."

She is annoyed that in the West End play "John, George, Paul, Ringo and Bert," the author suggests that Paul broke up the Beatles by walking out.

"He's got it wrong.  In fact, Paul was the last one to leave.

"The play makes it look as if the three sat down and said: 'Come on, Paul, for the sake of the gorup don't go.'

"It wasn't like that at all.  Ringo left at one point and then came back.  Then George left and he came back.  Then John left and he didn't come back.

"So Paul said:  'I guess I am leaving then.' There was nothing to leave.  None of them were together musically."

I reminded Linda of Yoko's accusation that she contributed to the break-up by interfering in the Beatles' affairs; that shew as against American businessman Allen Klein taking over the management of the group and wanted her own father to be the job.


"It was much more than that," she replied.  "I came along when they were all growing up, expanding their own music -- so I don't think anything really broke it up.

"Before Klein came in, Paul met my dad.  He's very honest and really helps people.  He's on the buzz.  Paul wanted the others to meet him.


"Paul said, 'You don't have t have Linda's dad, but I want him.  The three of you can have Klein.  I don't mind.  I want Eastman.'

"Paul never cared that much who managed the Beatles, so long as he himself could have his affairs looked after.

"When it broke up, Paul said: 'Well, look, we're not musically together any more.'

"John said:  'Yes, I know we're not musically, but let's be in business together.'

"Paul told him:  'What's the point?  I'm in it for the music.'


"But they said:  'You've got to have Klein.'

"We are all in our thirties now and I think we should have what we want.  Anyway, it's coming round to everyone's being friendly again.  I just feel Paul got blamed for an awful lot of stuff.

"I don't think anyone should be blamed.  If you are in anything and you have got partners, maybe you outgrow them.  Musically, they played great together.  You can't knock that."

With actors impersonating her husband on stage, in London and on Broadway, people rarely stop to think what life must be like for the one McCartney who can rarely escape from the limelight.

"You've got to keep sane,"  Linda said.  "Very sane.  You've got to realise life is all right, folks."

"I rarely think I am going insane.  I always think you must keep good in life.  I didn't take very much acid, but the second trip I took in the sixties I imagined what it would be like to go insane.

"I thought the worst part would be that you are dependent on everyone else.  You can't keep yourself together.  That's when I decided I won't go insane, thank you very much.  so I haven't.

Linda surprised the pop music world when she joined up with Paul's group Wings on piano, and immediately came in for a barrage of criticism.

Before that, she admits, she couldn't play a note.  "We were up in Scotland.  Paul wanted to play.  But he couldn't think who to play with now the lads had split.

"He said, 'Why don't you learn?  We could do it together.' so he asked me to join the band."

Linda arrived for our meeting arm in arm with her husband.  They are insuperable and always seem like lovers on an early date.

Did the break-up of the three other Beatles' marriages scare her?  "When I read there was only Paul left, I thought:  'Everyone's just waiting for us now.  They can't wait until we do it.'

"No, it doesn't really scare me.  I'm fatalist ---take what happens in life.  If something did happen and we split...well, I wouldn't go and kill myself."