We hope you are enjoying Dafydd Rees’ day in the life of the Beatles in 1963 newsletters. Normal service will resume shortly… but this is a quick reminder that they are adapted from Dafydd Rees’ book The Beatles 1963 - A Year in the Life which is out now on Omnibus Press.
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“A chunky, very satisfying read, packed with an outrageous amount of detail. Fascinating, intoxicating... you just want to read on. And on...” - Classic Rock Magazine
Today began a weekly “Meet The Beatles” series with Ringo the first to be featured. He yet again wrote that he would open a ladies’ hairdressing salon if it all ended tomorrow. He made the point that if public money wasn’t paid for police protection at their concerts it would cost a fortune in hospital bills. He described his ideal girlfriend as “(being) smaller than me, she’ll be slim and feminine, she’ll be intelligent but not too smart, she’ll be a marvellous cook and she’ll be able to talk. I can’t.” An unnamed London store received an inquiry about its Mersey Beat Wig from Buckingham Palace. The identity of the interested party was not revealed.
Reviewing the Portsmouth Players’ “Gilbert & Sullivan For All,” the Hampshire Telegraph headlined its review “You Can Keep The Beatles,” so the news that the group were delayed again when the water pipe in their car broke on the A3 on the way to the Guildhall for the postponed concerts of November 12th, was probably received with glee. The group, who had spent some of the morning autographing copies of With The Beatles for contest winners, changed into a Corporation Van on Portsdown Hill, which was then driven to the back of the Guildhall, its tailboard dropped to allow them to rush inside as police held crowds back.
Local College of Art students Vicki Mitchell and Bernice Goodall spent some time with the group before the first show after winning a contest to design clothes for them. Paul smuggled the girls and a Portsmouth Evening News reporter through security. Mitchell told the News, “We all sat round a table. Paul looked through the sketches. He and John liked them very much. Ringo hardly said anything. They thought one suit looked like something they were already having made. They liked the capes, too. Tea was brought in. Paul, Ringo, and George had fish and chips, but John joked, ‘Due to an accident I can’t eat fish and chips.’ He wanted salad but ended up with tomato soup.” They then took their seats for the first show.
The Evening News’ Spinner spoke backstage with George, who expressed his appreciation of Brian Epstein’s contribution to the group’s success. “Let’s face it - we might still be down at the Cavern if he had not helped us. He has worked wonders.”
The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Portsmouth, Councillor and Mrs. Harry Sotnick, stood at the back of the stalls during the Beatles’ first spot. Their daughter Caroline wrote with a plea on behalf of eight fellow schoolgirls at Roedean for her father to use his civic influence to get the group’s autographs.
Fans were finding ever more enterprising ways to meet their idols. One girl posed as a secretary of their fan club in an attempt to talk to Paul. Despite Frank Berry telling fans not to throw Jelly Babies, nearly a pound’s worth was picked up after the first show. Several coins were thrown onstage as they sang Money (That’s What I Want).
“If you try to get on the stage you will be burnt by the footlights, or electrocuted. I have a lot of policemen and strong-arm men who will take you out if you do not behave - and you will not come back,” came the stern warning from David Evans. Two girls were treated by ambulance men - one fainting, the other suffering from hysteria.
Standing in the wings was Jacqueline Capstick from EMI France along with two French reporters who would interview the group in anticipation of their February visit to Paris. The group were now using 60-watt Vox amplifiers. Reg Clark, the Sales Manager of Jennings, said, “Formerly they were using 30-watt amplifiers which is the average amplifier for any professional group, but they told us the screaming and shouting of the fans made it impossible for anybody to hear.” (At the beginning of the year, Clark had agreed with Brian Epstein to provide the group with two free Vox amps after Epstein had told him that as long as he was the group’s manager, they would use no other amps.)
Several schoolgirls were upset that their headmistress had decided to withdraw the senior girls’ privilege of being allowed record players at school. The reason given was the high decibel output of the group’s records. Games were suggested as an alternative. “Two Real Beatles Fans” from Fareham expressed their displeasure in a letter to The Portsmouth News. “What amazes us most is the complete change that seems to take place, from an orderly queue of human beings outside the Guildhall into a mob of screaming savages when these four boys appear.” A London marriage bureau revealed that girls from every walk of life were now demanding a Beatle type of bridegroom. “Although introductions are arranged in all parts of Great Britain,” said Heather Jenner who ran the bureau, “London is the loneliest place of all, especially for those who have few friends and because of their jobs seldom meet new people.”
John Deane Potter, writing for the News of the World, commented that, “Thousands of girls were still disappointed and stood outside in the cold, damp evening in mock-croc kneeboots and plastic of leather jackets, screaming with the luckier ones inside ... A quietly-dressed girl of 16 next to me suddenly jumps up as though prodded with an electric goad. Her eyes roll in her head which is tossing wildly from side to side ... Then she collapses just as suddenly, and sits holding her face in her hands, still twitching uncontrollably, half-sobbing, half-sighing and half-smiling. She is Beatle-bewitched. She is only one among thousands. From where I sat my view of the stage is constantly obscured by flailing arms and bobbing heads.”
Potter encountered a sailor in a nearby bar, drowning his sorrows. “Months away at sea,” the sailor confided. “Months of dreaming of dames, and now you come back to your home town and see 2,000 of them screaming and kicking for these four boys. Very depressing and shocking, mate, I’ll tell you.”
Following a quieter second house, the group left the stage while She Loves You was being played, but some 1,000 fans were still waiting outside surrounding their car. One girl burst through the police cordon and slipped in front of their car. She was rescued and taken away and treated for shock. Police ran alongside the Beatles car as it accelerated. Some girls, openly crying, called out, “Don’t go. Please do not go,” as the group drove away into the night, back to London.
“I was sixteen in late 1962, living in the south of England and spending my evenings at the local clubs and dance halls jiving to the sound of the Shadows, Billy Fury, and American twee, my favourites being Bobby Vee, Del Shannon and Roy Orbison. At a club this particular evening I noticed a group of youngsters gathered round the record player nodding their head and tapping their feet to the sound of a record I had never heard before. Being curious I went over and asked who the group were with this great bassy sound and wailing harmonica. ‘The Beatles’ they said, so I thought this must be a new folk group but stood listening and thought they sounded interesting! Then I happened to see a photo of them in Punch magazine. Wow! I thought they are really good-looking and even better they were from my hometown up north in Liverpool. Well, I was born across the Mersey in Wallasey.
This is when I began collecting any pics I could find in the paper or magazines in bookshops, I was raving over them. Everything seemed different, I just wanted to stay in and listen to my LP instead of roaming the streets with my friend. I had Beatles on my cupboard door, Beatles on the record player, Beatles in our conversations, Beatles on my mind, they were four dream boys! Then I saw them on television on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ and ‘Tuesday Rendezvous’ and thought, ‘Wow, they are even better than their pictures! So dreamy, especially George.’
I wished I could see them in real life and decided I would rush up on the stage and carry him away! I joined their fan club and still have all my letters and things I received from them. I also have the complete set of Beatles monthly books.
In August 1963 I begged my parents to take us on holiday to Wallasey so I could have my photo taken with Liverpool in the background. A friend also took me over to see the Cavern club and I bought ‘She Loves You’ from NEMS in Liverpool. By then I had turned seventeen. Then I heard the Beatles were coming to Portsmouth Guildhall on the 12th of November. I thought, I am going to see them and so my friends and I decided we would get seats as near to the stage as possible. Twelve of us in our typing class in the fifth year in my high school decided we would queue from the Saturday morning, through the afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday morning, afternoon and night in shifts, the final Sunday night being myself and two friends Jill and Coral. We had everything planned and on the 12th of October the first girls bagged the space outside the Guildhall where we would be queuing for the next three days. I had to go to work as a Saturday girl so had no idea whereabouts we were in the queue. On the Sunday afternoon we went over the ferry from Gosport to see whereabouts we were - oh quite near the beginning of the queue - good. We would get good tickets. That evening Jill’s Dad took us over in his car and we took our places for the night.
It was a night never to be forgotten, no chance of sleeping with fifty Beatles fans singing, playing guitars and transistor radios blaring Radio Luxembourg. We were looked after by some strict policemen who kept checking to see everything was okay - we had to keep the noise down or we would be taken to the nick and fined £10 for vagrancy! We made so many friends and had a good laugh sharing soup and tea and being very silly. Then we were bombarded by the Navy! Drunken sailors wondered what we were doing there and we kept them happy and sent them on their way.
Suddenly the Guildhall clock struck midnight and we all said ‘Good morning’ to each other. We were visited by worried parents, giggling drunken boys and boozy groups of men going home in the early hours but the police kept their eyes on us. Eventually daylight appeared and more and more people joined the queue shivering on the steps.
The time dragged by until 9.45 when people began gathering up their blankets and bags of food and guitars, then suddenly the doors opened and a surge towards the door lost us our place. It was chaos as we pushed our way towards the front to try and get in next. They only allowed a certain number in at a time and we were only allowed six tickets each, which was fine as we wanted twelve.
Triumphantly we emerged from the booking office with our twelve tickets - four rows from the front in the centre - how exciting! We went and had some coffee, then wearily travelled back over the ferry to Gosport singing, ‘We’ve got our tickets - four rows back.’ We caught the number 6 bus back home much to the amusement of the bus conductor Mr. Wyatt with the pink cheeks. He knew us from travelling to school every day. Annoyingly we had to go back to school on the Monday afternoon and had to tell our tale to our excited friends. Our plan had worked, we were going to see the Beatles in real life. Two days later we were up in front of the headmaster and got a good telling off for taking the morning off to get our tickets, we were nearly suspended! We hung our heads in shame (with fingers crossed behind our backs) as our typing teacher told us how disappointed he was that pupils of his would waste valuable working time queuing for tickets to see four stupid men shaking their stupid heads off. We got round the corner and laughed until we cried. We couldn’t wait for the 12th of November.
The day was approaching, we were so excited, on the 11th of November we were jumping about, hardly able to work. We were so excited and the day just dragged slowly. At last the day arrived we had been waiting for, I had terrible stomach ache and couldn’t eat any tea. Oh no! It was announced on the teatime news the show was cancelled - what??? We still went over to the Guildhall and the place was crowded with hundreds of teenagers and people wondering what was happening. ‘The show is cancelled’ said the police, you can either have a refund or wait until it is rescheduled. So we decided to wait. We had a laugh with some friendly policemen and even met up with some of the people we had queued with. Then went home wondering when the show would be on again. Three days later we learnt they were coming back on the 3rd of December - Yes!!!
December the 3rd - at last the day was approaching when we would see our lovely Beatles in real life. I was so excited I didn’t know what to do, so I just got ready. I pressed my red tartan pinafore dress and my black polo-neck jumper, did my hair and had a bath, then made my way over to Portsmouth on the Gosport ferry with my friends. We arrived at the Guildhall and it was full of screaming girls chasing any car that appeared, thinking the Beatles were arriving in a decoy vehicle. Every delivery van was climbed on and peered into. Was it them? We ran from the front to the back trying to get just a glimpse of them in the windows at the back. Every time someone passed a window, screaming rang out around the building. We sat in our seats and were warned if we left them we would be removed from the theatre. We sat through the show watching the other acts impatiently waiting for the second half. ‘Hurry up! We Want the Beatles!’ The compère kept teasing us and making us scream even louder. ‘Yes We Want The Beatles!!’ The curtains opened and there they were picking up their guitars and excitedly singing ‘She Loves You.’
We couldn’t believe how gorgeous they looked in real life - like our pictures moving. We were right in front of Paul, and George sometimes joined him at the mic. Oh what could we do - just stand and stare, cry, clap, scream, there wasn’t time to think, just take in the moment. I wasn’t bothered about hearing the music I could hear that on my records. So I took in every minute watching them and smiling and laughing along with them.
I swear George smiled back at me - oh he was so lovely and they all looked so good-looking in their suits with the dark collars. John spoke and the place erupted. ‘Shurrup’, he shouted and everyone laughed. Paul said, ‘Now we want you to clap your hands and stamp your feet’, and John did his usual silly hand-clapping and made us all laugh. How we loved them. I couldn’t believe I had seen, looked at and breathed the same air as my lovely Beatles. They were just fabulous. The curtains closed and they were gone. Oh no!
We ran to the side entrances but they were twelve deep in girls and police, so we ran to the back, but everyone was saying, ‘They’ve gone, they’ve gone.’ We were disappointed but not surprised they had got away before everyone had come out of the theatre. We met up with some of the queue people, got our programmes and went to the car where my Dad was waiting to bring us home. I can never forget that night, the most exciting time of my teenage years.”
SHEILA ROGERS, FAREHAM, HAMPSHIRE