Fact #103879
When:
Short story:
Full article:
Alf Bicknell (Beatles chauffeur) : I remember going in John's Rolls Royce to do a Blackpool Night Out variety show on the tv. John wanted to use his Rolls instead of the usual limo, the Austin Princess. I left the Princess at Kenwood, then we drove over to Esher to Claremont Estate to pick up George, then Ringo at Montague Sq, and on to Wimpole Street to pick up Paul.
As soon as we left Esher, coming up the A3, we got on the dual carriageway and I became very conscious of a Jaguar staying with me. I was probably doing about 75-80 miles an hour. If I went faster, he went faster. I said nothing to George or John and they kept asking why I was hurrying, and I said we were just running late, because I didn't want to get them paranoid. So we're pulling into Putney, over Hammersmith Bridge - now that car weighs about 3 ton, not easy to manoeuvre, and at the start of Kensington High St, John turns on the tv and they're watching a programme and suddenly voices come over the top of the show reading out the number of a car and John says "That's our number!"
It kept cracking up, the sound. So I told them we were being followed. So I turn left into Church Street, towards Byswater Road, and the voice on the radio is saying everything we're doing. So I didn't go to Ringo's, I went to Neil's house where he lived with Mal, and I get out of the car and George and John stay in the car.
So I look back and this Jag has pulled across the end of the mews, so there's no way I can get back out that way. Then I became aware of a uniformed policeman walking towards me and saying "Good evening sir". Now I looked a sight, in my old jeans and a jean shirt and a tattered leather jacket and I've just got out of a Rolls Royce. So he says, "We have reason to believe this car has been stolen."
Now, I'm a few feet away from the Rolls talking to this policeman, and I can see the car slightly rocking, because John and George are cracking up. So the policeman says "Are you the owner of this car." And I say "No, the owner is in the car."
Remember of course, the car has blackened windows so they can't see inside. So I open the driving door and ask them to open the door so the policeman can see who they are, but John says "Go on, away you go!" because he's enjoying it and he wants to string it out a bit longer.
Well, eventually he presses the button and the window rolls down and John stuck his head out. "Good evening officer." The officer went bright red and said "I'm sorry you've been disturbed." and he walked off. Then the Jag just disappeared.
It's a funny story, but it was a real moment of fear at the start.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black)
Johnny Dean : Paul was alone on stage. He said he wanted us all to hear a new song called Yesterday, and because Paul's voice sounded rather reedy and the acoustics were so bad, we all listened in silence to what was by no means an immediate song. When he finished, the silence became prolonged until John bawled out, 'What a load of bloody crap!' Paul was like thunder for the rest of the day, making very caustic comments about everyone and everything. But then, that is how Paul could be - all this cheeky, working class, one-of-the-lads stuff is all a PR invention.
(Source : not known)
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As soon as we left Esher, coming up the A3, we got on the dual carriageway and I became very conscious of a Jaguar staying with me. I was probably doing about 75-80 miles an hour. If I went faster, he went faster. I said nothing to George or John and they kept asking why I was hurrying, and I said we were just running late, because I didn't want to get them paranoid. So we're pulling into Putney, over Hammersmith Bridge - now that car weighs about 3 ton, not easy to manoeuvre, and at the start of Kensington High St, John turns on the tv and they're watching a programme and suddenly voices come over the top of the show reading out the number of a car and John says "That's our number!"
It kept cracking up, the sound. So I told them we were being followed. So I turn left into Church Street, towards Byswater Road, and the voice on the radio is saying everything we're doing. So I didn't go to Ringo's, I went to Neil's house where he lived with Mal, and I get out of the car and George and John stay in the car.
So I look back and this Jag has pulled across the end of the mews, so there's no way I can get back out that way. Then I became aware of a uniformed policeman walking towards me and saying "Good evening sir". Now I looked a sight, in my old jeans and a jean shirt and a tattered leather jacket and I've just got out of a Rolls Royce. So he says, "We have reason to believe this car has been stolen."
Now, I'm a few feet away from the Rolls talking to this policeman, and I can see the car slightly rocking, because John and George are cracking up. So the policeman says "Are you the owner of this car." And I say "No, the owner is in the car."
Remember of course, the car has blackened windows so they can't see inside. So I open the driving door and ask them to open the door so the policeman can see who they are, but John says "Go on, away you go!" because he's enjoying it and he wants to string it out a bit longer.
Well, eventually he presses the button and the window rolls down and John stuck his head out. "Good evening officer." The officer went bright red and said "I'm sorry you've been disturbed." and he walked off. Then the Jag just disappeared.
It's a funny story, but it was a real moment of fear at the start.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black)
Johnny Dean : Paul was alone on stage. He said he wanted us all to hear a new song called Yesterday, and because Paul's voice sounded rather reedy and the acoustics were so bad, we all listened in silence to what was by no means an immediate song. When he finished, the silence became prolonged until John bawled out, 'What a load of bloody crap!' Paul was like thunder for the rest of the day, making very caustic comments about everyone and everything. But then, that is how Paul could be - all this cheeky, working class, one-of-the-lads stuff is all a PR invention.
(Source : not known)