News

News feeds |

Photo Studio

Memories of the Beatles

For a time during the Sixties it really seemed as if Christmas wasn't Christmas without a number one record from the Beatles.

I Want to Hold your Hand, I Feel Fine, Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out and Hello Goodbye all topped the charts over the Christmas period and even now, more than 30 years later, interest in the group remains strong.

This Christmas, for instance, BBC2 is screening a major new profile of their manager, Brian Epstein, and over the past few months a new crop of Beatles books has appeared in the shops.

One new offering particularly worthy of note is Barry Miles's The Beatles; a Diary, an intimate day by day history.

As its title suggests the book is quite literally a day-by-day chronology of the Beatles' career, following them through each recording session, concert performance and TV appearance.

Detailed though Miles's research undoubtedly is, however, one episode which has not found its way into the book is the day when the Beatles came to Sutton-on-Trent.

It all happened on Friday October 9, 1964, which just happened to be John Lennon's 24th birthday. Beatlemania was officially in full swing, and less than a month earlier the group had returned from their first full tour of the USA.

On October 6, 1964, two days before the Beatles arrived in Sutton-on-Trent, Barry Miles informs us that they had been in the studio at Abbey Road recording the first takes of Eight Days a Week, a song which would become a highlight of their fourth album, Beatles for Sale.

The day before they arrived at Sutton-on-Trent, Ringo secretly took his driving test at Enfield, and in the afternoon all four Beatles were back in the studio recording Paul's song She's a Woman -the B-side of their next chart topping single I Feel Fine.

On the following day - the day they came to Sutton-on-Trent - the Beatles were driving north from London to begin a 27-date British tour at the Gaumont Cinema in Bradford.

Motoring up the A1 sometime in the early afternoon, they had tried to obtain a meal at the Manor Hotel in Long Bennington, but found that the chef had already gone home.

They continued their journey to Sutton-on-Trent where, at the Old England Hotel, no such problems were encountered.

The owner, Mr William Pike, quickly set his staff to preparing a late lunch of poacher's soup, ham and eggs and sherry trifle.

Realising the importance of his visitors, Mr Pike offered the Beatles a bottle of Marquis de la Rose Sauternes, but they all opted instead for glasses of cold milk.

As the Beatles ate their meal, Mr Pike contacted the Newark Advertiser, and a photographer rushed to the scene.

His picture, reproduced here 34 years on, shows the Fab Four with Mr Pike, his staff, and, at the end of the row, a very lucky, very excited nine-year-old girl, Vivien Stevenette.

Now working as a teacher in Peterborough, Vivien Stevenette still cherishes the memory of her time with the Beatles, and recalls that it came about through the swift action of her mother, Mrs Janet Stevenette of Caythorpe.

Mrs Stevenette was an employee at the Old England and on the day in question had just driven in to Newark to pay in the lunchtime takings at the Midland Bank.

The manager had an urgent message for her to ring Mr Pike, and on hearing the news, Mrs Stevenette rushed straight round to the St. Clares convent school in The Park to collect her daughter, Vivien.

Needless to say, Vivien was a huge Beatles fan. Vivien recalls: "When Mum arrived at the school, I thought something must be wrong.

When we got outside, however, I could see she was bursting with excitement and couldn't wait to tell me that I was going to meet the Beatles.

"We did the journey from Newark to Sutton-on-Trent (eight miles) in ten minutes. "As I peeped round the door where they were eating I was almost beside myself with excitement.

Mum ushered me in and I smiled shyly. "They all said hello, but the biggest thrill was when Paul (my favourite) came over to talk to me. He was utterly charming, asking me my name and things about school.I, on the other hand, could hardly speak and remember nodding a lot."

Once they had finished their meal the Beatles all signed the hotel visitors' book. Their signatures remained a proud exhibit at the Old England for quite a time before someone tore the page out.

As the Beatles prepared to leave, the Advertiser photographer asked for one last picture "with the little girl".

Vivien Stevenette recalls that: "None of them took much notice and continued climbing into their Rolls Royce, except for Paul. He turned and walked back to me and I got my picture with him.

"When we got home I remember running up the street to tell all my friends and show them the napkins the Beatles had used to wipe their mouths." (Vivien's mother and father kept the napkins for many years afterwards).

Vivien Stevenette's memories of the day she met the Beatles end with a most poignant postscript. In December 1980 she was working as an exchange teacher in New York when John Lennon was assassinated outside his apartment building. She said: "It seemed strangely close.

I felt a friend had been taken from me, and it was nice that I was able to attend his memorial service in Central Park...I remember crying and thinking how fortunate I had been to meet such a great man."

TOP: With the Beatles: George, Ringo, John and Paul at the Old England Hotel, Sutton-on-Trent on October 9, 1964. Standing behind (right to left) are Mr William Pike and some of the hotel staff: Mrs Janet Stevenette, Mrs Gulia Aversa (waitress), Mrs Dorothy Jordan (kitchen staff), the Beatles' chauffeur and nine year old Vivien Stevenette.

<Back