ABC Dig Music

I've got lots of Beatles memories.... after all I saw them at both Christmas shows in London, and twice at the NME Poll Winners' shows in the UK, the weekend that Sgt. Pepper was released was somewhat special (basically everywhere you went people were playing it), there's also the open sessions in Abbey Road in 1983 where we could hear unreleased stuff in the studio (2) in which it was recorded, but I guess that my favourite is a toss up between the day I had an encounter with John and the day I met Paul.

In the summer of 1971 John and Yoko were doing some book signings of Yoko's re-issue of 'Grapefruit' and one was going to happen just down the road from where I was working in London. So, in my smart work suit I wandered down to the bookshop and saw a huge crowd, despite John not being due for a while. Rather than simply surge in the crowd I simply walked round it and went into the shop looking as if I knew what I was doing. After a while loitering in the quiet of the shop some police arrived (to control the crowd) and one came up to me and asked me if I was the manager! I think they were rather annoyed that no-one had told them about the event and the crowd was by now blocking Oxford Street! Not long after John and Yoko turned up and sat behind a desk with a pile of books. Inevitably there was a huge rush of people to the desk, but everyone seemed either to be gawping at the Great Man, or taking photos. John seemed a bit irritated and called out "Is anyone going to buy the book", to which I replied.."I'll take two". So, he and Yoko signed two copies and passed them over to me.

I've still got mine, the other I gave to a friend who was leaving our work that week. Years later she saw my copy and nearly fainted - she had thought that the signatures were pre-printed and hadn't realised that they were real!

This whole thing is filmed in one of the versions of the 'Imagine' film, but my bit obviously hit the cutting room floor!

My meeting with Paul was less chaotic. In 1988 I ran the computer systems for the Administration at a university in the UK, and Paul was awarded a Honorary Degree. My "interest" in The Beatles was well known and my boss realised that if I didn't get to meet Paul then mysteriously payroll and other systems would fail (only joking).

Prior to the day I met up with Paul's advance team to discuss details. Security was important. On the day I was inside the ceremony and took some nice photo's, including one of Paul in his academic regalia posing (thumbs up) just for me. Sadly, I was so astonished by his posing that I moved, so I have the best blurred photo of Paul in history.

After the ceremony there was a media session and I was the university person in charge, and at the end of it although Paul was being ushered to the lift he'd spotted me earlier and nodded to me, so he came over to chat. I got him to sign a my daughter's copy of 'Rupert and The Frog Song' and then after some more conversation, my copy of a rare booklet called 'Pixerama'. Paul hadn't seen one for years and asked me if I could send him a copy. Which I did, and got a nice letter back from his office.

Not everyone (yet) had a Digital Radio. I'm listening over the Internet - and being in WA have to overcome the 2 hour time difference - and what I am hearing is in MONO.

What a waste of an opportunity for a quality netcast.

(And, I met John once, and had a long conversation with Paul another time.....)