#a northern wind britain 1962-65

[torchlitinthedesert]

“Joy Davis was on a family holiday in Cornwall, teaming up with a girl cousin of the same age, when they realised to their consternation that the new Beatles single [She Loves You] was about to come out:

“Fortunately a catering assistant we had befriended in the hotel was a fellow fan and told us where we could find a record shop - 30 miles away. We pestered my uncle to take us, but he was somewhat reluctant, sensibly pointing out that we would be unable to play the disc until we got home… He failed to appreciate that for two teenage girls consumed by Beatlemania, it didn’t matter that we couldn’t play it. To keep the peace, he agreed to take us to the shop, on the proviso that we behaved impeccably for the rest of the holiday. We agreed, of course.

“So, on the release day, we bought our copies, and when we returned to the hotel clutching our precious vinyl, we found a note slipped under our door, from our fellow fan, to say she had the evening off, and if we went to her room in the staff annexe, she would let us play the disc on her Dansette [record player]. What followed was a great evening listening to the Fab Four, eating cakes she had got from the hotel’s afternoon tea service selection and quaffing West Country cider…”

From David Kynaston, A Northern Wind: Britain 1962-65

[delightfullyatomicfest]

Sounds interesting but maybe hard work

[torchlitinthedesert]

'I wish the girls had won without picking up easy marks on the Beatles,' lamented [TV critic Bernard] Hollowood in Punch after Brownhills High School for Girls had defeated 'the male grammarians of Hull' in the recent final of TV's [quiz show] Top of the Form. 'It seemed grossly unfair for boys to be familiar with the nomenclature of this booming group... The boys were routed here and the girls answered with smirking, contemptuous certainty.'

Reflections on a UK pop quiz in early 1964, David Kyanston, A Northern Wind: Britain 1962-65