Good Ol' Freda Page #4

because he was behind me,

and he must have

seen how shaken I was,

and Eppy about to erupt.

He started laughing, and going

"Oh, what have you done, Kelly?"

and when a Beatle laughed,

Eppy laughed.

But it wasn't a proper laugh.

He wasn't amused at all.

And I just

remember looking at him

and saying "I'll

stay late to do it. "

and he said, "I know you will,

you'll definitely stay late,

until all this work is done. "

I was very

naive for my age;

I just came into the music business

when I was 17,

up until I was 16, I'm camping with

the Guides and things like that.

Once I joined

the Beatles organization,

I grew up overnight

in more ways than one,

and I remember saying to John,

"You know what? I don't know

what it is about him... "

I said "I can't

put me finger on it,"

and I know I was

rabbiting on for England,

and John started laughing,

and then he went

"Have you no idea?"

and I said,

"No idea about what?"

He put it to me

very innocently,

and I always

respect him for that,

he said,

"Well let's say this, Fre,

if you're on a desert island with him,

you'd be safe. "

And the penny dropped.

Where nowadays it's legal,

and quite rightly so,

but in those days they had

a lot to put up with.

Probably that had a lot to do

with his mood-swings as well,

and trying to keep

it from his parents

and other people.

The music industry was

a man's industry in the '60s.

In The Beatles' circle,

there wasn't any

high-ranking women.

Women, or girls,

worked on the admin side,

but the highest

you can go in admin

is just be

secretary to the main guy.

I was secretary

to Brian Epstein,

but there wasn't

a hard road to climb,

you just had to stay there.

There was a lot to get done,

so anybody that

came into the office,

I would put them to work.

I would get them

slicin' the envelopes,

tearin'

the foreign stamps off,

stickin'

photographs in envelopes,

and groups around town

...because they never had any money,

musicians around town...

they used to come into my office

for a free cup of tea,

or if it was raining,

or to hear the records,

so while they

were sitting there,

nobody sat

there doing nothing.

They all used to help out.

I bumped into

the lead singer of

The Cryin' Shames,

Ritchie Routledge,

and he had a big

post bag on his back,

and I said

"Where are you going?"

he said, "I'm going

to the post office,"

I said "What for?", he said,

"I've got all The Beatles' vinyl stuff

in the bag, Freda told me

... not asked me, told me...

to go and post it. "

She just had

this way about her,

a bit like

a schoolteacher really.

You know, you had to do

what the schoolteacher said,

and you had to do

what Freda said, really.

Well, you didn't have to do it,

you wanted to do it for her,

'cause she'd just

give you a little smile,

and you did it.

When Ringo first

joined the band

...I think he was only in the band about

two weeks or something...

I came into the office,

he said

"I'm getting

letters to my house,

and if I bring them in,

will you do them?"

And I went "No, I won't," I said,

"I've got too much to do. "

I said "Get your

mother to do it,

you know all

the other parents do,"

and he went "Oh, me mum

doesn't know what to do. "

He put the sad

eyes on, and just like

"Oh, go on, please?

You know, I don't get many. "

To shut him up I went

"Oh go on then, bring them in. "

He brought about nine letters

in this little poly bag,

and he actually put

the answers to the

questions that they'd

asked in the letters

on the top of

the letter to help me,

'cos he said to me,

"If you don't know the answers

I've put the answers down

for you and everything. "

He must have

thought I was terrible,

'cos I looked at him and I said

to him "Is this all you get?"

I couldn't believe... he must

have wanted to shoot me,

and I went, "You've only got

nine letters. "

He said, "Will you help me?

Will you come and

show me mum what to do?"

I ended up going 'round,

knocking on 10 Admiral Grove,

and Elsie opened the door,

and I said, "I'm Freda from the office,"

and she went, "Oh, thank God for that,

come in, love, come in. "

And I said, "Well,

I've just brought stuff

for you,

to show you what to do. "

She said,

"Have you had any tea?"

And I said "No," and she went,

"Would you like egg and chips?"

and I said, "Oh, I'd love

egg and chips, yeah. "

And then we started talking,

and we got on like a house on fire.

Every week, for years,

I went to that house.

Will the neighbors

not become envious

of all the wealth that's been

accumulated by the Beatles?

No, not

the neighbors 'round here,

they're all very good

and all quite proud.

Comin' back now,

just everything is flashing in me head

about just how

much joy and happiness

and laughter went

on in this house.

I had a great time here.

I loved it,

I loved coming

here every week.

It's probably...

I haven't been in this house

for about 46 years.

I spent a lot of my life here.

I used to stay 'til about

1 or 2 in the morning,

going through the mail,

and talking, and laughing,

things about my life as well,

and who I was going out with at the time.

And it's not one of The Beatles,

before you start.

Elsie'd give me advice,

motherly advice.

She was very jolly,

very outgoing,

and a really strong laugh.

I told her all my secrets

when I was a teenager.

Maybe she looked on the daughter

that she didn't have,

maybe she

looked on me as that.

She decided I wasn't getting

enough money, wages,

and she was at a party,

and Eppy was there,

and then she, few drinks down,

and then she starts in on him

and said "You don't know

what you've got there,

you've got

a good worker there. "

And she was going on and on,

and I was going "Well, shut up. "

And she was going, "You should pay her

some more money, you know.

You don't pay her enough money.

You should give her a rise. "

I really got a rise,

two weeks later.

His words were,

"We've reviewed your wages, Freda,

and we've decided

to give you a rise. "

Well, you asked me about

a mother figure before...

she was the nearest

to a mother figure for me.

I just adored her.

Once

The Beatles were in London

and criss-crossing the globe,

Freda became probably

the link

between the Beatles' families in Liverpool

and each individual Beatle.

I was surprised

when I met her,

because I thought, to have taken on

this mammoth, ridiculous job,

she must have been

some 50-year-old,

settled-in-her-ways

old secretary

with bad feet and a large bosom,

but she was anything but:

she was vivacious

and fun and just a snip

of a teenager,

this young, thin girl.

I suppose you could say that

The Beatles saw her as a sister,

and the families

saw her as a daughter.

NEMS used to close

on a Wednesday afternoon,

but I never told home that I was off

on a Wednesday afternoon.

We used to go out with Paul's dad,

we used to call him Uncle Jim,

we used to go to a place called

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