Good Ol' Freda Page #6

that was his mum...

"Can you make sure

he sleeps on it?"

Anyway, he brought it in,

just said "Here,"

and then I just

sent it out again...

whether she believed me or not

that he'd slept on it, but he did,

he put his head

on that pillow.

Honestly, if I could

do it, I would do it,

'cos I was one of them,

I was a fan me self,

so I knew where

they were coming from.

There was one particular fan

that stowed away on a ship

from America to Liverpool docks,

finished up on our doorstep.

Freda had many episodes

like that to deal with,

of fans that were just crazy.

They would just open the mail

and flip through the mail,

and go "Oh, this kid

wants such and such,"

or "This girl wants

a piece of my shirt,"

they'd just laugh, and I said,

"Oh, just leave it there,

'cos I've got a bit of your shirt,"

and they'd go "Good. "

When I typed the wages,

the balance went in the bank Fordham,

and they all got

50 pound in an envelope, cash,

for them to play around with

whatever way they wanted.

Now, I used to take

that money sometimes:

if they didn't come in that week,

Eppy'd just say to me,

"Now you go to one

of the bookings. "

I knew they were

playing at The Empire

and I was trying to

get through the crowd,

and in those days,

policemen were always big,

and this guy was a big guy

and he was on a horse

and I was trying to wriggle

through the crowd,

and I just said to him,

"I need to get into The Empire. "

He just blanked me.

And I said "No,

no, I work for them,

honestly,

I've got their wages,

I need to get

into The Empire. "

And he went, "You and

thousands of others. Hop it. "

Which one is this? Oh,

it's a Beatle one.

My mum is the most private person

I've ever met in my life.

She would never sit down

and put dinner on the table

and discuss just

idle chitter-chatter

about what's gone

on with The Beatles

in the past,

or anything like that.

That's just not her nature.

You know,

Freda, unless you knew her,

you would never

know what she's done,

'cos she never

tells anybody at all.

We did a gig the other month

in New Brighton

and Freda was in the audience.

I saw her come in, and I was

on the microphone,

I said "I'd like to welcome Freda Kelly,

The Beatles' secretary,"

and she just turned around

and walked straight out,

so nobody knew who she was,

they're all looking 'round

but she wasn't there;

she'd walked out.

A lot of people

in my mother's life

don't even know

her previous life,

so to speak, i. e. her job,

and she's always kept it like that.

It was a time of her life,

and things changed,

and then she became a mother

so things moved on,

so if they do happen

to find out, they are

rather surprised,

to say the least.

You know, some

things are very personal,

and I do respect the word privacy.

I like my own privacy,

and I think even The Beatles,

they're

entitled to

part of their lives

that really people

shouldn't invade.

Ritchie started going out

with a girl called Mo Cox

who was from Liverpool,

she was a hairdresser,

and we just got on

very well together, Mo and I.

I think it was

because she was just

an ordinary girl

from Liverpool.

Mo and Ritchie

got married in '65,

and then she had Zak

in the September, I think.

I happened to be in London

the day he was born,

and I was in the office,

and Ritchie called into the office,

and he said,

"I'm going to see Mo now,

and Zak.

Do you wanna come with me?"

and I went "Oh yeah, yeah,"

So I think I was

the second person

to see Zak,

soon after he was born.

John's girlfriend

... well, she was

his wife when I got

to know Cynthia...

she was out of the picture,

she was very low key.

We were told... but

that we weren't to say

anything... that

John was married.

Brian Epstein was sitting on it

for as long as he could.

I even had a friend

that was going out with John,

and she would go to bookings

and he would take her home,

but I couldn't tell her that,

"Oh please, end this now.

It's not gonna go anywhere. "

You really want to say something.

You're dying to say something,

because it is your friend,

but you work for a company

that have asked you

not to say things,

so you have given your word.

Freda had this

Liverpool trait of loyalty

in her love life

and other people's love lives.

Relationships

were amongst the top

priorities of

being personal things

that you did not publicize.

You certainly did

not kiss and tell.

I was out with Paul,

walking somewhere,

maybe he gave me a lift home

or he walked me to the bus stop,

somebody saw us, and then it was,

you know, I was marrying Paul,

and then they got a quote

"Well, Paul McCartney

is not marrying Freda Kelly. "

When it was released

that Paul had got married,

because people didn't know

that he was getting married,

phone call after phone call

was all Paul fans, crying down the phone,

"Why didn't you tell us

he was getting married?"

"We didn't know

he was getting married!"

and, oh, some of them

that wanted to kill themselves,

and "Oh, I'll never be

a Paul McCartney fan again!

He's gone and

married somebody else!"

so you just had

to calm them down

and say, "Well, you know,

he's still Paul McCartney,

he'll still be

making his records,"

and they'd be

"No no no, but he's

got married now and

it's not the same. "

I do remember the guy

from one of the papers.

He lived near me, you know,

he knew what my job was...

that I was working

for The Beatles...

and I remember him saying to me,

could I tell him anything?

"Freda, you just

have to put an envelope

through my door with

things written on it,

and then there will be an envelope

through your door. "

This was just before

George got married,

'cos I thought

"Well I ain't telling ya

that George is

going to get married,"

but I just looked at him,

and then I just said,

"Oh no, I wouldn't do that. "

Everybody needs money,

and we all like money,

or we'd like to

have more money

than we have,

but not to that extent.

I'm not prepared to sell me soul

to the devil for a few pounds.

That's just me though,

isn't it? You know

everybody

doesn't think like me.

Maybe some people think

I'm silly or stupid or...

She was a girl

and then a woman

with absolute

integrity and faithfulness.

So many otherpeople have,

over the years, told, I would say,

dirt digging type stories,

and Freda never did do that

and never would.

In the beginning, you know,

I was just a fan and everything like that,

but once I started working for them,

the loyalty set in.

It wasn't there from day one,

'cos I'm just a seventeen-year-old,

but then, as I'm maturing with them,

the loyalty is setting in,

and you don't break loyalty.

I think if you're loyal to something,

you should stay loyal.

If she had to be tough,

she would certainly be tough;

if she had to be sweet,

she was sweet anyway,

and she was intent on

getting the facts right all the time,

and lo and behold,

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