Good Ol' Freda Page #7

if you didn't get the facts right,

you were in her bad books,

and I wouldn't like to be

in Freda's bad books.

I think that Freda's

motto in life

was "I'll be nice to you,

but don't cross me.

I'll not deal with you,

in fact, if you're

trying to tell

lies about my boys. "

I was quite

nervous around Freda,

'cos to me she

was like an idol.

I was about 14, there was

three of us worked together,

oh it was just

absolutely an amazing

thing to do at the time,

you know,

to think that one of The Beatles

could possibly walk in,

it was just... oh,

I just can't explain it

now.

It was amazing at the time.

They would put photographs

in envelopes

and they would

open certain letters,

and then bring the letters in

for me to answer,

and I would really

frank in the mail,

and this particular day,

one of the envelopes

that I put through

the franking machine

was a bit bulky,

so I opened it,

and when I opened it,

there was hair fell out,

and the girls were

still in the office,

and I just said,

"What's going on here?"

She was absolutely livid.

I mean,

being the innocent party,

I didn't know

nothing about it,

and then my friend Lorraine,

she owned up and said it was her.

It materialized that she'd cut

her sister's hair

and put her sister's

hair in the envelope

and pretended it was

going to be Paul's,

and I just said,

"Well, I just can't trust you after this. "

I still remember thinking,

"I've done nothing wrong,

it wasn't my fault!"

I just done a clean sweep,

didn't just sack the girl that done it,

I said, "That's it, sorry.

Can't trust you anymore. "

That was the only

time I've been sacked.

Wouldn't wanna live that day again,

that's for sure.

It was horrible... awful day.

The thing about Freda

is that if she found out

that somebody was telling lies

about somebody,

it'd just be "Come here you,"

in front of everybody

and she would castigate them

right down the banks,

and so she's a bit judgmental,

if you like, but so? That's Freda.

The bottom line was,

I had to run a tight ship...

I had to answer to Apple

and to The Beatles,

and if anything went wrong,

it was my head

that went on

the chopping block,

nobody else's.

It was August 1965,

and The Beatles were playing on The Empire,

and The Moody Blues were also

on the bill, with them.

I had popped in

to see the lads,

I just opened

the door slightly

and their band room

was just full of relations,

so I thought, "Oh,

I'm never going to get in here,"

so, I was involved

with one of The Moodys at the time,

so I went into their dressing room,

which was next door,

that was just them and they had

alcohol and drinks,

so I decided to

stay there for a drink,

but probably I stayed a bit longer

than I shoulda done,

and then I realized

that I had to get autographs signed

and photographs signed,

so anyway,

I came back, knocked on the door,

and I just walked in.

And as I walked in,

John said to me, "Where have you been?"

And I said,

"Oh, I've been next door,

I've been in

the Moodys' dressing room,"

and he went, "Whose fan club

secretary are you?"

and I went "What are

you talking about?"

I said, "I'm your

fan club secretary,"

and he went "Not anymore. "

He said, "You might as well

go back to The Moodys

and be their fan

club secretary,"

and I said "What are you talking about?"

and he went "You're sacked. "

And then I looked

at the other three,

so I said,

"Are you sacking me as well?"

and they went,

"No, we're not sacking you. "

So I got on my

high horse then,

probably because of the drink,

and I looked at him and I said,

"Well, I'll just work for the other three;

I won't do your mail anymore. "

He said "Oh, I was only joking,"

I went, "No you weren't,"

and he went

"Oh, I'm begging you, come back!"

and I said, "Well, I'll tell you what,

get down on your two knees

and beg me to come back,

you dumped me. "

He said, "If I get down

on one knee?"

and I said, "Go on then,

get down on one knee,"

and he did, and I said, "Oh, all right,

I'll come back to you. "

There has been quite a degree

of loss in her lifetime

which not many

people have gone through,

so, obviously, her mother dying

when she was very young,

my brother dying,

then my mum and dad getting divorced...

A lot of people have gone under

for less, and she hasn't.

She's a strong character,

and she's come out fighting every time.

Over a period of time, people have said

"Oh, why don't you do a book?"

or "You know,

you should do a book,"

and my son did ask me

... Timothy did ask me...

to do a few things,

and I just...

it was because I never talked about

The Beatles, or my past,

and then something would

come on the television

and it would jog my memory,

and I would say, "Oh, I went to that,"

or, "Oh, I remember

the civic reception,"

or "I remember this,"

and Timothy used to say,

"But mum,

you never talk about it,"

and I said, "Timothy, I haven't

got time to talk about it.

I'm more

interested in going to shops

and thinking what

to put on the table

tonight for dinner,

not to sit down

and talk to you

about The Beatles. "

And he just shook

it off, and then,

when my grandson

came along, I thought

"Well,

I didn't do it for Timothy,"

and then Timothy passed away

a few years ago,

and then when Nial came along,

I thought, "Well,

I'm definitely going to do it now. "

Shh, I can hear

the birdies singing,

yeah,

can you hear them singing?

You know, because one of these days,

he might just look at me

in the corner with

the shawl and the grey

hair and a cat

sitting on me knee,

and probably think,

"Oh, you know,

she never done anything,

or... "

I would like him

to be proud of me

and see how

exciting my life was

in the '60s,

and the fun I had.

If I hadn't 'a done it now

... and this is the truth...

If I hadn't 'a done it now,

I know I wouldn't ever have done it.

She could always say tomorrow,

tomorrow,

and she'll never sit

down and sort it out.

When Nial was born,

things definitely changed,

and I think that when anybody

has a child in that respect,

it does open a lot

of doors for people

and changes their position

in life in general,

and you can suddenly reinvent

yourself to a degree,

because Timothy

isn't around now,

and you don't know

what tomorrow brings.

When they came

back from America,

Brian Epstein decided then

that we had to move to London,

and you did, because in those days

everything happened in London,

wasn't happening up north.

We were planning on where

we were going to live

and what we were gonna do,

and what clubs we would visit,

and we were just...

all the excitement and the adrenaline

was, ooh, we're going to the big city,

the capital city.

So I went home and said,

"Oh, well, I'm going to London,

the fam's going to London,

and I'm going

to London with

the fam and everything,"

and I'm all bubbly,

and me father,

he just sat in the chair

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes