Good Ol' Freda Page #9

like a guy dressed up

as a bit of a clown,

and he had a spotty,

funny-type suit,

and I thought

"What's going on?"

and then this man... I didn't know him,

I found out his name then,

it was called Ivor Cutler...

and he come over to me

and he just said to me,

"You've got a nice-shaped head. "

We all eventually got on the bus,

and I dived for the back,

I thought, "Well, I'll go

on the back seat,

and, you know, you're not really

seen on the back seat,"

and then Paul

eventually got on the bus,

and he sat by the driver,

and then he called my name,

and he went,

"Freda, where are you?"

and I went,

"I'm here, I'm on the back,"

and he went,

"Can you come up the front?"

and I went, "Do I have to?"

and he went, "Come up the front. "

I thought, "Well, he's getting severe

here now, do as you're told. "

You couldn't book the hotels

in The Beatles' names

because they

wouldn't have you,

so you always had to book them

under false names,

and Neil was doing

some of the hotels,

and I said to him, "Why don't you book it

in the Women's Institute

or the Catholic Women's League

or something like that?"

and he went,

"Oh, that's a good idea,"

so I had to go up

to the counter in the hotel

and say, "Hello,

you've got a reservation

in the name of

the Women's Institute,"

and then they went, "Oh fine,"

I said, "Well, we're just come in now. "

The shock on

people's faces when we all

trooped in...

because it was The Beatles,

it was people dressed weird...

it was a very mixed bunch,

very odd bunch,

and I was one of them.

But where, I think,

Paul was decided to do it there and then

was 'cos it was so quickly

after Brian Epstein's death.

He thought it might hold us all together,

or hold them all together,

but I don't think it worked.

That's just my opinion.

You know, you don't wanna

think about that,

you can be big-headed,

and say,

"Yeah,

we're gonna last ten years,"

but as soon as you've

said that, you think

"We're lucky if we

last three months. "

Well obviously, we can't keep playing

the same sort of music

until we're about 40.

When I as at 40, we

may not know how to

write songs anymore.

I hope to have enough money

to go into a business of my own

by the time we do flop.

I've always fancied having

a ladies' hairdresser.

I string them, in fact, and strut 'round

in me stripes and me tails,

you know,

"Like a cup of tea, madam?"

The Beatles stopped touring in

roughly 1966, I think,

then Brian

Epstein died in '67, and

Magical Mystery

Tour was in '67,

and Apple had started by then.

In the beginning,

when Apple first opened,

it was great:

the fun and the madness

and all different nationalities

in the press office.

People didn't

act as if they were

working in

an office or a business,

and then it became more settled down,

more normal,

and there wasn't as much fun.

I loved

the beginning part of it,

'cos it was fun

in the beginning,

and it was fun for them,

they enjoyed it so much.

Every group wants to be in the charts,

or wants a hit record, or...

Everything was exciting in the beginning:

they got a number one,

and then they

were asked to appear

on the Royal

Command Performance,

and they saw the queen,

and they were a hit in America,

and the civic reception,

and it was all these landmarks,

and... where does it stop?

You can't keep carrying on

like that, can you?

Towards the end of the '60s,

it wasn't what The Beatles were doing

as a group anymore,

it was what they

were doing individually.

I know Paul's was... he was

bringing out his own LP,

John and Yoko were doing

the peace movement,

and George was

doing things, I think

with Clapton,

I can't remember,

Ritchie had two sons by then,

and he was more interested

in, sort of, a family life.

And then the penny was

dropping with me,

that we aren't gonna be Beatles

as a group anymore.

Are you still the Beatles' fan

club secretary? How's business?

Fine, except for the post day.

They don't have

a group anymore.

Well they've still got four members,

haven't they?

I don't like to lie,

but it was trying to bend the truth,

when people were asking you questions

about what was going on,

you had to more or

less say, "Well yes,

The Beatles are

still together,

and everything's great,"

but it wasn't great.

And now,

what's the arrangement today?

Well last August,

Paul rang me up

and said he didn't want people

to be writing about him as a Beatle,

which I was doing, and he wanted to split

this word, Beatles, up.

They are four individual people now,

recording and everything,

and we'll write all

about Apple artists,

so we're still writing about

the four Beatles

'cos Paul is

still an Apple artist.

Is the atmosphere today

anything like it was ten years ago?

No, no.

What's missing?

The closeness.

It was all fun when we were teenagers,

but your life changes,

and my life had changed,

I was then 27, I mean,

I was married now,

had a baby son,

and I wanted more children,

and I was, we'll say,

concentrating on that.

I then found out

I was pregnant.

I'd been trying

to get pregnant for a while;

I desperately

wanted this baby,

and I just wanted to make sure

that everything was gonna be all right,

so that was more important

to me than my job,

was my married life, my son,

and the baby on the way,

and then that's when I thought,

"Well, I'm out here. "

I went to London,

had a discussion

with Neil Aspinall,

the head of Apple,

who was their road manager

in the beginning,

and George and

Ritchie were there;

it was just... that was all,

I remember we were 'round a table.

I told them that I was pregnant,

and they said,

"Well, do you think you would

be going back to work?"

and I said, "I won't be

going back to work,

you know,

I'll have two children then. "

And then George

finally spoke up

and said,

"Freda, you were there in the beginning,

you're there at the end,

let's call it a day.

Let's end the fan club. "

You're still

involved in the fan club?

Well, I'm sorta

trying to wind it up.

This is what I wrote:

"Well, this is it.

John, Paul, George,

and Ringo have each

gone their separate ways,

and they are no

longer collectively

an item.

There it is. Eleven years.

Eleven years in which

we have become a very strong,

happy,

and close circle of friends.

There will not be

another official fan club

for The Beatles as

individual artists.

Please do not write again.

Yours faithfully,

Freda Kelly. "

I haven't read that

since it went out.

I actually felt

quite sad, reading it.

With me being

a Beatle fan myself,

I just knew that

this is going to

break a lot of

girls' hearts, so I musta

put a lot of

lights out for people.

Well, the lights

went out, didn't they?

At the back of

all this, I am still

...or was... am

still a Beatle fan,

so I do think

the way they think.

We were still getting

a lot of letters every day.

I took them all home with me,

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