3 June 1963
Radio broadcast:
Steppin' Out
BBC Light Programme, 10.31 am - 11.30 am
Recorded 21 May
Concert:
Granada Cinema, Powis Street, Woolwich, London
This date was originally scheduled for a concert in Walthamstow, which was moved up to 24 May.
"We had to queue for hours to get tickets. I attended a well-known girls school and we were told that if anyone skipped lessons to queue, we would be expelled. Our love for the Beatles meant we couldn't bear to miss them. Prefects would ask more junior students in front of them in the queue to buy them tickets, in return for not reporting them to the teachers. Didn't think this might be a protection racket.
I don't know where Beatlemania came from. We heard Love Me Do and loved it and I had a penfriend in Newton-le-Willows who went to the Cavern Club to see them a lot and said they were "fab but a bit weird". I only had one friend who didn't like them and she was very lonely.
When they performed you couldn't hear the music - just hundreds of girls screaming and an occasional beat in the background. We were screaming too, of course. The audience were jumping up and down and lots of people were throwing jelly babies at the stage too because one of the Beatles had said it was his favourite sweet.
We saw the Beatles a few times at Woolwich and in Lewisham. Were lucky because the promoters didn't realise how many kids loved them so they weren't the headline act. Once they got to be superstars, we didn't get to see them any more.
Ann Finch"
Source: The Times, 7 September 2009
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