Press Conference following the MBE Awards • Tuesday, October 26, 1965

Interview

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On October 26, 1965, The Beatles visited Buckingham Palace to receive their MBEs (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth II. After the ceremony, a press conference was organized at Savile Theatre in London.

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PAUL: “The man shouted out, ‘George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr.’ And Starr was the cue for us to walk forward. Left foot first. It was just like a show.”

RINGO: “Then we bowed, and then we walked to the Queen. Then we walked back and bowed, and then walked away.”

JOHN: “Left foot forward! We were drilled beforehand by some big guardsman fella. And every time he was reading out the names and he got to Ringo Starr, he kept cracking up!”

RINGO: “Nice man.”

PAUL: “There was nobody trying to get at us, though, they were all friendly, you know. In fact, we did about fifty autographs for all the people who were getting…”

JOHN: “We signed for all the people waiting to get their MBEs and OBEs.”

Q: “You were signing autographs to these people?”

PAUL AND JOHN: “Yeah.”

PAUL: “But they were all nice, you know. There was only one fella who said, ‘I want it for my daughter. I don’t know what she sees in you.'”

JOHN: “Did he say that?”

PAUL: “Yeah.”

Q: “What did you think of meeting the Queen?”

PAUL: “She’s lovely… very friendly. She’s got a keen pad. And I liked the staff. I thought they’d be like Dukes and things, but they were just fellas.”

JOHN: “She said to me, ‘Have you been working hard lately?’ And I couldn’t think what we had been doing so I said, ‘No, we’ve been having a holiday.’ We’d been recording, but I couldn’t remember.”

PAUL: “And then she said to me, ‘Have you been together long?’ And I said ‘Yes, many years.’ And Ringo said, ‘Forty years.'”

RINGO: “From the song of the same name.”

PAUL: “And then she laughed.”

RINGO: “Yes, she laughed.”

PAUL: “We all had a little laugh.”

GEORGE: “She just said, ‘It’s a pleasure to be giving it you,’ you know That’s what she said to everyone. And then she put John’s on, and said to him, ‘Have you been working hard?'”

JOHN: “I must’ve looked shattered.”

RINGO: “I was just butting in while she spoke to everyone else, you know. She said, ‘Did you start it all?’ And I said, ‘No, they did.'”

PAUL: “And then he said, ‘I’m the little one.'”

(laughter)

RINGO: “And I said, ‘I joined last. I’m the little fella,’ as I am.”

JOHN: “Isn’t that cute?”

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