Paul McCartney meets Mal Evans and travels to Spain

In November 1966, Paul McCartney decided to take a driving holiday in France. On November 6, he flew to France on a plane ferry with his brand new Aston Martin DB6, drove to Paris, then down to Bordeaux, where he met with his Mal Evans on November 12.

Together, they planned to drive to Spain and visit John Lennon on the set of his film “How I Won the War.” However, they learned along the way that filming had moved on and John was already back in London. Disappointed, Paul decided to book a safari trip to Kenya on the spot.

Both Paul and Mal had brought home movie cameras. Paul’s tapes were later lost when fans broke into his Cavendish home and stole them, but Mal’s tapes have surfaced, showing some glimpses of Paul and Mal strolling through a plaza in Bordeaux and chatting with local boys, as well as filling up at a petrol station and visiting a farm.

Once the arrangements for the safari trip had been made, Paul and Mal left the Aston Martin in Seville and flew to Madrid and then from Madrid to Nairobi in Kenya, with a stop in Rome.

Postcard sent by Paul McCartney to Ringo Starr from Spain. From “Postcards from the boys” by Ringo Starr, 2004 – “From Paul, and Mal Evans. This has got to be one of our oldest cards. Zak was our only child at this point. November 66. We moved to Weybridge in ’65. This is probably Paul’s last holiday with Mal. He was killed in the Seventies. Mal was great — the gentle giant. I first met him in The Cavern. He was a part-time bouncer and worked for the Post Office as an electrician. Neil Aspinall needed
some help with the equipment and Mal was always this friendly, big guy and so we got him involved. That’s all we ever had, Neil and Mal — what a team — thanks!”

MAL’S PAGE – A special report by Mal Evans who went on safari with Paul

Our rendezvous was outside a theatre in Bordeaux, Tuesday evening at seven o’clock. Paul had flown out from Lydd Airport ahead of me. He arrived dead on time and we began an exciting ten-day holiday which took us down through France into Spain and on from there to Africa and the National Parks of Kenya.

PAUL’S CAR

We took it in turns to drive Paul’s dark green DB6. On the journey south we just stopped when we were ready to do so, looked around until we found a decent hotel and booked ourselves in. We took time out to see the sights — Paul went mad with his movie camera and used roll after roll of film everywhere we went. We bought souvenirs from Paul’s favourite type of antique shop. Before we left France he’d picked up a fantastic old oil lamp — like something out of “Aladdin” – and I collected an antique double-barrel shotgun which the border people wouldn’t allow into Spain so we left it at a little café just north of the actual frontier.

Our route took us through San Sebastian, Madrid, Cordoba and Malaga to Torremolinos. The original intention was to drive East all along the coastline beside the Mediterranean and meet up with John at Almeria. But by phoning London we found that John had finished work on “How I Won The War” earlier than expected and was on his way home with Cyn and Neil!

“That’s torn it,” exclaimed Paul, “O.K., how about a safari as compensation?”

“Spain isn’t really safari country, Paul,” I replied blankly. “No, but Kenya is!” came the prompt reply.

We sorted through maps and got in touch with our very helpful travel agency. In no time the spur-of-the-moment schedule was planned. Drive to Seville and have someone get the DB6 back to London while we flew to Madrid. Then another plane from Madrid to the city of Nairobi in Kenya. By way of Rome where we spent ten hours looking at St. Peter’s and everything. And taking a sightseeing bus trip which ran all through the sort of Knotty Ash of Rome and back into the centre! […]
From The Beatles Monthly Book – January 1967

From The Beatles Monthly Book – January 1967

Last updated on September 28, 2023

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Paul McCartney's November 1966 holidays

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