Dudley Edwards of BEV paints a mural in Paul’s house

About

In late 1966, Paul McCartney asked the pop-art collective BEV (the initials of Douglas Binder, Dudley Edwards and David Vaughan) to paint his Knight piano in psychedelic colours.

On January 13, 1967, Paul’s girlfriend, Jane Asher, left London for a five-month US tour with the Old Vic. Around the same time, Paul dismissed his housekeeper and chauffeur. He then invited Mal Evans, one of the Beatles’ roadies, to stay at his Cavendish home and temporarily act as a housekeeper. Dudley Edwards of BEV claimed that he moved into Cavendish to paint a mural, joining Paul and Mal for some time.

At one point, I was doing murals for the Beatles. I did a mural in Paul’s house and lived with him for about six months. I later painted a mural for Ringo and lived with him for a bit as well. This was around the time of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Paul’s girlfriend at the time, actress Jane Asher, was away doing some theatrical production in America. Consequently, Paul liked having me around as a sort of companion.

Every time I got started painting, Paul would say, “Come on, let’s go off to the recording studio! Come on, let’s go off to a nightclub!” or, “I’ve got a meeting with Epstein, will you come along?”

When Jane came back, Paul told me that Ringo had wanted a mural too. So, I went over to live with Ringo.

Dudley Edwards – From Dudley Edwards Page (godfreytownsendmusic.com)

We got invited around for dinner when they were writing the music for Sergeant Pepper. We went up to Paul McCartney’s bathroom and they were writing and singing there and they asked if we’d wait downstairs – ‘We’ll only be an hour and then we’ll come and have dinner’. I thought we couldn’t really crowd them like this, so we went downstairs! We had dinner with them a couple of times. On the second occasion, we’d stayed rather late and were watching television. In those days everyone was taking drugs and we were no exception – nothing too heavy, just some smoking – and we were just watching a blank television with all the electrical spots coming on and bleeps and all that. Paul McCartney was thinking we were looking at the night sky. We all joined in and tried to see the same pictures

Douglas Binder – From Sixties City – Binder Edwards and Vaughan – BEV

Last updated on February 17, 2024