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Previous article February 10-14, 1970 • Family trip in the South of England
Session Feb 21, 1970 • Mixing "The Lovely Linda", "Glasses/Suicide", "Momma Miss America", "Singalong Junk"
Article Feb 24, 1970 • Paul McCartney lodges a complaint against fans
Session Feb 24, 1970 • Mixing "Hot As Sun", "Every Night", "Don't Cry Baby"
Session Feb 25, 1970 • Recording and mixing "Man We Was Lonely"
Next article Feb 28, 1970 • George Martin and Geoff Emerick win NME Awards
Since moving into his London home in Cavendish Avenue, Paul McCartney had to deal with female fans lingering day and night outside his property. The mood of the fans shifted when Linda Eastman, soon to become Paul’s wife, moved in during September 1968. Many fans disliked Linda and would often hassle her when they saw her. Their constant presence also became a nuisance to the neighbourhood.
On this day, Paul McCartney decided to join his neighbors by lodging a complaint against some of the fans.
On March 12, three other girls were charged with placing dustbins and milk bottles in front of the entrance to Paul’s house to prevent him from returning home, as well as using insulting behaviour. Each girl was conditionally discharged for six months.
The girls sit on our wall. I wouldn’t mind if they just sat, but they play their transistors very loudly and shriek and giggle and shout. If you try to talk to them reasonably, they just hurl abuse and bad language at you. Really awful language.
Mrs. Evelyn Grumli – Paul McCartney’s neighbor – Interview with the Sunday People, April 5, 1970
We are fed up telling people to move on. We have to come up here every day. The McCartneys have complained to us about the girls standing outside causing a nuisance. The neighbours have complained, too. Everyone is entitled to a bit of peace and quiet.
A policeman – Interview with the Sunday People, April 5, 1970
[The Apple Scruffs] gave themselves the privilege of approving or disapproving of Paul’s live-in companions; they adored Jane Asher because she was a British celebrity with just the right amount of upper-middle-class hauteur to elicit their respect and deference — and they thought she was”just right” for Paul, as did the London press and almost everyone else who had given up on becoming his wife or long-time companion themselves. They were a bit wary of Francie Schwartz, but not hostile—she was a “wild” but ebullient American with a good sense of humor, and they kind of knew she wouldn’t be around for a very long time. But they detested Linda, and terrified her.
They hated the way she dressed — it was as if she just threw something on, anything. Jane was a TV star, always immaculate and gorgeously groomed, as if for an important appearance on daytime television or a glamorous first-night in the West End. Linda was, let’s face it, not gorgeously groomed. As she said in her own song, the light came from within, and it certainly was not visible to the Apple Scruffs. Mainly, they hated the fact that Paul appeared to be so happy with her. They wanted him to be happy, but not happy enough to dispense with their adoration. This time, he seemed to need nothing else but that “arrogant American bitch.” Linda was not “charming” with strangers, that was just not her. Paul was the charming one when they were together in public, while she always seemed as if she wanted to get away, with him. In any case, the Scruffs decided that they were going to hate her, and they had more than a few resources with which to demonstrate their aversion.
They shouted epithets at her, even when she was with Paul. They booed and hissed. He would say, “Now there, girls, behave properly!” and smile and tell Linda it was nothing to worry about, that it was quite meaningless. But she had just given up her life in America and had moved into a new home in England with her child; this was virtually her first encounter with the natives, and it was very unsettling.
From “Linda McCartney – A Portrait” by Danny Fields, 2000
When he first brought Linda back, we would all stand in a row and scream abuse at her.
[…] A lot of girls, many of them Americans, broke into Paul’s home and stole all his photographs. He used to leave his windows open and the girls were always going in and out. They would climb over the fence or sometimes get through the door. You could push it a certain way and it would open.”
Sally – Paul McCartney’s fan – Interview with the Sunday People, April 5, 1970
[…] So I gave up Apple and decided that our man McCartney deserved a visit. As I turned into Cavendish Avenue I was pleasantly surprised to see about 25 fans (January 31) sat on the wall opposite his house. I recognized some girls who were at Apple and we stood around talking. I hadn’t been there five minutes when one of the windows at Number 7 shot open and who else but Mrs. Paul McCartney appeared and shouted, no, screamed…”Go away won’t you? He’s my Paul now, not your Paul. Go away!” We all stood around in amazement, then a few less lady-like ones in the bunch gave few comments, not unlike those heard last summer. But our patience was rewarded, for about an hour later, the curtains parted and Paul peered through the window, smiled, waved and disappeared. There wasn’t even time to lift camera to eye but it satisfied most of the girls. I later read in the musical papers it was around that time Paul was working on some new songs. Apple released a statement in February that Paul is to issue a solo LP of his own compositions in mid-March or early April. […]
Alex Millen – Fan recollection from January 1970 – From Meet the Beatles for Real: Beatles bits
Beatle Files Complaint
LONDON (UPI) — Paul McCartney of the Beatles has joined neighbors in complaining about the girls who muster outside his house at night.
“Things reach a head every weekend with dozens of teenagers, mainly girls, there in droves,” an inspector at the police station in St. John’s Wood, the London area where the Beatle lives, said today.
He said McCartney lodged a complaint against the girls.
“We can only move them on by threatening an obstruction charge. They stand outside all night, sometimes in the bitter cold — I don’t understand it,” the inspector said.
Earlier, an elderly woman neighbor told police, “these girls chalk filth on the footpaths. They shriek and giggle all night.”
From Lansing State Journal, February 24, 1970
Police move Beatle fans
Police were called to disperse a crowd of teenagers outside the home of Beatle Paul McCartney, in Cavendish Avenue, St. John’s Wood, London, late last night. A police spokesman said: “From time to time, we are called to the road to disperse fans who become too noisy.”
From Liverpool Echo – January 29, 1970
Dustbins and bottles outside Beatle Paul’s home — 3 girls in dock
THREE attractive young girls who went to see Beatle Paul McCartney at his home in Cavendish Avenue, St. John’s Wood, ended up in the dock at Marylebone Court, charged with using insulting behaviour.
P.C. John Bleasdale said that on March 12 at 8.55 p.m. he saw five girls place three dustbins and a number of milk bottles across the entrance to No. 7 Cavendish Avenue. A woman who was walking along looked at the girls, turned round and walked back.
They were shouting and making a noise and when a nearby resident came out they ran off. Three of them were detained.
The three, Linda Neal, 20, typist, of Swakeleys Road, Ickenham, Middlesex; Susan Huntley, 18, bank clerk, of Denmark Hill, Camberwell, and Paula Marshall, 17, receptionist, of Upper Walthamstow Road, Walthamstow, were each conditionally discharged for six months after they admitted the offence.
Questioned by the magistrate, Mr. John Phipps, the officer said the dustbins were being used to prevent the singer from returning home.
Mr. Phipps told the three: “You must restrain your enthusiasm in future so you don’t get into this sort of situation.”
From Marylebone and Paddington Mercury – March 20, 1970
A trap to catch a Beatle
Five Beatle fans, all girls, couldn’t stand the thought of Paul McCartney making a quiet entry to his Cavendish Avenue home in St. John’s Wood, London. So, in the middle of the evening they put milk bottles and dustbins across the entrance of the Beatle home. But their antics annoyed a resident who heard them shouting and making a noise. They were also seen by a policeman who yesterday told his story in Marylebone Court where three of the girls appeared charged with using insulting behaviour.
Linda Neal (20), a typist, of Ickenham, Middlesex, Susan Huntley (18), bank clerk, of Denmark Hill, Camberwell, and Paula Marshall (17), receptionist, of Upper Walthamstow Road, Walthamstow, admitted the offence.
The girls were each conditionally discharged for six months.
From The Birmingham Post – March 14, 1970
