Jane Asher and Paul McCartney (English Version)

I SAW HER STANDING THERE

This story begins on 18 April 1963.

Barry Miles: On 18 April 1963, the Beatles took part in a BBC concert broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall. They were at the hall most of the day, for a morning rehearsal and an afternoon run-through of the grand finale when all the acts on the bill assembled on stage to sing 'Mack the Knife'. While they were waiting around, the Beatles did a photo session for the BBC weekly listings magazine Radio Times. The photographer posed them with Jane Asher, a seventeen-year-old red-haired actress who had been a guest panellist on the BBC TV show Juke Box Jury.

Howard Sounes: She was a lovely-looking young woman, just as pretty as Paul had seen in the newspapers, for Jane Asher was equally if not more famous than Paul McCartney in early 1963, an actress on stage and screen since she was only five years old.

Barry Miles: Jane had a wonderful ability to put people at their ease. She had an air of seriousness and a self-assurance rare in someone so young, combined with the energy of a teenager. She was outgoing, but her enthusiastic conversation was informed by a fine education and years of experience as an actress, making her far more sophisticated than the average seventeen-year-old. She was also extremely pretty.

Peter Asher (Jane's brother): I had (and I'm happy to say still have) two very beautiful sisters, Jane and Claire. Jane, two years younger than me and two years older than Claire, was already a very successful actress in Britain, well known and admired to this day. And just like a celebrity who loves music, she was asked to go see a new band that made all the girls squeal. A band that just arrived from Liverpool and got their first hit. Radio Times magazine invited Jane to attend their performance in London, write a review and try to understand what all the fuss is about. She was delighted with the offer; she had never seen the Beatles, but she read a lot about them, like the rest of us.

Howard Sounes: 'Noisy' was Jane Asher's less than enthusiastic verdict of the concert until the Beatles bounded on stage. 'Now these I could scream for,' she remarked, and duly did so for the Radio Times' photographer, showing herself a good sport.