The Beatles in Scotland by Ken McNab

Author:Ken McNab [McNab, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857902023
Publisher: Birlinn

Josephine Clark and her pal Margaret emerged blinking from the bright lights of the Glasgow Odeon into the dark night, her ears still ringing from the wall of noise generated by some 2,000 screaming Beatles fans. Barely able to speak, she was walking on air after watching John, Paul, George and Ringo transformed from four figures decorating her bedroom walls to real pop stars she had just seen and heard in the flesh. The fact that she could hardly hear a note didn’t matter at that precise minute. What mattered was she had seen them, she had got up close and personal. Well, as personal as you can get amid hundreds of other shrieking youngsters.

But another member of her family had got even closer to the Fab Four, thanks to an ingenious ruse by her mother, who was on duty that night as part of the St Andrew’s Ambulance Association team, on hand to look after fans overcome by the whole experience. Earlier that night, she ‘acquired’ a St Andrew’s uniform for Josephine’s elder sister Frances, and the get-up became her ticket to the backstage area at the Odeon – and an amazing view of the concert from the side of the stage.

Josephine left the theatre with total recall of the night, but Frances left with one of Ringo Starr’s drumsticks. Memories of the sisters’ Beatle bonanza came flooding back after she spotted a picture of her mum in the Glasgow Evening Times, going to the aid of fans at the concert. Now Josephine Giblin, she says: ‘I was amazed to see a picture of my mother in the paper, it brought the whole night back into focus. I went to the concert that night with my friend Margaret. I would only have been 14 at the time. I was a mad Beatles fan. You couldn’t hear any of the music because of the screams. I was definitely a screamer, absolutely. I couldn’t speak for about three days afterwards.

‘My sister Frances, who is two years older than me and was just as much of a fan, couldn’t get a ticket. My recollection is that she was very upset, so my mother got her a first-aid uniform and took her along. She blagged her way in with this uniform and my mother helped her make her way backstage. She stood in the wings and watched the whole show from there. I was very jealous, but it didn’t cause a major split or anything like that. She had a coffee cup she said Paul McCartney had drunk out of, although I don’t know if that’s true. It’s a story that has become part of family folklore, but she definitely had the drumstick.’

For her part, Frances has little memory of the night apart from picking up her souvenirs of the show. She says: ‘I am amazed at Josie’s memory. I laughed when I heard her story, because I had forgotten most of it. I remember being disappointed at missing out on a ticket. She says that is why my mother smuggled me in.

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