It was 55 years ago today...

‘That was the day,’ says John, ‘the day that I met Paul, that it started moving.’ - John 


Call it a simple twist of fete, but it's quite fanciful how John and Paul met. Who better than them to tell how that magical moment happened:



I remember coming into the fête and seeing all the sideshows. And also hearing all this great music wafting in from this little Tannoy system. It was John and the band. I remember I was amazed and thought, ‘Oh great’, because I was obviously into the music. I remember John singing a song called Come Go With Me. He’d heard it on the radio. He didn’t really know the verses, but he knew the chorus. The rest he just made up himself. I just thought, ‘Well, he looks good, he’s singing well and he seems like a great lead singer to me.’ Of course, he had his glasses off, so he really looked suave. I remember John was good. He was really the only outstanding member, all the rest kind of slipped away. - Paul 

“I went round to see them afterwards in the Church Hall place. I talked to them, just chatting and showing off. I showed them how to play Twenty Flight Rock and told them all the words. They didn’t know it. Then I did Be Bop A Lula which they didn't know properly either. Then I did my Little Richard bit, went through me whole repertoire in fact. I remember this beery old man getting nearer and breathing down me neck as I was playing. “What’s this old drunk doing?” I thought. Then he said Twenty Flight Rock was one of his favorites. So I knew he was a connoisseur.”It was John. He’d just had a few beers. He was sixteen and I was only fourteen, so he was a big man. I showed him a few more chords he didn’t know. … Then I left. I felt I’d made an impression, shown them how good I was.” - Paul

The scene of John and  Paul's meeting from Nowhere Boy.



“I was very impressed with Paul playing Twenty Flight Rock. He could obviously play the guitar. I half thought to myself - he’s as good as me. I’d been king pin up to then. Now, I thought, if I take him on, what will happen? It went through my head that I’d have to keep him in line, if I let him join. But he was good, so he was worth having. He also looked like Elvis. I dug him.” - John




So, John asked Pete Shotton to ask Paul to join the band. And as we all know, he accepted and this is one of the first pictures of John and Paul together in the band. The rest is beautiful rock and roll history.