Kick Off

After the release This Week of what has been billed as The Last ever Beatles song, a Halifax woman tells how the Fab Four secretly stayed in her family home after a show 59 years ago.

" Every teenager in West Yorkshire" was thrilled when The Beatles came to Bradford to Kick Off their autumn 1964 UK tour, said Gail Moss.

Gail, who was 14 at The Time , had more reason to be excited than most.

It was around 23:00 GMT on The Night of The Band 's Friday 9 October show when George Harrison , John Lennon , Paul Mccartney and Ringo Starr arrived at her Halifax home.

The Fab Four - who by then had three albums and five No 1 hits behind them - needed somewhere private to stay to avoid being trailed by adoring fans after performing at Bradford's Gaumont Cinema.

Gail's father, Freddie Pearson, knew an associate of Beatles manager Brian Epstein and had offered up The Family 's Jacobean Manor House , where he had opened a private members' club the previous year.

Her mother Rita feared their garden would be " trampled by thousands of screaming fans" But , thanks to police roadblocks, The Band were able to slip from The Venue and reach Holdsworth House in secrecy.

After arriving, The Band chatted to guests at The Bar before eating a dinner of trout, Turtle Soup , cold duckling and Steak Tartare - a " rather rich selection" said Gail - in an upstairs room.

Then They Returned to The Bar , where Harrison, McCartney, Starr and Epstein drank until the Early Hours of The Morning .

Lennon, who was celebrating his 24th birthday, retreated to bed early with toothache - But not before causing great amusement with jokes including an imitation of a pompous Yorkshire mill owner.

The Band 's stay meant that Gail and her sister Kim, then eight, had to vacate their bedroom for The Night .

" John and Ringo slept in our room And Then Paul and George slept in my parents' room and we all shared The Bathroom along The Corridor , " Gail told BBC Radio Leeds.

Gail got up at at 06:00 The Next morning, desperate to meet The Band before they left. She need not have been so keen.

" They didn't come down for breakfast on the Saturday Morning and at 11 o'clock they were still in their rooms, " Gail recalled.

" I was in tears, I said 'I'll never meet them'. And My Mother sort of knocked on The Door and said My Daughter 's waiting here to see you. "

Gail said she was " mortified" to be thrust in front of her heroes by her mother But The Band were " absolutely charming".

She recalled how her sister shyly hid behind a curtain and " Ringo went to Find Her and Bring Her out" and " was very sweet with her".

McCartney, meanwhile, offered Gail a cigarette " which I didn't take and which I could probably have sold for a lot of money" she added.

The brass beds which Starr and Lennon slept on still remain at Holdsworth House - which is now a Hotel - along other other mementos of The Beatles ' visit.

They include a signed menu and The Band 's £2 15s bar bill - on which The Head waiter had written their name as " Beetles".

The Fab Four 's visit also left Gail with quite A Story .

She laughed: " When I went back to school on Monday they were all furious with me because I hadn't told them. "

Source of news: bbc.com