“1963 Nov 30th. Sunderland Empire. When I was 14 years old,  my friend and I won a competition, by raising money for charity. The prize was a “With the Beatles” record, free seats for their concert in the second row from the front AND we got to meet them backstage before the show. Someone gave me the cheque as a joke for them to sign and they did! Only 9 months earlier they had been at the bottom of the bill with Helen Saphiro at the top of bill… now they were facing thousands of screaming fans. George and Paul were very chatty. The first thing that struck me, after seeing them on the telly and in magazines, was that they were full size people!”