1963 age 17
For ages I’ve been telling people that I saw the Beatles at the Bradford Gaumont in 1964. This isn’t true; I saw them on the 21st of December 1963. It appears that this was the second time they had played in Bradford in 1963. They returned once more in October 1964, but I have no recollection of that visit.
Listening to music and learning about the ‘pop stars’ of the day, was a very different experience in 1963 compared to today. I first heard about the Beatles because they had a radio programme at 5 o’clock every Tuesday evening on what was then the BBC Light Programme. This was really the beginning of their growth in popularity. Their first record, ‘Love Me Do’, was not a hit but the second one, ‘Please Please Me’ went straight to Number One and from then on any Beatles’ record went straight to the top of the Hit Parade.
I used to enjoy watching the popular music programmes which were on TV: ‘Top of the Pops’, ‘Six Five Special’, ‘Oh Boy’ and my favourite, ‘Ready, Steady, Go’. It wasn’t possible to record programmes in those days and I can remember rushing home from Leeds, where I had spent the afternoon, hoping I would be in time to see the Beatles on a programme the name of which I’ve forgotten, one Saturday.
The first record player I ever owned was an old wind up gramophone which only played 78 rpm records. When I was about 15 my auntie passed on an electric record player which had belonged to one of my cousins. On this I could play 45 rpms and Long Play records. My mum wouldn’t let me buy any LPs but I did acquire quite a few singles and some Extended Plays which contain four songs. I had a few Beatles EPs and I used to play them in the kitchen when nobody else was around. This wasn’t too bad for Beatles songs because the adults quite liked them but it became a real issue when I got into Bob Dylan when I absolutely had to be on my own to listen to him. That’s another story
In 1963, I was a student at Bradford Technical College, studying for GCE ‘O’ Levels. I had been at Temple Bank school from the ages of 5 to 16. There is much more about my time at Temple Bank elsewhere. My school did not offer GCE exams at that time which is why I went to BTC. We had the majority of our classes in the city centre on Drewton Street which no longer exists. It was an old building and I think I heard that it had originally been Saint Bede’s Grammar School.
Our course was a two year one. Most of the students were from secondary modern schools which did not offer GCE and there were a few pupils from private schools who had failed their exams. We had to take six subjects. I chose English Language, English Literature, Spanish, Geography, Religious Knowledge and Biology.
A friend from my Spanish class and myself decided we wanted to go to see the Beatles. At that time the teenage girls in Britain were in the throes of Beatlemania. It was known that everywhere the group went they were mobbed by excited fans. Buying a ticket to one of their concerts was quite an endeavour. Sue and I were not planning to go together; she was going with her friends and I was going with one of mine, but we did meet up to go and buy the tickets.
We had to go to the Gaumont on one Sunday evening. The box office would open at 6 pm and the tickets would be sold on a first come first serve basis. This meant turning up early. We gathered outside the Gaumont and the queue stretched right around the building and goodness knows how far up Sunbridge Road. It was cold and dark and I didn’t realise how worried my mum was about my coming into town to buy the tickets. Fortunately, my sister‘s fiance had a van and my mum persuaded him to come and pick me up when it was getting late. He arrived around 10 or even later, we were approaching the box office but it was obvious that the tickets were running out. I bought two tickets one for myself and one for my friend whom I had persuaded to come with me. I felt relieved when Fred appeared and came with us to the ticket office. We bought our tickets and one of the staff members insisted that we put them away safely before going out into the crowd. I think the tickets cost 12 shillings and six pence.
The friend I went to the concert with, Kathleen, lived near us on the new Allerton council estate and we went to the same church. We became friends because her sister was in the church choir as was I and that’s how we met. To be honest we were both a bit strange. Neither of us had many other friends and we were really on the fringes of groups. We both thought we were better than everybody else. Many years later at her funeral her brother told me that he had to persuade her to go to the Beatles concert. I was absolutely enthusiastic about it but I think for her it was a bit too much like doing what everybody else was doing.
During the concert, especially when the Beatles came on stage, there was a lot of hysterical screaming which was quite common at Beatles concerts then. Kathleen and I refused to scream; we were far too cool, although we did actually stand on the seats so that we could get a better view.
People young and old are still impressed when I say I went to see the Beatles. One day, though, someone will say, “Who were the Beatles?” and I’ll stop telling the story.
Live Adventurously 
Still far too cool dear Susan!