Another slight variation (it's all in the fingers, don't you know) of the familiar shot of John, somewhere in Kenwood in 1965, with panda. Plus the earliest sighting of the grate beast - 20 November 1963, backstage at the ABC Cinema, Manchester. (This was the show filmed by Pathe for their newsreel The Beatles Come To Town, which you will doubtless have seen). Presumably the panda was a gift from a fan, and quickly commandeered by John to be taken home for Julian. Thanks to Glenn Marteney for the first photo.
The story of the Infamous Panda.
ReplyDeleteMy mother-in-law, Jacquie Paulden, at the time and a couple of her friends couldn't get tickets to see the Beatles in Manchester so they bought the panda as a gift for the Beatles and went to the back door of the venue, and asked to give it to the boys in person, but someone just took the panda and shut the door in their faces. So they marched off to the local papers and told them the story. A reporter went back to the concert with them and not only did they get to give the panda in person and have a photo shoot with them, but they got free tickets to the concert too. Needless to say they were in a bit of trouble in school the next day when their photos were all over the front page of the newspaper. There are lots of other photos which have my mum and her friends in, they were only 15 at the time.I Would love to know where that panda is now??