The day Paul McCartney carried my case
AFTER a recent story in the John O'Groat Journal about Paul and Linda McCartney visiting Wick, I went on a desperate search for a relic that would help tell my own story of meeting the superstar couple.
The original article concerned two sisters who reflected on a missed opportunity to get Paul's autograph when the ex-Beatle came to Caithness 50 years ago on holiday.
The singer/songwriter and his family, along with their dog, visited the county in the summer of 1970 and then teenagers Irene Brass and Elaine Mackenzie said they couldn't believe their father had failed to get an autograph even though he skippered a boat taking them to Orkney.
My own story dates from 11 years later, when I was a student at the University of Kent in Canterbury and was returning to my parents in Wick at the end of the spring semester in March 1981.
I was carrying a fairly heavy case filled with books and a bag with food and a little black Daler sketchbook I used for impromptu drawings and thoughts.
The usual trip was from Canterbury West railway station to Charing Cross in central London and then from Euston via the sleeper train to Inverness, followed by a final long slog on the far north route to Wick – almost 24 hours of solid travel.
It was during the first part of the journey, between Canterbury and London, that I thought I saw Paul McCartney seated in an ordinary second-class compartment as I made my way to the toilet.
I dismissed it as probably being a lookalike we had at the university, but when I returned from my trip to the loo I saw a Linda "lookalike" just opposite him.
"No way," I thought. It was too much of a coincidence that our university lookalike would have a girlfriend who looked just like Paul's wife Linda.
I learned later that Paul and Linda had a home near Ashford in Kent so occasionally got on at that station when they went on trips to London.
Now this was just a few months after John Lennon had been fatally shot in New York by crazed gunman Mark Chapman in December 1980 so I was a little reticent about bothering the couple. But of course, curiosity got the better of me and I went over with my trusty little black book to hopefully get an autograph.
Almost 40 years later I won't pretend to tell you every word that passed between us, but when I told Paul I was from Wick he talked about some memories of the place.
"Do you know the stocking factory there?" he asked.
I lied and said I did.
"I got some lovely Argyle socks from it," he informed me, but truth be told I had no idea what Argyle socks were at the time so just nodded in agreement.
I recently learned that the stocking factory was originally sited in Argyle Square in the town before it moved to the airport industrial estate.
Anyway, I don't think I sat with them long as I really didn't want to be a nuisance and appear like some crazy stalker. As said, it was only a few months after John Lennon had been killed so the incident must have been firmly on their minds but I tactfully never mentioned it. I thought it was strange, however, that they had no bodyguards and seemed very relaxed in the open compartment. Nobody else approached them on the journey and I guess that was perhaps due to their modesty and ease of blending into their surroundings.
They were full of smiles and pleasantries and more than happy to sign my little black book without leafing through the pages of embarrassingly bad poetry.
"To David love Linda McCartney Paul McCartney" is written in the now mildewed book with the exact time I noted of 11.57am on March 19, 1981.
Though the couple were extremely pleasant, the real defining moment came after we got to Charing Cross and Paul saw me struggling with my luggage.
"Let me give you a hand," he said as he picked up the case and carried it all the way down the platform to the ticket barrier – and London platforms like the ones at Charing Cross are extremely long.
It was a very kind gesture and really showed what kind of person Paul was.
I have a few other autographs in my black book, including actress Joanna Lumley whom I met at a vicar's tea party I gatecrashed in Canterbury in 1982. She was extremely pleasant too.
My book was really starting to deteriorate in the house rafters but, spurred on by the previous article on Paul and Linda's visit to Wick, I retrieved it and will keep it safe now.
