MY BEATLES PLATE

Almost 40 years after I bought it, my Beatles plate finally wound up where it belongs yesterday, on the wall of our kitchen in Gomshall. This plate was part of a job lot of Beatles memorabilia for which I paid $20 dollars in 1975 at a bric-a-brac shop in Greenwich Village in NY, though I also picked up a few bits and pieces at the first ever NY Beatlefest in 1974, the one where I bumped into May Pang who was buying stuff for John.

         It looks to me as though this plate is very old, cheap too as it has no hallmarks on the rear. Unless it’s a reproduction it was probably manufactured before the Fabs adopted the now well-known logo with the dropped T in Beatles, so 1963 going into ‘64. Though I can’t remember exactly what came from where, among the assortment of stuff I’ve kept in a box at home for years are a Beatle wig, a pair of girls’ nylon stockings, an orange four-string ukulele, a purse, a comb, various badges, a Cavern membership card, some cigarette-card style b&w pictures, all by Dezo Hoffman, and an album in which to stick them, and a programme for a 1963 UK tour. There was another, slightly larger, plate which had a crack in it, and which eventually broke.

         The ukulele bit the dust as a result of our daughter’s ill-treatment and I originally had two wigs and stockings sets but gave one of the wigs and a set of stockings to a couple as a wedding present in the ‘80s. The groom, a mega rock fan, later told me his bride wasn’t particularly enamoured of the gift though he certainly was. I was of the opinion that my present was far more valuable than, say, six wine glasses, and would certainly be worth more in 20 years’ time. In the event it didn’t matter – they were divorced a few years later, though I never did found out who kept what.