Paul McCartney and Jane Asher get engaged

I’ll wed Jane but not yet, says Paul

Beatle Pain McCartney said yesterday that he and actress Jane Asher were definitely going to get married, but when, they didn’t know.

Pail and Jane and their sheepdog, Martha, arrived yesterday at Paul’s sheep farm beside the Atlantic rollers, near the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland.

Earlier, before leaving an hotel on the outskirts of Glasgow for the 140-mile drive to the farm, Paul said: “At the moment we just want a quiet week’s break at the farm. We like it very much there. We’ve both been very busy during recent months.”

He added that his busy life was the reason why he could not plan marriage yet.

Want a long honeymoon

“I am not trying to hedge,” he said, “but work keeps interfering. When I am clear, Jane is working, and when she is clear, I am working. I suppose we could get married and have a couple of days together, but we both want to wait until we have no commitments, and have a long honeymoon.”

Paul said he get sick of posh hotels.

Paul and Jane were held up on the outskirts of Glasgow, when the fan belt on their Aston Martin snapped on Sunday night and they stayed overnight at the hotel.

But by the time they were called for breakfast a mechanic had repaired the trouble.

From Liverpool Daily Post – December 12, 1967

GROOVIN’ IS LOVIN’ (1960’s style)

Paul the pop idol in action, Jane the actress ditto. Two young intelligent people. Both able to lead separate lives yet still be wrapped up in each. other.

WAITING for the wedding of Paul McCartney and Jane Asher over the past four years has been like watching a long fuse fizzle slowly towards a bundle of dynamite and wondering just when you’re going to hear that inevitable explosion! And, of course, there have been plenty of uninformed know-all type folk only too ready to tell you the fuse is going to burn itself out at any second and the explosion is never going to happen.

The romance between the demure, freckle-faced actress and the last Beatle bachelor has endured and matured with an admirable disregard for the unwanted yet constantly present barrage of publicity that is sure to surround the lives and loves of such famous personalities.

Mind you, it’s worth remembering that when they first met at the Royal Albert Hall with Jane nervously negotiating a tricky press interview with The Beatles on behalf of Radio Times, Miss Asher possessed rather more experience of the entertainment world than Messrs. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr. The Beatles were an up-and-coming pop group with a couple of chart successes to their credit, but Jane Asher was an accomplished actress with umpteen stage, TV and radio parts behind her. At that time almost any show business expert would have assured that Jane Asher’s popularity as a theatrical star was destined to last very much longer than The Beatles’ popularity as recording stars!

Paul and Jane have managed to follow their separate careers without giving themselves too many problems. There has never been any question of either giving up a professional opportunity simply for the sake of old-time romantic togetherness. Sensibly each has realised that periods of separation need not threaten the increasingly close friendship.

The security of their mutual love and trust has been such that Jane could go off on theatre tours while Paul stayed in London to record; or Jane could be tied up in concentrated TV drama rehearsals while Paul crisscrossed the globe for another series of one-nighters with The Beatles.

On the other hand Paul and Jane share all their professional as well as their private interests. Paul is a keen theatregoer with a thoroughly developed interest in dramatic art. Jane is one of The Beatles’ most devoted fans although her taste in music generally leans towards the classics rather than The Fab Forty.

When Jane has some new photographs taken, Paul goes through the prints with her and the final choice of favourite pictures and reject shots is a joint one.

When Paul has worked out a new song, Jane’s initial reaction to the tune and the words is of special importance to him. Otherwise the couple share remarkably similar tastes in many things.

To compensate for the times when they have to be apart or when they want to lead their individual lives, Paul and Jane find their own special ways of getting away from it all and being together. It might take the form of a Sunday lunch cooked by Jane at Paul’s luxurious St. John’s Wood home or it might take the form of a quiet weekend for two at Paul’s remote farm way up there in Scotland.

When Paul decided to join the other Beatles in travelling to North Wales to learn more about Transcendental Meditation from the Maharishi, Jane followed a few hours later by car because a TV engagement in London prevented her catching the Bangor train with the rest of the party. When Jane had to spend her twenty-first birthday four thousand miles from home, Paul flew the Atlantic to join her in the city of Denver, Colorado.

Those who still believe that marriage is the only really true demonstration of lasting affection cannot understand why the couple have waited so long without becoming man and wife. Some want to believe that Paul is too fond of his freedom and refuses to forsake his bachelorhood. Others are convinced that Jane will not say “Yes” because she’s too much of a career girl to become Mrs. McCartney. Both theories are way off beam.

The simple truth is that life the way it is could not be more of a groove for Paul and Jane. They have not been ready to move on to the marriage phase. Like most things, this has been by happily mutual agreement.

Mind you, that doesn’t mean wedding plans have been postponed indefinitely. I DON’T own a crystal ball and I DON’T have secret inside information on the subject but I’d plonk down more than a fiver to support my guess that Paul and Jane will get married during 1968.

From Fabulous208 – December 16, 1967

Paul and Jane visited her

Two little ladies of Merseyside reach their 80th birthday today and I know you will join me in sending them good wishes.

Mrs. Edith Stopforth is at present recovering at her home, 3 Carr Lane, Liverpool, from a long spell of illness.

Among the many visitors she has had while she’s been ill were Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, Paul’s brother Mike McGear (of “Thank U Very Much” fame) and her own daughter, Mrs. Angela McCartney.

Angie McCartney married Paul’s father, my good friend, Jim, in 1964. It was a second happy mariage for both of them. […]

From Liverpool Echo – January 16, 1968