Paul McCartney comments about his break-up with Jane Asher

On July 20, 1968, Jane Asher was invited on Simon Dee’s BBC Television show “Dee Time“, and publicly announced that her engagement to Paul McCartney had been called off, an announcement that surprised Paul himself.

Weeks before Jane’s announcement, in early June 1968, Paul began a relationship with an American scriptwriter named Francie Schwartz.

Paul, joined by Francie Schwarz, left London for his father’s home in Cheshire shortly after the announcement. He gave brief interviews from there the following day without giving any detail.

When we finally made it to his home city, we acted very proper, sleeping in separate rooms. But the first trip was painted black with Jane’s public announcement of their broken engagement. The reporters swarmed the house, and I had to hide while Paul got rid of them. It put him in a poisonous mood, and so did the hundreds of pictures of Jane that were spread all over the dining room table, We hardly spoke. He sang and played for his father, a salty old guy who seemed tremendously sensitive. In the afternoon, Paul would work on “Jude,” making the house ring with melancholy. […] In spite of Paul’s long talk with his father about how he needed a different kind of girl we were like a pair of unmatched shoes. He had wildly fluctuating moods, desperate curiosity. I was bewildered, working overtime at a job I couldn’t even define.

Francie Schwartz – From “Body Count“, 1972

Most of us couldn’t understand the attraction. Francie was an unsophisticated, unspectacular little brunette who seemed to have pushed her way into Paul’s affections despite being out of her depth. In fact she was to be Paul’s secret weapon for avoiding a one-on-one showdown with Jane over Linda Eastman with whom he was falling head over heels in love.

Inevitably, Jane, returning from an out-of-town theatre date, was devastated to find Francie in residence. Far too well-bred to force a major confrontation, Jane hurried off to her parents’ home, leaving her mother to collect her things later. By September, having served her purpose, Francie was packed off home to New Jersey or wherever and in next to no time Linda [Eastman] filled the vacated place that the in-between girl had kept warm for her.

Tony Barrow – From “John, Paul, George, Ringo & me: the real Beatles story“, 2006

Paul stays silent about break-up

MYSTERY still surrounded the break-up of Beatle Paul McCartney’s romance with actress Jane Asher yesterday. Speaking of the broken courtship which Jane revealed at the week-end, Paul said: “I’m just going to wait and see what happens.” Then he added: “Jane is still a very beautiful girl.“

Answering questions by Simon Dee in BBC TV’s “Dee Time” show, Jane, 22, said : “I haven’t broken it off, but it’s finished.” The secret surprised close friends who were expecting the couple to marry this year. They became engaged at Christmas.

After meeting at London’s Royal Albert Hall, they had been “going steady” for five years.

Yesterday Paul, relaxing at his father’s £15,000 home at Gayton, Wirral, Cheshire, refused to answer questions about Jane or the romance. He said he had been watching “Opportunity Knocks” on ITV when Jane revealed the secret on the Dee Time show.

Then, before he signed autography for three German fans, came the hint that the romance might not be over yet, with the words: “Jane is still a very beautiful girl.” Earlier, a family friend had said: “We think this is just a tiff.”

After flying home from India, Paul denied a report that he was going to marry soon, but added: “If there’s any girl I would marry it’s Jane — but I’m not going to name a day.“

From Daily Record – July 22, 1968

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