Paul and Linda spend Christmas in Liverpool

In mid-August 1968, Paul McCartney invited Linda Eastman to visit him in London. Linda travelled to London, leaving Heather, her daughter from a previous marriage, in New York and arriving in late September.

On October 20, 1968, they flew to New York for a brief visit. They went to Liverpool on October 25, 1968 and in early November, they visited Paul’s farm in Scotland. Their relationship deepened, with Heather becoming part of this new family unit.

In December, they travelled to Portugal where Paul proposed to Linda. Soon after their return, Paul, Linda and Heather went to the Wirral to celebrate Christmas with Paul’s father Jim, his second wife Angie, and her daughter Ruth, at ‘Rembrandt’, the house in Gayton that Paul had purchased for his father in 1964.

It remains uncertain whether Paul had the chance to introduce Linda and Heather to his father before this Christmas visit. However, Paul’s stepsister Ruth had already met Linda on October 25, and Paul and Linda may have met Paul’s family during their brief stop in Liverpool on November 5.

As expected, Linda took her camera along for the journey to Merseyside. Looking back, these photographs represent some of the earliest examples of Linda’s shift in focus from rock stars to more personal depictions of family life.

Neil Harrison, who would be a founding member of The Beatles tribute band, The Bootleg Beatles, had the opportunity to meet with Paul McCartney during this stay in Liverpool:

[…] One evening in December 1968, [Neil Harrison] and his friends embarked on an audacious spot of Christmas carolling outside a house in a nearby suburb, after hearing that Paul McCartney’s Aston Martin DB5 was parked there. Disappointed to be greeted by McCartney’s stepmother, Angie, the troupe began playing anyway. Then the flash of a camera went off at one side of the house and out stepped Paul with a guitar around his shoulder. “He was God,” says Harrison.

God, with his pregnant fiancée, Linda, at his side, proceeded to invite the carollers in. “We played ‘Rocky Raccoon’, ‘Mother Nature’s Son’. [Then] he asks, ‘What do you want to learn from me?’ and teaches me ‘Blackbird’, before showing me a new song he’d just written.” Ruefully, Harrison says over the years most people didn’t believe this anecdote about the new song — until the number surfaced in footage used in Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary Get Back. […]

From In character and on tour with The Bootleg Beatles (ft.com), July 20, 1964

Original Bootleg John, Neil Harrison has often told the wonderful tale of carol singing outside Paul McCartney’s father’s house ‘Rembrandt’ in December 1968. Eventually, Paul came out with his acoustic guitar and joined in the festive fun and then invited Neil and his Merry Yuletiders inside the house for drinks and an impromptu mini-concert on the staircase. Amazingly, nearly 52 years later, the elusive proof of the event has arrived. The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool is holding a retrospective Linda McCartney photographic exhibition and eagle-eyed BB friend Barry Roberts (Neil had told him the famous story years back) spotted the picture. To say Neil’s mind was blown when he saw Linda’s shot was an understatement! You couldn’t make it up and here’s that proof that Neil didn’t. There he is standing right behind Macca himself. Full story and interview to follow.

From Meeting McCartney – The Bootleg Beatles

PINK – MIKE THE PROUD DAD

POP star Mike McGear was yesterday drinking a drink — to take a phrase from his latest hit. The toast was: Benna, the baby girl pictured with him and his wife Angela. Mike, of the Scaffold — currently top of the charts with “Lily The Pink ” — became a proud father when Benna was born in Liverpool on Sunday.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Mike, the 24-year-old brother of Beatle Paul McCartney. “She’s the most beautiful girl in the world.” Why the name Benna? “We thought of Ben as a boy’s name,” Mike went on. “When it was a girl, my wife just added a couple of letters and we got Benna.”

His gift to the new 61b. 8oz. baby is … a playpen.

From The Daily Mirror – December 27, 1968

Going further

• https://beatlesliverpoollocations.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-christmas-carol-linda-mccartney.html
• https://beatlesliverpoollocations.blogspot.com/2021/07/christmas-with-mccartney-family-1968.html

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