My Sweet Lady Jane
Since I'm going to the Beatlefest this week, I thought a post on a Beatle Girl would be appropriate. Jane Asher was born in London on 5 April 1946. Jane was educated at Queen's College, Harley Street. At the age of five she made her film debut in 'Mandy' (1952), the story of a deaf girl. Her interest in acting began when her parents took their three children to a theatrical agency, thinking it would be fun for them to learn to act. She was 17 years old when she first met the Beatles on Thursday 18 April 1963. They were appearing on the BBC radio broadcast 'Swingin' Sound' at the Royal Albert Hall. Jane went along to pose for Radio Times photographer Tony Asper who pictured her screaming in the audience. The article appeared in the 2 May 1963 edition of the Radio Times with Jane commenting, "Now these I could scream for."Jane then approached them while they were having a snack in the Royal Court Hotel in Sloane Square, where they were staying. She mentioned to them that she had been asked to write about them in the Radio Times. They were aware of her as she'd been a guest panelist on the TV show 'Juke Box Jury' and they were all charmed by her.Brian Epstein returned to his own hotel and Ringo stayed behind to have an early night. Singer Shane Fenton, who'd also been on the concert bill that day drove John, Paul, George and Jane to journalist Chris Hutchins' flat, situated on the top floor of Kings House on the Kings Road. Initially, it was George who seemed to engage most of her attention. During the course of the next few hours Paul began to show his interest in Jane and the others left him to talk to her alone. Later he escorted her home and arranged to meet her again.Recalling the meeting, Paul commented, "We all said 'Will you marry me?' which is what we said to every girl at the time. She was a rare London bird, the sort we'd always heard about."The romance became public when they were snapped by a photographer as they left the Prince of Wales Theatre after attending Neil Simon's play 'Never Too Late.'Paul moved into the Asher family home at 57 Wimpole Street, a five story town house. It happened shortly after Paul had missed his last train home to Liverpool following a date with Jane and stayed the night. Margaret Asher suggested that he regard the house as his London home, thus saving on hotel bills. He moved into the top floor where there were two rooms and a bathroom. The second room was Peter's bedroom. Jane and Claire had the two rooms below.This relationship with an upper middle-class family broadened his cultural horizons. There were stimulating discussions around the Asher family dinner table and the two of them attended musicals, classical concerts, plays and exhibitions and went on holiday together to exotic places. Paul even opened an account at Coutts, the Queen's bankers, and ordered Jane's birthday cake from Maxim's in Paris, while Jane helped Paul select his new car, a midnight-blue Aston Martin DB6.The young actress became the inspiration for a number of his songs, initially purely love songs, which changed as the relationship entered stormy patches - primarily because she refused to give up her career. 'She Loves You' was written in the music room at Wimpole Street. Songs inspired by Jane included 'And I Love Her', 'Every Little Thing', 'We Can Work It Out', 'You Won't See Me', 'I'm Looking Through You' and 'Here, There And Everywhere. Paul and Jane were together from 1963-1968.
