Ringo’s a star, as Pete knows best
RINGO STARR turned 80 last week. Happy birthday Sir Ringo. How did that happen? How can the youthful stars of my youth suddenly be so old? Hmm. As a pre-teen I kept a careful watch on the Beatles’ ages because Paul was 11 years older than me, which was something I had to factor in when I considered at what stage we would marry. It seemed to me that our nuptials could take place when I was 18 because then he’d still be in his 20s (just) and not totally, revoltingly old.
The only other obstacle to our happiness was that we’d never actually met. Though I had (lucky me) seen the Beatles perform live at Wembley and I’m pretty sure Paul looked directly at me and probably fell instantly in love – even though I had plaits and glasses.
My friend Lucy said I was wrong and that he had looked directly at her. Such a fantasist! Anyway she was planning to marry George when she was 18 so she couldn’t have Paul as well. It simply wasn’t fair.
Ringo – born July 7, 1940 – was the oldest Beatle, a few months older than John, and heaps older than George who was the baby of the band. So old was Ringo that it was a wonder he could still struggle out of bed in the morning.
I knew, as did all my friends, an awful lot of Beatles lore. There was even an alphabetical Beatles playground skipping rhyme, as follows “Apple, Beatles, Cavern, drums, Epstein, fringe, George Harrison, John Lennon, Mccartney Paul, Ringo Starr ends them all”.
We knew the sad stories of lost Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe (who had died) and drummer Pete Best (who had been fired). Even then the awfulness of Best being fired and replaced by Ringo touched our idiotic little girl hearts. Imagine being the unwanted almost Beatle.
Best, 78, sent Ringo a Happy Birthday note on Twitter: “Thought about it and thought why not? Happy birthday
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Ringo. It’s a special one. Have a good day.”
There’s still a lifetime of pain there. A couple of years ago Best said he would love a call from Paul. “Paul has always hinted that he’d like to meet up. The door’s always been wide open.”
It must have been hard for Peter Best over decades seeing from afar the life he could have had, even though Lennon’s murder was the ultimate downside of celebrity.
Though the Beatles were huge in the 1960s, their cultural significance has grown in a way which was unimaginable back then, a time when most people thought pop music was a flash in the pan and that all the pop stars would grow up and get “proper” jobs.
We’re told time is a great healer. But for Best I wonder if the passing of the years hasn’t made things worse. looking very sweet in culottes and a straw hat. But she said the tricycle was surprisingly wobbly when cornering.
The truth is, I’ve never ridden a bike on a road except on Fire Island in Newyork, a barefoot holiday paradise where there are no cars and no hills.the bikes there don’t even have brakes let alone gears so you just pedal backwards if you want to slow down or stop.the thought of cycling on a real road and being shouted at by men in white vans puts me off. And I’m even more scared of those permanently angry men-on-bikes in Lycra.
Plus there’s lots of traffic again now so I think I’ll kick cycling into the long grass. Nice idea, but no thanks.