June 6, 1962, The Beatles went back to London to audition for George Martin. George Martin liked what he heard and gave the boys a contract with Parlophone.
Sandi was able to accompany John on this trip. While they were in London, John bought Sandi a beautiful 2-carat diamond engagement ring. Sandi’s hand was shaking so much when John put it on her finger, he almost dropped it! That night was a double celebration at the hotel room for Sandi and John’s engagement and for landing the record contract. The party went on ’til dawn.
August saw the sacking of Pete Best. The group had finally got fed up with him. They liked Ringo much better. Ringo was thrilled to be a Beatle. Ringo was a much better drummer and his personality was a thousand times better than Pete’s. The group was on the cusp of stardom.
John and Sandi were planning their wedding. They were going to marry as soon as John got a break in his schedule. Due to Sandi’s excellent academic record, she graduated from Liverpool University a year early and graduated summa cum laude. Sandi graduated in June of 1963 with a degree in accounting and business management. Time for another party!
June of ’63 rolled around and Sandi and John still couldn’t get married. John hardly had a free moment. It was always something going on: A performance, travelling, photo shoots, interviews---never a dull moment. At least now Sandi was free to go with him without worrying about school and work. There was more demands on John and the boys with more gigs and now they were also making records.
One night in a hotel room somewhere in England, Sandi and John were lying in bed, talking.
John asked Sandi, “Kitten ,how would you feel if we eloped?”
Sandi lay there in the dark, thinking about it. They were planning a church wedding with all the trimmings, but with John and the boys soaring popularity, it wasn’t feasible. If John and Sandi had a wedding anywhere in Britain,it would turn into a circus, paparazzi and all kinds of gate crashers intruding on it. I don’t want our wedding turning into a side show, Winston’s right, eloping is the way to go.
After a few minutes, Sandi asked John, “Where? When?”
“Paris. Right now.” John said seriously.
“Oh, Winston, Paris! How romantic! But how will we get out of the hotel? You’ll be spotted.” Sandi said.
“Paulie’s got some disguises. I could put one of those on. His disguises work great. Paulie had one on one time and he even fooled Eppy, it was so good.”
“Yeah, ok let’s do it.” Sandi said. “I’m sure my family and friends will understand why we had to do it this way.”
“If we leave now, we can be back by tomorrow evening.” John said.
The next day was a rare day off for the Beatles, so nobody would suspect anything when they found Sandi and John gone.
Sandi packed a bag, John put on one of Paul’s diguises: It was a long beard and a pair of little round spectacles, similar to the disguise he would wear in “Help!” later on.
Sandi couldn’t stop laughing when she saw him. They
snuck out of the hotel and headed for the airport.
Written by Sandi. This is original copyrighted work and
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