Beatles Fiendish Thingy's and Other Great Stuff!

'We like Karachi, yeah yeah yeah'

KARACHI:

Exactly 50 years ago, in the early hours of June 8, 1964, certain guests from England arrived at Pakistan’s largest airport, their British Overseas Airways Corporation jet landing for a brief transit. The Beatles were in Karachi, their yellow submarine parked on Pakistani soil.

The Beatles started their first-ever world tour on June 4, 1964, in Copenhagen, soon after having taken England and America by the proverbial storm. After their next performance, which took place in the Netherlands, they made their way back to England. However, they were soon headed for Hong Kong. In order to cover the 5,967 miles from Heathrow Airport in London to Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon, the band members had to stop for a couple of hours at Jinnah International, known then as the Karachi Airport, with previous stops at Zurich and Beirut.

Tired of the rigorous travelling during the previous week, along with their two shows in Denmark and Netherlands, John Lennon and George Harrison opted to stay inside the aircraft. Their eccentric drummer, Ringo Starr, had not joined them yet on the tour - being treated in a London hospital for an illness that had caused him to become bedridden. Lennon’s and Harrison’s decision was easily understandable; the band was in the middle of a 73-day tour and even at the prime ages of 23 and 21 respectively, the gruelling tour schedule must have been taking its toll.

Paul McCartney, who was to later celebrate his 24th birthday in nine days with a performance at the Sydney Arena, always the adventurer, ventured out of the aircraft and into the airport bar.

Chaos ensued. Perhaps McCartney underestimated the popularity of The Beatles in Pakistan, or perhaps he was hoping no one would realise they were there or perhaps he was hoping that he would walk into a deserted bar at the ungodly hour of two in the morning. Wrong, wrong and definitely wrong.

Throngs of female fans reportedly forced their way into the bar despite the added security, just to see a glimpse of The Beatles member. Glasses and cutlery flew across as a stampede of young women ran over each other to get to McCartney. Pulled and dragged across the transit lounge by frisky women who wanted a piece of their heartthrob, the musician was forced to literally beg for his life.

The police and his manager intervened, trying to save him from the passionate fans, taking him behind a bar counter where they thought he would be safe. Undeterred, the women decided to take their chances and hurled themselves over the counter towards McCartney - shrieking torpedoes of excitement and teenage hysteria. The man, who would go on to become the most successful composer and recording artist in music history, was by now sitting in a corner, curled up and shivering. He had walked out of the aircraft sporting a sleek black coat and a neat white shirt. Now, he was now nowhere near as suave; his ruffled hair an even bigger mess, his clothing having visibly suffered from all the tugs and pulls.

Law enforcers somehow managed to bundle a shell-shocked McCartney into an airport mobile, from where he was taken to the plane. Back on board, the musician’s spirits lifted to the point that he and the other band members indulged the crowd, which had by now gathered outside the plane.

Less than 24 hours later in Hong Kong, McCartney, who was able to smoothen out his clothing and was now wearing a thin black tie along with his white shirt, was asked about being thronged by mobs of teenage girls. “It’s the same feeling as footballers must get when they come out onto a football field,” he said amidst Lennon’s interruptions from the back. “It’s a marvellous feeling inside, you know. And it’s the same every time.” When he was asked in retort if he got irritated by not being able to make himself heard over their shrieks, he replied, “No. Actually, you get irritated when the screams go down a bit.” Surely not the feeling he must have been having when he was frantically shouting ‘Don’t crush me! Don’t crush me!” to the swooning damsels of Karachi.