#8jun

Q: "Mister Nicol, how do you feel being rushed into this vast world of publicity all at once?"

JIMMY: "It's a most exciting experience."

JOHN & GEORGE: (jokingly) "Correct."

BOB ROGERS: (giggling) "Correct... which is a Beatles password, I think, everytime a question is asked, as unanimous agreement with a shout of correct."

[...]

Q: "How did you pick the name 'Beatles'?"

GEORGE: "John picked the name Beatles. Why did you pick the name Beatles, John?"

JOHN: "It's not MY fault. It's just a name by any other... But why does anybody pick ANY name, you know, 'cuz it's the one they like best."

PAUL: "Beatles seemed like a good name, at the time."

Q: "Is it supposed to mean the crawly-crawly..."

JOHN: "Well, you ought to see us at night."

GEORGE: "That's the double-E, crawly-crawly."

PAUL: (mock-upperclass dialect) "Crawly-crawly, you see. It's a pun. Jolly good."

JOHN: "Pun, pun."

[...]

Q: "With all this traveling about, how do you get time to rehearse?"

JOHN: (giggling) "We don't!"

Q: "You don't rehearse?"

JOHN: "We do, a bit. We rehearse with Jimmy 'cuz he's new."

[...]

Q: "How would you judge your reception at Kai Tak Airport as compared with the reception you've received when visiting other countries?"

GEORGE: "It's been great."

JOHN: "A good comparison."

GEORGE: "Yeah, it was very good."

Q: "Was it quieter, was it...?"

GEORGE: "No, it was about the same as we've had recently at other airports."

Q: "George, they tell me that you arrived in London the other day and only two people turned up."

JOHN: (correcting, comically) "THREE!"

(laughter)

PAUL: "Five. Five."

Q: "It was the Daily Express and, you know, you can't believe them. What happened?"

PAUL: "They were all 'round Ringo's bed."

(laughter)

[...]

Q: "How do you like your girls in Hong Kong?"

(laughter)

JOHN: "Oh, I dunno..."

GEORGE: "Well uhh, from what we've seen, they're great. (pause) Everywhere you go there's some good and some bad, aren't there."

(laughter)

PAUL: "That's true."

JOHN: "True. I'm not arguing. I'm with you, there."

GEORGE: (laughs)

JOHN: "Correct!"

PAUL & GEORGE: (giggling) Correct!"

Q: "It's said that you got your hairdo from Oliver Twist."

GEORGE: "No, we didn't. We didn't know Oliver Twist had a Beatle haircut."

PAUL: "No, it's just a rumor."

Q: "How often do you get your hair cut?"

GEORGE: "It just depends. Usually about once every blue moon."

(laughter)

Q: "John, could you tell us something about the book that you've written?"

JOHN: (pause) "It's selling well..."

Q: "What made you write it? What is it about?"

JOHN: "It's about nothing, really."

(laughter)

JOHN: (giggling) "I just do it for a hobby, you know. I've done it for many years."

Q: "Have you any idea how many copies it's sold already?"

JOHN: "No, 'cuz I changed me phone number and the fella can't get in touch with me to tell me."

[...]

Q: "It's also been said that you were very well educated. Could you prove it?"

JOHN: "No, I'm not."

Q: "You didn't go to school, then?"

JOHN: "Oh, of course. I had to. The state made me."

Q: "How long were you educated?"

JOHN: "'Til I was about 18, 19. I've forgotten."

PAUL: (to George) "He was?"

GEORGE: "Oh, art school."

JOHN: (loudly, comically) "That's school i'nt it? That's school i'nt it?"

GEORGE: "Sorry, John."

JOHN: "Alright."

GEORGE & JOHN: "Correct!"

PAUL: (giggles)

Q: "You're taking your mothers to Australia, is this correct?"

JOHN: (joking, somewhat morbidly) "Well, Paul and I aren't."

GEORGE: "Incorrect!"

JOHN: "Just my Auntie."

PAUL: "Just his Auntie."

JOHN: "That's all."

PAUL: "We haven't got..."

JOHN: "She's resting."

Q: "But we hear reports that some of you are bringing your mothers..."

GEORGE: "We heard that, too."

JOHN: (jokingly) "You're in the wrong agency."

GEORGE: "That was the Daily Mail."

[...]

Q: "What do you think of (Hollywood actress) Tuesday Wells?"

PAUL: "Very nice. Yes."

GEORGE: "Miss Saturday Night's much better."

[Extracts from The Beatles press conference at the Presidential Hotel, Hong Kong, on 8th June 1964, from beatlesinterviews.org ]