#bernadette farrell

Bernadette Farrell and George Harrison in the living room of the Farrell family's home in Liverpool, photographed by Bernadette's brother; picture scanned from How They Became The Beatles: The Definitive History of the Early Years.

I would like to tell you about the days before the Beatles were well-known.

They had a small group of Liverpool fans who used to queue outside the Cavern from 8 a.m. until 12 noon for the Lunch-hour session. Most of them used to take days off school or college and tried to copy their mothers’ handwriting in a note for the teacher. On Sundays queuing commenced from about 2 p.m. until 7.30 p.m. As the Beatles became more popular queuing went on all through Saturday night and all Sunday until 7.30 p.m. Ray McFall would bring a crate of milk down in between four and five and sit in his car with the radio on for us to listen to the top ten.

We used to queue in the freezing cold and tell stories about the Beatles, wrapped in blankets and sipping hot coffee. Everyone knew everyone and if girls came who had only just heard of the Beatles, well all us ‘scouters’ made them welcome.

While we were waiting for the Cavern to open we would ask some girls to save our places and we would go to the Kardoma Cafe (K.D.) and then for a stroll round town and sometimes we would meet a Beatle and stop for a talk, then go back to the Cavern.

It was gear in those days, but it was sheer agony when the lads went to Hamburg. Everyone walked round with long faces. The Cavern looked lonely when we passed with no people queuing. Sometimes the lonely Beatle fans would meet at a lunch-time session to cheer themselves up by talking about the lads. It was nothing short of chaos when their welcome home performance was on at the Cavern. Girls fainted and there was hardly any screaming and no one was hysterical. At least you could hear the Beatles singing and joking.

Those were the days. Sometimes I wish we could relive them, but I suppose the Beatles wouldn’t. Well, good luck in the future, Lads.

Hello, 

I hope you won’t mind if I answer both of you together as the subjects are related. 

Did George have ‘a type’. I think the answer is yes and no. Like all red blooded Beatle boys, George had a thing for Brigitte Bardot, French actress and sex symbol who John, and to a lesser degree I think, Paul and Ringo, were besotted with. So that lead to a ‘preference’ if you like for blonde, tall and skinny girls (hello Pattie!) However, that’s not to say he didn’t like girls of all shapes and sizes and kinds as well. 

I think it’s interesting that in interviews, the Beatles would often stress they wanted girls who attracted them to them with their minds as well as their physical attributes. Here’s George answering a question like that in 16 Magazine in June 1964: 

(More on that at a later date). 

George was very private about his… well, private life, so I think there were probably a few more girlfriends of his other than those we know a bit about, but here’s a quick over view of the very lucky, lucky girls who at one time or another were able to call themselves George’s girlfriend (up to and including Estelle). 

IRIS CALDWELL

Iris was Rory Storm’s younger sister and George’s first girlfriend. 

“My first girlfriend was Rory Storm’s sister, Iris Caldwell. She was really nice and had cotton wool in her bra. She probably didn’t ever think she was my girlfriend. You never know when you’re young; you just fancy somebody, or someone’s in the same room as you, and you end up thinking they’re your girlfriend.”

[George, Anthology]

George and Iris had a very sweet, very chaste romance, which involved lots of hand-holding and sitting on sofas. There’s a very sweet story about George and Iris - Rory embarrassed Iris by announcing from a stage that his sister stuffed her bra with cotton wool (as George alludes to in the above quote). Iris ran out, mortified and George chased after her. 

“[A]ll the sudden, he caught up with me, turned me round, and it was George, and that was our first kiss. And nobody has ever - that was the best kiss ever in my life, and to this day, I remember that feeling in my tummy. Nobody ever kissed me like that. It was beautiful.”

George and Iris broke up after George insulted some of Iris’ friends at a party, so that was the end of that. But it’s not all sadness for Iris - she went on to date Paul later and eventually married Alvin Stardust (and, I think, someone else after Alvin). 

RUTH MORRISON

Ruth was George’s girlfriend when he was around 16, and this small, low quality picture seems to be the only one of her. It’s from Pete, Rory and Roag Best’s book, The Beatles: The True Beginnings, and I think it could have been supplied by Ken Brown, who was briefly in the Beatles (or The Quarrymen) when the Casbah Club opened in 1959. Ruth was quite involved in the Casbah Club (I think that could be Mona Best’s dog she’s pictured with, though that’s unconfirmed). Ruth is described as having beautiful auburn hair and being very pretty. She was mad about George and he was mad about her - for a short time. But alas for Ruth, George was more in love with rock and roll. Apparently George signalled the end of his relationship with poor Ruth in the most callous way. Ken Brown found Ruth crying one night, outside the Casbah. When he asked her what was wrong she told him George had refused to go to the cinema with her and she was frightened he just wasn’t bothered about her any more. Ken went and found George and told him Ruth was upset, but instead of going to find her, he shrugged his shoulders and went to play with the band instead. They continued together for a short while, but it was more or less over. 

“In those days, Paul was not very interested in girls - he took one or two to the pictures, but that was all. He was in love with music. George was the same. Ruth was crazy over him, but he did not bother very much with her. George and Paul both thought it a great laugh that John was so keen on Cynthia.“

[Ken Brown]

MONIKA PRICKEN 

Monika, who I don’t have a picture for or much info about unfortunately, was briefly George’s girlfriend when the Beatles were in Hamburg. She was 17 and so was George, so they were underagers together. She says it was more of a platonic relationship but she was there when George was deported and had to catch the train home. 

PAULINE BEHAN

Pauline was George’s girlfriend c.1960-61. She met the Beatles at the Casbah and was first attracted to John, but it was George who asked her out. Pauline was probably George’s first steady girlfriend and she was still his girlfriend when he want to Hamburg with the Beatles in the Spring of 1961. Unfortunately for George, while he was away Pauline caught the eye of Gerry Marsden of Gerry and The Pacemakers. With George out of the country, Pauline when out with Gerry a couple of times, but she clearly told Gerry that George was her boyfriend and they could only be friends. 

“We’d been out a couple of times by then. But Pauline said she was going to see George. I returned alone downstairs to the Cavern and went to George. ‘Hiya, Gerry,’ he said. I said, ‘Don’t smile. I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is I’m in love. The bad news is that it’s with your girl.’ The conversation didn’t last long. I think he said something to do with sex and travel. I then went back to Pauline upstairs and I told her there was no need to bother to go down - 'I’ve packed him in for you,’ I added. Pauline was furious, but I’ve always believed in dealing with problems head on." 

[Gerry Marsden]

Neither Pauline nor George took much notice of Gerry, but he just wouldn’t go away. Eventually George asked Pauline to chose, him or Gerry, and she picked Gerry - although George called her a few times afterwards to check “if she was still happy”. She married him in 1965 - as photographed above, with Brian Epstein as best man - and they’re still married today. 

MARIE GUIRRON 

Marie was from Birkenhead and George’s girlfriend in the summer of 1961 (pictured above in 1963). She met George in the Cavern and after a couple of chats, they started going out. George had recently passed his driving test and he and Marie would go driving in George’s new Ford Anglia late at night, after the Beatles Merseyside gigs, sometimes going as far as into North Wales. (The idea of this does strange things to my heart!) I’m not really sure how Marie and George broke up - I think the relationship probably petered out when George was taken away from Liverpool by Beatle tours and he moved to London. Marie went on to marry Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, and I think they’re still together today as well. 

BERNADETTE FARRELL

Bernadette - who is the small blonde girl watching George from under the Cavern’s arch with her arms folded - was George’s girlfriend in early 1963, when she was 17. She was a Cavern regular and George asked her out by slipping a note through her door. 

"It wasn’t too much out of his way to run me home. I still have a little note that he gave me for our first date. It was in early 1963. It was a very happy teenaged period, and I have so many happy memories. […] It was no big, raging love affair, but George was my boyfriend. He was a lovely, lovely man, a caring, private person. A lot of people said he was quiet but that’s because they didn’t get to know him. He was actually quite lively and humorous. he was always making dry quips. He was not shy, but he was happy to stand back and only speak when he thought it was relevant. He was a deep thinker who didn’t say any more than was necessary.”

“It was just a short relationship that ended when he went to London. Some of the girls from the Cavern went off to follow the band, but that was not for me. We drifted apart with the pressure of his work. It was just one of those things. People get stick for leaving Liverpool but in those days it was just something you had to do to succeed. They left Liverpool almost overnight and he just didn’t have time to see me. I saw him again at a party in the 1970s and he was still the same handsome, charismatic George.”

[Bernadette Farrell]

ESTELLE BENNETT

Estelle of The Ronettes dated George (on and off) from late 1963 to early 1964. The Ronettes toured the UK in December 1963 and early 1964 and were introduced to the Beatles. George and Estelle hit it off right away. 

“George and I talked whenever we’d see each other. We found we liked the same things, long walks while wearing comfortable clothes and being with sincere people who liked us for ourselves and not because we were in show business. I think I was the happiest when I was talking with George. There was something about him that made me open up and spill out anything that was on my mind. I think he felt the same way, for he’d often call late in the evening and talk on the phone for hours. We started seeing each other in England, but then had to say goodbye when he and the other Beatles left for Paris and an engagement. He called me every day. He even flew into London so he could see me on the one day he was off.   liked George.  He wasn’t my boyfriend, but someone special, someone who meant an awful lot to me.”

[Estelle Bennett]

The budding relationship was put on hold when The Ronettes returned to the US at the end of their tour, but they were sure to meet up again a very short time later when the Beatles came over in February 1964. The Ronettes went to see the Beatles at their hotel on the first day, but it was crazy busy and George and Estelle didn’t have chance to talk (also, remember, George was just about to fall sick). He asked Estelle to come back and see him the next night. 

“The next night I met George at the hotel. Along with the other Beatles, and Cynthia, John’s wife, we sat down to dinner. What a good feeling it was to be with all of them again, just like old time in England. After dinner, George and I went into an adjoining study and brought each other up to date on the various happenings since our last meeting. George looked tired and told me he never gets a chance to relax.  I got the impression he didn’t enjoy traveling as much as the other boys did. […] We saw each other many times. I was with him at the party after their concert and on other evenings when we just sat around the hotel with the rest of the group. But somehow things weren’t the same. We couldn’t recreate the same relationship we had when I was in London. Instinct told me this wasn’t the right time to be with him. I didn’t want to be around when he wasn’t happy. Since I’d be returning to England soon, I decided it would be better to see each other on his home ground.”

[Estelle Bennett]

But I think by that time, George had met Pattie and that was all she wrote. Although Estelle says he was not her boyfriend, they did share a few dates and boys don’t generally fly back from France on a day off to see a girl they don’t have any feelings for. 

January 1963, captured by photographer Les Chadwick in a cram-packed Cavern. Sitting with arms folded next to George in the top image: his then-girlfriend Bernadette Farrell🎸🎸🎸

"It was no big, raging love affair, but George was my boyfriend," she'd tell the Liverpool Echo following his death. "He was a lovely, lovely man, a caring, private person. A lot of people said he was quiet but that's because they didn't get to know him. He was actually quite lively and humourous. He was always making dry quips. He was not shy, but he was happy to stand back and only speak when he thought it was relevant. He was a deep thinker who didn't say any more than was necessary🪷

"He was part of such a happy period of my life and he was a special person. It was just a short relationship that ended when he went to London. Some of the girls from the Cavern went off to follow the band, but that was not for me. We drifted apart with the pressure of his work. It was just one of those things. People get stick for leaving Liverpool but in those days it was just something you had to do to succeed. They left Liverpool almost overnight and he just didn't have time to see me. I saw him again at a party in the 1970s and he was still the same handsome, charismatic George."🌹

January 1963, captured by photographer Les Chadwick in a cram-packed Cavern. Sitting with arms folded next to George in the top image: his then-girlfriend Bernadette Farrell🪷🪷🪷

"It was no big, raging love affair, but George was my boyfriend," she'd tell the Liverpool Echo following his death. "He was a lovely, lovely man, a caring, private person. A lot of people said he was quiet but that's because they didn't get to know him. He was actually quite lively and humourous. He was always making dry quips. He was not shy, but he was happy to stand back and only speak when he thought it was relevant. He was a deep thinker who didn't say any more than was necessary🌺

"He was part of such a happy period of my life and he was a special person. It was just a short relationship that ended when he went to London. Some of the girls from the Cavern went off to follow the band, but that was not for me. We drifted apart with the pressure of his work. It was just one of those things. People get stick for leaving Liverpool but in those days it was just something you had to do to succeed. They left Liverpool almost overnight and he just didn't have time to see me. I saw him again at a party in the 1970s and he was still the same handsome, charismatic George."🎍

George Harrison's postcard to Bernadette Farrell from Tenerife, Spain | 6 May 1963

At the end of April 1963, George went on holiday to Tenerife with Paul and Ringo. They stayed with their friend, Klaus Voorman, whose family had a villa there, and Astrid joined them. At the same time, John Lennon went away with Brian Epstein to Barcelona (controversially just a few weeks after Cynthia, his wife, had given birth to their son, Julian).

I was pleased that George had managed to get a break after such a busy and chaotic few years, and in hindsight, this was the last time they were able to get away and really relax, without being recognised. He sent me a postcard from their trip, addressing it to ‘Bernydet’, which was his pet name for me. He was keen to inform me that they had seen “many bullfights and onions, but not a senorita anywhere!” He signed it from George [A BAND] – his tongue-in-cheek joke in case I wasn’t sure who it was from!