The woman who’s a huge part of The Beatles’ history - but for 60 years has refused to talk

Detailed summary

In 1966, Paul bought a three-storey Regency townhouse in St John’s Wood, a short walk from Abbey Road Studios. As the other Beatles moved into the countryside, the house,…

In April 1963, 17-year-old actress Jane Asher was sent by the Radio Times to cover a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, headlined by The Beatles. The flame-haired beauty was already a regular on the BBC music programme Juke Box Jury. Meanwhile, the four lads from Liverpool were on the cusp of mega stardom, their popularity rocketing after Please Please Me topped the charts that January. When the Fab Four were introduced to Asher – whom they had presumed blonde, having only seen her on flickering black-and-white tellys – they boyishly vied for her attention. But it was Paul McCartney, with his doe-eyed good looks and effortless charm, who would prove successful.

In fact they were together for the next five years, becoming one of the hottest and most photographed couples of the Swinging Sixties (an upscale Posh and Becks at the height of their Spice Girls/Manchester United fame, if you like). Spool forward 60 years and soon the relationship will be in the public domain again. Jane will be portrayed on screen by Miss Potter and Sense and Sensibility star Lucy Boynton opposite Paul Mescal as Macca in director Sam Mendes’ forthcoming quartet of biopics of the Fab Four. Fans can’t wait. Pictures from the time show tantalising glimpses of their glamorous, rarified world.

Jane, elegantly pretty by Paul’s side at film premieres or climbing the steps of jet planes for holidays abroad. And it was Jane who was present for some of The Beatles’ most seminal moments. She was with Paul when he heard the devastating news of manager Brian Epstein’s death in 1967. She accompanied the group on their spiritual retreat to Rishikesh, India, in February 1968 to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, pictured smiling merrily from bygone snaps, with flowers in her long titan hair.

Above all she was part of McCartney`s treasured private world – not least with him when, in 1966, he bought a Scottish farm in the Mull of Kintyre as a retreat from intense fame, screaming fans and endless flashbulbs and…

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Opening of the article, excerpted from Daily Express. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.