Hairdresser Leslie Cavendish on the first time he cut Paul’s hair:
Leslie Cavendish: I was very nervous, because my sisters had pictures of Paul McCartney on the wall. I’d gone to a football match, I’m not telling anyone where I’m going. I had, believe it or not, a little black Mini, and I park the car opposite. And I sat there for five minutes, composed myself. Thinking, right, you must not go in as a Beatle groupie. You’ve got to go in as somebody who’s going to cut his hair. Take a deep breath, and walk in.
So I pressed the buzzer, and the housekeeper answered. I said, “I’ve got an appointment, to see Mr -” “Oh, Miss Asher told me all about you, please come in.” So I go in the front gate, and the first thing I see was a green Aston Martin. Thinking, oh my god, right, he’s got this beautiful Aston Martin. Pressed the buzzer.
And all of a sudden, McCartney opens the door. In his little tank top.
“Hello Leslie,” he says, “Jane’s told me all about you. Please come in, would you like a cup of tea? Do you take sugar?” In one fell swoop. And within five minutes of me being there, I’m sitting down on the couch, in his front room, with dog hair everywhere, with his dog Martha, with Paul McCartney, having a cup of tea with Paul McCartney. It was all very surreal.
And I’ve have to now to think, after a while - I’ve got bass guitars there, I’ve got cassettes on the floor, a psychedelic piano there, a Magritte painting, worth millions. But he didn’t have it sort of where you should have it - it was behind the door, so no one could see it! And I’m thinking, how am I going to do his hair? Because in a salon, I’d be looking in a mirror.
Interviewer: And you’d have a sink!
Leslie Cavendish: I’d have a sink! And I said to Paul, “Paul, how do you want your hair?” He just said, “Do it as you see it.” Well, that was brilliant. Time to have your hair cut, then! I “Where do we go?” He said, “Come upstairs, into the bathroom, upstairs in the bedroom”. Top floor, left hand side. In my bag, I had a little rubber hose, that I used to put on the sink taps to get the hot and cold. So I had that, put that in there. I had a little mirror, that big.
He was so cool about it, he was so relaxed. Got the sink, washed it, did his hair, blow dried it. Went downstairs, had another cup of tea. It was nice. I used to go round there, cut his hair and chat, listen to music.
Interviewer: Were you responsible for cutting off the moptop?
Leslie Cavendish: I was responsible for making the moptop look messy.
Private Passions, 5 July 2026
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