I started to read an interview of Paul McCartney about the adoption of Martha, but I ended up reading another love confession for John(?) .
"Because my mum and dad both worked and were out all day, and my brother Mike and I were at school, there was no one to look after a dog. I remember one time we heard tell of puppies being given away in the next street, so we legged it round the corner, where, sure enough, there was a litter of puppies. We took a very cute little puppy home, but my mother told us we couldn't keep it. We were crestfallen. Totally crushed.
"When I grew up and was in The Beatles, I had a house of my own in London. More than that, I actually had a housekeeper looking after the house. The time was ripe to get a dog. I had always liked the look of Old English sheepdogs, so I went along to a place in Milton Keynes, about an hour north of London, and selected this little dog. I named her Martha.
"I'm pretty sure I was taken by Old English sheepdogs because of those television ads for Dulux paint. Dulux had started using an Old English sheepdog as a brand mascot back in 1961. It's a terrible thing to admit, but I'm a sucker for ads. The Dulux dog looked so loveable."
"Anyhow, I got Martha and she was a lovely little dog. I just adored her. One of the unlikely side effects was that John became very sympathetic towards me. When he came round and saw me playing with Martha, I could tell that he liked her. John was a very guarded person, which was partly where all his wit came from. He'd had a very difficult upbringing, what with his father leaving home, his uncle dying, and his mother getting killed in a traffic accident. By the time I knew him, he could be very sarcastic. Not that I couldn't be too. It was my own way of dealing with my mother's death, I expect. We were both quite into the witty put-down. But seeing me with Martha, with my guard down, all of a sudden he started warming to me. And so he let his guard down too."
Paul quoted in his 2021 book 'The Lyrics', co-authored with Paul Muldoon.
Born in June 1966 and acquired by Paul that October, Martha lived until 1981. 1968 photos by Linda Eastman.
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