“[The organisers of the Leicester University’s Arts Festival] arranged to launch the festival in London in order to attract the attention of the national press. I understand that one of them persuaded Paul McCartney to support the press conference by saying they had attended the same school (true or not) and camping out on his doorstep until he agreed. The photo* – cut from a collage on the wall of my student house on Clarendon Park Road – was taken at the launch at the Royal Garden Hotel. It shows a bemused McCartney with smiling journalists and anxious members of the festival committee, with Alan Gold from the Leicester Mercury standing to the left, behind. That was the extent of McCartney's involvement.” [Lesley Hale, Leicester University alumnus]
Photos of Paul at a press conference launching Leicester University's art festival at the Royal Garden Hotel, London, on 6th February 1968.
* The photo Lesley Hale is referring to is the top (first) photo shown. More info about the event here.
