Iris Caldwell (George's first girlfriend, who later also went on to date Paul for a time); George, Paul, and John with Rory Storm (Iris's brother) and fans at the Cavern (photo by Dick Matthews); Violet Caldwell with Rory. (Iris is often misidentified as appearing in photos taken in Liverpool in 1962 — more on those images later this month.)
“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 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.) So I knew Rory before I knew The Beatles. I’d met Iris a couple of times and went round to her house and hung out. […] Rory’s real name was Alan Caldwell. Ernie was their dad. They were a great family and very friendly to all of us. Later — after we’d come back from Hamburg and were doing loads of gigs in Liverpool and the North of England — we used Rory’s house as a place to hang out when we got back to town after shows. His mother Vi would make endless pots of tea and toast for us all.” - George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology “[W]hich Beatle [George or Paul] was the better kisser? ‘George,’ [Iris] says with a smile. 'He gave me my first kiss. He was lovely. Paul was charming. George had something else.’ […] 'They’d all come round at two in the morning and my Mum Vi made chip butties. I met George at the ice rink when I was 12 and he was 14. Every night he would come round to our house after school. 'He used to play guitar and wanted to get into Rory’s band but Rory said he was a bit young. We went out for ages – but it was a totally different concept to boyfriend and girlfriend today. 'We’d walk down Lilly Lane which was like a lovers’ lane and kiss and cuddle. George was the best kisser ever. 'Rory opened a skiffle club and I wasn’t supposed to go because I was under 15 so I put cotton wool in my bra and blue blusher on my eyes. 'At the end of the night, Rory made a joke about his little sister having cotton wool down her bra. I was so embarrassed I ran out in tears. 'Then I heard footsteps behind me. It was George. I ran into his arms and he gave me the best kiss ever. 'I can still feel it right in my tummy, even now. He was lovely.’” - Mirror (October 6, 2012) “Iris’s mother, Mrs. Caldwell, remembers George as: ‘The boy who used to come round and watch television three nights a week. He and Iris used to sit there holding hands. As far as I remember, it was the first time that either of them had ever taken any interest in the opposite sex. At Iris’s 14th birthday party, I remember George turned up in a brand-new, Italian-style suit with covered buttons. He looked very grown-up. As in most teenage parties, they kept on playing kissing games and somehow or other, George and Iris always ended up together.’” - The Beatles Monthly (September 1965) About that tailored suit: “[George’s] idea, which he ordered [in Liverpool in the 1950s], was a four-button jacket with cloth-covered buttons. Two breast pockets which were slitted (jetted) and in the shape of a bird in flight, the two side pockets corresponded. The cuffs had to be folded back with a cloth-covered button. His trousers had no pleats in the front, not normal in those days, and he was by far the very first person to have two slits at the bottom side seam of the trouser and he wanted them folded back with cloth covered buttons to match the cuffs on his jacket. The workshop queried the order when they received thinking we had gone bonkers. George got his suit and was pleased with the outcome. Later lots of guys were walking about town with cut back cuffs and side seams on their trousers, but George was the first.” - Rollo Torpey, The Beatles and Me (2015)
