Paul McCartney and Anita Cochrane

Innocent 15-year-old Anita met her first boyfriend, Paul McCartney, while walking down Matthew Street in Liverpool one day with a mutual friend.
"It was two weeks before my 16th birthday that I met Paul. I was going to the Cavern Club and Paul was walking along Matthew Street with John Lennon. A friend introduced us. We had a brief chat and then shook hands. It was quite unusual for anyone to shake hands in those days. I was just a kid really. Paul kept hold of my hand and I immediately fell for him. He was quite something. He was a charmer. He was a bit on the bold side compared to the lads I knew - the local lads at home. He seemed a bit more sophisticated and sure of himself. I liked him right away. I thought he was really nice. My ideas of the perfect man were different then. You have to remember I hadn`t had another boyfriend before Paul. I was just a kid, a virgin. He asked me if I could go to the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton on Friday night."

Anita agreed to what would be her first date on the night of her 16th birthday.

"It was my 16th birthday that day. I can even remember what I was wearing - a grey gymslip dress with a black polo-neck jumper and black tights. My hair was blonde and I used to curl it so it flicked out at the bottom. We watched Paul, John, George Harrison and Pete Best, who was The Beatles drummer at the time, on stage at the Tower Ballroom, then went to a cafe called Joe`s in Liverpool. A lot of people from the Liverpool scene met up there after they`d been playing. We drank coffee and chatted for a few hours and then Paul asked me if I wanted to go to a party."

The party in question didn`t turn out to be the kind of party that innocent young Anita was used to, but she was already falling in love with Paul and quickly agreed.

"He didn`t really have a party in mind, but everything was called a party back then, I realised later on. Life was just one big party. We went back to a bedsit with two friends. It was apparent what the score was. I should have said; `Right, I`m going.` But I let myself into it. You have to realise I really liked him. He was everything. He`d told me he loved me and I said I loved him - I did. He just seemed special to me. I thought he was a knight in shining armour. Every girl must think that when they fall for someone, mustn`t they? I remember waking up with him. I went to bed with my clothes on and they were all crumpled up. I was too shy to take them off. I was so shy. I can`t believe I stayed there and didn`t go home. I must have been mesmerised. I was really nervous. I was just 16 that night. I told him I`d never done it before. He reassured me to make me feel more relaxed, but I was very tense. I did it because he wanted to and I liked him. I just wanted to please him. I`d fallen for him and would have done whatever he told me to do. I didn`t know anything about it and was nervous whether I was doing the right thing. I thought he liked me, that he wouldn`t be there with me if he didn`t like me. I thought that night was the start of something. But I came back down to earth with a bump the next day. He dropped me at the bus-stop and said `See ya.` He didn`t arrange to see me again. I think he realised I was just a kid. I didn`t cry until later when I was at home."

Anita wasn`t at all put off by this incident as she was already infatuated with Paul, and since that night she`d gained access to the Beatles` inner circle and began to spend a lot of her time at the Cavern club with their friends, waiting for any sign from Paul that he returned her affection.

"We were part of their set and I was besotted with Paul. Although, after that first night I was just one of many girls there falling all over them. We`d be there at the back of the Cavern chatting with them and I`d hope Paul would single me out. He could pick up who he wanted, and he knew I was available. He`d give me a little smile or dedicate a song to me. We used to go back to John Lennon`s flat in Gambier Terrace for parties and get-togethers. Sometimes, Paul and I would kiss and cuddle, sometimes there was no ending up with anyone. I wasn`t a groupie. Paul was the only person I`d go with - not that there was any loyalty between those guys. I remember once, we`d gone back to John`s flat and for some reason Paul wasn`t there. They used to play silly, immature games like spin the bottle for a bit of entertainment. The bottle spun round for me to be with John. But I wouldn`t have anything to do with it. He knew the score - that I was in love with Paul. John was married at the time to Cynthia but it was very hush-hush. She used to be very discreet. She occasionally came into the Cavern, but mostly John kept her right off the scene. He used to enjoy the girls, like the others."

Other friends from the Cavern remember clearly how things were between Paul and Anita.

"Anita was part of the crowd who hung out with them. She wasn`t Paul`s gir