TV show for Vivien's date with the Beatles

Vivien Stevenette was pulled out of class aged 10 - with a little help from her mother - to meet ‘the Fab Four’ at the height of Beatlemania.

Vivien - now a retired schoolteacher from Baron Court in Werrington - will tell her story on BBC 4 show The People’s History Of Pop tomorrow night at 9pm.

Vivien said: “It was 1964, and like most girls I loved The Beatles.

“My mum worked at the Old England Hotel in Sutton on Trent. She was at the bank when she got a call from the owner, who said ‘The Beatles are here, you have to come back.’

“She came into school - which she never did, and told some sort of fib and took me out of the class. When we got into the car, she sort of exploded, and said The Beatles were there.

“It took 10 minutes to get to the hotel. I remember my mum driving fast.”

When they arrived, they found John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney sitting in the dining room tucking into poacher’s soup, ham and eggs and trifle.

Vivien said: “Paul came over and he talked to me. I think I just nodded and mumbled my way through the conversation.

“They then finished their lunch, and the staff and myself had a picture taken with them.

“The photographer from the newspaper arrived, and was taking pictures, when Paul said ’the little girl wants a picture, so I had my photo taken with him.”

Vivien said the photos still had pride of place in her home - and her mum had even kept the egg-stained napkins used by the band for many years, before they had to be thrown away.

Vivien - who missed out on an autograph - said: “The pictures are perfect - we call Paul ‘Uncle Paul’ and they are a great thing to have from that day.”