Getting dumped isn’t fun. Breaking an engagement is even worse. But, I can pretty firmly say that most of us have never had our broken relationships announced to the world through the BBC. That must have been rough for Paul McCartney.
On this very day in 1968, Jane Asher, the longtime girlfriend of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, was asked to appear on the BBC show Dee Time with Simon Dee. There, she announced to the world that her engagement to Macca had been called off. And, allegedly, the announcement surprised the Beatle himself in addition to everyone else.
On this very day in 1968, Jane Asher appeared on BBC TV to announce that her engagement to Paul McCartney had ended. She specifically noted that she didn’t end the engagement, but rather, it was simply “broken off, finished.”
Jane Asher Announced the End of Her Engagement to Paul McCartney on Television and Simply Moved on With Her Life
Sadly, it looks like the original footage from the broadcast has been lost to time. However, the impact of Asher’s appearance on the BBC show Dee Time to announce the end of her relationship with McCartney is still the stuff of legend today. And the story behind it is pretty eyebrow-raising.
According to the lore, the English actress was in a relationship with Paul McCartney starting in 1963. They even lived together for a time and were engaged in 1967.
Sadly, in mid-1968, Asher returned to their home from an acting gig in Bristol earlier than expected. There, she allegedly discovered Macca in bed with one Francie Schwartz. Asher left and had her mother collect her things from the home. And on July 20, Asher announced to the BBC that their relationship was over.
“I know it sounds corny, but we still see each other and love each other, but it hasn’t worked out,” Asher told Dee on the program. “Perhaps we’ll be childhood sweethearts and meet again and get married when we’re about seventy.”
Rumors spread that Paul McCartney had no idea that Asher was going to announce the end of their relationship on television. Though, I can’t imagine anyone would be surprised after being caught in the act. However, Schwartz herself would say that she watched the broadcast with McCartney, and the shock in the room was palpable.
“I watched the show with Paul and his father,” said Schwartz in The Beatles: Off The Record by Keith Badman. “This wave of shocked silence went through all of us. It was painful because she was announcing it publicly, and she didn’t leave it up to him. That’s the one thing Paul never wants to happen. He really is a control person.”
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