Jane interview

[pennylane]

just some snippets from a 2004 interview;

"Life is bloody dark and awful," says Asher, finally dropping the game-playing. "It doesn't mean I go round being permanently depressed. But I would if I really started to think about things. I don't think there's any meaning to anything. I have slightly more of an acceptance that you're hurtling towards the abyss. At least you won't know anything once you're in it."
Why Asher might feel that even the happiest family is just one step away from catastrophe. I wonder, too, whether a similar desire to avoid pain explains the other great denial in her life: her relationship with Paul McCartney.

Asher met him on April 18, 1963, two weeks after her 17th birthday, having been sent by the Radio Times to interview the Beatles.

Asher's mother invited McCartney to live in the family home. There, he and Lennon wrote I Want to Hold Your Hand and several more of McCartney's greatest songs, including We Can Work It Out, said to be inspired by his relationship with Jane. His fellow Beatles assumed the couple would marry, but Paul ended up with the American photographer Linda Eastman.

Asher has never said a word about the relationship, or the Beatles, since. I have no expectation whatever that she will break her silence for me. But I am curious about why, after all these years, she will not share her experience of one of the great cultural phenomena of the past century.

"I realise I'm hypersensitive and probably slightly paranoid," she says, "but clearly the major connection with all that is personal. And because I've been happily married for 30-something years, it's insulting [to her husband and family]."

I push the point: "If I met the Dark Lady, I'd be bound to ask her about Shakespeare." Asher replies, "Yes, but the Dark Lady might say, 'I'm very sorry, but I'm now married to this playwright who hasn't had a single success, and his sonnets are crap, but I love him.' "

It's not easy to see what this response says about her feelings for her husband. But I press on, objecting that I couldn't care less what her teenage sex-life was like; I'm interested in the cultural history she's witnessed.

"I know what you're interested in," Asher accepts. "It may be musical, but my connection to that is personal, so it opens up a whole thing. You have to make a blanket rule and that's the decision I made, many years ago. And because I made that decision, it's just easier to stick to it."

I draw three possible hypotheses from all this. First, that Asher quite enjoys the game of witholding something she knows people want, then watching them try to crack her resolve. Second, that she's stuck in a position from which she can't now extract herself. And third, that she's telling the truth. She can't separate the historical from the personal. And the personal still hurts.

[missvagabond]

pennylane said:

just some snippets from a 2004 interview;

"Life is bloody dark and awful," says Asher, finally dropping the game-playing. "It doesn't mean I go round being permanently depressed. But I would if I really started to think about things. I don't think there's any meaning to anything. I have slightly more of an acceptance that you're hurtling towards the abyss. At least you won't know anything once you're in it."
Why Asher might feel that even the happiest family is just one step away from catastrophe. I wonder, too, whether a similar desire to avoid pain explains the other great denial in her life: her relationship with Paul McCartney.

Asher met him on April 18, 1963, two weeks after her 17th birthday, having been sent by the Radio Times to interview the Beatles.

Asher's mother invited McCartney to live in the family home. There, he and Lennon wrote I Want to Hold Your Hand and several more of McCartney's greatest songs, including We Can Work It Out, said to be inspired by his relationship with Jane. His fellow Beatles assumed the couple would marry, but Paul ended up with the American photographer Linda Eastman.

Asher has never said a word about the relationship, or the Beatles, since. I have no expectation whatever that she will break her silence for me. But I am curious about why, after all these years, she will not share her experience of one of the great cultural phenomena of the past century.

"I realise I'm hypersensitive and probably slightly paranoid," she says, "but clearly the major connection with all that is personal. And because I've been happily married for 30-something years, it's insulting [to her husband and family]."

I push the point: "If I met the Dark Lady, I'd be bound to ask her about Shakespeare." Asher replies, "Yes, but the Dark Lady might say, 'I'm very sorry, but I'm now married to this playwright who hasn't had a single success, and his sonnets are crap, but I love him.' "

It's not easy to see what this response says about her feelings for her husband. But I press on, objecting that I couldn't care less what her teenage sex-life was like; I'm interested in the cultural history she's witnessed.

"I know what you're interested in," Asher accepts. "It may be musical, but my connection to that is personal, so it opens up a whole thing. You have to make a blanket rule and that's the decision I made, many years ago. And because I made that decision, it's just easier to stick to it."

I draw three possible hypotheses from all this. First, that Asher quite enjoys the game of witholding something she knows people want, then watching them try to crack her resolve. Second, that she's stuck in a position from which she can't now extract herself. And third, that she's telling the truth. She can't separate the historical from the personal. And the personal still hurts.

This is really stunning. Jane basically seems to be saying that she is concerned for her family in a sense. Also, that she can't, or won't discuss anything to do with the Beatles. The interviewer seems to feel that she's deliberately hiding something or simply can't bring herself to talk about it all.

I don't doubt that Jane would have been upset about what happened years ago. On the surface, it could just appear that she was upset about what happened with her relationship with Paul. But maybe the fact that she won't say anything is a real clue that she knows something happened back in 1966.

I don't think that she sounds like she's playing head-games. She' not dropping hints or being suggestive. She just sounds like she's afraid to discuss anything at all. It's almost like she's been sworn to secrecy. She isn't saying anything, but in a very real way..Jane is speaking volumes, I think.

I wouldn't doubt that she would feel betrayed or confused. It really makes me wonder how and when she found out about Bill. I wouldn't be surprised if it really was a nasty shock that she still hasn't gotton over...that's really sad.

[missvagabond]

"I realise I'm hypersensitive and probably slightly paranoid," she says, "but clearly the major connection with all that is personal. And because I've been happily married for 30-something years, it's insulting [to her husband and family]."

I push the point: "If I met the Dark Lady, I'd be bound to ask her about Shakespeare." Asher replies, "Yes, but the Dark Lady might say, 'I'm very sorry, but I'm now married to this playwright who hasn't had a single success, and his sonnets are crap, but I love him.' "

This is her husband's "Official" (Gerald Scarfe) website, btw. I'd hardly call him "unsuccessful."

www.geraldscarfe.com/

[revolver]

"I know what you're interested in," Asher accepts. "It may be musical, but my connection to that is personal, so it opens up a whole thing. You have to make a blanket rule and that's the decision I made, many years ago. And because I made that decision, it's just easier to stick to it."

In other words, "Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies." There are so many details she would have to alter if asked about them, it's a lot easier to not talk about it. I'm sure it's also painful to think about as well. Her attitude is completely understandable.

But it's also very telling. If the official story were true, that Paul wasn't replaced, that she and Paul had never been married, just broken up and gone their separate ways, I doubt she would feel the need to be be so secretive about it all at this point.

[eyesbleed]

revolver said:

But it's also very telling. If the official story were true, that Paul wasn't replaced, that she and Paul had never been married, just broken up and gone their separate ways, I doubt she would feel the need to be be so secretive about it all at this point.

Ya really. If it were only a simple breakup, she'd have plenty to share.... no big deal, but the part about never speaking of it again sez a lot.
The time period when she had to hang out with Bill had to have been the worst time of her life.

[missvagabond]

eyesbleed said:

revolver said:

But it's also very telling. If the official story were true, that Paul wasn't replaced, that she and Paul had never been married, just broken up and gone their separate ways, I doubt she would feel the need to be be so secretive about it all at this point.

The time period when she had to hang out with Bill had to have been the worst time of her life.

Maybe she didn't have a choice.

That's a pretty scary thought in itself. I really hadn't thought a whole lot about Jane's place in all this. I knew that she was engaged to Paul. Are there any pictures of Jane and Paul wearing wedding bands in early-mid or even late 1966? As opposed to just Jane wearing an engagement ring..

[pennylane]

I remember reading something written by one of the apple scruffs, she said the day after Jane announced the break-up, she saw Jane and 'Paul' sitting in a park holding hands, talking and laughing and eating ice-cream. It struck her as really strange.

[missvagabond]

pennylane said:

I remember reading something written by one of the apple scruffs, she said the day after Jane announced the break-up, she saw Jane and 'Paul' sitting in a park holding hands, talking and laughing and eating ice-cream. It struck her as really strange.

That is kinda' odd. Considering how upset Jane has been.. and refusing to talk about anything all these years.

Maybe they had one last moment together. But it seems kinda' unlikely that they'd be all giddy about breaking up. A cup of coffee, and a serious and emotional discussion seems to make more sense than that.

It get's stranger...

[eyesbleed]

missvagabond said:

Maybe they had one last moment together. But it seems kinda' unlikely that they'd be all giddy about breaking up. A cup of coffee, and a serious and emotional discussion seems to make more sense than that.

Maybe they were "giddy" because that part of the game was finally over & they didn't have to spend time together when they'd rather be somewhere else with someone else...... no more forced company.... part ways friends.

[DarkHorse]

revolver said:

I'm sure it's also painful to think about as well. Her attitude is completely understandable.

Yeah I think that's the key point.

What's weird about Jane is she seemed to gain weight after Paul's death where most people would be thinner from the emotional turmoil. Just look at the difference in John's face and to an extent George's too from 1966 to 1967. Big difference.

I wish I had the pics of Jane before and after but she seemed to gain weight and looks heavier in the 67 and 68 pics compared to the earlier pics. The weight gain could also be a result of having to play boyfriend/girlfriend with Bill. Having to deal with that whole scenario might make you wanna eat more. There's a certain amount of psychology to go with that theory also.

[pennylane]

darkhorse said:

What's weird about Jane is she seemed to gain weight after Paul's death where most people would be thinner from the emotional turmoil.

I think I'll still stick to my theory that she was pregnant at the end of 66.. well it looks that way in the africa video [img src="http://galeon.hispavista.com/akostuff/img/Dunno2[1].gif"]

[-Wings-]

Jane's actions since "breaking up" with "Paul" have spoke volumes.

[pennylane]

wings said:

Jane's actions since "breaking up" with "Paul" have spoke volumes.

They certainly have.

I'm searching around, trying to find more interviews with or about Jane..

One from the 1990's:
Does it annoy you when you are constantly linked with Paul McCartney rather than being the individual that you are and were in the Sixties?
"No, not at all. I've never spoken about that time because it was private and I took a decision not to. The problem is that it then becomes a challenge and journalists do try sidling up to the topic. It's been 30 years now, so I don't expect they'll succeed in getting it out of me."

An interview with Hunter Davies 2002
In Barry Miles' book, "All Those Years Ago," Paul seems pretty open about everything except his relationship with Jane Asher. She and Paul seem to have an agreement to not say much about each other.
"She has never talked, ever, about the Beatles, and I admire her. Jane Asher and Neil Aspinall are the only two people close to them who have never given interviews or written books or in any way cashed in on the Beatles. I don't know whether it is an "agreement" or not but, he's never said awful things about her and same with her on him. He's made it, to me, clear between the lines that he was as much in love with her family and the house and the setup as he was with Jane.

[missvagabond]

pennylane said:

wings said:

Jane's actions since "breaking up" with "Paul" have spoke volumes.

They certainly have.

I'm searching around, trying to find more interviews with or about Jane..

One from the 1990's:
Does it annoy you when you are constantly linked with Paul McCartney rather than being the individual that you are and were in the Sixties?
"No, not at all. I've never spoken about that time because it was private and I took a decision not to. The problem is that it then becomes a challenge and journalists do try sidling up to the topic. It's been 30 years now, so I don't expect they'll succeed in getting it out of me."

An interview with Hunter Davies 2002
In Barry Miles' book, "All Those Years Ago," Paul seems pretty open about everything except his relationship with Jane Asher. She and Paul seem to have an agreement to not say much about each other.
"She has never talked, ever, about the Beatles, and I admire her. Jane Asher and Neil Aspinall are the only two people close to them who have never given interviews or written books or in any way cashed in on the Beatles. I don't know whether it is an "agreement" or not but, he's never said awful things about her and same with her on him.

Thanks for sharing that, Penny. I find it interesting that they seem to have an "agreement" not to talk. For 30 years?!

He's made it, to me, clear between the lines that he was as much in love with her family and the house and the setup as he was with Jane.

[/i]
[/quote]

First of all, it that's true, I feel really sorry for Jane. That strikes me as really wrong! Secendly, if that's true, that what's the problem with discussing it all?

I find that very odd. I'm looking as well to see if I can find anything. I'll keep trying...

[pennylane]

pennylane said:

[and the setup as he was with Jane.

Setup indeed.. very crafty words

Got some more;

By Deborah Ross
20 January 2003
What, I wonder, does she think her image is? "It'll be cakes for some, the acting for others, books... anyone under 15 has probably never even heard of me." And, for others, the girl Paul McCartney didn't marry? Her lips snap shut disapprovingly. She's annoyingly discreet, as I've said. And smart.

This one is a good one...
How to make the cake queen ice over. .just say the word McCARTNEY
The Mirror (London, England); 3/22/1997; Reade, Brian
Get to the Mac in McCartney, and her deep blue eyes squirm, the impish grin turns to a steely grimace and the freckles stand up on the back of her elegant neck.
The mumsy figure with the fluffy, Pantene-shampooed, copper hair, who has just finished her morning school run and is enthusing about the pretty little cakes she makes in her Chelsea shops, undergoes an instant transformation.
The word McCartney turns her from Icing Queen to Ice Queen.
All I've asked is whether she was pleased that a knighthood had been bestowed on her ex-fiance, with whom she lived for five years, who'd dedicated And I Love Her to her and who kept his MBE under her bed.
But I'd have got more out of Barbara Cartland if I'd enquired about her preferred position in the back of a Bentley. I get blanked. Totally.
I try to grope my way out of a hole with: "Well it was a good try, wasn't it?" but she kicks me back down: "No, not really. A pretty obvious one actually."
So I ask if she gets sick of people asking her about Paul McCartney? "No, I get sick of people asking me if I get sick of people asking me about him."
She seems to have erased the decade from her mind.
Which, considering it was a decade that made her a household name, is puzzling.

Her father was an eminent Walpole Street physician, her mother was a professor of music and her brother was one half of the singing duo, Peter and Gordon.
She met and fell for McCartney backstage at a concert called "Swinging Sound 6" at the age of 17.
He called her "a rave London bird". I called her the original It Girl. But she's not sure. So, at 50, does she remember anything about the Sixties?
"It does seem a long time ago," she says, taking morning coffee (without cake) in a London hotel.
"I don't feel any different. In fact I feel like the same person really. I never think, who was that person 30 years ago?"
Well, that person introduced a rough-edged Scouse rock'n'roller to the avant-garde world of art, theatre and classical music.
They even went to see the Maharishi together. Culturally, her influence was huge.
She was engaged to McCartney but then one night in 1968 she caught him in bed with 24-year-old Francie Schwartz, and hasn't opened her mouth about him since. Wouldn't she love to put the record straight?
"No. I would hate to put the record straight. Some people want to put the record straight, but I don't want to at all."
You can take her refusal to congratulate Sir Paul McCartney two ways.
Either she genuinely hates spilling the beans out of a deep respect for their relationship or she feels talking about him backs up the public perception that Jane Asher is only famous for nearly being Mrs McCartney.
The thing is, she's now famous for a hell of a lot more.
She still acts on telly and in the West End, she's written a critically- acclaimed novel, The Longing, has written a dozen books on cookery and kids, is a cake consultant for Sainsbury's, McVitie's and BA, runs her own cake shop in Chelsea, and is about to star in her own 25-part afternoon BBC show called Good Living. All balanced between a blissfully happy marriage of 25 years to cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, and three kids, Katie, 23, Alexander, 15, and Rory, 13.
Oh, and she sits on the board of countless charities. In short, she has turned into Superwoman. Does the tag frustrate her?
"Hardly. If you've got to have a tag, Superwoman will do. But no one will ever know what I'm really like. I don't really know myself.
"Maybe it is a bit unfair of people to think I'm some sort of Superwoman.
"But I've been around so long and had so many images, I take it all with a pinch of salt.
"It's a total illusion really. My life is actually disorganised and I rush from one thing to another.
"The image is not the reality but there are a lot worse tags I could have than Superwoman."
So what tag would she hang on herself?
"Well I'm an actress who does other things. My publishers tell me I'm one of their big authors, which should be flattering and daunting, but I get sort of cynical.
"When your life has taken as many turnings as mine you take things light- heartedly.
"I mean if someone had said to me 20 years ago I would be running a cake business and writing novels I would never have believed it."

But she has hidden depths as her novel, The Longing, showed, with its intelligent study of infertility, stalking and madness.
What of her own longings?
"Well I'd have loved to have gone to university and become a research chemist. But then I'd have loved to have lived on a farm, had 19 children and made bread all day.
I think of asking if she'd like to be between the age of 17 and 22 again, but think better of it. There seems no way into the Big Mac question. So I ask what the title of her next novel is instead.
"The Question," she answers with her impish grin that makes me feel I've accidentally stumbled on to the most important answer since God confirmed to Moses that, yes, he would part the Red Sea.
And what is it about? I stutter.
"Well, it's basically about revenge. It sprang from something I read in the newspaper that chilled me to the bone."
My mind frantically scans three decades of newspaper cuttings and searches for the headline: "Red-Hot Asher Was A Sex-Crazed Smasher Says Randy Macca."
But I draw a blank.
Still, it was worth a try.

[pennylane]

ok.. just a few more worth mentioning

NO ONE WANTED TO SAY IT WAS ALL OVER
Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland); 8/5/2002
Byline: MARIA CROCE
In December 1964, Paul announced plans to marry Jane and around this time they bought the farm near Campbeltown as a retreat.
Secretary Anne Leith, 50, of Campbeltown, recalls Paul and Jane visiting the town in his Beatles heyday. The mum-of-one recalls: "He drove into the town with Jane Asher in an Aston Martin and I wrote the registration number on my science book. That was my claim to fame.
"I was only about 15 at the time and I was in a Saturday job in the local bakery.
"Granny Brown worked in the bakery and we knew that Paul McCartney had bought her farm. We plagued the life out of that woman for her phone number. As if Paul McCartney was going to keep the same phone number."

Writer Jane tells of her sweet and sour moods.(Features)
Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England); 9/14/2002
SHE has gained herself an image as sweet and delicate as one of her cakes - but Jane Asher is far less lightweight than her confection.
The actress, writer and professional cake maker may have become a paragon of domestic virtue who is beautiful to boot, but it's evident from her books that there is far more going on in her head than patchwork quilts and pastry cases.
``My novels are in contrast to what people would expect me to write, which is probably romantic and lightweight,'' she reflects.
But Jane says she has bad times just the same as anyone else.
``We have all got a dark side if one has any kind of sensitivity at all. There are things going on every second of every day which bring about black clouds in our lives. But you've just got to get on with living.''
There is no doubt that she has suffered tragedy in her life.
Jane was born in London in 1946, the daughter of a doctor. Her mother was a professor of classical music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Her romance with former Beatle Paul McCartney which started when she was 17 has been well documented. It lasted five years, during which time he wrote some songs in her honour, most famously We Can Work It Out. But the relationship ended abruptly.
It's a subject about which she has never spoken and she will not be drawn to comment on the recent marriage of her former beau to model Heather Mills.
``I'm always very circumspect on this,'' she says.

[missvagabond]

pennylane said:

pennylane said:

[and the setup as he was with Jane.

Setup indeed.. very crafty words

Got some more;

By Deborah Ross
20 January 2003

This one is a good one...
How to make the cake queen ice over. .just say the word McCARTNEY

The word McCartney turns her from Icing Queen to Ice Queen.

Well, Jane obviously doesn't want to talk about Paul. Is it just me or do Deborah's "Ice Queen" remarks get a little dull really quickly! We get it!

So I ask if she gets sick of people asking her about Paul McCartney? "No, I get sick of people asking me if I get sick of people asking me about him."

LOL! That was funny! ;D

She seems to have erased the decade from her mind.
Which, considering it was a decade that made her a household name, is puzzling.

So, at 50, does she remember anything about the Sixties?
"It does seem a long time ago," she says, taking morning coffee (without cake) in a London hotel.
"I don't feel any different. In fact I feel like the same person really. I never think, who was that person 30 years ago?"

Jane seems to really be going out of her way to talk about anything to do with her past, which is kinda sad. She says she doesn't feel any differently, but she doesn't think about what happened back then..or people from that time.

Well, that person introduced a rough-edged Scouse rock'n'roller to the avant-garde world of art, theatre and classical music.
They even went to see the Maharishi together. Culturally, her influence was huge.
She was engaged to McCartney but then one night in 1968 she caught him in bed with 24-year-old Francie Schwartz, and hasn't opened her mouth about him since. Wouldn't she love to put the record straight?
"No. I would hate to put the record straight. Some people want to put the record straight, but I don't want to at all."
You can take her refusal to congratulate Sir Paul McCartney two ways.
Either she genuinely hates spilling the beans out of a deep respect for their relationship or she feels talking about him backs up the public perception that Jane Asher is only famous for nearly being Mrs McCartney.
The thing is, she's now famous for a hell of a lot more.
She still acts on telly and in the West End, she's written a critically- acclaimed novel, The Longing, has written a dozen books on cookery and kids, is a cake consultant for Sainsbury's, McVitie's and BA, runs her own cake shop in Chelsea, and is about to star in her own 25-part afternoon BBC show called Good Living. All balanced between a blissfully happy marriage of 25 years to cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, and three kids, Katie, 23, Alexander, 15, and Rory, 13.
Oh, and she sits on the board of countless charities. In short, she has turned into Superwoman. Does the tag frustrate her?
"Hardly. If you've got to have a tag, Superwoman will do. But no one will ever know what I'm really like. I don't really know myself.
"Maybe it is a bit unfair of people to think I'm some sort of Superwoman.
"But I've been around so long and had so many images, I take it all with a pinch of salt.
"It's a total illusion really. My life is actually disorganised and I rush from one thing to another.
"The image is not the reality but there are a lot worse tags I could have than Superwoman."
So what tag would she hang on herself?
"Well I'm an actress who does other things. My publishers tell me I'm one of their big authors, which should be flattering and daunting, but I get sort of cynical.
"When your life has taken as many turnings as mine you take things light- heartedly.
"I mean if someone had said to me 20 years ago I would be running a cake business and writing novels I would never have believed it."

Again, this is sad, she seems really upset about a whole bunch of things. So is she mad at Bill and not Paul?

But she has hidden depths as her novel, The Longing, showed, with its intelligent study of infertility, stalking and madness.
What of her own longings?
"Well I'd have loved to have gone to university and become a research chemist. But then I'd have loved to have lived on a farm, had 19 children and made bread all day.
I think of asking if she'd like to be between the age of 17 and 22 again, but think better of it. There seems no way into the Big Mac question. So I ask what the title of her next novel is instead.
"The Question," she answers with her impish grin that makes me feel I've accidentally stumbled on to the most important answer since God confirmed to Moses that, yes, he would part the Red Sea.
And what is it about? I stutter.
"Well, it's basically about revenge. It sprang from something I read in the newspaper that chilled me to the bone."
My mind frantically scans three decades of newspaper cuttings and searches for the headline: "Red-Hot Asher Was A Sex-Crazed Smasher Says Randy Macca."
But I draw a blank.
Still, it was worth a try.

[/i]

[/quote]

I just feel really bad for here. I'll bet she must want to talk to somebody sometimes about what happened . Talking with interviewers like Deborah isn't going to change her mind anytime soon.

Maybe I'll have to read one of her books to really see if she has anything to say in a way that isn't overly-obvious. And I think you'e right that she may have been pregnant, Penny. Maybe she lost a child. The whole issue of children keeps coming up. Jane has 3 kids, but she mentions wishing she could've lived on a farm and had 19..it sounds like she was totally devastated and shocked by whatever happened when she broke up with Bill.

I'm confused. If she knew it was Bill, was she planning to stay with him?

[pennylane]

In regards to the book 'The Question'.. it's kinda creepy.. it's about a woman named Eleanor and her husband named John who is very successful and wealthy and she finds out he has been cheating on her and their whole marriage has been a sham for 30 years. Then John, badly injured in a car crash, becomes a victim of PVS -- Persistent Vegetative State. Although he is capable of communicating by the tiniest of signals, he has no quality of life. And so arises the ultimate question -- and the ultimate opportunity for revenge. Should he live, or should he die?

[missvagabond]

pennylane said:

In regards to the book 'The Question'.. it's kinda creepy.. it's about a woman named Eleanor and her husband named John who is very successful and wealthy and she finds out he has been cheating on her and their whole marriage has been a sham for 30 years. Then John, badly injured in a car crash, becomes a victim of PVS -- Persistent Vegetative State. Although he is capable of communicating by the tiniest of signals, he has no quality of life. And so arises the ultimate question -- and the ultimate opportunity for revenge. Should he live, or should he die?

This is too weird. "Eleanor", "John", "Husband cheating", "Car crash". It sounds like a wapred (Potentially) edited version of what we're trying to figure out about Paul being replaced.

Maybe she's trying to tell people something through her novels...Okay, Eleanor could just be a name she used. Still, it's like she's been carrying a dark secret around for 30 years or so. And now she's telling her story through her writing.

It all sounds really disturbing.

[DarkHorse]

As far as the "husband cheating" reference, she could be secretly referring to Paul. Many of us agree that Paul had that relationship with Anita Howarth with whom he had a son with and that was around the time Paul was with Jane. And don't forget groupies. Paul was probably the most desired man in Rock and Roll at that time.

[missvagabond]

darkhorse said:

As far as the "husband cheating" reference, she could be secretly referring to Paul. Many of us agree that Paul had that relationship with Anita Howarth with whom he had a son with and that was around the time Paul was with Jane. And don't forget groupies. Paul was probably the most desired man in Rock and Roll at that time.

That makes sense to me that Jane would be referring to Paul. Cheating on Jane...makes no sense. He was supposed to be her boyfriend. Just because he was famous, it's no reason to treat her that way.

I'll have to pick that book up.

[revolver]

Does it annoy you when you are constantly linked with Paul McCartney rather than being the individual that you are and were in the Sixties?
"No, not at all. I've never spoken about that time because it was private and I took a decision not to.

Curious turn of phrase, saying she "took" a decision, rather than "made" a decision. People usually take oaths, and make decisions. It sounds like she was indirectly referring to being asked or "persuaded" to take an oath of silence about her relationship with Paul.

[missvagabond]

revolver said:

Does it annoy you when you are constantly linked with Paul McCartney rather than being the individual that you are and were in the Sixties?
"No, not at all. I've never spoken about that time because it was private and I took a decision not to.

Curious turn of phrase, saying she "took" a decision, rather than "made" a decision. People usually take oaths, and make decisions. It sounds like she was indirectly referring to being asked or "persuaded" to take an oath of silence about her relationship with Paul.

That's what we've all been wondering about, in general. I didn't really notice it. That's really sharp thinking, Revolver. Penny's done a great job looking into the Jane angle as well.

[pennylane]

Ok.. I think I have exhausted all Jane areas *phew*

Found a few more little bits to share:

Good Housekeeping interview with Jane Asher 95
Paul McCartney figured in her life during sixties when she was already an established actress. He bought her a socking great emerald engagement ring and wrote And I Love Her in her honour. In 1967 they split up. I tried to break a 30-year silence on Paul by asking, 'If tomorrow you opened a copy of the Sun and saw the headline "Jane - Wot a Scorcher" by Paul McCartney, would you then spill the beans?'
'Nice try', she says, 'but no, I wouldn't, not under any circumstances.



November 8, 1999 edition of the Daily Telegraph
When she was 17, she met Paul McCartney. She was working for the Radio Times, reviewing a concert at the Royal Albert Hall; he cornered her in a corridor and (after a conversation during which they reportedly discussed gravy) decided she was 'a rave London bird'. They enjoyed a dignified courtship ('She's so nice,' McCartney explained, 'I haven't tried to grab her or anything like that'), during which Paul moved himself and his bass guitar into a garret room in the Ashers' family home in Wimpole Street. He later bought his own house in St John's Wood, north London, which Jane helped him to decorate. Her housekeeping skills were already beginning to surface: during a fit of spring cleaning, she once threw away some of the Beatles' early songs, mistaking them for scrap paper.

The relationship lasted five years, during which Jane and her family took McCartney on holidays and cultivated his interest in fine art (he acquired paintings by Ren* Magritte and a sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi). Jane persuaded him to buy a farm in Scotland and the couple made a spiritual journey to the Maharishi's ashram at the foot of the Himalayas where they dabbled in transcendental meditation. Paul wrote a number of songs in her honour, most famously 'We Can Work It Out'. They didn't. The relationship ended abruptly in 1968 when Jane found Paul in bed with another girl. She has never spoken about him since. I ask her if she still listens to the Beatles. 'I'm sorry,' she says, her expression momentarily darkening, 'but that is the sort of question that I don't answer.'

A few years ago, Jane started writing novels that reveal a perception of the human condition which is unusually bleak. Her first two books, The Longing (1996) and The Question (1998), run through the gamut of human misery - bulimia, infertility, adultery, sexual obsession, revenge and madness. Her third, due to be published next spring, will tackle the issue of obesity. It's a far cry from Keep Your Baby Safe, Eats for Treats and the dozen other soothing titles listed in her Who's Who entry. 'It's not that there's a dark side of me bursting to get out,' she says. 'But I've glimpsed the other side of the coin. My world is not perfect,' she says. 'Because of baking cakes people think I'm a nice sort of fluffy thing, but obviously it's not as simple as that. No one's that simple. I know what it is to feel despair.'

[DarkHorse]

Wow!

I'm sorry,' she says, her expression momentarily darkening, 'but that is the sort of question that I don't answer.'

Well I think that answer says a lot. Like I don't even wanna go there so I will stop that questioning right away.

I know what it is to feel despair.'

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Her comments are so revealing from a PID perspective. Without PID, you are confused or somewhat perplexed at her answers.