Reuters News footage
7 Cavendish Avenue, St. John’s Wood, London
For better or for worse, Paul’s self-interview designed to promote McCartney was treated by the press as his declaration of independence from the Beatles. Sensing one of the biggest news stories of the year, reporters from the Reuters news organization swooped down on the Apple headquarters in London, interviewing fans, Derek Taylor and Allen Klein (who is, not surprisingly, quite defiant, claiming that McCartney’s split will have “no effect”). The cameras also caught a few fleeting seconds of McCartney’s car speeding away from his home in St. John’s Wood, Linda and baby Mary being the only truly visible passengers.
AVAILABILITY: Although the complete newsreel lasting 2’03” does not circulate, the 2001 documentary Wingspan (later released on DVD) made good dramatic use of about 20 seconds of it, including the shots of Paul’s car. Wingspan also includes footage from a BBC newsreel (and a possible third newsreel) from the same day, but with no new footage of any of the Beatles.