In August 1965, Beryl Bryden wrote a piece in British music paper New Musical Express (issue # 970, August 13, 1965) about her encounter with the Beatles in Barcelona on July 3, 1965:

«I was appearing in Barcelona, when I was invited to the press conference before their recent show at the main bull ring. I was sure I hadn’t met the Beatles before, so you can imagine how amazed I was when they saw me and shouted: “Hi Beryl, where’s your

washboard?” Seems they remembered me from their old days in Hamburg, when I dropped in to see their show after a jazz concert.»

«It really was fun, that press conference. A lady journalist was trying to interview Paul even though she didn’t speak English, so he was using Spanish! He seems to know it quite well.»

«The boys just seem to live music – it was going all the time, what with John, Paul or George playing the guitar – or Nina Simone or the Byrds on the record player.»

«At their hotel after the evening show, John got me to sing “Movin’ On” to his guitar accompaniment, then Paul played some flamenco. But they kept asking me to play my washboard and after a while I made a 20-minute dash to my hotel just to get it. It was a session too good to miss!»

«It kind of worked out skiffle and blues, with George and Paul on guitars, John on the harmonica and Ringo playing maracas. I played the washboard, and an unknown spectator worked out on the spoons!»

«I guess it was about 5am when I left – nine and a half hours in which the marvellous Beatles really warmed my heart and I left thinking what charming, natural, humourous and down-to-earth people they are.»

According to a Spanish news report, the party was broken up by Brian Epstein, who had received complaints from the hotel’s management about the noise coming from the Beatles’ living room.  The Beatles shared three rooms at the Hotel Avenida Palace, with two Beatles sharing bedrooms, occupying rooms 109 and 110. These were both adjacent to room 111, which served as a living room, accessible from both bedrooms. Room 111 is now “The Beatles Suite”, decorated with about fifty photographs, magazine covers, articles, posters, reports and official documents and even a replica of the bass guitar that Paul McCartney used,  a Höfner 500/1 model.

Beryl Audley Bryden (11 May 1920 – 14 July 1998) was an English jazz singer and washboard player, who played with Chris Barber and Lonnie Donegan. Ella Fitzgerald once said of Bryden that she was “Britain’s queen of the blues”. Bryden joined the Chris Barber band on washboard, and played on the group’s gold disc earning, “Rock Island Line” in 1955 with Lonnie Donegan on vocals. She was also known for her skill as a jazz photographer, including photographs of Billie Holliday taken in 1959, the last time she played in London.   Beryl made her last recording in 1998, shortly before her death.

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