Paul Mccartney Relaxing in the Grounds of His Father’s Home in Gayton in the Wirral, Cheshire on July 21, 1968

On July 20, 1968, Jane Asher told Simon Dee’s on during a televised interview that her relationship with Paul McCartney was over. On the 21st the press found Paul at his Dad’s house in Wirral and Paul confirmed that what Jane said was true.

“I haven’t broken it off, but it is broken off, finished. I know it sounds corny, but we still see each other and love each other, but it hasn’t worked out. Perhaps we’ll be childhood sweethearts and meet again and get married when we’re about 70.” Jane Asher, interviewed by Simon Dee, on the BBC Television show “Dee Time.”

Saturday July 20, 1968 – Jane Asher sits pensively in BBC TV studios, on the set of Simon Dee’s “Dee Time.”

At this date, Paul McCartney was having a relationship with Francie Schwartz (she would join the Beatles during the “Mad Day Out” photo session some days later) and had already met Linda Eastman, who would become his wife in March 1969.

“I watched the show with Paul and his father. 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.” – Francie Schwartz, from “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008.

Paul left London for his father’s home in Cheshire shortly after the announcement, and gave brief interviews from there the following day.

Paul McCartney about his relationship with Jane Asher, from “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997:

“I think inevitably when I moved to Cavendish Avenue, I realised that she and I weren’t really going to be the thing we’d always thought we might be. Once or twice we talked about getting married, and plans were afoot but I don’t know, something really made me nervous about the whole thing. It just never settled with me, and as that’s very important for me, things must feel comfortable for me, I think it’s a pretty good gauge if you’re lucky enough. You’re not always lucky enough, but if they can feel comfortable then there’s something very special about that feeling. I hadn’t quite managed to be able to get it with Jane.”

Paul McCartney and Jane Asher