Valerie Kretchmer

My father was an exporter who travelled internationally for business quite often. When I was 12 or 13 in the mid -60s, he came home from a trip with a gift that turned out to be a prized possession.

He was on a BOAC flight from London to NY and saw a group of long-haired young men together on the plane. Not being the hippest of dads, he asked the stewardess (as they were called back then) if they were the Beatles. She told him they were not, but they were Herman’s Hermits. He wasn’t sure if that was a popular band, but he went up to them anyway and got their autographs for me on a piece of paper torn out of the BOAC magazine.

Well, when he came home and gave me that gift, I was about as ecstatic as a teeny bopper could be. I certainly knew who they were and loved Herman (as well as the cute Beatle, Paul). I wasn’t one of the real popular kids in my class, but when I brought that in to school, I was definitely popular for the day.