A Petty Cash Voucher for the sum of £30 that was issued to Paul McCartney on April 11th 1963 for part payment of his salary for the week ending April 5th 1963. It is handwritten in blue ballpoint pen with Paul’s name written in the upper right by NEMS employee, Olive Johnson. Still contained in the original pay packet envelope with the name Paul McCartney written on the reverse. This was the way that Brian Epstein had arranged for The Beatles to receive their weekly wages. In part one of his biography of The Beatles, Tune In, Mark Lewisohn recalls: ‘NEMS Enterprises continued to account to them every Friday, Beryl Adams handing out individually typed statements with the money just how they liked it: cash in little wage-packets. If the four weren't in Whitechapel together to pick them up, it might be collected by Paul or George, whoever was in town with his car, and sometimes it was taken round to them at home by Brian’.
The week ending 5th April 1963 was a busy one for The Beatles as detailed below:
31st March 1963 – The last night of the group’s UK tour with Tommy Roe and Chris Montez at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester, England.
1st April 1963 – The Beatles record two radio programmes at BBC Piccadilly Studios, London, England on the BBC light programme Side By Side.
3rd April 1963 – The Beatles record a radio an appearance on the BBC light programme Easy Beat. The group rehearsed from 5.30pm and the show was recorded between 8.30pm and 9.45pm in front of an audience at the Playhouse Theatre, London, England.
4th April 1963 – The Beatles performed a concert at Stowe School, Stowe, England. It was a very unusual booking for the Beatles to play a mid-afternoon concert at a prestigious all boys public school. The event came about after one the pupils, David Moores from Liverpool, wrote to Brian Epstein to see if he would consider letting the Beatles perform there. Brian must have been impressed with the pupil’s approach as the booking was made and The Beatles performed in the school’s Roxburgh Hall. What made it even more unusual was the fact that there were no screaming fans! Just neat rows of well-behaved boys watching The Beatles perform. The group’s set list at the show went as follows: ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘Too Much Monkey Business’, ‘Love Me Do’, ‘Some Other Guy’, ‘Misery’, ‘I Just Don’t Understand’, ‘A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues’, ‘Boys’, ‘Matchbox’, ‘From Me To You’, ‘Thank You Girl’, ‘Memphis Tennessee’, ‘A Taste Of Honey’ and ‘Twist And Shout’.
5th April 1963 – The Beatles performed a concert at Leyton Swimming Baths, Leyton, London. Earlier in the afternoon the group had given a private live performance to record company executives at EMI House, London, England during a special presentation ceremony to celebrate the award of their first silver disc for the single ‘Please Please Me’.
The envelope measures 10.1cm x 10.5cm (4 inches x 4.1 inches). The Petty Cash Voucher measures 12.5cm x 10cm (5 inches x 4 inches). The condition is very good.