A chance lift home from Paul McCartney was just one part of a couple's journey to their diamond wedding anniversary.
Bob and Anne Irving, 79 and 77, met in the old Civil Service Club on Lower Castle Street in Liverpool City Centre on July 8, 1962, when they were just 19 and 17 respectively. Anne said she and her friends were on the beach all day and then came to the club for a dance.
The same day, Bob, was on the beach with his friends over in Wirral and also ended up at the club, where The Searchers were playing. Bob and Anne locked eyes, and that's where their 60-year love story began.
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Bob said: "I couldn't dance because I had hit my foot with a cricket bat while playing on the beach. I was sitting there all night and at the end of the night I asked if I could take her home.
"She said no you can't we live too far, so we walked them to the Pier Head where they got the Prescot bus."
Anne added: "The fortnight after that me and my mate were going to Italy, so I couldn't see him and I promised I would meet him afterward. All I could think about was him.
"It carried on after that and we met at the Civil Service Club and it just went from there."
The couple had a big barrier to overcome as Bob lived in Woodchurch, and Anne in Huyton. There were a number of occasions where Bob would have to run to catch the last bus or jump onto the Mersey Ferry.
One night Bob had missed the last bus from Liverpool to Wirral and found himself stranded near the Birkenhead Tunnel.
He said: "I was just standing there [at the entrance of the Birkenhead Tunnel] and saw a car driving towards me and it stopped, I looked inside and it was Paul McCartney. I thought he wouldn't give me a lift.
"Next thing the window comes down, it was just after The Beatles played the Shea Stadium in New York, and he said 'do you want a lift mate?' I said 'yes please' and got in."
Paul asked where he was going, and after he explained he was trying to get a bus to the Woodchurch estate he set off in his Ford Anglia through the Queensway Tunnel.
Bob told The ECHO : "We were going along chatting about all sorts and he already had another couple in the back of the car. He took me by central station, up Borough Road, onto Woodchurch Road, and actually stopped the bus for me.
"He gave me two signed autographs, one was on the back of a poem Anne wrote for me. He's a real decent fella."
Anne and Bob got married on September 5, 1964 in St Columba's Church, Huyton, and went to the Isle of White for their honeymoon. They later had one child, Victoria, and moved away from Merseyside to live in Northwich, Cheshire.
Looking back on their story, the Beatles mad couple said they felt like the song "I Saw Her Standing There" was written about their relationship, especially as they met when Anne was just 17. They added the songs Hey Jude, Let It Be and Michelle pulled them through a lot of tough times and meant a lot to their relationship.
Anne said: "We have been together for 60 years and married for 58 now, and it's all about give and take. We're as different as chalk and cheese, we're opposites in so many ways.
"I don't know where I would have been without him."
When asked their secret to almost 60 years of marriage, Bob said: "We've had such a good marriage because I always just give in." Anne added: "That's not true."
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