FRIEND PAUL MCCARTNEY ON THE HOLIDAY TO GREECE IN 1963: Maureen was a beautiful girl, a real sweetheart. That was a fantastic holiday, we all had a wild time.
RAVE MAGAZINE ON MAUREEN'S HAIR, August 1964: Her hair is the first thing you notice about her. As a hairdresser she looks after it carefully. It used to be a vivid red but since her holiday with Ringo, she has changed it to an auburn shade.
THE BEATLES BOOK MONTHLY ON MAUREN DEALING WITH FAME AND FORTUNE:
Maureen was a romantic with a well-defined streak of realism running through her. She was never fooled by falseness of celebrity, nor got carried away by the prospect of vast riches, and she kept her feet planted firmly on the ground throughout the chaotic Beatlemania years. In fact, Ringo and Maureen looked a very settled and stable pair in the sixties, a down to earth team who would never forget or betray their working-class Liverpool roots, although they were ready and able to appreciate and make good use of the material benefits of wealth. They struck those around them as a thoroughly compatible couple, who might be expected to live happily together for the rest of their lives.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ENVIOUS OF MAUREEN AND RICHARD'S RELATIONSHIP: Ringo had this habit of lighting up two cigarettes, one for Maureen at the same time that he lit his own. I remember thinking it was a loving thing to do, and wishing Jhn did it for me. But that would have been too demonstrative, maybe, for John.
HER FATHER JOE COX WHEN HE LEARNT SHE WAS IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS, May 1964: Maureen is a sensible girl and well able to look after herself. I cannot see her gettting into any kind of trouble. Maureen told me she was going with Ringo for a few days in London. But it really didn't come as a surprise to my wife or myself when we learned she was half-way across the world. In any case it would have made no difference. I would have given my permission to go anyway. Ringo and my daughter are nothing more than friends.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON RICHARD AND MAUREEN'S EARLY YEARS: Luckily for Ringo he had a girlfriend of true scouse stock back home in Liverpool. Although whilst in London he gallivanted around with one of the prominent models of hr time, Vicki Hodge, when Maureen arrived in London the smoke-screen came down and they behaved like two little love birds. The beautiful occational birds disappeared from view and Ringo got on with the serious business of courting his true love.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON MAUREEN'S LOVE FOR RICHARD: I loved Maureen, she was down to earth, honest and if she had known of Ringo's infidelities while she was in Liverpool I wouldn't have reckoned much to the chances of the girl or girls in question if she had found out. She was madly in love with Ringo and would have fought tooth and nail with anyone who had the nerve to try and take him from her. Ringo knew this, of course, and must have been in a panic many times in case of indiscreet gossip or thwarted lady-friends telling all. As it happened Ringo was lucky enough to get away with it in the face of incredible odds and loyal friends.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON MAUREEN'S FIRST MARRIAGE: In the month of February 1965, Richard Starkey and Maureen Cox, Liverpool hairdresser, were quietly wed. Maureen was in the same condition as I on the day of my wedding although the circumstances were much more settled for them. Their future seemed very secure and it was a very happy occasion for all concerned. The family was growing.
FRIEND JOHN LENNON ON MAUREEN'S FIRST MARRIAGE: It was very early and we all felt a bit ill, except Ringo. He looked extremely well. He kept going because he was getting married. Ringo wore a lightish gray tweedy kind of suit with the pants sort of raised up in the front and the jacket sort of dropped down in the back. He had a white carnation and so did Brian Epstein. Nobody got us any. We were going to wear radishes, actually. Maureen (as Mary is known) had on an off-white suit of lacy wool and her hair was up and done in a sort of string bag at the back. It looked good, actually. She had orchids. Some fellow said 'are you Richard Starkey and are you Maureen Cox?' and they said yes and I clapped at the end. Nobody cried. We'd threatened Mrs. Starkey that if she did she wouldn't be one of the gang. Then we all signed the register and went off to breakfast.
HUSBAND RICHARD ON WHY HE MARRIED: We met at the Cavern in Liverpool, about a week after I became a Beatle . . . We really wanted to marry for months but it was finding the right moment. Now we are, I don't think the fans are going to mind too much. I chose Maureen because I love her - that's why. She can't cook, but she's learning. Let's face it, she has to, because all I can cook is cornflakes and boiled eggs. We want a family, two or three will do, but if we get eleven, we'll have a football team.
A US JOURNALIST ASKING HUSBAND RICHARD 'Is there anywhere you & Maureen could take a walk without being bothered?' JUST AFTER THEIR WEDDING: I dunno, maybe Vietnam
MOTHER-IN-LAW ELSIE STARKEY-GRAVES: Maureen's very quiet, very natural.
NEIGHBOUR LORD MANCROFT ON MAUREEN AND HER NEW HUSBAND MOVING IN: We're a very distinguished square and I'm sure we'll welcome such a distinguished gentleman and his lady.
HUSBAND RICHARD ON BEING WITHOUT HIS NEW WIFE FOR THE FIRST TIME ...We had been told to travel light. Leave wives and girlfriends at home. We let ourselves be talked into it, and as a result I spent two of the lonliest weeks of my life in the lush paradise of the Bahamas. Well, when we discussed going on to Austria with a brief stop-over in London, I told Walter Shenson, our producer. I was ready for a fight. "I'm not going alone." So he said, and it sounded almost too simple to be true, "By all means, take Maureen along. As a result Cynthia Lennon came along too, and so did George's Pattie. Jane Asher, Paul's girlfriend was busy and had to stay behind. But the other three girls took off happily to keep us company. You didn't have to tell Maureen twice. I remember that when we got to Obertauern in the Austrian Alps, and unpacked in out room at the hotel, it didn't feel like being in a strange place at all. It was almost like coming home - yet I had never been there before. Suddenly I knew. This was simply because I had brought home with me. Maureen was my home, and my home was Maureen, and this made all the difference in the world between feeling like a lost stranger and a man in his own castle.
SIXTIES TEEN MAGAZINE: Ringo relies on her a great deal - and she's prepared, in her quiet, competent, shy way, to be just the wife of a Beatle... with no special fanfares or publicity for the girl who was Maureen Cox
BEATLES FANS INTERVIEWED IN THE MIDST OF HYSTERIA IMBETWEEN SOBS AT SHEA STADIUM, AUGUST '65: "Why are you crying honey?" I love the Beatles. "How about you?" I love em. "Which one?" Ringo. "He's a married man, don't you care if he's married?" Oh I love Maureen she's sweet.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE FILM "HELP!" The highly successful film Help was premiered in London in the presence of Princess Margaret and was followed by a fantastic party where Maureen in her final days of pregnancy danced and gyrated the night through watched with great concern by all. It would have been an incredible occasion if she had given birth in the presence of Her Royal Highness. Maureen was enjoying herself more than anyone else; it was her first baby and she was making the most of life while she could.
HUSBAND RICHARD ON MAUREEN HAVING THEIR FIRST CHILD: I remember the day Zak was born. It was the first time I'd felt totally useless. There was Maureen having our baby. She kept on crying "Help!" and I kept asking "How?"
OFFICIAL BEATLES BIOGRAPHER HUNTER DAVIES ON HER ANSWERING HER HUSBAND'S FAN MAIL: She spends a lot of time answering correspondance. Maureen takes a great interest in all Ringo's fan mail. Perhaps through having been a fan herself, she knows how much it means. Apart from Mrs. Harrison, George's mother, she is the only one in the Beatle circle who bothers. She doesn't do as much as Mrs. Harrison, as she has a large house and two young children to look after. When people send birthday cards, she still drops a little note saying thank you, adding that Ritchie, never Ringo, even writing to people who only know him as Ringo... In odd moments she gets him to sign batches of autographs. She doesn't send them to everyone who writes, because that would take too long. She just drops in his autograph with her little letter of reply when people seem really nice and polite.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON CHRISTMAS WITH MAUREEN: On Christmas Eve, George, Pattie, Ringo and Mo would descend on us at our home in Weybridge loaded up with beautifully wrapped parcels. We would drink, talk and listen to records until midnight when we would all go mad and open our respective gifts like silly little kids, oooing and aahing as each gift was impatiently unwrapped, kisses and hgs for everyone amidst shouts of Happy Christmas and Cheers.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON MAUREEN WAITING UP FOR HER HUSBAND: Maureen was really incredible with Ringo, especially when the boys were recording until the early hours of the morning. Instead of going to bed she would wait up until he came home and serve him a wonderful roast dinner, even if it happened to be five in the morning.
BEATLES OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHER HUNTER DAVIES ON MAUREEN WAITING UP FOR HER HUSBAND: She is the only Beatle wife who stays up for her husband and waits for him, no matter how late or in what condition he's likely to arrive.
BEATLES OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHER HUNTER DAVIES ON THE STARKEYS' DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS: They have a living-in nanny for the children and a daily woman for cleaning, but like John and Cyn, Ringo and his family live their self-contained life in the middle of the house. There is no outward sign of being attended on. Maureen does all the cooking for Ringo. But unlike the Lennons', the whole house has a lived-in feeling. They both tend to just potter around when Ringo's not working. Like John, they have pop records and the TV going all the time, even in rooms they're not in. They watch TV a lot. They have six sets. From the main couch in the drawing-room Ringo can change channels without getting up, just by operating a knob on the couch... They don't entertain people in any formal sense at their home. He has one or two friends, like Roy Trafford, from his early Liverpool days. John is the main person who pops in then sits down for tea or whatever's going. Maureen prefers the quiet life, although her life is really Ringo's. Anything he wants to do, she wants to do. They are very happy.
BEATLES OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHER HUNTER DAVIES ON NIGHT'S OUT: When they're out he squires Maureen in the traditional working-class way. Some years ago they once went out for dinner at Woburn Abbey, the home of the Duke of Bedford. Ringo had been friendly with his son, Rudolph, a keen pop fan... he was sat down at the baronial dining table miles away from his wife, Maureen, in the middle-and-upper-class way, much to his alarm... They gave up London some time ago and rarely go out at nights.
HUSBAND RICHARD ON THE SEATING ARRANGEMENTS DURING DINNER AT WOBURN ABBEY: I thought it would be a good laugh, to see how the others lived, that's why I went... I said oh no. Come over here, luv. They were trying to make us sit apart. Very funny people.
HUSBAND RICHARD ON MAUREEN DOING THE SHOPPING: Tell me, what do those pound note thingies look like? And do they still make those cute-like half-crowns? Maureen does the shopping but she just uses a card which says, this is money.
OFFICIAL BEATLES BIOGRAPHER HUNTER DAVIES ON MAUREEN'S HOUSEKEEPING: She's very careful when it comes to money. All her shopping is done at a Weybridge supermarket. She always gets Pink Shield trading stamps with everything she buys, which appears rather pointless, when she could buy anything she wanted anyway. She likes sticking the stamps in the pages. She gets out her little book now and again to see how much she's got. Ringo thinks it's a bit of a joke, but he's proud of the way she manages the house and looks after him.
HUSBAND RICHARD ON MAUREEN AND THEIR CLEANING LADY: Maureen was telling me the other day that the cleaning woman fears me. I don't plan or expect it. I think it's just Maureen rushing around saying we must get this ready or that done for me coming in.
HUSBAND RICHARD ON HER TASTE IN MUSIC: I don't play our songs myself. Maureen puts them on sometimes. She's a Beatles fan, and Frank Sinatra.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON MAUREEN'S VISIT TO SEE HER AND HUSBAND JOHN IN SPAIN: It was only when Maureen and Ringo came visiting that we decided to find ourselves somewhere more comfortable, large enough to house us all for the remainder of the filming. After scoring Almaria for days we settled on an enormous villa. It had everything. A swimming pool, which through lack of use was covered with thick green slime, solitude, peace and, by the time we left we were all convinced that it was haunted. Apparently the building had originally ben a convent. We all felt a strange presence as we entered, yet no-one could put their finger on what it was. But then objects began mysteriously to move in the nanny's room. The electricity kept going off and to top it all Maureen woke up one morning with her nightdress tied back to front in a knot. She had tied all the ribbons in bows. She was adamant that Ringo was not the culprit.
THE BEATLES BOOK MONTHLY ON RICHARD'S LOVE OF MAUREEN'S EYES: Ringo installed a cinema and a full-blown bar in his Weybridge mansion. His keen interest in imaginative cine-photography led him to make a twenty-minute colour film which focused on one of Maureen's eyes - he used to say her eyes had hypnotic power and were one of his wife's most compelling attractive features.
BEATLES BIOGRAPHER HUNTER DAVIES ON THE STARKEYS' ARTISTIC DIRECTIONS: He does a bit of painting, but not much. His wife Maureen spends hours doing very intricate patterns and designs. She's done one based on the 'Sergeant Pepper' symbol, all in sequins, hundreds and hundreds of them. It took her six weeks, on and off, while she was waiting to have Jason... she makes quite a lot of clothes while she is filling in the hours waiting... When she knows she's just going to have a go at something, she always buys cheap remnants, so there won't be much waste... [Ringo's] very pleased by the things she's made, such as the sequined 'Sergeant Pepper' design.
FRIEND JOHN LENNON ON HER TALENTS, 1971: Maureen is a fantastic artist in her own right as well,... apart from bringing up all that tribe of Ringo’s she also is an artist, y’know?
HUSBAND RICHARD ON DIVORCE IN THE 70s: I suppose my marriage will end in divorce. I'm a today person. Divorce is the way of things today.
NOTES TAKEN BY HER DIVORCE SOLICITOR CHARLES DOUGHTY: Mrs. Starkey has made it clear she doesn't want a divorce. She is fond of her husband and would like nothing more than to make a go of it.
EX-HUSBAND RICHARD LOOKING BACK ON THEIR DIVORCE YEARS LATER: The break-up of my first marriage was one of the most miserable times in my life. It was a horrible experiance for both of us, what with Maureen, like me, being an only child, my mother getting divorced and my father going off when I was only three. Leaving the kids was a real killer. Maureen and I tried to point out to Zak, Jason and Lee that although we were splitting up we both still loved them very dearly, but they were bound to be affected.
BOYFRIEND ISAAC TIGRETT: She's the sweetest woman on the planet
BOYFRIEND ISAAC TIGRETT TRYING TO HELP HER WHEN SHE WAS IN THE THROES OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN FOLLOWING THE LOSS OF HER FRIEND JOHN AND THE REMARRIAGE OF HER EX-HUSBAND: Nothing we did seemed to help her, and she was continuing to loose her hair. So I flew to Southern India, and my guru gave me a special medal and told me to go straight back to Maureen with it. Just fourteen hours later, I placed it around her neck and immediately she felt better. Within days her hair was growing back.
BOYFRIEND ISAAC TIGRETT ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP, 1985: We've been together now for so long, it feels like marriage. But we don't see much point in it
EX-HUSBAND RICHARD ON THEIR FRIENDSHIP: Three years ago I started working again after a long break, and the whole family, including Maureen, came to the gigs... We're like that. We go as a family to support the family. Even though we're divorced, me and Maureen still share the joy of being part of the same family.
HUSBAND ISAAC TIGRETT: my greatest piece of rock memorabilia.
ISAAC TIGRETT'S BUSINESS ASSOCIATE LYONS: Maureen is a pillar of strength. She comes from a working class background, Liverpool, and I think she keeps Isaac down-to-earth.
FRIEND CYNTHIA LENNON ON THE SHADOW OF THE BEATLES, 1995: We've shared life's ups and downs, with the Beatles and without. I was staying with her when John was killed. But Maureen did not live in the shadow of the Beatles.
A FRIEND: ON HER CLOSENESS WITH EX-HUSBAND RICHARD She took a part of Ringo with her when she died last week. There was so much of Ringo that he had lost over the years, which only Maureen held in her heart. She was almost Ringo's last link with his own past. He lost track of who he really was years ago - but Maureen never did. Ringo never lost that place in his heart for Maureen. He'd only lost the person who fell in love with her. Of course she was no saint, but Maureen never forgot that she was once that trainee hairdresser at the Cavern. He looked back and realised that he'd lost something good in his marriage with Maureen - and saw that he could easily have lost what he had with Barbara too. Relationships with the other Beatles weren't all they could have been, so Maureen was one of Ringo's few links with his own past - with the real Richard Starkey.
CHILDHOOD FRIEND MARGARET TRAFFORD ON EX-HUSBAND RICHARD Ringo regularly visited her in hospital. He could not have been more caring. Ringo is devastated by Maureen's death. He couldn't be more upset.
DAN ACKROYD, GODFATHER TO HER DAUGHTER AUGUSTA: Maureen was a loving individual. She will be missed.
RICHARD STARKEY: Even when it's your ex-wife it's difficult.
ELDEST SON ZAK STARKEY, July 1996: ...she used to be so full of life. She was up and joking even though the infection was killing her. She was always a fighter. It was the saddest experiance of my life. You've only got one mum and once she's gone, life can never be the same.
