Eric Clapton stole away Pattie Boyd's heart with love letters, poems, and a kick-ass rock song. Then they were together, which meant that they got drunk a lot, and he got some other girlfriends for good measure. It was up and down, and just when it was really down, he proposed. In her words:
What I didn't know until Roger Forrester [Clapton's manager] confessed a few days after the wedding was how the whole thing had come about. He and Eric had been playing an endless drunken game of pool at Roger's house in Frimley Green and they had had a bet. Roger had bet Eric that he could get his photograph in the newspapers the following morning. Eric bet him ten thousand pounds that he couldn't. So Roger went straight to the telephone and told Nigel Dempster, then gossip columnist on the Daily Mail, that Eric Clapton would be marrying Pattie Boyd on March 27 [just three days from then] in Tucson, Arizona. By the time they woke up the next morning, the story, plus photograph, was emblazoned across the Daily Mail and the two went into a total panic. What to do? A few million people now knew about the wedding; the only person who didn't was the bride.
So, Clapton did the only thing there was to do since he himself was in England, and Pattie was staying with a good friend in L.A. He had his friend propose:
He [the friend, Rob] told me he had had a call from Eric in the middle of the night. "He said he wants to marry you, and he asked me to ask you on his behalf. He wants me to be best man and says that if you don't want to marry him, then 'On your bike!'"
They got married.
Getting your picture in next morning's paper: Ten thousand pounds.
Getting your buddy to convince your girlfriend to marry you in three days so you don't look foolish in the news: Priceless.
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8 comments:
The only thing different about my marriage proposal was the ten thousand pounds.
But Jim, I never saw your picture on the front page of the Daily Mail and I lived in Britain at the time.
Sometimes I think it's better to just listen to, and enjoy the music. Too many popular musicians are sleazy beyond belief.
that's US$20,000! it is a pretty amazing story. hopefully we all have similar stories just as unbelievable - and maybe w/ a little more sweetness. maybe w/ less money at stake and not as widely known, but hey, that's not the point, right?
Juicy!
Wow. Every girl's dream. DRD
What did he mean by "on your bike"?
He meant:
On your way, then.
Hit it.
Later, skater.
Get lost.
Beat it.
See ya!
Oh, nice. DRD
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