From then on her obsession grew, as did the whole country's adoration for the Beatles. Susan joined the Liverpool fan-club, and began buying all the teenage magazines like mad, just to read more about them and get more pictures to stick on her bedroom wall. Her mother was not at all pleased in the way she was "ruining" her lovely room with all of the pictures pasted everywhere.

Soon, all of the girls at school were doing the same, and were constantly asking her questions of "what are they REALLY like?" and yelling "oh you're so lucky to have actually met them, and at the cavern too!"

Susan had always been the quiet girl in the background, and loved all the new attention. She had always felt left out of everything, and that she would just never fit in. When she had first seen The Beatles she had finally belonged and became part of something. Now that same group was even affecting her life at school. It only made her love them more.

Before long, Susan thought of nothing but The Beatles. Nothing else mattered - if it wasn't to do with the four Liverpool lads it was pointless. Once the top of the class, Susan's work deteriorated but she didn't care about school anymore. School just wasn't Beatles was it?! They hadn't got where they were from doing well at school. In fact, they had failed most of their exams due to their obsession with music. So what she was doing couldn't be all that bad -could it? Life now without them would be a complete waste of time for her.

It altered her outlook on everything - if someone didn't like the Beatles and couldn't be persuaded to then she didn't like them. She instantly hated anyone who spoke a word against them. Every hour was spent carefully. If she hadn't heard a Beatles song all day, she went insane. She got irritable and moody, and her mother just gave up the fight.

All day at school was spent chatting with her friends about the latest things the group had said or done. And the most important question for any new girl entering the circle was "Who's your favourite?". Each Beatle had a certain type of fan: John: the rebel, was loved for his sarcasm and wit; Paul: the "cute" one, for his charm and the way that a bat of his eyelid would cause teenage girls across the country to pass out; George was the silent, almost mysterious Beatle; and Ringo seemed to bring out the mothering instinct in everyone.

By Summertime, Susan's mother had realized the importance that the Beatles played in Susan's life. She was now a much happier child, and this change was welcomed. October was Susan's birthday, and to celebrate the occasion she could invite three of her Beatle loving friends over to stay. That night was "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" with....The Beatles. When they appeared, not only were there four girls shrieking with excitement at Susan's house, but an extraordinary hysteria swept across the front rooms of homes across the country. BEATLEMANIA was born!