By VIRGINIA KIGUEL
     What happened to me is almost unbelievable. I couldn't believe it myself: I met Herman and his Hermits! They came to Buenos Aires for only four days, but my friend, Mabel Delale and I, two loyal Hermit fans managed to meet them and talk to them on two occasions. It all happened like this:      Thursday: at 3 p.m. the Hermits were arriving at Buenos Aires Airport, but Mabel and I were at school so we could not go. At 6 p.m. we phoned the hotel where they were lodging and we were told that the boys had arrived there but that they were not to be disturbed. That evening a press conference was going to take place in the hotel but it was already too late for us to plan some way of getting in it, so we preferred to make our plans for the next day.
     Friday: Our adventure started at 4 p.m. After school we went to the hotel with a tape recorder and two cameras: we would pretend to be reporters. But, alas! The Hermits were not there, they had gone to the TV studios to tape a show for the following Sunday. We waited and waited, just sitting there in the entrance lobby, but the guys did not appear. Finally we decided to do "something". We gave a little note addressed to Herman to the man in charge of the keys. We knew he had to put it in one of the lockers, together with a key, corresponding both to one of the hotel rooms: Herman's room! So we kept one eye on the letter and discovered it was left in the box corresponding to room 518. However, we were not sure it was the right room. So we decided to find out by ourselves. We went up and down a hundred times, hiding in deposit rooms behind old mattresses and unused chairs.
     After about three hours of running from one place to another, hiding from anyone who appeared to be looking for us to throw us out of the hotel, suddenly we heard some voices: two or more English men talking to someone (seemingly a waiter) who couldn't understand them quite well. The room from where the voices came was number 401. The door was half-open and we could see some clothes hanging near the entrance: a red and yellow belt and a blue coat with golden buttons and bell-bottom sleeves. Those things could belong to no one but one of the Hermits! But we had no time to prove it. The waiter who was inside the room went out and asked us what we were doing there. We said "Nothing." But he found it a bit strange that two girls were doing "nothing" just outside the room of the Hermits, so he told us to wait there and he went and spoke to another man and their final decision was that we had to leave the hotel. We did so, for it was already 11:30 p.m., but we would not give up: our next plan was to disguise ourselves as maids to enter the hotel with the excuse of cleaning the rooms.
     Saturday: The first thing was to find out where the Hermits were going to play that night. The result of our investigation was really depressing: they were playing at a club dance, and almost 5,000 persons (or more!) would be there. There would certainly be very little chance for us to meet them there. No, that was not the way to get to them.
     Our next idea was a better one. We phoned the hotel and decidedly asked the man who answered to communicate us with room 518. An English man answered, this was something! (remember we speak Spanish here). We thought it could be one of them, but it was their manager, at least that's what he said. Whoever he was, he was the one who helped us to meet the Hermits, for he told us (when we asked him when and how could we interview them) that there was a press conference that evening at 7 p.m. at the English Club of Buenos Aires. And there we were at 4 p.m. but then we were told that it was not a press conference but a . . . a cocktail party!!! And apparently a very private one! But nothing would stop us now.

     We waited for more than three hours, but it was worth it. At 7:15 p.m. four guys came in. They were Keith, Barry, Lek and Karl! (Peter arrived later.) We almost fainted, but we had to remain calm. The party was on the first floor, so after the boys had gone upstairs we went ourselves. There were less than thirty people there (it was a private party indeed) but we were in it already!
     We didn't know anybody, but we were wondering whether to walk straight up to them and say something or to wait for a while, when one of the photographers told us to join the Hermits so we could come out in a picture with them. After the picture was taken, we talked for a while with Peter (Herman). He told us to go to Sunset, a night club, on Sunday, because that was where they were going to play. But then the other Hermits left us and we went on talking with Herman.
I asked Peter, "Why did you cut your hair?" "It was long," he replied. Then I asked him "How are your sisters?" and he told me many things about them. He really adores them!
     At that moment Mabel joined us and we chatted with the boys for quite a long time. The conversation varied from one subject to another. We talked about the Beatles (they are Peter's favorite group) about their visit to Brazil, from which they just returned. They were there for a short time, but they so sunburnt that Karl couldn't even shave!
     Peter and Karl left us and we went on talking to Keith, he's really adorable! He told us about the problems they had had taping the show the day before. They had trouble with the "drooms" (drums, of course), cables, guitars, etc. He also told us that they were leaving the following Monday at 11:30 a.m.
     Barry was sitting behind us, and we decided to sit with him. Mabel asked him for a cigarette and he gave her the whole packet! Our conversation was interrupted by a press photographer, who asked Barry, Mabel and me to pose with Herman. While the man was preparing his camera, Peter pretended to be very serious, and said with a straight face, "About the devaluation of the pound, er...well...I think it will be of great benefit for England, I mean, well...I think..." And so on. After the picture was taken, we went on talking to Peter. We asked him: "What are you drinking?" And he said: "Tonic, D'you want to try it?" Mabel liked it, I didn't, but it was very exciting to drink from Herman's glass!

Left to right: Me (Virginia), Mabel, Keith, Barry and another fan.

     After chatting for a while with Herman we sat with Keith and Barry again. Keith told us the argument of the film "The Russians Are Coming", which he had seen in England. It sounded very funny from the streets! Then both Barry and Keith sang "Mary had a little lamb" and "Humpty Dumpty" with that accent. It was so funny we couldn't stop laughing. Then Barry took the microphone and started to make some strange noises, something like: "Bleep bob, bleep bopbilly..."
     Mabel asked Keith if he had any hobbies and he answered "Yes, washing machines." A strange hobby, indeed. He likes to watch the clothes going round and round as they are being washed. He also said: "I luv refrigerators . . . to sleep in one! And I like central heating, it keeps you nice and warm at night . . ." Finally he said: "I collect antiques. Do you have any antiques to sell?"

Karl, Herman and me. I tasted Herman's tonic - didn't like it much!

     The conversation lasted for more than an hour, but I would never finish this story if I told you all the details. What's more important is that the guys are terribly sweet, and chatting with them time flies. And as time was flying and the Hermits would have to leave very soon, I want to look for Peter, for I wanted to tape him. He was standing by himself in the middle of the room, reading a newspaper! He followed me without taking his eyes away from the paper, and when I gave him the microphone he said: "I'd like to say to the people of Buenos Aires how wonderful it is to be here, everybody's been very nice. . .this is the truth, I wouldn't say anything but the truth, I don't tell lies. . .Everything's been great and. . ." as he didn't know what else to say he concluded: ". . .Eh. . .Well. . .See you in February. . .Buenos Noches!"
     Unfortunately it was time for the guys to leave. They came and said "good-bye, it's been nice to meet you" and then they left. We couldn't believe we had spent more than three hours with Herman's Hermits, but the autographs they had signed for us proved it, no one could deny that!
     Sunday: That night we went to the Sunset Club, where the Hermits were playing. Sunset is not a very big night club, so very few people were there, and the show was a "peaceful" one, and an excellent one too. They played for about one hour and a half. Between one song and another Peter talked to the audience, we were all sitting on the floor in a semi-circle around them. Herman and Lek were thirsty, so a waiter brought a glass of coke for each. Lek only drank half of it, and gave ME the other half!

Peter loves to clown when he poses for pix. He was so funny!

All of them posed for this shot - they couldn't have been nicer!