The Beatles (160 page)

The band’s physical appearance
: “We went and bought these leather jackets [together]…. We all bought cowboy boots as well. Mine and John’s were Twin Eagles.” Author interview with Johnny Byrne, 10/8/97.

“
I’d never seen any band look like this
”: Author interview with Dave Foreshaw, 10/31/97. Bob Wooler says: “The overriding feeling was, ‘Who the hell are they?’ ” Author interview with Bob Wooler, 10/30/97.

“
It was just so different
”: Author interview with Billy J. Kramer, 12/16/97.

“
get your knickers down!
”: Salewicz,
McCartney,
p. 104; confirmed by Chas Newby in author interview, 5/21/98.

“
Gateway to the British Empire
”:
Encyclopaedia Britannica.

“
Scousers
”: Author interview with Quentin Hughes, 10/3/97; first citation of
scouse
in Oxford English Dictionary, dated 1945. But Jonathon Green dates nautical use to the nineteenth century, author interview with Jonathan Green, 7/3/98.

“
Scousers have a fierce… patriotism
”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

“
stout little ships
”: W. F. Machin, “A Short History of Liverpool Cotton Market” (typescript, 1957), p. 2.

an elaborate Grecian influence
: Picton,
Architectural History of Liverpool,
p. 65.

the richest city in Britain
: Author interview with Quentin Hughes, 10/3/97.

“
surpasses the pyramid of Cheops
”: Picton,
Memorials of Liverpool,
p. 660.

“
a real old sea sailor
”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

Julia, nicknamed Judy
: “Everybody called her Judy.” Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

Their first child was a boy
: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

Penny Lane
: “Penny Lane is not only a street, it’s a district.” Sheff,
Playboy Interviews,
p. 130.

“
Those women were fantastic
”: Ibid., p. 136.

“
She was born with a keen sense
”:
Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
She had a great sense
”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

“
I had no intention of getting married
”: Mimi Smith, AGA (undated).

“
Grandfather made it impossible
”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
That’s long enough!
”: Ibid.

Julia, George Stanley’s favorite
: “Judy was his favorite.” Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

“
perfect profile
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 6.

“
I soon forgot my father
”: Ibid., p. 12.

“
They wanted nothing to do with him
”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

“
we knew he would be no use
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 6.

“
very intelligent… a clever boy
”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
Anywhere Freddie turned up
”: Ibid.

“
As I walked past her
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 5.

“
she would get a joke
”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

Men ogled her
: “Everybody would wink at her, but she laughed, she enjoyed it.” Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

“
Judy was very feminine
”: Ibid.

Instead of working
: “He and Julia used to take me out for long walks in the park.” Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

allegedly at George Stanley’s behest
: Goldman,
Lives of John Lennon,
p. 29.

Entire neighborhoods… “just
gone
”: Author interview with Quentin Hughes, 10/3/97.

but Freddie was gone
: Author interview with Charles Lennon, 10/2/97.

“
Mrs. Lennon has just had a boy
”: Coleman,
Lennon,
p. 24.

“
I was dodging in doorways
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 25.

“
Mary would, on occasion
”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
she would have always had a fellow
”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

“
pain… of not being wanted
”: John Lennon, 1971 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 7.

“
I said to her, there’s a war on
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 8.

he set out on the
Sammex
: Goldman,
Lives of John Lennon,
p. 30.

“
She claimed that she was raped
”: Author interview with Charles Lennon, 10/2/97.

“
she was told quite categorically
”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

“
She was a beautiful baby
”: Anne Cadwallader, 9/84, AGA.

a Norwegian Salvation Army captain
: Ibid.

“
would always wink at [Julia]
”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

Spiv
: “So we, as kids, just named him Spiv… and it stuck”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
a nervous cough and… thinning… hair
”: John Lennon, 1979 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 10.

“
He was certainly earning good money
”: Stanley Parkes, 1/19/85, AGA.

“
He had a very short fuse
”: Author interview with Nigel Walley, 3/11/98.

“
my mother came to see us
”: John Lennon, 1967 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 10.

“
It confused him
”: Albert Goldman, from handwritten notes, 1985.

“
Oh, for heaven’s sake
”: Leila Harvey, 2/4/85, AGA.

“
You are not fit
”: Ibid., 10/84.

“
disagree with the way she was living
”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
A little bit of tea
”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

John’s unofficial guardian
: “She said she couldn’t refuse.” Davies,
Beatles,
p. 8.

“
intending never to come back
”: Ibid.

five years of indifference
: “Of not being wanted,” John Lennon, 1971 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 7.

“
She said no
”: Davies,
Beatles,
pp. 8–9.

“
He had to decide
”: Ibid., p. 9.

a decision “was forced” on Julia
:
“It was Mimi and Julia’s father that demanded Julia give John up.” Leila Harvey, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
My mother… couldn’t cope
”: Sheff,
Playboy Interviews,
p. 136.

“
a proper upbringing
”: “Mary would be strict and give him a proper upbringing.” Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

no-nonsense, if “difficult,” housewife
: “Mary can be quite difficult.” Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

“
Mimi was a sensible, dignified lady
”: Ibid.

“
merciless disciplinarian
”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

“
she
wanted
John
”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

Wind in the Willows
: “It was passed from me to Leila, from Leila to John.” Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

Mimi’s morning room was always filled
: Ibid.

“
a quiet and jolly man
”: Stanley Parkes, 1/19/85, AGA.

“
Uncle George absolutely adored John
”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

“
I had no time
”: Coleman,
Lennon,
p. 27.

Mimi shelved “twenty volumes
”: Ibid., p. 26.

“
My mother had a .22
”: Stanley Parkes, 2/3/85, AGA.

“
fit in
”: “Anyone who had anything didn’t fit in.” John Lennon, 1969 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 9.

“
in a trance for twenty years
”: John Lennon, 1980 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 9.

“
very deprived
”: Wenner,
Lennon Remembers,
p. 166.

“
This image of me being the orphan
”: Sheff,
Playboy Interviews,
p. 136.

“
There was always a bad reception
”: Author interview with Colin Manley, 10/2/97.

He was known to “behave distractedly
”: Account of Lennon’s ritual, author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

“
That’s the music that brought me
”: John Lennon, 1975 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 11.

“
We savored the pleasure
”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

“
It was the first indication
”: Author interview with Nigel Walley, 3/7/98.

Earlier in the year
: Author interview with Eric Griffiths, 7/16/98.

“
with the thick lads
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 17.

“
but eventually… he just drifted off
”: Author interview with Rod Davis, 9/30/97.

“
I was obviously very musical
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 18.

Having given up any pretense
: “We’d given up all hope by that stage.” Author interview with Pete Shotton, 7/16/98.

“
Daily Howl”/Ivan Vaughan
: “Ivan started the Daily Howl much earlier at the Institute, as a number of sheets just clipped together. Later, when John got involved, some of it would be his, but we always saw it in Ivan’s handwriting.” Author interview with Don Andrew, 10/4/97.

“
He was his own man
”: Ibid.

“
It was so smooth
”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

Radio Luxembourg had played
: Radio Luxembourg archives.

“
When I heard it… it was the end
”: John Lennon, 1971 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 11.

“
Nothing really affected me
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 19.

“
Heartbreak Hotel” “was the most exciting thing
”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

“
That was him
”: Paul McCartney in
Anthology,
p. 22.

The uniform, in particular
: Description of teddy boy chic drawn from Steele-Perkins & Smith,
The Teds,
pp. 3–5.

born Tommy Hicks
:
Actually, Larry Parnes had seen Steele perform three months earlier at a small supper club called the Gyre and Gimble. Rogan,
Starmakers & Svengalis,
p. 23.

“
he had enormous presence
”: Melly,
Revolt Into Style,
p. 26.

the influence of country-and-western music
: “Country-and-western was so popular here because of the connection through the American sailors.” Author interview with Don Andrew, 10/4/97.

“
the Nashville of the North
”: “Because it was the biggest [source] in Europe for country music.” Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/1/97.

It wasn’t long before
: Liverpool City Council, Leisure Services Directorate.

“
Rock ’n roll was beyond
”: Author interview with Eric Griffiths, 7/16/98.

Even before he got a guitar
: “He would stand in front of his bedroom mirror with the guitar pretending to be that man Elvis Presley.” Goldman,
Lives of John Lennon,
p. 63; also author interview with Pete Shotton, 7/10/98.

She wouldn’t hear of it
: “Her attitude was that guitar playing and rock ’n roll was really nasty stuff. It was dirty music, just below her.” Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

“
Perhaps next year
”: Ibid., 1/18/98.

“
guaranteed not to split
”: Davies,
Beatles,
p. 20; also Coleman,
Lennon,
p. 57.

“
It was a bit crummy
”: John Lennon, 1963 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 11.

“
began chatting about music in earnest
”: Author interview with Eric Griffiths, 7/16/98.

“
she retuned our guitar strings
”: Ibid.

“
tuned the bottom three strings
”: Author interview with Rod Davis, 9/30/97.

“
It took me about two years
”: John Lennon, 1971 interview, in
Anthology,
p. 11.

Fats Domino’s first hit
: Whitburn,
Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits,
p. 91.

Hunter Davies maintains
: It wasn’t released on the Brunswick label until May. Ward,
Rock of Ages,
pp. 153–54.

“
John was a born performer
”: Author interview with Eric Griffiths, 7/16/98.

“
Should we start a band
”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

“
Don’t be silly—I can’t play
”: “I have no musical genes. It was a joke to me.” Ibid.

Bessie… contributed a washboard
: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 7/10/98.

“
I took it to school
”: Author interview with Rod Davis, 9/30/97.

Right away, Lennon took control
: “He was the front man and basically what he said went.” Ibid.

“
I remember being very impressed
”: Author interview with Nigel Walley, 3/7/98.

they gathered at Mendips
: “We were in John’s house… so we had a mini-brainstorm.” Author interview with Eric Griffiths, 7/16/98.

defection of Bill Smith
: “Bill Smith didn’t turn up for rehearsals, so [he] discharged himself [from the group].” Ibid.

“
liberated” the tea-chest bass
: “We did break into Bill Smith’s kitchen.” Author interview with Pete Shotton, 7/16/98.

A rarity in Liverpool
: “It was pretty rare for someone to have a full set of drums.” Author interview with Colin Hanton, 10/6/97.

“
I didn’t know the first thing
”: Author interview with Nigel Walley, 3/7/98.

Business cards
: Author interview with Charles Roberts, 7/25/98.

“
The tea-chest bass and my drums
”: Author interview with Colin Hanton, 10/6/97.

“
Julia was unlike anyone
”: Author interview with Rod Davis, 9/30/97.

“
She had loads of records
”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.