#Peter Shotton

[fard-rock-blog]

THE BEATLLES FILE | I quinti beatles

Come mi facevano notare nei commenti al post precedente, l’appellativo “quinto beatle” è stato assegnato a un numero esagerato di personaggi che hanno gravitato attorno agli scarafaggi, durante il decennio di attività come band ed anche dopo. Senza la presunzione di ricordarli tutti (e tralasciando Brian Epstein di cui abbiamo parlato ieri), ecco alcuni illustri altri esempi di “quinto…

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

have you ever made a similar ranking of evidence of john being attracted to men?

Well I made a big compilation post once (which is missing a significant amount of stuff) with all the evidence, but it wasn't organized by strength. Also this newer post by @gardenschedule is a great resource!

I think the case for John being bi is about as strong as it could possibly be (and by that I mean significantly stronger than the case that he was specifically attracted to Paul).

At the very top I would rank the anecdotes directly describing John getting in Situations with men.

So you've got Hunter Davies, Tony Bramwell, and Pete Shotton saying John admitted to them that something happened in Barcelona. There's also Peter Brown's version but I don't remember how he claims to have come about that information. I guess from Brian. I also think Brian's butler said he was told? – Regardless, while we don't have firsthand accounts (although, maybe once Hunter Davies' notes get fully digitized by the British Library, that will change!) we do have a lot of seconhand accounts. (and of course also some people that say nothing happened, like Cynthia, Alistair Taylor, or Yoko)

You've also got two accounts involving John kissing Jesse Ed Davis during the Lost Weekend (and then getting violent), both of which appear in Goldman's book and the sources are May Pang and Jesse Ed Davis himself. (I mean, and Goldman has a bunch more stuff about John and Brian, but those tend to be sourced like third or fourth hand. Shouldn't be entirely dismissed though)

EDIT: And also Icke Braun claiming John kissed him twice in Hamburg. And that Tony Manero story, although nobody seems to know who that guy is outside the fact John allegedly very openly came onto him.

I think it's also of note that these incidents all happened in relatively different periods.

Second tier of evidence would be the times John alluded to his sexuality, though it was usually in a jokey fashion which provided a lot of plausible deniability. That time he said he felt as a teen he'd have to marry a rich old lady or man. That time he said he was trying to put it round that he was gay.

Also, I'm not sure how to rank it, but this shit from Norman's John bio never fails to crack me up:

There was even some discussion, albeit not very serious, of whether he should stick to his own gender. “John said ‘It would hurt you like crazy if I made it with a girl. With a guy, maybe you wouldn’t be hurt, because that’s not competition. But I can’t make it with a guy because I love women too much, and I’d have to fall in love with the guy and I don’t think I can.’”

Third tier is the long history of Yoko talking about John's sexuality and her observations of it. She has publicly been making allusions to this since at least 1981 culminating in her 2015 "John was bi!" interview. (it's crazy how, in any other situation, a widow saying her husband was bi would be at the top of this list, but the timing of the interview and specific phrasing she used made it incredibly easy to mostly dismiss)

I think that's about it.

[muzaktomyears]

I know there's a lot of answers out there for this question, but personally like what do you think are the best beatle books to read? Like what's the best for you?

hello anon! I'm hyperfixated so I'll read pretty much anything on them tbh. I do like to read the more anecdotal stuff because I love gossip lol - and some of them can be so revealing (both of the Beatles themselves and the authors). But I'll read and have enjoyed lots of stuff: the big biogs, memoirs, fan accounts, academic studies, that novel by Paul's ex publicist.

anyway, here's the list of Beatles books I've read all the way through and what rating out of 5 I'd give them. The books I've rated highest have generally been the big biographies just because I think they tend to say more and tell a fuller story, since obvs that's their purpose, so they're a more satisfying read. My ratings are based on a random combo of what they can tell us about the Beatles, how interesting I find them historiographically/as Beatles reception, and how much I enjoyed reading them.

★★★★★

One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time (Craig Brown)

The Beatles: The Authorised Biography (Hunter Davies)

Shout!: The True Story of the Beatles (Philip Norman)

Love Me Do!: The Beatles' Progress (Michael Braun)

Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America (Jonathan Gould)

The Man Who Gave the Beatles Away: The Amazing True Story of the Beatles' Early Years (Allan Williams & William Marshall)

★★★★☆

The Love you Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles (Peter Brown & Steven Gaines)

Backbeat: Stuart Sutcliffe - The Lost Beatle (Alan Clayson & Pauline Sutcliffe)

The Gospel According to the Beatles (Steve Turner)

Lennon vs. McCartney: The Beatles, Inter-band Relationships and the Hidden Messages to Each Other in Their Song Lyrics (Adam Thomas)

Beatle! The Pete Best Story (Pete Best & Patrick Doncaster)

Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World (Rob Sheffield)

A Cellarful of Noise (Brian Epstein)

Waiting for the Beatles: An Apple Scruff's Story (Carol Bedford)

John (Cynthia Lennon)

John Lennon: In My Life (Pete Shotton & Nicholas Schaffner)

Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper (George Martin with William Pearson)

★★★☆☆

John, Paul & Me Before the Beatles: The True Story of the Very Early Days (Len Garry)

The Beatles and Me on Tour (Ivor Davis)

A Twist of Lennon (Cynthia Lennon)

At the Apple's Core: The Beatles from the Inside (Denis O'Dell with Bob Neaverson)

The Guitar's All Right as a Hobby, John (Kathy Burns)

With the Beatles (Alistair Taylor)

The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-By-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began (Jim O'Donnell)

The Beatles: I Was There (Richard Houghton)

All Our Loving: A Beatle Fan's Memoir (Carolyn Lee Mitchell & Michael Munn)

Rock Bottom (Geoff Baker)

Once There Was a Way: What if the Beatles Stayed Together? (Bryce Zabel)

Like Some Forgotten Dream: What if the Beatles Hadn't Split Up? (Daniel Rachel)

Dylan, Lennon, Marx and God (Jon Stewart)

Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion (Alan Goldsher)

★★☆☆☆

Paperback Writer (Mark Shipper)

[beatlesficrecs]

Tag catalogue - characters

Click on the links below to find fic recs by character

John Lennon

Paul McCartney

George Harrison

Ringo Starr

Brian Epstein

George Martin

Mal Evans

Neil Aspinall

Cynthia Lennon

Jane Asher

Yoko Ono

Linda McCartney

Pattie Boyd

Maureen Starkey

Jim McCartney

Mike McCartney

Mimi Smith

Julia Lennon

Julian Lennon

Sean Ono Lennon

Stella McCartney

Heather McCartney

Stuart Sutcliffe

Ivan Vaughan

Pete Shotton

Ian James

Colin Hanton

Len Garry

Nigel Walley

Iris Caldwell

Astrid Kirchherr

Rory Storm

Robert Fraser

Royston Ellis

Elton John

Clive Epstein

Peter Brown

Bob Dylan

Denny Laine

May Pang

Maggie McGivern

Martha McCartney (Paul's dog)

Alma Cogan

Bob Gruen

Original character

[mostarkey]

Sources

Most of what is known about Maureen Starkey comes from the writings of others. Below is a collection of links to some books which contain a fair amount of information about her, written by people who actually knew her. All links lead to the Internet Archive, a free and safe to use online library.

1. Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved by Chris O'Dell

Chris O'Dell is an American woman who worked at Apple in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later went on to be George Harrison's personal assistant (and the inspiration for his song "Miss O'Dell"), and a tour manager for acts like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, CSNY, Linda Ronstadt, and others. She has been called the "first" female tour manager, and was certainly among the first. She was a close friend with the Starkeys, and knew Mo from the end of the Beatles' career until Mo's death in 1994. Chris O'Dell also lent her voice to the "Hey Jude" chorus and was the Apple employee entrusted with the top-secret task of transporting Frank Sinatra's special recording of "The Lady is a Champ" for Maureen's 22nd birthday in 1968.

2. A Twist of Lennon and John by Cynthia Lennon

Cynthia Lennon, first wife of John Lennon, was the Beatle woman who knew Maureen Starkey the best. Though these sources (especially Twist) are not among the most reliable, due to Cynthia's occasional omissions and truth-bending (seemingly for her own protection), much of the information about Mo seems to be accurate since it can be corroborated by other sources. Cyn offers a fascinating account of her friend Maureen, and gives insight into the kind of person she was.

3. Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles by Tony Bramwell

Tony Bramwell, like O'Dell, was an Apple employee; unlike O'Dell, however, Bramwell knew the Beatles from the beginning, just like Maureen, who he calls "Mitch." Tony remembers Mitch fondly as his friend from his teenage years, telling stories of watching the races from upper-story bedroom windows with her and his girlfriend, who was her best friend, and listening to her speak about her early concerns about her relationship with Ringo Starr, who they call "Richie." He also adds to the narrative the fact that Sinatra's "The Lady is a Champ," recorded as a gift for Maureen's 22nd birthday, was actually the very first Apple Records pressing, not "Hey Jude," as has been popularly reported in many Beatles biographies up until the publication of his book.

4. John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me: The Real Beatles Story by Tony Barrow

Tony Barrow was the Beatles' press officer from 1962 until 1968, in charge of maintaining the Beatles' media presence. In his book, he gives deeper background to many of the things previously reported about the Beatles, supplementing with his own background knowledge as someone who knew and worked with them. In particular, in regards to Maureen, he explains many of the things reported about her relationship with Ringo Starr, particularly about their hasty marriage, explaining that no one was surprised by their sudden marriage, and that the fact that she was pregnant at the time of the ceremony was not terribly uncommon in those days, though it wasn't something that could be openly discussed due to post-war English values.

5. The Beatles, Lennon, and Me: The Intimate Insider's Book, or John Lennon: In My Life, by Pete Shotton

These are essentially the same book; one is just a reprint. This book a joint biography and memoir, written by Peter "Pete" Shotton, who was lifelong friends with John Lennon. While this book does not give a lot of information about Maureen's life, or the things she said and did, it does offer a bit of deeper information about the role of the Beatles' women in their inner circle, and the women's relationships to one another and their men. It also paints a picture of Ringo and Mo as an almost inseparable duo, and corroborates the seemingly contradictory personas they maintained as both a traditional Northern couple and extravagant partiers.

6. The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies

Hunter Davies was the Beatles' official biographer. Though this book does primarily focus on the band, there is also a substantial amount of information about their home lives, their families, and their marriages. Davies sheds light on Mo's artistic side and the kinds of things she liked to do in her leisure times.

[controversialhottakes]

If you think about it, John's account remains pretty consistent (including what he allegedly told Pete) throughout the years. He's basically saying that they didn't have 'an affair' because whatever the hell they did have going on was 'never consummated' and I believe him but the question is - what exactly does 'consummation' mean to him? I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to assume he wouldn't necessarily consider a handjob or even blowjob 'real sex'. Or maybe he means that they had a great mental connection (which is something other people also talked about, so it's pretty much confirmed that they did), perhaps combined with some sexual tension or something like that?

I also believe Pete Shotton when he says that John told him that story (or a version thereof, keep in mind that decades had passed before he wrote about it in his book) and that the story itself was (mostly? partly?) true too. Also believable: Peter Brown's quotes in John's and Brian's biographies, Alistair Taylor, Hunter Davies. Decidedly unreliable: Paul*, Cynthia, Peter Brown's book (wtf...?). I have very mixed feelings about the rest.

On a sidenote, except for the few years in the late 60s and early 70s when he was just very angry and bitter about everything and everyone, the way John talks about Brian shows that he obviously loved the guy (I don't mean that romantically). Even in that interview from 1970, he's saying that Brian purposefully robbed them, and yet he's not denying the fact that they were close and it's clear that he has a lot of respect for him. I suspect that Brian's death must have hit him even harder than we think.

*I was going to talk about Paul's take on the whole situation more in-depth, but it got way out control, so I'm just going to make a separate post about that. Because, boy, is there a lot to unpack.

spanish holiday: a collection

Let me ask you about something else that was in the Hunter Davies book. At one point you and Brian went off to Spain. Yes. Did you… you must have... We didn’t have an affair. You never had an affair with Brian? No, not an affair. Yoko: [laughs] What were the pressures from Brian? Cyn was having a baby and the holiday was planned, but I wasn’t going to break the holiday for a baby and that’s what a bastard I was. And I just went on holiday. I watched Brian picking up the boys. I like playing a bit faggy, all that. Yoko: [laughs] It was enjoyable, but there were big rumours in Liverpool, it was terrible. Very embarrassing. Rumors about you and Brian? Oh, fuck knows—yes, yes. I was pretty close to Brian because if somebody's going to manage me, I want to know them inside out. And there was a period when he told me he was a fag and all that. I introduced him to pills, which gives me a guilt association for his death. I mean they go that way anyway. And to make him talk—to find out what he’s like. And I remember him saying, “Don’t ever throw it back in me face, that I’m a fag.” Which | didn’t. But his mother’s still hiding that. But what I hate is the way they’re all attacking Allen. And Brian was a nice guy, but he knew what he was doing, he robbed us. He fucking took all the money and looked after himself and his family, and all that. And it’s just a myth. I hate the way that Allen is attacked and Brian is made like an angel, just cause he’s dead. He wasn't, he was just a guy. Allen will go berserk when he hears all this.

John Lennon, Jann S. Wenner, Lennon Remembers, 1970

Bob had insinuated that me and Brian had had an affair in Spain. And I must have been frightened of the fag in me to get so angry.

John Lennon, 1972, Peter McCabe and Robert D Schonfeld, John Lennon—For The Record, 1984

Brian was in love with me. It's irrelevant. I mean, it's interesting and it will make a nice Hollywood Babylon someday about Brian Epstein’s sex life, but it's irrelevant, absolutely irrelevant.

John Lennon, Playboy, 1980

I was on holiday with Brian Epstein in Spain, where the rumours went around that he and I were having a love affair. Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship. It was my first experience with a homosexual that I was conscious was homosexual. He had admitted it to me. We had this holiday together because Cyn was pregnant, and I went to Spain and there were lots of funny stories. We used to sit in a cafe in Torremolinos looking at all the boys and I’d say, ‘Do you like that one, do you like this one?’ I was rather enjoying the experience, thinking like a writer all the time: I am experiencing this, you know. And while he was out on the tiles one night, or lying asleep with a hangover one afternoon, I remember playing him the song Bad To Me. That was a commissioned song, done for Billy J Kramer, who was another of Brian’s singers.

John Lennon, Rolling Stone, 1980

Very quickly John became jumpy and on edge. He was beginning to feel trapped and it was time for him to escape but before he left he told me that Brian had asked him to go on holiday to Spain with him and he wanted to know if I objected. I must admit the request hit me like a bolt out of the blue and I really didn’t take it in properly at first but when it sank in I suppressed my true feelings and acquiesced. I was well aware that John deserved a holiday. He had just completed a tour and recording sessions. In actual fact he had never really had a holiday as such. They had all been working very hard and under great pressure since the success of Please Please Me, so I concealed my hurt and envy and gave him my blessings. He was delighted and left me a happy man. I on the other hand was left holding the baby, and what a baby. As soon as John returned from his break in Spain, fully relaxed and raring to get going again, we went together to register our son’s birth.

Cynthia Lennon, A Twist Of Lennon, 1978

Some accounts of that time claim that Brian was in love with John, which was why he wanted to manage the Beatles. I don't believe this for a second. They had a good relationship, but Brian cared for all the boys and he wanted success for the group because he thought they had something unique. Claims have been made since that Brian and John had a gay relationship. Nothing could be further from the truth. John was a hundred per cent heterosexual and, like most lads at that time, horrified by the idea of homosexuality. The bond between John and Brian was one of mutual respect and friendship. They liked and admired each other. Brian could see John's intelligence and distinctive talent. John appreciated Brian's business ability and his ambition for the group. They talked for hours and planned the group's future together. They both wanted the Beatles to be the biggest thing since Elvis, and were hell bent on making it happen.

When Julian was three weeks old, Brian invited John to go to Spain with him. John asked if I'd mind and I said, truthfully, that I wouldn't. I was preoccupied with Julian and nowhere near ready to travel, but I knew how much John needed a break where he wouldn't be recognised and could really relax. I gave them my blessing and they went off together for twelve days. It was a holiday John came to regret because it sparked off a string of rumours about his relationship with Brian. He had to put up with sly digs, winks and innuendo that he was secretly gay. It infuriated him: all he'd wanted was a break with a friend, but it was turned into so much more.

Cynthia Lennon, John, 2005

Brian and John spent so much time together, scheming and dreaming about the Beatles' future, that they seemed almost inseparable. In April 1963, John went so far as to accompany Brian on a holiday in Spain, leaving Cyn behind with their newborn son. In the absence of this decidedly odd couple, tongues began wagging all over town. I visited John at Aunt Mimi's a few days after his return to England. And when he started in about how much he had enjoyed Spain, I could hardly resist taking the piss out of him. "So you had a good time with Brian, then?" I smirked. Nudge nudge, wink wink. I was somewhat taken aback when John didn't so much as crack a smile. "Oh, fuckin' hell," he groaned. "Not you as well, Pete!" "What do you mean, not me as well?" "They're all fucking going on about it." "It's O.K., John. Don't take it so serious. I'm just joking, for Christ's sake." "Actually Pete," he said softly, "Something did happen with him one night." Now that wiped the grin right off my face. Had I even dreamed there might be any truth what soever to the rumors, I would never have made light of the subject in the first place. Still— as John surely knew— I would have stood by him, and let the rest of the world handle the business of passing moral judgment, even if he had just told me he'd committed murder. And John would surely have done the same for me. Which, after all, is what true friendship is all about. "What happened," John explained, "is that Eppy just kept on and on at me. Until one night I finally just pulled me trousers down and said to him: 'Oh, for Christ's sake, Brian, just stick it up me fucking arse then.' "And he said to me, 'Actually, John, I don't do that kind of thing. That's not what I like to do.' "'Well,' I said, 'what is it you want to do, then?' "And he said, 'I'd really just like to touch you, John.' "And so I let him toss me off." And that was that. End of story. "That's all, John?" I said. "Well, so what? What's the big fucking deal, then?" "Yeah, so fucking what! The poor bastard. He's having a fucking hard enough time anyway." This was in reference to the "butch" dockers who, on several recent occasions, had rewarded Brian's advances by beating him to a bloody pulp. "So what harm did it do, then, Pete, for fuck's sake?" John asked rhetorically. "No harm at all. The poor fucking bastard, he can't help the way he is." "No need to get so worked up," I said. "You know I don't give a shit. What's a fucking wank between friends anyway?" We then moved on to other topics, and neither of us ever mentioned the incident again. (And as far as I was concerned, the real revelation that night was not that John had "had it off" with Brian, but that he had demonstrated— albeit in his own brusque way—such genuine compassion for that most hopelessly besotted of all his many admirers.) Unfortunately, certain Liverpool acquaintances (who had no way of knowing that there was a kernel of truth to their allegations) wouldn't let John hear the end of it. All in good fun, no doubt, but John was still too enamored of his macho self-image to take lightly any inference that he was anything less than 100 percent heterosexual.

Pete Shotton, Nicholas Schaffner, John Lennon: In My Life, 1983

John told me he had had a one-night stand with Brian, on a holiday with him in Spain, when Brian had invited him out, a few days after the birth of Julian in 1963, leaving Cyn alone. I mentioned this brief holiday in the book, but not what John had alleged had taken place. Partly, I didn't really believe it, though John was daft enough to try almost anything once. John was certainly not homosexual, and this boast, or lie, would have given the wrong impression. It was also not fair on Cynthia, his then wife.

Hunter Davies, The Beatles: The Authorised Biography (updated edition, 2010)

Almost three weeks after the birth of his son—whom he had seen only a couple of times by then—he agreed to go to Spain with Brian on a private holiday, while the other three Beatles flew to the Canaries for their spring break. I don’t think John told Cynthia what he was doing—he rarely told her anything—and he certainly wouldn’t have asked her permission. When she found out, she dissolved in tears, but she was scared of John and said nothing. To say we were astonished is an understatement. Much has been made of this trip. It was sun, sand and sea—but was it also sex? John himself said he finally allowed Brian to make love to him “to get it out of the way.” Those who knew John well, who had known him for years, don’t believe it for a moment. John was aggressively heterosexual and had never given a hint that he was anything but. If it had been George, we might have believed it. George could act camp and had many homosexual friends, but John loved to say things to shock, and his sly statement was probably just another in a long line of such provocative statements. In fact, it was more in character for John to taunt Brian with promises during those long hot nights in Barcelona than to succumb. Equally, it was in Brian’s masochistic nature to enjoy being tormented, then perhaps to rush off in search of a young bullfighter. Brian adored bullfighters so much, he ended up sponsoring one. (And I think Brian would have confided in somebody if it had happened.)

Tony Bramwell, Magical Mystery Tours: My Life With The Beatles, 2014

First, he wanted to make Brian the baby’s godfather. Second, he was leaving on holiday as soon as this tour was over. He was going away with Brian—just the two of them. The other Beatles were going to the Canary Islands. This meant John wouldn’t see Cynthia for several weeks, long after she had returned home from the hospital. Cynthia lay back in the hospital bed, her head spinning. How could John go off and leave her and Julian like that, she demanded, and with Brian Epstein no less? John flared up at her. “Being selfish again, aren’t you?” he said. “I’ve been workin’ my bloody ass off on one-night stands for months now. Those people starin’ from the other side of the glass are bloody everywhere, hauntin’ me. I deserve a vacation. And anyway, Brian wants me to go, and I owe it to the poor guy. Who else does he have to go away with?” Brian and John went to Barcelona at the end of April 1963. It was a city that Brian had explored on his 1959 solo trip to Spain. He had since become a great fan of the bullfights and considered himself something of an aficionado. He took great pleasure in introducing John to the pageantry and excitement. They spent the days shopping and taking side trips. At night they toured the nightclubs. Later in the week they rented a car and drove down the coast to the glistening white town of Sitges on the Costa Brava. Each night they would sit in the candlelit cafés and watch the couples stroll by in the moonlight. Over many bottles of wine they talked candidly about Brian’s personal life. It was a great relief for Brian to finally be able to talk honestly with John. He told John that for a man who valued honesty as dearly as he did, it was a terrible burden for him to live his life a lie. “If you had a choice, Eppy,” John said, “if you could press a button and be hetero, would you do it?” Brian thought for a moment. “Strangely, no,” he said. A little later a peculiar game developed. John would point out some passing man to Brian, and Brian would explain to him what it was about the fellow that he found attractive or unattractive. “I was rather enjoying the experience,” John said, “thinking like a writer all the time: I am experiencing this.” And still later, back in their hotel suite, drunk and sleepy from the sweet Spanish wine, Brian and John undressed in silence. “It’s okay, Eppy,” John said, and lay down on his bed. Brian would have liked to have hugged him, but he was afraid. Instead, John lay there, tentative and still, and Brian fulfilled the fantasies he was so sure would bring him contentment, only to awake the next morning as hollow as before.

Peter Brown, The Love You Make, 1983 can't wait for the full fic on ao3 peter!

One story the Press certainly didn’t get at the time was that in April, in the middle of the euphoria that followed all the early success and acclaim, Brian and John went off to Spain for a holiday. So much invention and rubbish has been made of this trip by so many people since, that the truth deserves at least a brief mention. The most sensational version, of course, is that the holiday was a chance for Brian to consummate his overwhelming passion for John, which inspired him to sign the group in the first place. I’m afraid it wasn’t like that. John roared with laughter at the rumours that began afterwards. Typically, he encouraged the stories that he and Brian were gay lovers because he thought it was funny and John was one of the world’s great wind-up merchants. He told me afterwards in one of our frankest heart-to-hearts that Brian never seriously did proposition him. He had teased Brian about the young men he kept gazing at and the odd ones who had found their way to his room. Brian had joked to John about the women who hurled themselves at him. ‘If he’d asked me, I probably would have done anything he wanted. I was so much in awe of Brian then I’d have tried a night of vice-versa. But he never wanted me like that. Sure, I took the mickey a bit and pretended to lead him on. But we both knew we were joking. He wanted a pal he could have a laugh with and someone he could teach about life. I thought his bum boys were creeps and Brian knew that. Even completely out of my head, I couldn’t shag a bloke. And I certainly couldn’t lie there and let one shag me. Even a nice guy like Brian. To be honest, the thought of it turns me over.’ All the same, John was very selfish to have gone off on holiday with Brian then because it was just after Cynthia had given birth to his son Julian. John’s whole romance and marriage to Cynthia was kept a secret at the time because Brian feared the effect of publicity about one of the Beatles having a wife, let alone a family.

Alistair Taylor, With The Beatles, 2003

While Brian thought a Beatle’s image could be affected by marriage and fatherhood, his next move proved wildly indiscreet and potentially dangerous. On April 8, 1963, Cynthia gave birth to Julian, and Brian was named his godfather. Shortly afterward, Brian invited John to join him alone on a holiday in Spain. Lennon had been working hard, writing songs and touring Britain. He needed a rest, and Cynthia relished some time alone to adapt to life with a baby. John accepted and flew to Barcelona on April 28 for the twelve-day break. John made it clear to everyone that he was a woman-chaser, a hundred percent heterosexual. But it was inept of Epstein to risk the whispering that was bound to ensue from such an expedition by a manager and a solitary Beatle. It was one of the few times when Brian’s perception of public opinion faltered, for the Spanish trip fueled rumors in Liverpool of an Epstein-Lennon relationship. Paul McCartney’s theory is that “John, not being stupid, saw his opportunity to impress upon Mr. Epstein who was the boss of this group … he wanted Brian to know who he should listen to.” Lennon knew that Brian held him in awe, regarding him as a genius. On their return to Liverpool, Brian and John decided to deal with the gossip decisively. At McCartney’s twenty-first birthday party on June 18, Bob Wooler and Lennon were seen chatting together and within minutes the Beatle had pummeled the Cavern compere to the ground. “He called me a bloody queer, so I bashed his ribs in,” John later told Cynthia. Epstein, no less angry but sensing the need for repairing all wounds, physical and oral, drove Wooler to hospital for treatment of torn knuckles and for shock. Next, Epstein moved swiftly to prevent the friction from escalating. Through his solicitor friend Rex Makin he paid Wooler £200 in damages and insisted that Lennon sent him a telegram of apology. The rumors were quelled. But nothing could prevent the attack on Wooler from reaching the Daily Mirror, whose pop reporter Don Short, in a first recognition of the group’s burgeoning importance, published a back-page story headlined: “Beatle in Brawl Says: Sorry I Socked You.” Since the deaths of Epstein and Lennon, many with no access to, or observation of, both men in their lifetime have peddled the assumption that Brian and John had a sexual liaison. This is despite the lack of any evidence, despite firm declarations of John’s heterosexuality from Cynthia and many other women, and despite the statement by McCartney that he “slept in a million hotel rooms, as we all did, with John and there was never any hint that he was gay.” Brian possibly had a homosexual fascination for Lennon but it could never be reciprocated. And since Epstein was not a predator, that eliminated the likelihood of such a link. More than anyone, Epstein saw the Beatles as an indivisible unit. He would never have risked so profoundly changing his relationship with them, individually or collectively. Nothing mattered more to Brian, after his devotion to his family, than the entity of the Beatles.

Ray Coleman, The Man Who Made The Beatles, 1989

Years later, John finally came clean about what had happened: not to anyone who’d been around at the time, but to the unshockable woman with whom he shared the last decade of his life. He said that one night during the trip, Brian had cast aside shyness and scruples and finally come on to him, but that he’d replied, “If you feel like that, go out and find a hustler.” Afterward, he had deliberately fed Pete Shotton the myth of his brief surrender, so that everyone would believe his power over Brian to be absolute.

Norman Philip, John Lennon: The Life, 2008

I don’t actually know the truth of the John rumour. I suspected that the John trip to Barcelona was a power play on John’s part because John was a very political animal. I think John went away on that Spanish holiday because nobody went on holiday. I would have gone, anyone would have gone. A free holiday? You’re kidding. I’m there. Number two, I’m sure John took Brian aside and said, ‘Hey, you want to deal with this group, I’m the guy you deal with, OK.’ John was that kind of guy. He was a very sensible, very pragmatic guy. So I’m sure that was the main reason John went there. As to whether there was any sort of gay dalliance or whatever, I don’t know. All I can ever say about it is that I slept with John a lot because you had to, you didn’t have more than one bed – and to my knowledge John was never gay.

Paul McCartney, Debbie Geller, In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story, 2000

Brian Epstein was going on holiday to Spain at the same time and he invited John along. John was a smart cookie. Brian was gay, and John saw his opportunity to impress upon Mr Epstein who was the boss of this group. | think that's why he went on holiday with Brian. And good luck to him, too — he was that kind of guy; he wanted Brian to know whom he should listen to. That was the relationship. John was very much the leader in that way, although it was never actually said. So there was the homosexual thing — I'm not sure John did anything but we certainly gave him a lot of grief when he got back.

Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology, 2000

My sense of the trip to Barcelona is that it was an intriguing situation because John left his wife to go on this holiday, who was still in hospital having given birth to her first child. So it was an extraordinary thing, but John wanted to go on holiday with Brian and there was a great bond between them. John knew that Brian was going and he also knew that Brian was very attracted to him and I think this intrigued John. My understanding only comes from Brian. I never discussed this with John but I heard that there were lots of discussions about the business of homosexuality and Brian’s homosexuality. But I think it’s wrong to discuss something which is really rather significant when I only know one side of the picture.

Peter Brown, Debbie Geller, In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story, 2000

It had nothing to do with advancement of career. John knew that he already had Brian as an ally; he knew that Brian liked him, was attracted to him and stimulated by his intellect. Anyway, I don’t believe John was that manipulative. And the idea of going along with it, and trying to take advantage of it, just wouldn’t have been Brian’s way.

Peter Brown, Norman Philip, John Lennon: The Life, 2008

It was during the same discussion that he told me that he and John Lennon had been lovers. Now that’s too much for me to take on. We’d never talked about his personal life before, so I left the room.

Lonnie Trimble, Debbie Geller, In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story, 2000

[ilovedig]

I just realized something.

Yoko never wrote an expose about John. Cyn, May Pang and Pete Shotton did, but Yoko didn't.

exposes kind of rub me the wrong way. This is someone who trusted you with everything, and then you turn around and write a tell-all about them. As a fan I love them, but I'd feel so betrayed if a friend wrote one about me.

Pattie Boyd, George Martin and Pete Best wrote books, but they were more about themselves and their connection to the boys than a fictionalized version of the past.

Ivan Vaughn, Jimmie Nicol, Jane Asher, Peter Asher and Maureen Starkey never did. They didn't even write autobiographies from what I can find.

I think that all speaks volumes.

Especially Yoko. No matter what you think of her, that shows a strong sense of character and respect that we just don't talk about enough when it comes to her.

[with-eyes-closed]

I'm thinking so much at the moment about those early Beatles sibling dynamics, especially as they became more and more enmeshed in each other because like - - Mike presumably would've met George around the same time as Paul, between the bus or the Inny or the Speke estates (depending on when you think they actually met), and of course went on to photograph all iterations of the band so extensively and connect with the people in it, and I wonder so much about George's second brother, Peter, maybe(?) having been in the same class as John at Dovedale Primary School, and John asking about him in that letter to Louise from Hamburg, and George and Paul and John playing at the wedding reception of George's oldest brother, Harry, in 1958, and George and Paul practicing at his house, and what did that feel like? To be creating your own sort of family while adopting parts of each others and finding these different forms of intimacy and familiarity when fame was far away, and how did it change when fame was suddenly grabbing at your shirt collar? When it was pressed against your back?

And what was it like to see the band your 15-year-old brother played in at your wedding suddenly plastered on magazines and mobbed at airports, hotels, venues, street corners? What was it like to be an outsider on the inside? So close to this thing, and yet not actually a part of it? There's a bit of talk about what it was like for the wives and the girlfriends and even the parents, but there's something so interesting to me about the siblings, especially as their lives were interwoven not just before The Beatles, but before their siblings ever met each other, and I can't imagine that doesn't come without its own baggage.

[paolayellowdream]

Peter Shotton R.I.P. from sean_ono_lennon

[pleasantlyinsincere]

When was the Two Virgins night, May 3rd vs May 19th 1968?

Since the topic of when the Two VIrgins night supposedly happened comes up every now and again, here’s a post argueing the two dates and giving, in my opinion, the most plausible timeline for May 1968.

May 19th 1968 seems to be the most widely accepted date today (e.g. Wikipedia, Beatles Bible…) to put John and Yoko’s first night together. Since none of these websites gives any source or reason for the date,  I started trying to find out how people got there. I looked through quite a few Beatles books to try to find a clue where and for what reason it was first introduced. 

Surprisingly it wasn’t dated at all for a few decades. From what I could find, the first mention happened by Barry Miles in Many Years from now nearly 30 years after the Two Virgins night . Here’s a list of which books place the date when, sorted by publishing date: (I didn’t look at interviews, magazines or other sources.)

John Lennon. One Day at a Time, Anthony Fawcett (‘76): May 1968

The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner (‘77): May 1968

A Twist of Lennon, Cynthia Lennon (‘78): no date given, placed before the NY trip

Shout!: The True Story of The Beatles, Philip Norman (‘81), no date given

The Ballad of John and Yoko, The Editors of Rolling Stone (‘82): May 1968

John Lennon. In My Life, Pete Shotton/Nicholas Schaffner (‘83): May 1968

The Love You Make, Peter Brown/Steven Gaines (‘83): no date given

Lennon. The Definitive Biography, Ray Coleman (‘84); May 1968

The Beatles. Day by Day (‘87), Mark Lewisohn: no mention

The Lives of John Lennon, Albert Goldman (‘88): no date given, Cyn leaving for Greece “just two weeks after her return from India”

The Lost Lennon Tapes, Radio Show, a few weeks after NY and a few days prior to May 22 (Added in edit)

In My Life, John Lennon Remembered, Mark Lewisohn/Kevin Howlett (‘90): May 1968

A Day in the Life, Mark Hertsgaard (‘95): exact date is unknown, sometime in the latter half of May 1968

Many Years From Now, Barry Miles (‘97): May 19 1968 (they Jesus meeting on the 18)

The Beatles. Off the Record, Keith Badman (‘00): May 19 1968

John, Cynthia Lennon (‘05): no date given, placed before the NY trip

The Beatles. The Biography, Bob Spitz (‘05): no date given, places after the NY trip

John Lennon. The Biography, Philip Norman (‘08): May 18/19 1968 (also places Cyns Greece holiday and the NY trip at the same time)

The Beatles Diary, Barry Miles (‘09): May 19 (Cynthia's return on 26th May)

Lennonology, Chip Madinger/ Scott Raile (‘15): May 3 “almost certainly”

Arguements and timeline behind the cut, because this got annoyingly long. 

As you can see most authors didn’t date it any further than sometime in May 1968. Even by 1995 Hertsgaard still wrote that the exact date wasn’t known. Two years later however Barry Miles put it down as being May 19 and from then on more authors went with it.

If anyone has come across an earlier mention of the May 19 date, or someone explaining how they arrived at that date, please share. I would be really interested in that.

Disappointingly Barry Miles doesn’t give any reason why dated it as May 19.  It’s easy to refute his assurance that the Jesus meeting happened on the 18, though. Every source I read for that puts all four Beatles there. However Ringo and George were in Cannes at the time and only returned on the 19. Therefore Miles certainly is wrong giving that date.

Here is Ringo and Mo dancing on the evening of May 18 in France:

On May 19 Ringo and George returned from Cannes. The same day George and Pattie travel to Liverpool to go to a christening. It is possible that they could have traveled back to London the same day, for George to go to the Apple meeting. It just sounds very stressfull.

For the Two Virgins night to happen Cyn has to be in Greece at the time traveling with Jenny, Alex, Donovan and Gypsie. Magic Alex is with John and Paul during their New York business trip. They return to London on May 16. We can already exclude Philip Norman’s timeline of the NY trip and the Greece holiday happening at the same time, because Alex can certainly only be at one place at the time. 

It is possible that Alex kept his bag packed and he left with Cynthia for Greece on May 17. A two week holiday would mean that they returned on May 31, while Miles dates it to being 26 May. (If they didn’t immediately leave and only left a day or two later, the return day should move also.)

Jenny Boyd however has another court date on the 16. Originally when everyone returned from India her passport was taken, so that she wouldn’t flee the country, after drugs had been found in her apartment. She had it returned for a trip earlier that month but I don’t know if she was then allowed to keep it, or only got it back after her case was decided in June. It is therefore questionable, if she could travel around this time.

On May 22 John and Yoko already have their first public outing attending the Apple tailoring opening. This seems contradictory to the fact that Pete Shotton remembers that during the Greece trip John got angry at their housekeeper Dot for alerting Cyn to Yoko being at Weybridge. If he didn’t want her yet to know, posing for the press would undermine that goal. It would make more sense, if at this time Cyn already knew about the affair.

Cynthia recalls that after her return from Greece and finding Yoko at her home, she moved out for a few days to Alex and Jennys place, before returning to try to reconnect with John again and only then leaving for Italy with Julian and her mother. I assume we should ascribe about a week for this to happen. So even if she already returns from Greece on May 26, after (at the most) nine days instead of two weeks, the earliest it would make sense for her to leave again for Italy would be June 2nd or 3rd. This is supposedly another two week vacation. However Cynthia already sent a telegram home on June 6, that they’ll return on Sunday June 9. That doesn’t match with the alleged lengths of the holiday, which in this case would be barely a week.

Other aspects not quite fitting in:

during the time Cyn is back at Weybridge and supposedly settling again with John, the White Album recordings start with Yoko being in the studio

Pete Shotton travels with John and Yoko looking at a house on June 1. Also unlikely if Cny is still there.

the Italy holiday is listed on the Lennon household expenses for May

Yoko already requested her bank to send a summary of her account to Pete Shotton on May 13

John and Yoko joint art exhibition Four Thoughts is promoted as such in the International Times on May 24 and has its opening night on May 28 or June 2 (date is debated). Unlikely for them to go public in that way and find the time to prepare an exhibition together, if at the same time Cynthia is returning home to settle again with John.

In Lennonology Chip Madinger and Scott Raile have worked out an alternative date for the Two Virgins recording night, they feel almost certain about. They place it on May 3. To me the most compelling reason they give, is fitting in Cynthia’s Greece vacation with Jenny Boyds limited possibilities to travel.

(May 1) Finally, solicitor David Jacobs returned to court today on behalf of Jenny Boyd to request the return of her passport, as "she wants to go to Rome this weekend" (more specifically, her paramour Donovan was scheduled to perform in concert there on Saturday). Her request was granted, but only on the condition that she return to Britain no later than Monday, May 6th.

Jenny Boyd, Donovan and possibly Gypsie were in Rome that weekend in early May and it’s easy to confirm the date of the concert online. With Jenny needing a special permission to travel from court, it seems unlikely that she made multiple trips during that month.

Going with that date, would mean that Cynthia and Alex could have left for Greece around April 25th alone. (That’s also roughly two weeks after returning from India as Goldman implies.) On the way home, they then met up with Jenny and Donovan in Rome and flew home together on May 5th. Thereby placing John and Yoko’s first night together a few days prior. If it has to be exactly the 3rd is debatable. 

This date fits more nicely with:

Cynthia quite consistently remembering her finding John and Yoko together happening before John left for New York. 

makes more sense this way for Yoko to send her banking account infos by May 13th, if they were already sure about their relationship by that point

Cynthia and Julian leave for Italy around May 20, being absent for John and Yoko to go out together in public to the Apple tailoring event, in the studio, collaborate on their art show and to go house shopping and making the planned return date of June 9 more realistic

And here is a simplified version if my ongoing work-in-progress ‘68 timeline from John’s return from India to early June for a better understanding how everything would fit together:

[no-reply95]

“While he developed personal relationships with Lennon, Ono, Harrison and Starr by his own admission he failed to establish any sort of relationship with McCartney*

*Beatle historians have attributed this to McCartney’s distrust of Klein, which the Eastmans informed and nurtured, and McCartney’s preference that the Eastmans serve as the new Beatles managers. Over the years, McCartney has emphasised that it was his distrust of Klein’s legal and financial dealings, more than his desire to see his in-laws appointed as the Beatles financial managers, which prompted him to dislike Klein. Whether this is an attempt by McCartney to rewrite the past in order to appear reasonable or was, in fact, the truth at the the time is open to interpretation. However, as a result of this evidence, any analysis of the personal relationship between Klein and McCartney has been unfortunately neglected. While Klein’s Playboy interview regarding his inability to connect with McCartney - “I don’t know if we could ever have been good friends. I’m not sure that’s possible with McCartney (Vetter, 91) - must be interpreted in the context of his agenda to blame McCartney’s unreasonable attitude for the breakup, it also fits other, separate descriptions of McCartney as the most independent and self-contained Beatle. Shotton described McCartney as the Beatle who was “hardest to really get to know as a close friend: the one Beatle who played his cards close to the chest” (Shotton and Schaffer, John Lennon: In My Life, 104). Other sources reinforce this description of McCartney’s guarded character. Peter Brown mentioned it: “Paul, it should be noted, was the first Beatle to show any distance or privacy from the others” (Brown, The Love You Make, 203). Hunter Davies described McCartney in similar terms in the authorised biography: “Paul is the easiest to get to know for an outsider, but in the end he is the hardest one to get to know. There’s a feeling that he is holding things back” (Davies, The Beatles: The Authorised Biography, 318). The reasons for McCartney’s reserve, and the impact it had on his relations with the other band members, are up for debate. MacDonald argues that this veneer was the result of McCartney’s upbringing and that it left him oblivious at times to the feelings of the other Beatles: “The others’ beef was that his middle-class reflex of adopting a diplomatic face served to repress his emotions, leaving him with little idea of how they felt” (MacDonald, Revolution in the Head, 281). McCartney himself offered a far different reason, stating that it was after his mother’s death when he was 14 that he “learnt to put a shell around me” (Anthology, 19).” Erin Torkelson Weber, The Beatles and the Historians

[phoneybeatlemania-bit-the-dust]

Beatles Opinion Asks!

Basically just send an emoji (or a name if its easier) and ill give my opinion on them as people, artists, writers etc.

Mains

🤦‍♂️ - John Lennon

❤️ - Paul McCartney

😌 - George Harrison

✌️- Ringo Starr

👑 - Brian Epstein

😮‍💨 - George Martin

😡 - Allen Klein

⭐️ - Billy Preston

😱 - Phil Spector

🧠 - Neil Aspinall

👂- Geoff Emmerick

🍄 - Mal Evans

☮️ - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

🎹 - Norman Smith

🙃 - Alistair Taylor

Friends

🍩 - Stuart Sutcliffe

🌻- Astrid Kirchher

🎄- Klaus Voorman

🥰 - Pete Shotton

🤨 - Pete Best

🥨 - Ivan Vaughan

☠️ - Tara Browne

🍺 - Alf Bicknell

Partners

😭 - May Pang

💅 - Pattie Boyd

😋 - Maureen Starkey

🤩 - Barbara Bach

🙂 - Cynthia Lennon

🤠 - Linda McCartney

😬 - Yoko Ono

🦷 - Jane Asher

😫 - Heather Mills

🥜 - Nancy Shevell

🤚 - Olivia Harrison

🌹 - Dot Rhone

💥 - Alma Cogan

Family

☹️ - Aunt Mimi Smith

😨 - Alfred Lennon

💄 - Julia Lennon (Johns Mum)

😣 - Jim McCartney

🍕 - Mike McGear/McCartney

🥺 - Julian Lennon

😵 - Sean Ono-Lennon

👀 - Stella McCartney

👌 - Mary McCartney (Pauls Daughter)

🙌 - James McCartney

🎃 - Heather McCartney

🍭 - Beatrice McCartney

😮 - Dhani Harrison

🍫 - Julia Baird (Johns Sister)

Writers

🧐 - Hunter Davies

🤝 - Phillip Norman

✊ - Mark Lewhinson

⚽️ - Tony Barrow

❄️ - Peter Brown

🤞- Lesley Ann-Jones

🍉 - Ray Coleman

🌸 - Tony Bramwell

🐚 - Peter Doggett

🌤 - Craig Brown

💋 - Albert Goldman

👅 - Simon Napier-Bell

Miscellaneous/other

🍿 - Michael Lindsay-Hogg

☺️ - Mona Best

🤙 - Joseph “Jojo” Melville See (Lindas First Husband)

🤯 - Charles Manson

🎸 - Bob Dylan

💫 - Cilla Black

📖 - Allen Ginsberg

💰 - Bridgette Bardot

🎤 - Elvis Presley

😎 - Other (just specify any person I haven’t already named)

(If ive left anyone important out, free to add to the list btw!)

[phoneybeatlemania]

Phoneys Reading List

essentially just books/essays on the beatles (or somewhat relevant to them) because i just love lists

Read (in *roughly* chronological order):

1. John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman

2. I, Me, Mine by George Harrison

3. A Day In The Life by Mark Hertsgaard

4. Exposing The Voice Of Truth: A Psychological Profile Of John Lennon by Deborah Fade

5. Imagine This by Julia Baird

6. Who Killed John Lennon? by Lesley-Ann Jones

7. My Long And Winding Road by Angie McCartney

8. The Chemistry of Lennon and McCartney by Ruth McCartney

9. With The Beatles by Alistair Taylor

10. Plastic Jesus by Bobby Z. Brite

11. And In The End by Ken McNab

12. Sun Prints by Linda McCartney

13. John Lennon: The Illustrated Biography by The Daily Mail (ok i know theyre satan but its essentially just photos)

14. Lennon & McCartney: Lennon (Part 1) by Mojo Magazine

15. Reading the Beatles as a Challenge to Discourses of Hegemonic Masculinity by Martin King

16. Debunking Primal Therapy: A warning about Janov’s primal theory, and other repressed memory therapies by John Smith

17. All Too Much: The Untold Story of a Hollywood Actor's Two Months with the Beatles in India by Judd Klinger

18. Beatles ‘66: The Revolutionary Year by Steve Turner

19. The Teatles Magazine: book(s) 9-16 by Teatlemania

20. Venus and Mars: Paul McCartney over America 1975/1976 by Fortune James

21. All Roads Lead To Lennon by Philip Kirkland

+ abstract:

1. How To Be Famous by Caitlin Moran

2. Charles Manson: The Man Who Murdered The Sixties by David J. Krajicek

3. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

5. Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

6. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop by Bob Stanley

7. Alma Cogan by Gordan Burns

Bought but haven’t read/finished:

1. McCartney: The Biography by Chris Salewicz (currently reading)

2. The Primal Scream by Arthur Janov (currently reading)

3. Daddy Come Home by Pauline Lennon (currently reading)

4. The Dream Is Over: Off The Record by Keith Badman

5. 'Nothing You Can See That Isn't Shown': The Album Covers of the Beatles by Ian Inglis

6. Love Me Do by Michael Braun

7. The Beatles Authorised Biography by Hunter Davies

8. Skywriting By Word Of Mouth by John Lennon

9. Lennon Remembers by Jann Wenner

10. Many Years From Now by Barry Miles

11. The Complete Beatles Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn

12. "Helter-Skelter"?: The Beatles, the British New Left, and the Question of Hegemony by Oded Heilbronner

13. Men, Masculinity & Responsibility (and AHDN) by Dr Martin King

14. The Dream Is Over: Off The Record 2 by Keith Badman

To read (don’t own):

1. Pre: Fab! The Story of One Man, His Drums, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison by Colin Hanton & Colin Hall

2. In My Life by Pete Shotton

3. The Lives Of John Lennon by Albert Goldman

4. As Time Goes By by Derek Taylor

5. Allen Klein: The Man Who Bailed Out the Beatles, Made the Stones, and Transformed Rock and Roll by Fred Goodman

6. You Never Give Me Your Money by Peter Doggett

8. Crazy Stories of Primal Therapy: Cautionary tales to chill the bones from participants in Janov’s cultlike therapy by John Smith

9. The Queer Sixties by Patricia Juliana Smith

10. Lennon & McCartney: McCartney (part 2) by Mojo Magazine

11. Loving John by May Pang

12. The Beatles Anthology by The Beatles

13. One, Two, Three, Four by Craig Brown

14. John by Cynthia Lennon

15. The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four by Erin Torkelson Weber

16. The John Lennon Letters by John Lennon

17. Wonderful Today by Pattie Boyd

18. Here Comes The Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison by Joshua M. Greene

19. The Lyrics by Paul McCartney

20. Get Back by The Beatles

21. Brian Epstein by Ray Coleman

22. The Brian Epstein Story by Deborah Geller

23. Man On The Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s by Tom Doyle

24. The Beatles' Shadow: Stuart Sutcliffe & His Lonely Hearts Club by Pauline Sutcliffe

25. Days That Ill Remember: Spending Time With John Lennon & Yoko Ono by Jonathan Cot

26. Apple To The Core by Peter McCabe

27. Daddy, Come Home: The True Story of John Lennon and His Father by Pauline Lennon

28. Magical Mystery Tours by Tony Bramwell

29. Come Together: Lennon and McCartney in the Seventies by Richard White

30. Linda McCartney by Danny Fields

31. Living In The Material World by Olivia Harrison

32. Ticket To Ride by Larry Kane

33. Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs by Joshua Wolf-Shenk

34. The Beatles and Fandom by Richard Mills

35. The Mersey Sound by Adrian Henri, Brian Patten, and Roger McGough

[eppysboys]

Why are there so many versions of the Barcelona story lmao

My personal theory is that so many people have time travelled back to that moment to see what happened that it warped the timeline and sent everyone to an alternate reality.

Alternatively:

Pete Shotton: “And then I opened the door, and John and Brian were kissing!..... And swearing!”

Peter Brown: “Brian and John were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me.”