niche higher-class than Paul, George and Ringo who lived in
council houses. We owned our house, had our own garden; they didn’t have
anything like that. So I was a bit of a fruit compared to them.”
John
was enrolled in the Dovedale Primary School in Allerton in the fall of 1946. He
would take a three-mile bus ride down the main Menlove thoroughfare with a
change at Penny Lane (Mimi would trail him from behind). The school’s
headmaster told Mimi, ‘There’s no need to worry about him. He’s sharp as a
needle. But he won’t do anything he doesn’t want to.”
John (back row, sixth from the left) and
his classmates at Dovedale Primary School
The
school required the male students to wear a tie, a black blazer, a badge with a
dove and gray shorts. John’s classmates recalled that his tie was often askew
and his shirt untucked. But as the teachers couldn’t force John to do what he
didn’t want to do, they’d just sigh and shake their heads. On the other hand,
he showed promise in drawing and painting.
Soon
after starting school, one problem surfaced: John’s eyesight. He was suffering
from short-sightedness. It didn’t bother him much during his early years at
primary school, but as he became more aware of his image, he learned to hate
wearing glasses. He also began to behave badly at school.
John
was always the leader of his little gangs throughout his school career. He and
his friends would steal apples, climb trees, and ring doorbells and run away.
Mimi always found herself being called into the headteacher’s office, or
neighbors’ houses, to answer for John’s behavior.
At
other times, John would refuse to go out and just stay in his room for hours.
Auntie Mimi took him to the local library, and her love for reading would be
passed on to John. He became interested on the children’s literature of the
time. He also read all the comic books available, from The Beano to The
Hotspur and The Rover.
Soon, John
would be creating his own versions of the Hotspur and Beano . He
was good artistically, something that his teachers and classmates at school
recognized. He won prizes for his drawings and paintings and would always ask
Mimi to buy him more paint and paper. John found it fun to play with words and
make up nonsense words, such as the “funs is low” he wrote from Scout camp. In
addition, John became interested in Lewis Carroll’s stories Alice in
Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass .
When
John was eight, Mimi enrolled him in the Sunday school at St. Peter’s where
John sang in the choir. But even in the church, John’s mischievous behavior
didn’t go unnoticed. His neighborhood friends, Ivan Vaughan and Nigel Walley
recalled how John taught them to take pennies from the St. Peter’s collection
plate so that they could buy bubble gum. John also met at the church Rod Davis,
a future member of the Quarrymen, and Barbara Baker, one of John’s earliest
girlfriends.
At
Dovedale, John became fast friends with Pete Shotton, who lived on Vale Road
and attended St. Peter’s. The pair became inseparable and called themselves
“Shennon and Lotton.” They would often do things together in mischief, such as
one time when they dared a nightwatchman at a new housing development to chase
them into an empty and dark house. John howled like a ghost, scaring the man
that he fled downstairs while John and Pete laughed hysterically.
In
1948, John moved up to the Dovedale Junior School for boys. His love for short
stories didn’t change, and he would always talk about popular British
children’s author such as Edgar Allan Poe, Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll, among
others.
When
John was 11, he would visit his mother at 1 Blomfield Road. She already had two
daughters with
council houses. We owned our house, had our own garden; they didn’t have
anything like that. So I was a bit of a fruit compared to them.”
John
was enrolled in the Dovedale Primary School in Allerton in the fall of 1946. He
would take a three-mile bus ride down the main Menlove thoroughfare with a
change at Penny Lane (Mimi would trail him from behind). The school’s
headmaster told Mimi, ‘There’s no need to worry about him. He’s sharp as a
needle. But he won’t do anything he doesn’t want to.”
John (back row, sixth from the left) and
his classmates at Dovedale Primary School
The
school required the male students to wear a tie, a black blazer, a badge with a
dove and gray shorts. John’s classmates recalled that his tie was often askew
and his shirt untucked. But as the teachers couldn’t force John to do what he
didn’t want to do, they’d just sigh and shake their heads. On the other hand,
he showed promise in drawing and painting.
Soon
after starting school, one problem surfaced: John’s eyesight. He was suffering
from short-sightedness. It didn’t bother him much during his early years at
primary school, but as he became more aware of his image, he learned to hate
wearing glasses. He also began to behave badly at school.
John
was always the leader of his little gangs throughout his school career. He and
his friends would steal apples, climb trees, and ring doorbells and run away.
Mimi always found herself being called into the headteacher’s office, or
neighbors’ houses, to answer for John’s behavior.
At
other times, John would refuse to go out and just stay in his room for hours.
Auntie Mimi took him to the local library, and her love for reading would be
passed on to John. He became interested on the children’s literature of the
time. He also read all the comic books available, from The Beano to The
Hotspur and The Rover.
Soon, John
would be creating his own versions of the Hotspur and Beano . He
was good artistically, something that his teachers and classmates at school
recognized. He won prizes for his drawings and paintings and would always ask
Mimi to buy him more paint and paper. John found it fun to play with words and
make up nonsense words, such as the “funs is low” he wrote from Scout camp. In
addition, John became interested in Lewis Carroll’s stories Alice in
Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass .
When
John was eight, Mimi enrolled him in the Sunday school at St. Peter’s where
John sang in the choir. But even in the church, John’s mischievous behavior
didn’t go unnoticed. His neighborhood friends, Ivan Vaughan and Nigel Walley
recalled how John taught them to take pennies from the St. Peter’s collection
plate so that they could buy bubble gum. John also met at the church Rod Davis,
a future member of the Quarrymen, and Barbara Baker, one of John’s earliest
girlfriends.
At
Dovedale, John became fast friends with Pete Shotton, who lived on Vale Road
and attended St. Peter’s. The pair became inseparable and called themselves
“Shennon and Lotton.” They would often do things together in mischief, such as
one time when they dared a nightwatchman at a new housing development to chase
them into an empty and dark house. John howled like a ghost, scaring the man
that he fled downstairs while John and Pete laughed hysterically.
In
1948, John moved up to the Dovedale Junior School for boys. His love for short
stories didn’t change, and he would always talk about popular British
children’s author such as Edgar Allan Poe, Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll, among
others.
When
John was 11, he would visit his mother at 1 Blomfield Road. She already had two
daughters with
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