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happy birthday richard starkey!

how lucky are we to be able to still wish him well!

when i first saw the photo jim marshall took of ringo backstage before the last beatles concert, august 29,1966 - i gasped! i loved it SO much!

transcript under cut:

(part i) (part ii)

right buckle up, we’re at Mark Lewisohn’s ‘Tune In Extended Edition’ (2013) 

Lewisohn digs into the details, particularly about the songs played, and Mimi’s reaction. re: John’s outfit, Lewisohn states the photos show he wasn’t dressed like a Teddy Boy. I ain’t an expert, but i reckon one could argue John was, at least with the hair, in teddy boy land. 

On the meeting itself, Lewisohn states it initially took place in the scout hut, but Paul’s showing off was in the church hall. Beer was drunk (gasp), Paul got on the piano, and John thought he looked like Elvis.  

we’re nearly there everyone, Craig Brown's ‘One, Two, Three, Four’ (2020) 

Again, we have the Scout Hut → Church Hall movement but with more focus on Paul being shy until he started to perform. Nicely, Brown summarises how the tale of the Woolton Fete meeting has warped and changed over the years. 

onto ‘Paul McCartney: The Lyrics’ (2021, p. 119, 235 & 383)

Not anything new really apart from the 'seeing John around prior to the fete' anecdote. also, a slightly sassy 'they weren't a great band but john was good'

the penultimate text, Ian Leslie’s ‘John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs’ (2025). Like Lewisohn, Leslie spends a lot of real estate on the songs performed, and particularly ‘Come Go with Me’, highlighting it was, as the kids would call it today, a deep cut. 

On the meeting, Leslie doesn’t mention the scout hut, and notes that John & Paul were introduced outside the church hall. Once in the Hall, Paul performed and John’s beery breath arrived. Leslie doesn’t mention how Shotton’s recollection changed over the years. Hurumph. 

and finally, we have the 25th Anniversary Reissue of ‘The Beatles Anthology’ (2025)

...again, not much to note other than the beatles anthology is a very pretty book.

1988: John’s childhood friend (and former member of The Quarrymen) Pete Shotton gives his take of what happened on that fateful July 6th in 1957 - and after. (Note: The interviewed ex-members of The Quarrymen who were present generally agree that John took a while to consider the prospect before deciding to invite Paul into the group. Knowing that, it is rather sweet that John-in-1980 recalls John-in-1957 as being immediately taken with Paul’s ability and asking Paul right there and then to join him.) 

PETE: The village used to have a fête once a year, and this used to consist of taking a pretty girl from the neighbourhood, and crowning her Rose Queen, and having sideshows, and all this kind of thing. My mother managed – because my mother was very clever at managing things like this – to organize it so that [The Quarrymen] were the entertainment. Now, first of all, we played in the back of a lorry in the field, which is the field at the back of the church, and then in the evening, we went over to play for a dance that they were putting on. We were playing at that time mostly Lonnie Donegan stuff, you know, and as I say, we thought we were terrific, and a lot of people said that we were, especially our mothers and aunties. [laughs]

And um, Ivan [Vaughan] had come along and brought this friend along – who he’d told us he was bringing along – who he said could play the guitar pretty well. So after we’d finished playing, we came down off the stage, and Ivan introduced this kid to us. And his name happened to be Paul McCartney – as we all know now. 

And we spent about twenty minutes talking to him. At first, it was like very reserved, because John was always a bit, like, withdrawn, or a bit – careful about meeting new people. He used to like to suss them out. He never – he’d never make the first move. People always had to come to him, first. And eventually, Paul came to him, by getting his guitar out. Paul, being the extrovert, broke the kind of awkwardness by getting his guitar out and playing – I think it was ‘Twenty Flight Rock’. 

And it was good, you know! And John was obviously impressed by this. So we had a bit of a chat for a while, and as I say about twenty minutes later, we all split up, and John and I were walking home together. And John said to me, “Um… what do you think of him, then? Of Paul?” And I said, “I think he’s okay, I like him.” And he said, “Well – should we ask him to join the band, then?” And I said, “Yeah, it’s okay by me if it’s okay by him.” And so, that was that. 

(part ii) (part iii)

(note: this has been formatted for twt)

As the legend goes, on the 6th of July 1957, a young John Lennon performed at a church fete in Woolton, watched by a younger Paul McCartney. Thereafter, younger Paul showed off to young John and the rest was history…

Usually in these source busting threads i have something to, y’know, investigate but for this special edition we are just going to traverse the history books of see how this momentous meeting has been reported on, point out bits of interest, glaze over repetitions etc.

I’ve examined the usual books noted as the ‘canon’ of Beatles history texts, as well as whatever other books I have copies of and found interesting. I’ve focused on monographs rather than articles & interviews. That’s it. That’s the methodology. 

I’ve included page numbers where possible but some of my collection are e-books and hence nae page numbers

So let’s kick off with the John Lennon’s ‘In His Own Write’ (1964, p. 11)

Short n sweet from ar Paul. Paul labels himself a ‘fat schoolboy’ (be kind) & says John was drunk. He also states ‘we were twelve’, but i think this is paul trying to do a funny and highlight they were but wee ‘uns rather than literal twelve year olds. also sideboards = sideburns 

next up, Billy Shepherd’s ‘The True Story of the Beatles’ (1964, pp. 11-12)

Oh, Billy. June 15th 1955? You’re a month and two years out of date! We’ll blame Paul for the whole ‘we were 12’ thing. Other than that, we have Ivan being the key person to bring Paul to the fete (for music reasons) and introducing him to John. 

oh i’m sure you’ve been waiting for this one: Hunter Davies, ‘The Beatles: The Authorized Biography’ (1969, p. 23, pp. 35-36) 

June 15th, 1956? I don’t think! Beyond that faux pas, Davies’s rendition of events became the blueprint for beatle books and introduced some key beats of the story: (1) John dressed full teddy boy and Mimi disapproved (2) John got ‘roaring drunk’ 

(3) Ivan took Paul to the fete [paul thought there would be girls there] (4) Paul wore a white sports coat and drainies (5) They met in the Church Hall (6) Paul showed off his skills (7) John’s beery breath (7) Shotton not impressed (8) Paul looked like Elvis

roll on everyone's favourite biased “expert”, Philip Norman’s ‘Shout!’ (1981, pp. 42-44)

FINALLY! THE CORRECT DATE! (probs cheers to lewisohn for that, who was a researcher for shout!). Other than that, the main beats are similar to Davies’s rendition, but with some fleshed out details. 

(1) Mimi visited the Fete unaware John was performing and was shocked to see him there (2) Shotton recalls the introductions were stiff (oo-er) and Paul was cocky (oh i say) 

a couple of years later, Peter Shotton described the meeting in ‘John Lennon: In My Life’  (1983, p. 53-54)

Shotton reiterates a standoffishness but, in contrast to his view in ‘69, says he was impressed by Paul's 'cool reserve'. He also states Paul had his own guitar (wrong) and that John was immediately impressed by Paul.

next up we have the paul crab truthers Peter Brown & Steven Gaine’s ‘The Love You Make…’ (1983, pp. 21 - 22)

Brown & Gaines mainly focus on Paul. tho the initial date of the fete is correct, B&G then state Paul was 14. Doh. They iterate Paul went to pick up the ladies, segue into his first sexual escapades, and then say the fete was in 1956. Silly mistakes, boys.

We then get the familiar details of Paul wearing a white sports coat and black drainies, borrowing a guitar to show off, and John’s beery breath. This time, John is ‘begrudgingly impressed’.

onto the completely agreeable and non-controversial Albert Goldman ‘The Lives of John Lennon’ (1988, pp. 67-68)

Goldman largely keeps to the status quo of the story/regurgitates Davies’s work. He stresses Mimi’s disapproval of John’s garb, and highlights Paul’s outfit of the white sports jacket with SPARKLES and TOIGHT black drainies. Then we have John’s beery beery breath once again.

going off the beaten path of The Canon, we have Geoffrey Giuliano’s ‘The Lost Beatles Interviews’ (1994, pp.289-292)

This is a printed version of a 1986 interview between Julia Baird, John’s sister, and ar Paul. Paul admits to being terrible with dates (we know) but otherwise is consistent with his earlier recollections - the songs, minor beery breath, sports coat etc. The most interesting tidbit comes from Julia who states John’s family (sans Mimi) went to the fete to see John perform.

We also get a lovely long bit about how suave and Buddy-holly like John looked, swooooon.

next up Ray Coleman’s ‘Lennon: The Definitive Biography’ (1995, pp.157-160) 

The outliers In this version include john buying beers from the office and getting lightly inebriated for the fete. Though initially shocked, Mimi says she was *happy* to see John perform, contrasting with John’s well documented recollection.