bella ⋆୨୧˚

fans waiting in line at Maple Leaf Gardens (Toronto, Canada) for George Harrison concert tickets. Accessed through the Toronto Archives (Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, 1974).

John & Bettina are rarely talked about but I think their relationship was so cute — at times. It’s also important to remember he was still officially with Cynthia during this time.

Bettina Derlien used to work at the bar in Hamburg that John commonly played at (the Star Club). Reportedly, she would give John ‘favours’ in between sets to cheer him up. They’re depicted to have had a very close relationship by Tony Sheridan who stated that when John was sad, Bettina was the only person in the world who could cheer him up, he also stated that they used to go on long walks together to the movie theatre — to watch John’s favourite, Dracula. Apparently, Bettina was terrified by the films and would cover her eyes. She would as John when the scary part was over and he would always say ‘now!’ To get her to look.

There’s a rumor that Bettina was a slim woman when she met John — which makes no difference to her character obviously, however Sheridan says this is untrue. He stated that Bettina was always heavier-set and was never ‘slim’ or ‘skinny’.

The image above, by Klauss Voorman captures how everyone, including Klauss, saw John’s relationship with Bettina. The caption on the drawing states: John & Bettina — often late at night, John was hanging over the bar, dead tired and sad. Bettina tried to cheer him up.

Soon after their relationship, Bettina was pregnant with John’s baby and he demanded she get an abortion (which was illegal in Germany, so her abortion was not done to a medical standard). She developed several illnesses from the abortion which caused her to suffer throughout her life.

This isn’t my usual post, but as a history major and someone who’s family member is a D-DAY veteran, I wanted to talk about it :)

This photo — above, is a photo my great-grandfather taken in Berlin (1945). He fought in D-DAY for Great Britain during the Normandy Landings exactly 80 years ago today (June 6, 1944). He arrived by ship — the same ship seen above, and didn’t know how to swim, but he managed to swim to shore with about 60-80lb of artillery and gear on him. He never spoke about his experiences in the battle, but he did speak of the friends he lost, and the friends and fellow soldiers he watched die on this historical day.