Paul describing John, both before and at the fete:
"Well, he was standing there, and he was singing great and he was looking great." (1990)
"Until Buddy came along, any fellow with glasses always took them off to play. So anyway, getting back to meeting John. He was up there jiving away and after they finished their set I met them all in the church hall. They were having a beer, I think. It wasn't crazy drinking or anything, it was more just a bit of fun. You know, we all used to really think John was pretty cool. He was a bit older and would therefore do a little more greased-back hair and things than we were ever allowed. I just didn't do it. The way my dad was, really. But John looked a bit of a ted with his drake and all. He had nice big sideboards." (1994)
"I just thought, ‘Well, he looks good, he’s singing well and he seems like a great lead singer to me.’ Of course, he had his glasses off, so he looked really suave…He was really the only outstanding member, all the rest kind of slipped away." (1995)
"There was a guy up on the platform with curly, blondish hair, wearing a chequered shirt-looking pretty good and quite fashionable - singing a song that I loved: the Del-Vikings ‘Come Go With Me’" (1995)
“My memory of meeting John for the first time is very clear. I can still see John now - checked shirt, and slightly curly hair. I remember thinking, ‘He looks good - I wouldn’t mind being in a group with him.’ Then, as you all know, he asked me to join the group, and so we began our trip together. We wrote our first songs together, we grew up together and we lived our lives together. And when we’d do it together, something special would happen. There’d be that little magic spark. I still remember his beery old breath when I first met him that day. But I soon came to love that beery old breath. And I loved John." (1997)
"And John looked a bit like a Teddy Boy. And he had sideburns..and, uh, which... attracted us to him. We thought, 'that's pretty cool!" (1997)
"Up on the stage there were a few lads around, and there was one particular guy at the front with a checked shirt, sort of blondish kind of hair... a little bit curly, sideboards, looking pretty cool." (1997)
"John was extremely attractive...not physically I mean...though he was very cool looking." (late 90s)
"I remember John looking... we used to think that John looked pretty cool. He was a bit older than us and he would do a little more greased back hair than we were allowed… so John was quite groovy. He looked like a Ted then - he had a drape. He had nice big sideburns." (2005)
"This Ted would get on the bus. You notice who's hip. I wouldn't stare at him too hard in case he hit me." (2013)
"I know how I saw John. He was just a ted, on the bus – greasy hair, long sideburns, shuffling around like he was Mr Hard. And I saw him on the top deck of the bus often, before I met him. Saw him in the queue at a chip shop once. And I thought, “He looks cool.” Turned out my best friend from school knew him. We went and met. I happened to know this song, ‘Twenty Flight Rock’. John admired that." (2015)
"I’d seen him around a couple of times, because I realised later what it was, my bus route, he would take that bus, but he would be going to see his mum who lived kind of in my area. And then he’d take the bus back up to his Auntie Mimi’s. So I’d seen him a couple of times and thought, ‘Wow, you know, he’s an interesting looking guy.’ And then I once also saw him in a queue for fish and chips and I said, ‘Oh, that’s that guy off the bus’. I’m talking to myself, in my mind I thought, ‘I saw that guy off the bus, oh he’s pretty cool looking. Yeah, you know, he’s a cool guy.’ (2020)
"I knew nothing about him except that he looked pretty cool. He had long sideboards and greased back hair and everything." (2020)
"Would John and I have met some other way, if Ivan and I hadn't gone to that fête? I'd actually gone along to try and pick up a girl. I'd seen John around - in the chip shop, on the bus, that sort of thing - and thought he looked quite cool, but would we have ever talked? I don't know." (2021)
"The first time I ever saw John Lennon was on the bus. I didn’t know him then, so he was just this slightly older guy with a sort of rocker hairdo, lots of grease, black jacket, sideburns (‘sideboards’ as we called them; ‘sideburns’ was American). And I just remember thinking, ‘Well, he’s a cool guy.’ When we did meet, I recognised him as that strange Teddy Boy from the bus. John always managed to be a little bit older than me; I never caught up. I had no idea who he was at the time, but I’ll always remember that very first image." (2021)
"The first time I ever saw John Lennon, he got on the bus. He was like this slightly older guy with this sort of rocker hairdo — lots of grease — black jacket, sideburns, sideboards as we call them. And I just remember thinking, 'Well, he's a cool guy. No idea who he is.' (2023)
"John was a great character. A very different kind of guy to the other boys I knew. We met at the village fete. He was playing with his band. He was a year and a half older than me and my first friend who wore glasses. He was always taking them off and polishing them. I found it fascinating." (2024)
