The first place John lived independently was an archetypal student flat at 3 Gambier Terrace in Liverpool, overlooking the splendid neo-Gothic Anglican Cathedral. He shared this place with Stuart Sutcliffe and another student, Rod Murray. Funnily enough, British tabloid the People chose to illustrate an article exposing the then current "Beatnik Horror" with a photo of Gambier Terrace. The above pic shows several people gathered in the room there, including Allan Williams (heavily bearded) and what may (or may not) be John with his back to the camera. Note the poster.
Wow - I remember having seen the article once (or maybe I was dreaming it) and that the photo contained in it was so bad (or at least the copy of the article was) that you could make out nothing on it. Indeed I cannot even tell if it was THIS photo or not, but I`m sure IF I ever saw this photo it never looked better. Where did it come from?
ReplyDeleteHi Ken. You possibly would have seen the article in a book called John Lennon's Secret - it was included there in a poor quality scan. I think you're right, this is a different picture which was in a very interesting book called The Gospel According To The Beatles by Steve Turner. The title may be a little off-putting, but it has a lot of new information.
ReplyDeletewow...the poster on the wall!!!! Silver Beatles???
ReplyDeleteSilver Beetles .
DeleteHow can that be John with his back to the camera? Wasn't he still wearing his hair in a greasy D.A. at the time? This guy looks like somebody photoshopped in some guy with a mid-sixties Beatles style haircut.
DeleteI call fake.
It's not a fake. But it's also almost certainly not John.
DeleteYes - Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Silver Beetles....it looks quite home made.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, by now I was able to compare this to the article and indeed it is a different photo from the same setting!
ReplyDeleteThe poster is possibly for a concert on June 6 1960.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Alan Clayson, in his book "John Lennon", the reporters from gutter tabloid "The Sunday People" were shocked that the flat was clean, one of the residents had a job and wore a suit, and another resident said she'd be happy to invite her parents over for a meal. Not the story they were looking for! So Lennon and friends obliged them by making the place look a mess.
ReplyDelete